discoveries

Read the latest news stories about recent scientific discoveries on Newser.com

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First US Navy Destroyer Sunk by Enemy Fire Is Found

Tales of kindness, bravery surround 1917 sinking of USS Jacob Jones

(Newser) - The first US Navy destroyer to be sunk by enemy fire—specifically a torpedo shot from a German submarine—has been discovered more than a century after ending up in a watery grave. The USS Jacob Jones was sent to the submarine-infested waters around the UK to help safeguard supply...

Discovery Means &#39;Forever Chemicals&#39; May Get a Death Date
Simple Remedy
Provides Hope on
'Forever Chemicals'
NEW STUDY

Simple Remedy Provides Hope on 'Forever Chemicals'

Researchers describe novel method of breaking down PFAS safely and cheaply

(Newser) - Scientists know them as poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Everyday folk know them as "forever chemicals." However you refer to them, these chemicals, resistant to liquid and heat and used in everyday products from cosmetics to paint to paper to food packaging , are toxic at certain levels...

Dino-Killing Asteroid May Have Had a Friend
Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid
May Have Had a Friend
NEW STUDY

Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid May Have Had a Friend

Fossils suggest 5-mile-wide crater off West Africa is also 66M years old

(Newser) - The 6-mile-wide asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago may have had a baby cousin that struck on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean. Dr. Uisdean Nicholson of Scotland's Heriot-Watt University discovered a hidden depression of a similar age as the Chicxulub Crater in Mexico...

It Turns Out This &#39;Angry Minion&#39; Isn&#39;t Our Ancestor
This Isn't Our
Ancestor After All
new study

This Isn't Our Ancestor After All

New study has a different take on Saccorhytus

(Newser) - Whew. It turns out the earliest known ancestor of humans is not a sea creature a millimeter in size that lacked an anus. The opposite was thought to be true after the release of a 2017 study in which scientists named Saccorhytus coronaries as a 540 million-year-old member of a...

Ancient Recipe for Bronze Is Finally Cracked
Ancient Recipe for Bronze
Is Finally Cracked
NEW STUDY

Ancient Recipe for Bronze Is Finally Cracked

Researchers say two alloys were key to early China's massive output

(Newser) - Researchers believe they've found the key to a thriving metal industry in ancient China in a 2,300-year-old recipe for bronze. Some 1.5 tons of bronze discovered in the tomb of a general from the Shang dynasty (1600BC to 1046BC) in 1976 helped show the "massive scale"...

Too-Familiar Refrain About Florida Turtles: 'It's a Girl'

Animal facility reports all female hatchlings for 4 years because the sand is so hot

(Newser) - Wildlife experts in Florida keeping watch on sea turtle eggs have had an easy job of late in cataloging the gender of hatchlings—they've all been girls. "Only female sea turtles for the past four years," Bette Zirkelbach, manager of the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, tells CNN...

Men, Don't Throw in the Towel on Longevity Quite Yet

Despite lower life expectancy, guys still have 'substantial chance of outliving females,' per study

(Newser) - It's long been suggested that women outlive the men in their lives, but new research suggests that may be an oversimplified conclusion. Danish scientists who looked at the bigger picture found that the guys, especially those with a ring on their finger or who hold a college degree, might...

Theory: Maya Rulers' Ashes Used to Make Pelota Balls

Archaeologist believes it happened in at least 3 cases

(Newser) - Pelota is one of the oldest known team sports, played centuries ago by the Maya—in some cases, with a ball that may have been partly made from the ashes of their dead rulers. The BBC reports on archaeologist Juan Yadeun Angulo's theory, which was born from a pair...

King Bluetooth Lies at Center of an Archaeological Dispute

Archaeologist and researcher say he was buried in Poland, but they don't agree on where

(Newser) - More than 1,000 years after his death in what's now Poland, a European king whose nickname lives on through wireless technology is at the center of an archaeological dispute. Chronicles from the Middle Ages say King Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson of Denmark acquired his nickname courtesy of a...

What&#39;s an Arctic Shark Doing in the Caribbean?
Shark Researchers Make
Odd Find Off Belize
in case you missed it

Shark Researchers Make Odd Find Off Belize

Little is known about Greenland sharks, but nobody expected to find one in the Caribbean

(Newser) - With an estimated lifespan of up to 500 years, Greenland sharks are considered the longest-living vertebrates on Earth. They are native to frigid Arctic waters, where they like to feed on polar bear carcasses. But at least one has also ventured to the western Caribbean, and it surprised a boatload...

Pair of COVID Studies Point a Finger at Wuhan Market
Pair of COVID Studies
Land on Same Culprit
new research

Pair of COVID Studies Land on Same Culprit

One mapped locations of infections, the second analyzed genomic diversity of viruses

(Newser) - Two peer-reviewed studies published Tuesday in Science arrive at the same conclusion: Wuhan's Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was where the COVID pandemic originated. The Los Angeles Times explains that after the lab-leak theory was dismissed last year, scientists pointed out there wasn't a plethora of published data on...

Seabed Gives Up Coin Minted 1.8K Years Ago

It's been traced back to Egypt under the rule of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius

(Newser) - Israel's Antiquities Authority said Monday it has discovered a rare 1,850-year-old bronze zodiac coin during an underwater survey off the coastal city of Haifa, reports the AP . The coin bears the image of the zodiac sign Cancer behind a depiction of the moon goddess Luna. Experts say the...

Parents Everywhere Talk to Babies the Same


Parents
Everywhere
Talk to Babies
the Same
new study

Parents Everywhere Talk to Babies the Same

Major new study documents sing-songy 'parentese'

(Newser) - Researchers have managed to find something that societies of all kinds—from hunter-gatherer groups in the Amazon to affluent cities in the West—have in common. We talk and sing to babies in a similar way, according to what is being described as a landmark study in Nature Human Behaviour ...

Study: McCandless May Have Been a Victim of Bad Timing

Researchers: River he tried, failed to cross may have been passable a day before, after

(Newser) - A study on the hydrology of Alaska's Teklanika River in the summer of 1992 might seem like a subject that would have limited appeal—were it not for the young man who tried and failed to cross it. That would be Christopher McCandless, whose death that year in the...

A Diss Can Feel Like an Actual Slap in the Face


Insults Can
Feel Just Like
'Mini Slaps'
NEW STUDY

Insults Can Feel Just Like 'Mini Slaps'

Research finds that our brains may be more sensitive to negative words than we realize

(Newser) - If you've ever felt the sting of an insult—as in it almost felt like a literal sting, as if you'd been physically hurt—you're not alone. Gadgets 360 reports on a new study out of the Netherlands' Utrecht University that shows verbal put-downs can feel "...

Study of Orphaned Elephants Surprises Researchers
Study of Orphaned Elephants
Surprises Researchers
new study

Study of Orphaned Elephants Surprises Researchers

If they stay with a pack, they don't seem to be stressed out more than non-orphaned peers

(Newser) - Researchers who set out to measure the stress levels of orphaned elephants expected to see sky-high levels because of the particularly strong bond evident between mother elephants and their offspring. "Until age 8 or 9, elephants are rarely more than 10 meters from their mother," Jenna Parker of...

Cheers if You're Over 40. Not So Fast if You're Younger

New analysis finds there's no benefit and only increased health risks for young adults who drink

(Newser) - First scientists told us that young adults shouldn't drink alone ; now they're saying they shouldn't drink at all. At least, that's the conclusion of new research out of Seattle's University of Washington, which is part of the ongoing "Global Burden of Diseases" study carried...

Research Refutes Common Theory on Woodpeckers
Research Refutes Common
Theory on Woodpeckers
new study

Research Refutes Common Theory on Woodpeckers

Birds don't have a natural 'shock absorber' to protect their brains

(Newser) - Why don't woodpeckers knock themselves loopy when bashing their head against a tree? For years, the prevailing wisdom has been that they have some kind of natural shock absorber in their skulls to protect their brains, explains NPR . But a new study in Current Biology refutes the idea. By...

At Famous Battle Site, an 'Incredibly Rare' Find

Complete skeleton of likely soldier found alongside horse bones near site of Waterloo

(Newser) - Finding human remains at the site of a famous battle isn't usually very surprising. But it is in the case of the Battle of Waterloo, which ended Napoleon's rule as emperor of France. Though up to 20,000 men died in the battle in modern-day Belgium on June...

Young People Who Drink Solo, Take Heed of This Study

Study finds young solitary drinkers at increased risk for alcoholism in mid-30s

(Newser) - The manner in which you drink alcohol as a young person might be more important than how much you drink in determining future alcoholism risk, according to new research that warns against drinking alone in early life, especially if you're a young female. Researchers analyzed data from 4,500...

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