discoveries

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

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Archaeologists Uncover World's Oldest ... Pretzel

250-year-old treat among burnt breakfast found in Bavaria

(Newser) - Archaeologists digging in Germany's state of Bavaria probably weren't expecting to find a snack. But that's exactly what turned up last summer at a site in Regensburg on the Danube River, a location that had previously given up the remains of some gallows and a 1,200-year-old...

Your Memories of 9/11 Might Be Wrong

Researchers find discrepancies in personal 'flashbulb' recollections

(Newser) - Quick, where were you when you heard about the 9/11 attacks? Who were you with? If you're like most people, you've got answers at the ready. But as it turns out, there's a decent chance your answers are wrong, reports Time . That's the upshot of a...

Scientists Unlock Key of Octopus's Blue Blood

New research could explain why they'll thrive in warming Antarctic waters

(Newser) - Unlike human royalty, a species of octopus that thrives in frigid Antarctic waters has actual blue blood, and scientists think they've figured out its advantage: The key is a blue-hued protein called hemocyanin—which Phys.org notes is comparable to hemoglobin in vertebrates, and which distributes oxygen throughout the...

How Chameleons Really Change Their Color
 How Chameleons Really 
 Change Their Color 
NEW STUDY
Mar 11, 2015 4:14 AM CDT

How Chameleons Really Change Their Color

New study finds it isn't just pigments

(Newser) - Chameleons may not be the only creatures on the planet capable of shade shifting, but they're probably the best at it—panther chameleons in particular. They can go from green and blue hues to yellow and red ones in a matter of minutes, and scientists say they now think...

A New Way for the Blind to Read

Finger-worn device from MIT translates text to speech in real time

(Newser) - A new invention could help blind people "read" books and other written text without the need for Braille. MIT researchers have created a prototype of a finger-mounted device that uses a camera to scan text, which is then converted to speech in real time. "For visually impaired users,...

Skeletons Under Railroad Could Tell Us About Plague

London excavation to unearth thousands of bones with possible bubonic clues

(Newser) - They came from every parish of London, and from all walks of life, and ended up in a burial ground called Bedlam. Now scientists hope these centuries-old skeletons can reveal new information about how long-ago Londoners lived—and about the bubonic plague that often killed them. Archaeologists announced yesterday that...

Chemo Doesn't Have to Mean Baldness Anymore

Women saving their hair by freezing their scalps

(Newser) - Say the word "chemo" and what comes to mind? Cancer? Nausea? Hair loss? It seems that final association is, for some, becoming a thing of the past. The New York Times reports that some breast cancer patients are hanging on to the hair on their head, even as other...

Spelunkers' Big Find: Ancient Treasure

The coins and jewels date back 2,300 years

(Newser) - Last month it was amateur scuba divers stumbling upon a treasure trove of submerged coins in Israel. Now three amateur spelunkers from the Israeli Caving Club have alerted authorities to a stash of ancient coins and jewels that appear to date back 2,300 years, to the time of Alexander...

How Slave Skeletons Were Finally Traced to Their Home

Tiny bits of DNA extracted from tooth roots helped identify 3 slaves

(Newser) - Though upward of 12 million Africans were enslaved and shipped to the Americas between 1500 and 1850, tracing their roots back home has been famously difficult—with poor record-keeping and poorly-preserved DNA samples partly to blame. Now researchers from Stanford University and the University of Copenhagen report in the Proceedings ...

Wrong Kind of Praise Creates Narcissistic Kids
 Wrong Kind of Praise
Creates Narcissistic Kids
STUDY SAYS
Mar 10, 2015 4:31 AM CDT

Wrong Kind of Praise Creates Narcissistic Kids

But emotional warmth helps build self-esteem

(Newser) - If you keep telling your children that they are special, you may end up with kids that go around acting like they're better than everybody else, according to a new study. In what researchers say is the first study to look into how narcissism develops over time, children between...

Trained Dog Can Smell Your Cancer
Dog Lies Down
When He Smells Cancer
 
study says
Mar 9, 2015 6:50 PM CDT

Dog Lies Down When He Smells Cancer

German shepherd mix trained to spot thyroid cancer

(Newser) - Scientists seeking a quick and affordable way to detect thyroid cancer have trained a dog to smell it on people, with really good results. In a US study, a German shepherd mix named Frankie detected thyroid cancer (or lack thereof) in urine samples with nearly 90% accuracy, Medical News Today...

Study Defines &#39;Normal&#39; Penis Length
 Study Defines 
 'Normal' Penis Length 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 8, 2015 7:00 PM CDT

Study Defines 'Normal' Penis Length

Here it is: 5.16 inches

(Newser) - For any man who's secretly wondering if he measures up, here's the answer: UK researchers set out to determine what can be considered a "normal" penis length by analyzing prior studies and identifying 20 that met their criteria. That gave them a data pool of 15,521...

Why Farmers&#39; Markets Aren&#39;t That Great

 Why Farmers 
 Markets Aren't 
 That Great 
new study
Mar 8, 2015 5:10 PM CDT

Why Farmers Markets Aren't That Great

Study says they're pricey and not much healthier

(Newser) - Who doesn't like a farmers market? Organic food, weird jams, and a sense of community have drawn shoppers nationwide for years. But a new study says the markets don't really fulfill their reputation of promoting a healthy diet—and definitely don't save people money, Pacific Standard reports....

Dangerous 'Microsleeps' Follow Daylight Saving Time

Scientists warn of sudden lapses in attention

(Newser) - Feeling groggy after the Daylight Saving Time switch? Scientists say you better watch out for "microsleeps," tiny lapses in attention that can create problems at work and accidents on the road, the Christian Science-Monitor reports. The microsleeps apparently account for extra car crashes and workplace injuries that follow...

No. 1 Source of Salmonella Cases: Not Meat

In fact, seeded veggies are the worst culprit, feds find

(Newser) - Salmonella might be an illness you think about when you're tempted to eat cookie dough ; it's probably not something that worries you when picking out zucchini. But in fact, seeded vegetables were the top source of salmonella illnesses in a federal food study that focused on the years...

Mummified Climbers Found on Mexico's Tallest Peak

Bodies on Pico de Orizaba could be those lost in avalanche half-century ago

(Newser) - A team of climbers trekked some 17,000 feet up Mexico's Pico de Orizaba in search of one set of frozen, mummified remains only to stumble upon a second set some 400 feet away, reports the Telegraph . "It was impossible to conduct the rescue this time," says...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including something REALLY small, something REALLY big, and something ... average

(Newser) - A totally untouched civilization and more potential hot news about coffee make the list:
  • Archaeologists Hit Jackpot in Rainforest : Experts have long sought the legendary Ciudad Blanca ("White City") in the Honduran rainforest, but scientists say they've found something even better: an entire lost civilization. Among the
...

Men Really Are More Narcissistic
 Men Really Are 
 More Narcissistic 
new study
Mar 5, 2015 9:01 AM CST

Men Really Are More Narcissistic

Men tend to feel more entitled, assertive than women: study

(Newser) - Prepare to be the more gloating sex, ladies: A "meta-analytic review" of 31 years of research has led University at Buffalo researchers to the conclusion that men are more narcissistic than women. The researchers pored over 355 papers that encompassed findings on 475,000 subjects and found their conclusion...

Jawbone Rewrites 'Dawn of Man' Timeline

It pushes back start of 'Homo' genus by 400K years

(Newser) - It's just a small piece of a jawbone with five teeth, but its discovery in Ethiopia is changing the timeline of human origins. Researchers say the bone is from an individual who lived 2.8 million years ago and belonged to the genus Homo, the lineage from which modern...

Science Unravels Secret of Indian Cuisine

Flavors don't overlap as they do in Western cuisine

(Newser) - The secret to why Indian cuisine has such a distinctive taste is a little more complicated than knowing how much curry or tamarind to drop in. It all has to do with flavor compounds—and how Indian dishes take the opposite approach from Western dishes toward them. In the West,...

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