discoveries

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

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Archaeologists Find Unusual Murder Weapon: a Ring

Would have been used to hold poison, says dig leader

(Newser) - Archaeologists have uncovered a cache of jewelry from the ruins of Bulgaria's Cape Kaliakra. But one of the more than 30 pieces found there over the last two years is getting particular attention—a ring that may have doubled as a murder weapon. Discovery News reports the centuries-old bronze...

WWII POW's Treasured Ring Finds Its Way Home

After 1.5 years in prison camp, David Cox traded it for food

(Newser) - Last week, David Cox Jr. opened a package that had been sent to Raleigh, NC, from Germany. In it was a ring—and with it an amazing story. The gold aviator's ring had belonged to the 67-year-old's father, David Cox, who had been given it by his parents...

Voyager May Have Left Solar System—a Year Ago

Blended magnetic fields at solar system's edge blurred crossing: study

(Newser) - The Voyager 1 spacecraft, expected to leave our solar system any day now , may actually have already done so—more than a year ago. Though similar reports were squashed earlier this year, a new study in Astrophysical Journal Letters suggests that the craft passed beyond the solar system's edge...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

From an old shipwreck to a new species

(Newser) - From the warm and fuzzy to the downright icy, this week has brought news of some amazing finds:
  1. Crazy Shipwreck Find: 2K-Year-Old Roman Food? After more than 80 years of reports from fishermen that they were bringing up Roman pottery shards and artifacts in their nets off the coast of
...

Turkey Dig Unearths 'Oldest Gaming Tokens Ever'

Archaeologists puzzle over game's strategy

(Newser) - Bronze-Age chess, anyone? Archaeologists in Turkey have unearthed a handful of pretty, 5,000-year-old stone carvings that may be the oldest gaming tokens ever found. Featuring dogs, pigs, pyramids, dice, and other shapes, the colorful tokens were discovered in a burial mound filled with other artifacts, Discovery reports. "It'...

New Tool Measures Consciousness for First Time

It could help treat unresponsive patients with brain injuries

(Newser) - How to determine whether an unresponsive patient is conscious? Introducing the PCI, a technique that involves measuring the brain's response to a magnetic pulse, reports LiveScience . “You’re kind of banging on the brain and listening to the echo,” explains a UK neuroscientist to ScienceNow . The new...

New Species a 'Cross Between Teddy Bear, House Cat'

Scientists discover the adorable olinguito

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered the first new mammalian carnivore species in the Americas in 35 years, and it's being met with a resounding "Awww!" ( CNN 's headline includes the word "cute," while the AP goes with "adorable.") The olinguito "looks...

North America's Oldest Rock Art Is Located Here

Scientists date petroglyphs at Winnemucca Lake

(Newser) - The oldest rock art in North America exists on limestone boulders at Nevada's now-dry Winnemucca Lake, a new analysis suggests. The petroglyphs, which include carvings of trees, leaves, and abstract designs, are likely between 10,500 and 14,800 years old, LiveScience reports. Scientists found the age by determining...

Medieval Tomb Discovered by ... a Badger?

12th Century tomb of Slavic lords unearthed by an unlikely archaeologist

(Newser) - Amateur archeologists in Germany have made a significant discovery thanks to an unlikely assistant: a badger. Lars Wilhelm and Hendrikje Ring spotted a human pelvic bone that had been dug up near a badger's den on the farm they live on about 50 miles northeast of Berlin. "We...

'Bad Handwriting' May Settle Shakespeare Mystery

Professor says it proves 'Spanish Tragedy' lines are by the Bard

(Newser) - It's been a nearly 200-year-long debate: Did William Shakespeare add 325 lines to Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy nearly a decade after Kyd's death? None other than Samuel Taylor Coleridge raised the question in 1833, and a 2012 computer analysis seemed to lend credence to the theory....

Redwoods Growing at Fastest Rate Ever

 Redwoods Growing 
 at Fastest Rate Ever 
new study
Aug 14, 2013 7:18 AM CDT

Redwoods Growing at Fastest Rate Ever

And we may have climate change to thank

(Newser) - Not a phrase you typically see associated with climate change: "a wonderful, happy surprise." But that's what the science director at the Save the Redwoods League had to say to the Los Angeles Times about the news that coast redwoods and giant sequoias have grown at their...

Crazy Shipwreck Find: 2K-Year-Old Roman Food?

Divers think food could have been preserved

(Newser) - A 2,000-year-old shipwreck discovered off the coast of Italy could yield a pretty neat find: jars of preserved food from ancient Rome. Divers launched a search near Varazze, a town in the province of Liguria, after more than 80 years of reports from fishermen that they were bringing up...

Maybe Neanderthals Weren&#39;t Such ... Neanderthals
Maybe Neanderthals Weren't Such ... Neanderthals 
STUDY SAYS
Aug 13, 2013 8:45 AM CDT

Maybe Neanderthals Weren't Such ... Neanderthals

Scientists find they were making bone tools long before humans arrived

(Newser) - Researchers have found what they say are specialized bone tools made by Neanderthals in Europe thousands of years before modern humans are thought to have arrived to share such skills, a discovery that suggests modern man's distant cousins were more advanced than we thought. In a paper published yesterday...

In Rat Brains, a Clue to Near-Death Experiences

 Clue to Near-Death 
 Experiences Uncovered 
study says
Aug 13, 2013 7:44 AM CDT

Clue to Near-Death Experiences Uncovered

Scientists find rats' brains go into overdrive after cardiac arrest

(Newser) - A fascinating (and somewhat macabre) new study may explain the so-called "near-death experiences" described by many people. Scientists studied the brains of nine rats as they were being euthanized and found that just after the rats' hearts stopped, their brains became more active than normal, NPR reports. This sort...

Autism Has 'Eerie' Connection to Cancer Gene

Researchers see hope for autism treatment

(Newser) - "It's eerie," says a scientist of a newly discovered link between autism and cancer. What researchers found: A gene known as PTEN can cause a number of different cancers, including breast, thyroid, and colon; and it turns out that some 10% of kids with mutations in the...

Large Mayan Frieze Found in Guatemala

Archeologists were exploring pyramid

(Newser) - Archaeologists have found an "extraordinary" Mayan frieze richly decorated with images of deities and rulers and a long dedicatory inscription. The frieze was discovered in the northern Province of Petenelli by a team led by Guatemalan archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli, a professor at Tulane. The archaeologists were exploring a Mayan...

Holocaust Survivors Live Longer—Among Men

Study looked at 55K emigrants from Poland to Israel

(Newser) - Think Holocaust victims suffer from survivor's guilt? Maybe, but according to a new study, Holocaust survivors live an average of 6 months longer than those who avoided the Nazi menace, Pacific Standard reports. Among 55,220 emigrants from Poland to modern-day Israel, men who lived in Europe between 1939...

New Source of Booze: Used Coffee Grounds

Scientists cook, ferment, concentrate it

(Newser) - Soon you may no longer have to choose between treating your hangover with coffee or the hair of the dog. Science reports that scientists have successfully spun used coffee grounds into booze, in a process that sounds relatively straightforward. They dried the spent grounds (which, in this case, came from...

Ancient &#39;Halls of the Dead&#39; Unearthed

 Ancient 'Halls of the 
 Dead' Unearthed 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Aug 4, 2013 6:55 AM CDT

Ancient 'Halls of the Dead' Unearthed

1K years older than Stonehenge

(Newser) - Archaeologists have unearthed two ancient buildings in England thought to be 6,000 years old—that's 1,000 years older than Stonehenge. The remains of the 320-foot-long wooden long houses were found under burial mounds in Herefordshire. They are believed to have been deliberately, symbolically burned down—probably when...

Archaeologists: We Found Piece of Jesus' Cross

Small relic undergoing tests in Turkey

(Newser) - Archaeologists working at an ancient church in Turkey think they've unearthed a piece of the world's most famous cross, the one used to crucify Jesus. They found a stone chest during excavation at a 1,350-year-old church, and the chest had a number of relics inside believed to...

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