discoveries

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

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One-Legged Skeleton Might Solve Napoleonic Mystery

It could be the remains of Gen. Charles-Étienne Gudin, missing since 1812

(Newser) - A one-legged skeleton found under a Russian dance floor could solve a mystery that has persisted since 1812. Charles-Étienne Gudin, whom the BBC refers to as Napoleon Bonaparte's "favorite general," was hit by a cannonball during the failed French invasion of Russia that year; he had...

Lucy&#39;s Ancestor Now Has a Face
Face of
Lucy's
Ancestor
Revealed
Aug 28, 2019 5:35 PM CDT

Face of Lucy's Ancestor Revealed

Ethiopian fossil reveals face for the species A. anamensis

(Newser) - A fossil from Ethiopia is letting scientists look millions of years into our evolutionary history—and they see a face peering back. The find, from 3.8 million years ago, reveals the face of a presumed ancestor of the species famously represented by Lucy, the celebrated Ethiopian partial skeleton found...

First Big Study Finds a 'Polypill' Cuts Heart Risks

It's got 4 medications to fight strokes, bad cholesterol, and high blood pressure

(Newser) - The idea has been around for two decades or so: Give people one pill containing different drugs to fight an array of heart ailments. Now, the first major long-term study of the concept is in the books—and researchers say it works, reports the BBC . The details are laid out...

Research Claws at &#39;Crazy Cat Lady&#39; Stereotype
Research Claws at
'Crazy Cat Lady' Stereotype
NEW STUDY
Aug 22, 2019 9:20 AM CDT

Research Claws at 'Crazy Cat Lady' Stereotype

It suggests cat owners are no more anxious, depressed than others

(Newser) - Roughly half of Americans buy into the "crazy cat lady" stereotype, generally believing cat owners to be single women surrounded by numerous balls of fur, according to a 2015 survey spotted by the Los Angeles Times . It's a long-standing idea, as evidenced by an 1872 editorial in the...

Study to Solve 'Skeleton Lake' Mystery Only Adds to It

Site in Himalayas is home to hundreds of remains from different times, places

(Newser) - The official name is Roopkund Lake, but the inhospitable site in the Indian Himalayas is better known as "Skeleton Lake" for good reason. Scientists estimate the remains of "several hundred" people are scattered around its shores, explains a study in Nature Communications . New research aimed to resolve once...

History Is Tainted by &#39;National Narcissism&#39;
History Is Tainted by
'National Narcissism'
NEW STUDY
Aug 20, 2019 10:15 AM CDT

History Is Tainted by 'National Narcissism'

Russians, Brits, Americans all claim more than 50% of effort in WWII

(Newser) - We may be deceiving ourselves in teaching history born from "national narcissism," per a new study . "People are highly ethnocentric in viewing their own nation's influence, even in remembering the (nominally) same event: World War II," say researchers from Washington University in St. Louis. They...

Scientists Make 'Big Leap' in Understanding Earthquakes

New study shows that most big quakes are preceded by smaller ones

(Newser) - Predicting earthquakes is all but impossible, but a new study is being hailed as an important first step. The takeaway: Big quakes are preceded by smaller ones, reports the Los Angeles Times . Researchers took advantage of a new technique developed to find previously undetectable "microquakes," some as small...

&#39;Monster Penguin&#39; Once Lived in New Zealand
There Was Once
a Penguin the
Size of an Adult Human
study says
Aug 14, 2019 4:29 PM CDT

There Was Once a Penguin the Size of an Adult Human

The 'monster penguin' was about a foot taller than an emperor penguin, lived in New Zealand

(Newser) - Scientists in New Zealand said Wednesday they've found fossilized bones from an extinct monster penguin that was about the size of an adult human and swam the oceans some 60 million years ago. They said the previously undiscovered species is believed to have stood about 5 feet 2 inches...

Pompeii Gives Up a 'Sorcerer's Treasure Trove'

So much for good-luck charms

(Newser) - There was perhaps no better place for good-luck charms than Pompeii circa AD79. Too bad they didn't quite work. Archaeologists combing the ancient Roman city discovered dozens of charms within a "sorcerer's treasure trove," encased in hardened volcanic material from Mount Vesuvius' eruption that year, per...

Giant Parrot 'Squawkzilla' Is a First-of-Its-Kind Find

Extinct bird was more than half the height of an average human

(Newser) - Researchers believe they've found the largest known parrot to ever inhabit our planet, and it just happens to be about twice the size of the parrot it now dethrones. While the critically endangered kakapo of New Zealand can weigh close to 8 pounds, Heracles inexpectatus weighed an estimated 15....

Blood Test Could Get Rid of 'Coin-Tossing' on Alzheimer's

Researchers excited about test that detects beta-amyloid protein, an indicator of disease

(Newser) - It's not easy to diagnose Alzheimer's: With doctors able to make that pronouncement based only on limited information such as patient and family interviews and mental acuity tests, the accuracy rate of such a conclusion hovers between 50% and 60%—"about the same as tossing a coin,...

Contact Lens Would Let You Zoom In and Out by Blinking
Contact Lens of the Future
Is Pretty Remarkable
NEW STUDY
Jul 30, 2019 8:23 AM CDT

Contact Lens of the Future Is Pretty Remarkable

You'd be able to zoom in and out by blinking

(Newser) - Imagine straining your eyes to see something in the distance. Then you blink twice, and, voila, your vision zooms in for a clearer view. Blink twice again, and you zoom back out. That sci-fi scenario is closer than you think, based on new research out of the University of California,...

Researchers Rank Top Causes of Brain Injuries in Kids

Falling from beds, tripping on floors, and playing football are commonly cited in ERs

(Newser) - A comprehensive new report on the causes of brain injuries in children finds that falls from beds and trips on uneven floors are top causes in the youngest of kids, but football emerges as a leader among older ones, reports HealthDay News . The study in the journal Brain Injury breaks...

There&#39;s New Hope for Believers in Holy Shroud
Dating of Turin Shroud to 
Middle Ages Was Flawed
NEW STUDY
Jul 24, 2019 11:05 AM CDT

Dating of Turin Shroud to Middle Ages Was Flawed

Study offers new hope for believers

(Newser) - Whether the Shroud of Turin served as Jesus' actual burial cloth has long been debated —and a new study, while not weighing in one way or the other, is likely to keep that debate raging. Researchers reanalyzed data compiled in 1988, when experts at the University of Arizona, Oxford...

Millions Should Stop Taking a Daily Aspirin
Millions Should Stop
Taking a Daily Aspirin
new study
Jul 23, 2019 10:15 AM CDT

Millions Should Stop Taking a Daily Aspirin

Guidelines have changed, but practices have not

(Newser) - Millions of Americans take an aspirin every day with the aim of improving their health, but doctors say many of them are doing more harm than good. Conventional wisdom once held that a daily low-dose aspirin helped ward off heart attacks and strokes by thinning the blood. But as a...

A Lost Sub That Just Couldn't Be Found Is Discovered

The Minerve's wreckage is identified about 30 miles off the coast of France

(Newser) - After fruitless searching over five decades, the resting place of a vanished French submarine has been found. "We have just found the Minerva," the country's defense minister tweeted Monday per the BBC , which translated from the French. "It's a success, a relief and a technical...

Divers Off Maine Find US Ship Sunk by German Sub

49 sailors on the USS Eagle PE-56 went down with the ship in 1945

(Newser) - They finally found the Eagle 56—a war grave off the coast of Maine. Divers discovered the wreckage of the USS Eagle PE-56, which was sunk by a German sub in the final weeks of World War II, reports the New York Times . Forty-nine of the 62 people aboard were...

Cannonball Alters History of Waterloo

It suggests French army reached British field hospital before defeat

(Newser) - Rare human remains—specifically, amputated leg bones—have been discovered at the site of the 200-year-old battle that marked Napoleon's final defeat. Archaeologists were combing the site of farm buildings that were used as a British field hospital during the Battle of Waterloo in what is now Belgium when...

&#39;Frozen Smoke&#39; Could Help Future Mars Settlers
Aerogel Could Open Up
Big Swaths of Mars to Humans
new study
Jul 16, 2019 9:13 AM CDT

Aerogel Could Open Up Big Swaths of Mars to Humans

Study suggests building greenhouses and other structures with silica material

(Newser) - If humans hope to colonize Mars someday, we'll need to figure how to survive and grow crops on a large scale in an inhospitable environment. A new study in Nature Astronomy suggests a potential part of the solution: Build greenhouses and other structures out of an extremely light insulating...

Some of the Biggest Catfish Ever Lived in Surprising Place

Archaeologists uncover fossils of unusually large sea creatures in Sahara Desert

(Newser) - Picture a catfish. Now try to picture a catfish that's 5 feet long. Once you have that, try to picture a catfish that's 5 feet long and lives in the Sahara Desert. Such a creature did exist there, though it was 50 million to 100 million years ago...

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