discoveries

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

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Genghis Khan's Death May Be Less Sexy Than the Legends

New study suggests he was felled by bubonic plague

(Newser) - All kinds of legends exist to explain the death of Mongol ruler Genghis Khan 800 years ago—a poisoned arrow, perhaps? But a new study puts forth an explanation that will sound pretty familiar to people today. That is, a pandemic did him in. As Live Science reports, researchers studying...

Girl With Rapunzel Syndrome Ends Up Needing Surgery

Teen had 19-inch-long hairball that burst through her stomach

(Newser) - A teen with two rare conditions ended up in the hospital after passing out twice, and she left one huge hairball lighter. Live Science reports on the case out of the UK, where a 17-year-old girl showed up at the hospital after her fainting spells, her face and head bruised...

Metal Panel Found in 1991 Could Hold Earhart Clues

It'll be tested using a nuclear reactor

(Newser) - The quest to discover what happened to Amelia Earhart has turned to ... a nuclear reactor. Popular Mechanics reports scientists at Penn State University are focusing not on Earhart herself but her plane, a Lockheed Model 10-E Electra. In 1991, longtime Earhart searcher Ric Gillespie found an aluminum panel on the...

Dinosaur Killer Gets a New Origin Story
Scientists Offer New Theory
on Dinosaurs' Demise
in case you missed it
Feb 20, 2021 7:00 AM CST

Scientists Offer New Theory on Dinosaurs' Demise

Think speedy, long-range comet, not an asteroid from closer to Earth

(Newser) - From the dinosaurs' perspective, not much has changed. Scientists still think an enormous chunk of rock slammed into Earth and triggered a cataclysmic explosion that wiped them out. However, a new study out of Harvard changes the theory about the origins of that space rock, reports NPR . The researchers say...

Pharaoh Who Risked His Life 'to Liberate Egypt' Died Horribly

Study suggests a bound Seqenenre Tao was attacked on all sides

(Newser) - The death of Seqenenre Tao is said to have indirectly led to the reunification of ancient Egypt, which was divided during the pharaoh's lifetime in the 16th century BC. Only now do we know what exactly that death entailed. Researchers studying the mummy of the pharaoh, first discovered in...

Bones Cast 'Rare Flicker of Light' on Early Christianity

But they do not belong to St. James the Younger as long thought

(Newser) - It appears Rome's Santi Apostoli church doesn't have the bones of two of Jesus' 12 apostles after all—but perhaps it does have one. LiveScience reports the church has since the 6th century believed it possessed remains belonging to St. James the Younger and St. Philip. A study...

New Weight Loss Drug May Be Like No Other
New Weight Loss Drug
May Be Like No Other
in case you missed it
Feb 14, 2021 9:35 AM CST

New Weight Loss Drug May Be Like No Other

Semaglutide's results suggest it could be a game-changer

(Newser) - We may have a game-changer when it comes to obesity drugs. The results of a clinical trial involving taking higher doses of Novo Nordisk's Type 2 diabetes drug semaglutide as an anti-obesity medication were published Wednesday, and they're staggeringly good: Those who injected it weekly for a little...

Bones of &#39;Robin Hood of the Sea&#39; May Be Found
Bones of Legendary
Pirate May Have Been Found
in case you missed it
Feb 14, 2021 6:30 AM CST

Bones of Legendary Pirate May Have Been Found

Experts hope to identify the 'Robin Hood of the Sea'

(Newser) - Experts may be close to identifying the remains of a legendary pirate whose treasure-filled ship went down off the coast of Cape Cod 300 years ago. At least six skeletons were pulled recently from the Whydah Gally and are now being examined by the man who in 1984 discovered the...

The Air in Subway Stations Is as Bad as You Think
The Air in Subway Stations
Is as Bad as You Think
new study
Feb 10, 2021 12:55 PM CST

The Air in Subway Stations Is as Bad as You Think

Study finds NYC has particularly high air pollution

(Newser) - All those Salesforce employees in New York City who are giving up the commute for good may have more reasons than one to be glad about it. A study published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives looked at the quality of the air during AM and PM rush hours...

A Plausible Explanation for the Dyatlov Pass Incident
They Fled the Tent
to Their Deaths.
This May Be Why
the rundown
Feb 7, 2021 5:02 PM CST

They Fled the Tent to Their Deaths. This May Be Why

New research suggests a small avalanche occurred

(Newser) - On Feb. 1, 1959, nine students died while on a ski trip in Russia's Ural Mountains. Though their bodies were recovered, the mystery of how they met their end has persisted for 62 years. Now, researchers say they may have determined the cause of what's known as the...

Scientists Get Plants to Trigger Email Alerts

'Plants are very good analytical chemists'

(Newser) - A 2016 study about scientists receiving alerts from spinach went viral this week, bringing fresh attention to the emerging field of plant nanobionics—and sparking plenty of jokes about getting email from your leafy greens. In the study published in the journal Nature Materials , MIT researchers explained that they had...

Reptile That Fits on Fingertip May Be World's Smallest

It could take years to confirm that Madagascar's 'Brookesia nana' chameleon is the tiniest

(Newser) - It fits on a human fingertip, but this chameleon could make a big splash. Scientists from Madagascar and Germany say a newly discovered species of chameleon is a contender for the title of world's smallest reptile, the AP reports. Frank Glaw, who was part of the international team of...

Expert's 'Toughest Day' at Nazi Death Camp Involved This Find

Children's identity tags, some burned with their bodies, found at Sobibor

(Newser) - Four children from Amsterdam stepped off a train in Nazi-occupied eastern Poland and into the death camp of Sobibor, the last place they'd ever know. Killed in 1943, 6-year-old Lea Judith De La Penha, 8-year-old Deddie Zak, 11-year-old David Juda Van der Velde, and 12-year-old Annie Kapper left behind...

True Location of Famed Fort Attacked by Russians Is Found

Tlingits used wood structure to repel Russians on Alaska's Baranof Island

(Newser) - Archaeologists have found the site of a 200-year-old wooden fort where native Alaskans battled colonization and cannonballs. The fort helped the Tlingit people hold back Russian invaders for six days in 1804 before they were forced to leave the land their ancestors had occupied for 11,000 years, per NBC...

For These Gray Whales, a Troubling Trend Continues
3 Unwanted Letters for
Gray Whales: U-M-E
new study
Jan 31, 2021 11:30 AM CST

3 Unwanted Letters for Gray Whales: U-M-E

'Unexplained mortality event': Scientists worry about prolonged spike in deaths

(Newser) - Back in 2019, scientists reported an alarming spike in the number of deaths of gray whales along the Pacific Coast. Now, a new study in the Marine Ecology Progress Series journal confirms the trend continued through 2020. In what they term an "unusual mortality event," researchers have counted...

Catnip Is Fun for Cats, but Also &#39;Functional&#39;
Catnip Does More Than
Make Cats Loopy
NEW STUDY
Jan 24, 2021 12:00 PM CST

Catnip Does More Than Make Cats Loopy

Study suggests it also offers protection from mosquitoes

(Newser) - You may soon come to love catnip as much as your cat. New research suggests the chemicals derived from catnip and silver vine, an even more potent plant that grows in the mountains of Japan and China, can ward off pesky mosquitoes. Masao Miyazaki, a biologist at Japan's Iwate...

Paleontologists Gain Insight Into a Dinosaur&#39;s Butt
Paleontologists Gain Insight
Into a Dinosaur's Butt
new study
Jan 21, 2021 10:05 AM CST

Paleontologists Gain Insight Into a Dinosaur's Butt

They're able to re-create in 3D a cloacal opening

(Newser) - It's a first for paleontology, and one that might produce a giggle. For the first time, scientists have been able to describe in fine detail a dinosaur's cloaca. If you're not familiar with that body part, CNET translates: It's essentially "a jack-of-all-trades butthole." The...

Coffins Found in Egypt Likely Belong to Thousand-Year Cult

King Teti's rule began in 2323 BC; the remains date to a much later period

(Newser) - A decade of archaeological work at a site near Egypt's Pyramid of Teti has paid off. Leading Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass on Sunday announced that the temple of Queen Neit—wife of King Teti, whose rule began in 2323 BC—has been uncovered. The AP reports burial shafts measuring...

You Can Finally Buy the World's Newest Blue

Pigment YInMn Blue, discovered in 2009, makes it to the commercial market

(Newser) - The world's first new blue pigment in 200 years is at last on the market, more than a decade after it was accidently discovered in a lab. Just don't expect to slather YlnMn Blue on your house. As the Smithsonian reports, it's available only at a select...

Anthropologists Recount Grisly Tale of Conquistador Era

One mass atrocity was answered with another in Tecoaque

(Newser) - It's a particularly gruesome page of history. New research suggests Spanish conquistadores butchered at least a dozen women and their children in an Aztec-allied town in an act of revenge, per the AP . It seems the inhabitants had sacrificed and eaten a detachment of Spaniards they'd captured months...

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