discoveries

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

Stories 1741 - 1760 | << Prev   Next >>

Scientists: We Know Why Sheep Get Sexed Up in Winter

Scientist figure out how melatonin levels affect breeding

(Newser) - "Why do sheep get frisky in winter?" isn't the beginning of a bad joke, but rather the question that jump-started a joint study by researchers at the University of Nottingham and the University of Bristol. The Guardian reports that scientists may now have an answer, one that could...

Underwater Video From 2013 Ended Up Being a Big Deal

The whales filmed were actually True's beaked whales

(Newser) - A group of students got an unforgettable science lesson in May 2013—but just how unforgettable is only now coming to light. While on an expedition in the Azores some 950 miles west of Portugal, as many as four beaked whales surfaced and spent about 10 minutes near a small...

Ancients' Skulls Pose a Puzzle for Our Family Tree

They're not quite Neanderthal and not quite Homo sapien

(Newser) - First, back in 2007, they found tools. Then, a bone. Now archaeologists who've continued to return to the same dig in Lingjing, China, report in the journal Science that they've unearthed more than 40 separate skull fragments to pull together two partial skulls that date back 100,000...

Chemical Used to Kill Lice Linked to Kids' Bad Behavior

Study on pyrethroids is 'cause for concern,' says a child psychiatrist

(Newser) - Here's something else not to like about lice, mosquitoes, and fleas. An insecticide used to kill them—pyrethroids—might be linked to behavior issues in children as young as 6, a French study suggests. The researchers, noting the effects the chemical had on the nervous systems of insects, wondered...

Gross Pools: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a surprising find about elephant sleep

(Newser) - An alarming find related to urine in pools tops this week's list of the most interesting discoveries:
  • Scientists Confirm Worst Fears About Pee in Pools : Attention swimmers: Researchers have finally figured out how much pee is in our pools, and the results are a little gross. A team testing
...

Woman Found Buried With Husband's Heart on Her Coffin

In a 'phenomenon that had until now not been noted'

(Newser) - Love never fails, and now researchers say they've discovered a burial ritual ostensibly designed to allow a couple's love to persist forever. Reporting in the journal PLOS One , they say that French noblewoman Louise de Quengo, who died at the age of 65 in 1656, was buried in...

Researchers Tracked Wild Elephants' Sleep. It Was Awful

Average of 2 hours a night, and periods as long as 46 hours with no sleep

(Newser) - The sample size was small—and so were the findings. Researchers asked the question "Does large body size make elephants the shortest mammalian sleepers?" and sought to answer it in the wild, in a departure from most previous related research, which involved elephants in captivity. After tracking two wild...

Scientists Claim Discovery of World's Oldest Life

But not everyone is convinced

(Newser) - Researchers say they've found fossilized bacteria that may date back to shortly after the formation of the Earth (geologically speaking, anyway), the New York Times reports. They published their findings Wednesday in Nature . The rocks were collected in 2008 from the Nuvvuagittuq geological formation in Canada. The rocks are...

Scientists Confirm Worst Fears About Pee in Pools

The amount of urine in most pools can be measured in gallons

(Newser) - About one in five Americans say they've peed in the pool. Even the world's most famous pool-user, Michael Phelps, says " everybody " does it. Now scientists have finally figured out a way to quantify just how much urine is in our pools, and the results in Environmental ...

Early Walt: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a potential warning sign for seniors who like to sleep late

(Newser) - Sure, NASA found seven Earth-size planets that could theoretically harbor life, but that wasn't the only discovery to make headlines this week:
  • Grad Student Finds Early Walt Whitman Novel : A University of Houston grad student poking around in the Library of Congress' archives stumbled across an 1850s novel by
...

Men Who Exercise Strenuously Have Lower Libidos
Men Who Exercise Strenuously
Have Lower Libidos
new study
Feb 23, 2017 11:35 AM CST

Men Who Exercise Strenuously Have Lower Libidos

Moderate and light exercise are linked to higher libido

(Newser) - All right guys, if you're working on a beer belly and wish you hit the pavement more, fear not: at least your libido might be stronger than the guy who spends hours at the gym every day. Noting a distinct lack of data on the relationship between exercise and...

Like to Sleep Late? It Could be a Sign of Alzheimer&#39;s
Sleeping Late
May Be Early
Warning of
Dementia
new study
Feb 23, 2017 10:25 AM CST

Sleeping Late May Be Early Warning of Dementia

Study found seniors who begin sleeping later were at double the risk

(Newser) - Seniors who indulge in a morning lie-in may want to take note. A new study found that older adults who slept more than nine hours a night were at double the risk of developing Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders, the New York Times reports. The red flag was limited...

There's a New Recommended Daily Quota for Fruits, Veggies

Study says eating 10 servings could slash risk of premature death, disease

(Newser) - If you've struggled to meet the World Health Organization's five-a-day fruits and veggies recommendation , you may want to reassess your consumption strategy. An Imperial College London study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology has found that doubling the current suggestion to 10 servings a day could stave...

Chimp With Down Syndrome Is Only 2nd Ever Documented

Kanako has stunted growth, heart disease, and blindness

(Newser) - Researchers in Japan have discovered only the second known chimpanzee born with what is, essentially, Down syndrome, according to a study published in Primates . Kanako, a 24-year-old female chimp, was born with trisomy 22. Her symptoms largely align with the symptoms seen in humans with Down syndrome, also known as...

NASA: 7 Earth-esque Planets Could Potentially Hold Life
NASA Finds 7
Earth-Size Planets
Feb 22, 2017 12:25 PM CST

NASA Finds 7 Earth-Size Planets

40 light-years away, orbiting dwarf star Trappist-1

(Newser) - For the first time, astronomers have discovered seven Earth-size planets orbiting a nearby star—and these new worlds could hold life, reports the AP . NASA and the Belgian-led research team announced the news Wednesday. This cluster of planets is 40 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. They circle tightly around...

Huge-Jawed Worm Species Terrorized Fish 400M Years Ago

The new species was discovered in storage at a Canadian museum

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a giant worm—no, not this guy —that terrorized fish, octopuses, and squids with its comparatively massive jaws 400 million years ago. UPI reports the fossil was dug up at Canada's Kwataboahegan Formation back in the mid-1990s and had been in storage at the Royal...

Grad Student Keeps Finding Lost Whitman Works

This time Zachary Turpin tracked down novel originally printed in a NY newspaper

(Newser) - A University of Houston grad student poking around in the Library of Congress' archives stumbled across a long-lost novel from the mid-19th century—and it's a discovery the editor of the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review tells the Houston Chronicle is "going to change everything we thought we knew"...

People Who Saw This Fish Fear a Quake Is Coming

Multiple specimens of rarely seen sea creature turn up in Philippines

(Newser) - Every couple of years, a mysterious rare fish that resembles a serpent washes up on some beach , generating buzz about the bony sea creature and worries about earthquakes until it fades from memory again. In what National Geographic pegs as a "poorly understood phenomenon," it's happened again,...

Did Salmonella Cause Outbreaks Behind Aztec Collapse?
Did Salmonella Bring
Down the Aztecs?
NEW STUDY
Feb 20, 2017 2:33 AM CST

Did Salmonella Bring Down the Aztecs?

Scientists present the first genetic evidence of the pathogen

(Newser) - In modern times, a strain of salmonella called Paratyphi C. causes a typhus-like outbreak called enteric fever that can kill as many as 15% of those it infects, mostly in developing countries. Now, evolutionary geneticists think this strain of salmonella could be what sickened and killed millions of natives in...

Could This Grain Feed the Planet?
This 'Super Food'
Could Feed
the Planet
 
in case you missed it
Feb 18, 2017 1:16 PM CST

This 'Super Food' Could Feed the Planet

Scientists unlock genome for foodie favorite quinoa

(Newser) - It has been hailed as a super food, a nutrient-packed , gluten-free dish that even carb counters can get behind. But could quinoa feed a hungry planet? That's the hope behind a new effort by scientists who've unlocked the humble grain's genome. "Quinoa has great potential to...

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