discoveries

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

Stories 1501 - 1520 | << Prev   Next >>

Knowing Booze Causes Cancer Inspires People to Cut Down

Most effective ad at motivating people to reduce their drinking shows cancer mutations

(Newser) - If you want to get people to stop boozing it up, don't show them images of glasses of healthy, sparkling water instead of beer—show them an ad that illustrates how too many cocktails can cause cancer to course through their bodies, the Guardian reports. That's the finding...

App Helps You Get Smarter During Your Wasted Time

MIT software teaches vocabulary during each day's idle moments

(Newser) - How much "wait-learning" have you done lately? That's the term MIT scientists have for picking up knowledge while lingering in an elevator, waiting for a reply to your text, or doing other things that would normally have you simply staring off into space—and now they've got...

Why the Man-Eating Lions of Tsavo Ate Men
Why the Man-Eating
Lions of Tsavo Ate Men
new study
Apr 19, 2017 8:03 AM CDT

Why the Man-Eating Lions of Tsavo Ate Men

The teeth tell a tale

(Newser) - The man-eating lions of Tsavo , that pair of legendary beasts who killed about 35 railroad builders in Kenya in 1898, have long been attached to one question: What caused them to turn to humans? More than a century later, researchers were able to use remains kept at Chicago's Field...

Mucus From Colorful Frog Could Contain Flu Fighter
One Illness May 
Meet Its Match in ...
Frog Mucus
STUDY SAYS
Apr 18, 2017 1:20 PM CDT

One Illness May Meet Its Match in ... Frog Mucus

South Indian amphibian has molecule in secretions that may fend off some flu strains

(Newser) - Kissing a frog may not conjure a prince, but mucus from one colorful Indian variety could one day lead to new ways to fight off the flu, the Verge reports. A study published in the journal Immunity details how scientists tested secretions from an Indian frog known as Hydrophylax bahuvistara...

Drivers Use Phones on 88% of Car Rides
'Damn Near Everybody' 
Uses Phones While Driving
STUDY SAYS
Apr 18, 2017 8:33 AM CDT

'Damn Near Everybody' Uses Phones While Driving

Zendrive shares concerning numbers in largest distracted-driving analysis yet

(Newser) - An eyebrow-raising new study assesses the extent of distracted driving, with stats revealing just how many people use their cellphones while behind the wheel. "Damn near everybody … damn near all the time," Wired concludes after reviewing the Zendrive report, which the driving analytics company says is the...

Melting Glacier Caused River to Vanish in 4 Days
Scientists Head
to River for Work,
Find Lake Instead
STUDY SAYS
Apr 17, 2017 1:17 PM CDT

Scientists Head to River for Work, Find Lake Instead

Glacier melt spurred by climate change caused Yukon River to vanish in just 4 days

(Newser) - When scientists from the University of Illinois and Canada's Simon Fraser University headed to northern Canada last August to do some fieldwork along the Slims River, they were met by a surprising sight. The Yukon river was no longer flowing and instead resembled a "long, skinny lake,"...

Workers Found Hidden Stairs, Then a Crown and Coffins

Remains of 5 archbishops of Canterbury found by mistake in former medieval church

(Newser) - The Telegraph calls it the "perfect Easter story," except with ex-archbishops of Canterbury instead of Jesus, and a rather full tomb replacing Jesus' empty one. Workers renovating the Garden Museum (once a medieval-era church) next door to the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lambeth Palace stumbled across a vault...

Jupiter&#39;s Great Red Spot Has Some Company
Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Has Some Company
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Apr 16, 2017 8:03 AM CDT

Jupiter's Great Red Spot Has Some Company

Astronomers have discovered a 'Great Cold Spot' on Jupiter

(Newser) - It looks like Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot has some company. Astronomers recently discovered a second spot located high in Jupiter's atmosphere, according to a study published Tuesday in Geophysical Research Letters . According to a press release , astronomers are calling this new spot the "Great Cold Spot....

New Database Gives Tree Scientists an Important First

They know how many different species exist: about 60K

(Newser) - Tree lovers, take note: A new database called GlobalTreeSearch has for the first time provided a tally of all the world's tree species. The answer: 60,065. Scientists from Botanic Gardens Conservation International in the UK spent two years compiling the database, relying on information from 500 published sources...

Montana Fossil Reveals Ancient Sea Creature

A long-gone inland sea still has secrets to give up

(Newser) - A fossil found by a Montana elk hunter nearly seven years ago has led to the discovery of a new species of prehistoric sea creature that lived about 70 million years ago in an inland sea that flowed east of the Rockies, the AP reports. The new elasmosaur species is...

No, Your Period Doesn&#39;t Sync With Your Roommate&#39;s
Busted: Longtime Myth
About Women's Periods
new study
Apr 14, 2017 9:08 AM CDT

Busted: Longtime Myth About Women's Periods

Women's periods don't sync up, even if they live together, scientists say

(Newser) - Sorry, ladies, but your roommate, sister, or female partner doesn't have an "alpha uterus" that's causing your menstrual cycle to align with hers. That's per a new study by period-tracking app Clue , which joined with University of Oxford scientists to determine if there was any truth...

You Are Probably Tying Your Shoes Incorrectly
You Are Probably Tying
Your Shoes Incorrectly
new study
Apr 13, 2017 11:04 AM CDT

You Are Probably Tying Your Shoes Incorrectly

Physicists explore why knots unravel, confirm square knot better than 'granny'

(Newser) - For such an age-old problem, it's gotten surprisingly little scientific study. But now physicists at Berkeley think they've figured out why the knots of our shoelaces come untied, reports the BBC . Through slow-motion video , they found that it's a complex combination of stomping (your foot hitting the...

After the Battle, Army Ants Leave No Soldier Behind

Many ants injured in battle are saved by being carried back to the colony

(Newser) - A new study provides the first evidence that ants rescue members of their own colony post-battle even when those ants aren't in imminent danger, reports the Guardian . The observation came about when biologist Erik Frank was watching army ants march out to battle termites in highly patterned formation—"...

Noisy Shrimp Named After Pink Floyd
Noisy Shrimp Named
After Pink Floyd
Apr 12, 2017 12:15 PM CDT

Noisy Shrimp Named After Pink Floyd

Pistol shrimp's bright-pink claw makes such a loud sound it'll blow your mind

(Newser) - If you've ever been blown away by Pink Floyd, you'll get why scientists just named a similarly thunderous crustacean in its honor. Per a post in the Zootaxa journal , a species of pistol shrimp with an intensely colored red-pink claw, found in the Pacific Ocean near Panama, has...

Evidence of Deepest Life on Earth Found Near Mariana Trench

Microbes could be living up to 6 miles under the seafloor

(Newser) - A team of researchers may have discovered evidence of the deepest life on Earth (and we're not talking college freshmen taking their first philosophy class). According to a study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , there may be microbes living up to six miles under...

Tilt of Your Phone Could Spill Your Data to Hackers

They could get your PINs and passwords by exploiting device sensors: study

(Newser) - Under the right conditions, hackers could theoretically exploit a built-in feature in smartphones to steal passwords and PINs, and it all comes down to the tilt users employ and the way they type, the Guardian reports. In a study published in the International Journal of Information Security , Newcastle University researchers...

Egypt Just Found Another Pyramid
Egypt Just Found
Another Pyramid
in case you missed it
Apr 8, 2017 10:21 AM CDT

Egypt Just Found Another Pyramid

Experts believe it's 3.7K years old

(Newser) - An excavation team in Egypt has found what appears to be the interior of a buried pyramid dating back 3,700 years to the 13th dynasty. The antiquities ministry says that both a corridor and a block engraved with 10 lines of hieroglyphics are in good condition, reports the BBC...

Sorry, Cannibals: Humans Just Aren't That Nutritious

Try a boar instead

(Newser) - A human heart might seem like a hefty chunk of meat, but its 650 calories would hardly fill up a hungry cannibal living in Paleolithic times. It's a finding that is forcing researchers to rethink why cannibalism was practiced in that period if not as a last resort to...

Want to Know If You&#39;re Wrong? Ask an Ape
Apes May Be Able
to 'Read Minds'
NEW STUDY
Apr 6, 2017 6:55 PM CDT

Apes May Be Able to 'Read Minds'

And know if humans are harboring false beliefs

(Newser) - Now even the great apes are getting in on debunking "fake news"—or, to be more specific, fake beliefs. German researchers have found that the primates can tell when a human is wrong about something, and can even help to remedy the situation, which in this case was...

Geologists Find Evidence of a Real Brexit
Geologists
Find Evidence
of a Real Brexit
NEW STUDY
Apr 5, 2017 3:33 PM CDT

Geologists Find Evidence of a Real Brexit

Britain cut off from Europe 150K years ago: study

(Newser) - "Without this dramatic breaching Britain would still be a part of Europe," says Sanjeev Gupta—and no, he's not talking about Brexit. In what he dubs "Brexit 1.0—the Brexit nobody voted for," the Imperial College London researcher reveals two massive floods were responsible...

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