discoveries

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

Stories 241 - 260 | << Prev   Next >>

It's a 'Pivotal Milestone' Courtesy of Webb Telescope

In a first, chemical composition of an exoplanet's clouds definitively identified

(Newser) - The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed details of an "absolutely hostile" planet where it rains, not water, but particles of silicate sand, which whip around at speeds of a couple of miles per second. The gas giant Wasp-107b, some 200 light years away in the Virgo constellation, is...

These 8 Factors Can Slow Aging by 5 Years
These 8 Factors
Can Slow Aging
by 5 Years
NEW STUDY
Nov 11, 2023 8:30 AM CST

These 8 Factors Can Slow Aging by 5 Years

Following a new checklist from the American Heart Association could help decelerate the process

(Newser) - If you love a good checklist, then keep this one from the American Heart Association handy. It outlines eight essential measures that can slow down aging by up to five years, based on new findings out of Columbia University that AHA will launch at its annual meeting this November, the...

For This Dog-Loving Scientist, 'Enlightening' Research on Cats

Your favorite felines can make nearly 300 facial expressions, debunking their 'aloof' reputation

(Newser) - A psychology professor who also happens to love dogs had always thought of cats as being somewhat "aloof," and so when she embarked on a nearly yearlong study of felines to figure out how they communicate, she didn't expect her findings to reveal anything much different about...

Study Finds New Worry for Endangered Cheetahs
Study Finds New Worry
for Endangered Cheetahs
new study
Nov 8, 2023 2:30 PM CST

Study Finds New Worry for Endangered Cheetahs

They become more nocturnal on hot days, and that could mean less food for them

(Newser) - Cheetahs are usually daytime hunters, but the speedy big cats will shift their activity toward dawn and dusk hours during warmer weather, a new study finds. Unfortunately for endangered cheetahs, that sets them up for more potential conflicts with mostly nocturnal competing predators such as lions and leopards, say the...

'Cosmic Beast' in Night Sky Blows Our Black Hole Away

Oldest black hole ever discovered formed just 470M years after the Big Bang

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered the oldest black hole yet, a cosmic beast formed a mere 470 million years after the Big Bang. The findings, published Monday, confirm what until now were theories that supermassive black holes existed at the dawn of the universe, per the AP . NASA's James Webb Space...

In 1750s War Letters, Humanity Shows the Same Stripes

Messages to distant French sailors feel 'very familiar,' despite the time gap

(Newser) - In 1758, Marie Dubosc penned a letter to her husband, Louis Chambrelan, first lieutenant on the French warship Galatee. "I could spend the night writing to you," she wrote. "I am your forever faithful wife." Unfortunately for Dubosc, who would die the following year, the letter...

Pot May Raise Risk of Heart Issues
Pot Smokers
May Be Doing
Damage to
Their Tickers
NEW STUDIES
Nov 6, 2023 12:32 PM CST

Pot Smokers May Be Doing Damage to Their Tickers

Researchers find daily users have a 34% greater risk of heart failure; heart attack, stroke risk also up

(Newser) - If you think you're avoiding serious health issues by switching from smoking tobacco to smoking pot, you might want to reassess. Two new still-to-be-published studies, set to be presented Nov. 13 at an American Heart Association meeting in Philadelphia, show that people who use marijuana on a daily basis...

Rats Have Imaginations, Too


Rats Have
Imaginations,
Just Like
We Do
new study
Nov 6, 2023 10:10 AM CST

Rats Have Imaginations, Just Like We Do

Study has wide-ranging implications, and not just for rodents

(Newser) - Humans aren't the only creatures in the animal kingdom with imaginations, a new study suggests. It seems that rats are in the club, too, reports Scientific American . In a series of remarkable experiments, researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Virginia concluded that rats are capable of visualizing...

Starfish 'Arms' Are Really Something Else Entirely

Scientists say the 5 appendages are 'more like extensions of the head'

(Newser) - If you ever end up on Jeopardy! and your clue is "This star-shaped marine creature has five arms," you may want to pause before you offer what seems like the obvious answer. That's because those appendages you see sticking out from the bodies of starfish aren't...

NASA's Surprise Find: This Asteroid's 'Dinky Sidekick'

Lucy spacecraft discovers 'mini moon' during flyby of Dinkinesh space hunk

(Newser) - The little asteroid visited by NASA's Lucy spacecraft this week had a big surprise for scientists. It turns out that the asteroid Dinkinesh has a dinky sidekick—a mini moon. The discovery was made during Wednesday's flyby of Dinkinesh, 300 million miles away in the main asteroid belt...

First to Suffer From Asteroid That Doomed Dinos: Plants

Dust particles in atmosphere shut down photosynthesis for 2 years: researchers

(Newser) - It wasn't so much the asteroid impact that killed 75% of the species on Earth some 66 million years ago, but the fact that, for the following two years, little, if anything, could grow. That's according to research offering the first in-depth study of dust particles thrown into...

&#39;Lost Continent&#39; That Broke Off From Australia Is Found
Geologists Have Found
'Lost Continent' of Argoland
new study
Oct 29, 2023 9:30 AM CDT

Geologists Have Found 'Lost Continent' of Argoland

Land that broke away from ancient Australia splintered into massive shards

(Newser) - Before you congratulate yourself on finding your lost keys, know that scientists have located an entire lost continent, piecing together a longstanding geological puzzle. Millions of years ago, a strip of western Australia broke off into a microcontinent known as Argoland due to shifting tectonic plates, IFL Science reports....

400 Elephants Dropped Dead. Now, a &#39;Very Worrying&#39; Find
400 Elephants Dropped Dead.
Now, a 'Very Worrying' Find
in case you missed it
Oct 28, 2023 12:10 PM CDT

400 Elephants Dropped Dead. Now, a 'Very Worrying' Find

In a first, researchers link 'Pasteurella' Bisgaard taxon 45 to blood poisoning

(Newser) - Experts believe they've gotten to the bottom of a "conservation disaster" that killed hundreds of endangered African savanna elephants across Botswana and Zimbabwe, and the explanation isn't likely to soothe those hoping to save the beautiful beasts. Nearly 400 elephants of all ages were found dead in...

Florida Road Workers Make &#39;Incredible&#39; Find Under Highway
Florida Road Workers Make
'Incredible' Find Under Highway
in case you missed it
Oct 28, 2023 6:30 AM CDT

Florida Road Workers Make 'Incredible' Find Under Highway

Shipwreck believed to be from 1800s discovered in St. Augustine, 'encapsulated in soil and mud'

(Newser) - A construction crew doing routine roadwork in a Florida city have made a decidedly unroutine find. FOX 35 and 10 Tampa Bay report that workers with the state's Department of Transportation were recently working on a stretch of road near the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine, the continuation...

Getting Hot Flashes? Commiserate With a Chimp
Getting Hot
Flashes?
Commiserate
With a Chimp
NEW STUDY
Oct 27, 2023 12:06 PM CDT

Getting Hot Flashes? Commiserate With a Chimp

These primates go through menopause just like humans, some whales, researchers say

(Newser) - Female humans aren't the only mammals known to go through menopause, then live for many years after—some whale species also undergo the process, which is when menstruation stops for good. Now, in what the Washington Post calls a "landmark discovery," researchers say chimpanzees have also joined...

'Incredibly Rare' Tomb Holds Hugging Skeletons

Archaeologists unearthed the 5K-year-old tomb in a field in Scotland

(Newser) - On the surface, "it's just a gently rolling field of grass" in Scotland. But below the ground, archaeologists have discovered an "incredibly rare" 5,000-year-old tomb holding the remains of 14 people, two of whom appear to be hugging and one who appears to be reaching out...

Diabetes Drug Helped Dieters Lose Quarter of Body Weight
This Drug Is Like a 'Medical
Gastric Bypass' for Weight Loss
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Oct 21, 2023 12:10 PM CDT

This Drug Is Like a 'Medical Gastric Bypass' for Weight Loss

Experts say Eli Lilly diabetes drug Mounjaro, aka tirzepatide, holds potential for treating obesity

(Newser) - The medicine in the diabetes drug Mounjaro helped people with obesity or who are overweight lose at least a quarter of their body weight, or about 60 pounds on average, when combined with intensive diet and exercise, a new study shows. By comparison, a group of people who also dieted...

Metal Detector Uncovers a Bronze Age Treasure Trove

Jewelry collection comes from Swiss area with few known settlements from that time

(Newser) - A Swiss man who set out to explore a freshly plowed field with his metal detector stumbled upon what some are speculating are treasures once contained in an ancient jewelry box. From the carrot field in Güttingen, 50 miles northeast of Zurich, Franz Zahn first pulled a bronze disc...

Rock Slab Found in 1900 Now Hailed as 'Treasure Map'

Researchers believe the Saint-Bélec slab points to Bronze Age burial sites in France

(Newser) - There's no bright red "X" marking the spot where treasure can be found. Still, archaeologists believe they've found a "treasure map" in the form of a 4,000-year-old rock slab whose engraved markings match natural features in France's westernmost Brittany region. The large stone, known...

We Have Our First Clue From 2K-Year-Old Vesuvius Scroll

Luke Farritor of University of Nebraska-Lincoln nabs Vesuvius Challenge's 'first letters' prize

(Newser) - Artificial intelligence and two students half a world apart have deciphered the first word from ancient scrolls that were turned to charcoal and buried for nearly 2,000 years following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79. Discovered in the 18th century in a luxury villa in Herculaneum, the carbonized...

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