discoveries

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

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A Shift in Alzheimer's Strategy: Prevention

2 new studies aim to prevent early plaque formation

(Newser) - It may be too late to stop Alzheimer's in people who already have some mental decline. But what if a treatment could target the earliest brain changes while memory and thinking skills are still intact, in hope of preventing the disease? Two big studies are going to try, per...

Discovery of Bronze Hand Sparks a Mystery
Ancient Bronze Hand Leaves
Archaeologists Perplexed
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 30, 2018 10:10 AM CDT

Ancient Bronze Hand Leaves Archaeologists Perplexed

And leads to a criminal investigation

(Newser) - The hand is a bit smaller than that of an adult and made from roughly a pound of bronze. What it was used for has perplexed archaeologists since it was found in Switzerland last October. At an estimated 3,500 years old, National Geographic calls it "Europe's earliest...

Chemical Banned Decades Ago Could Take Down Killer Whales
Study Gives Bleakest of
Outlooks for Killer Whales
new study
Sep 28, 2018 9:31 AM CDT

Study Gives Bleakest of Outlooks for Killer Whales

Study finds extremely high levels of PCBs in some orcas

(Newser) - It's less killer whale and more killed whales, at least according to a new study that found at least half the world's orcas could be taken down by ocean pollution in just a few decades. The culprit: highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. "Despite a near-global ban...

Scientists Make 'Critical' Find on Honeybees, Herbicide

Glyphosate, used in Monsanto's Roundup, may kill off insects' essential gut bacteria

(Newser) - Animals don't seem to be harmed by the world's most widely used weedkiller, but bees apparently don't fall under that protective umbrella. "This is really critical," one entomologist tells Science of a new study showing the digestive system of honeybees (and possibly other bees as...

They Spent Millions on a Hat That Could Be Worth Nothing

FBI, Smithsonian reports find no conclusive evidence hat was ever Abraham Lincoln's

(Newser) - It could be a $6.5 million hat—but it might also not be. WBEZ reports that the crown jewel of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum's collection, Lincoln's stovepipe hat, one of just three thought to still exist, may not have belonged to the 16th president...

One of History&#39;s Most Famous Ships May Have Been Found
One of History's Most Famous
Ships May Have Been Found
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 23, 2018 10:10 AM CDT

One of History's Most Famous Ships May Have Been Found

The wreckage of the Endeavour has possibly been pinpointed

(Newser) - Americans know the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria; in Australia, the Endeavour is the ship that's burned into memory. It set sail from Plymouth, England, in 1768 with Captain James Cook at the helm and was in 1770 the first European ship to chart parts of Australia...

Self-Centered? Scientists Say There&#39;s Hope
Scientists Pinpoint
4 Personality Types
in case you missed it
Sep 22, 2018 6:30 AM CDT

Scientists Pinpoint 4 Personality Types

Study refers to reserved, self-centered, role model, and average categories

(Newser) - Northwestern University psychology professor William Revelle spent years trying to show there are no real personality types. His latest research published Monday in Nature Human Behavior points to the opposite conclusion. Using data from 1.5 million survey respondents, it identifies four clear personality types—average, reserved, self-centered, and role...

Fat From This Fossil Solved Decades-Old Mystery
Fat From This Fossil
Solved Decades-Old Mystery
NEW STUDY
Sep 21, 2018 8:56 AM CDT

Fat From This Fossil Solved Decades-Old Mystery

Study says Dickinsonia is earliest confirmed animal in geological record

(Newser) - A researcher calls it "a decades-old mystery that has been the Holy Grail of paleontology": What, exactly, Dickinsonia was. It's one of a group of lifeforms called the Ediacaran biota, which the BBC describes as the "first complex multi-cellular organisms to appear on Earth." But for...

17th-Century Sailor Admits Rape in Concealed Diary Entry

'I did not enter her body, all though I did attempt something in that nature'

(Newser) - The elegant script and color illustrations of Edward Barlow's 225,000-word diary documenting the 17th-century sailor's life at sea have been admired for some 300 years. Hidden beneath was his darkest secret: a note providing what the Guardian calls an "excruciatingly frank account" of his rape of...

This Could Be a Novel Way to Conquer Cocaine Addiction

Scientists devise a genetically engineered skin graft that works in mice

(Newser) - Could a skin graft help cocaine addicts get clean? Scientists at the University of Chicago say their novel approach has worked in mice, reports New Scientist . And if this translates to humans, it could be a game changer, though the remedy is specific to cocaine addiction. In a new study...

Wolf Pup Died 50K Years Ago, Still 'So Cute'

Wolf, caribou found in Canada provide some of the world's oldest mummified soft tissue

(Newser) - "It's so cute" is not a typical reaction upon finding a 50,000-year-old dead animal, yet it's hard to argue with paleontologist Grant Zazula's assessment. With pristine muscle, skin, and fur, the complete mummified wolf pup, believed to have died around eight weeks old, looks as...

Meet the Shark That Likes Grass More Than Meat
Meet the First Known
Omnivorous Shark
NEW STUDY
Sep 5, 2018 6:15 PM CDT

Meet the First Known Omnivorous Shark

Bonnetheads munch on seagrass, and new study finds it's not just incidental

(Newser) - Jaws would've been a lot less scary had Steven Spielberg replaced his great white villain with a bonnethead shark. It's "the first known omnivorous species of shark," says researcher Samantha Leigh, co-author of a new study that describes the hammerhead relative as a lover of seagrass....

Toddlers Can Spot This Unflattering Trait


Toddlers Can
Spot This
Unflattering
Trait
new study
Sep 4, 2018 1:24 PM CDT

Toddlers Can Spot This Unflattering Trait

Study suggests they can distinguish between bullies and authentic leaders

(Newser) - A new study suggests that even toddlers know the difference between an authentic leader and a bully—and they're willing to defy the bully if they can safely do so. The study out of the University of Illinois and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ...

Big Egypt Find: Signs of Village Way Before the Pyramids

About 2,500 years before, to be (somewhat) exact

(Newser) - When you think of ancient Egypt, pharaohs and pyramids come to mind. But a new discovery in the Nile Delta is shedding some light on an even earlier time in Egypt's history. Archaeologists have discovered storage silos containing animal bones and food dating back to the Neolithic era (around...

Entire Arctic Expedition Perished, but Not Because of Lead

Study looks at fate of crew aboard HMS Erebus and HMS Terror

(Newser) - In 1845, Sir John Franklin set sail from England in the hopes of discovering and successfully navigating the Northwest Passage. Instead, all 128 crew members aboard the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror ended up dead. Nearly all of them actually survived until April 1848, when they fled ships that had...

3 Species Were Known to Go Through Menopause. Now It's 5

Aside from humans, they're all similar in one way

(Newser) - Menopause isn't a distinctly human condition—and now scientists have discovered two more species that experience it and then live well beyond it, bringing the total number to five. The four non-human species that go through menopause are similar in that they're all toothed whales. The new study,...

Was Napoleon Taken Down by a Volcano? Perhaps
Did a Volcano Play a Role in
Napoleon's Downfall? Maybe
in case you missed it
Aug 25, 2018 8:53 AM CDT

Did a Volcano Play a Role in Napoleon's Downfall? Maybe

New study suggests eruption played a role in poor weather conditions during battle

(Newser) - Here's an unexpected theory: that Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in June 1815 was partly caused by the eruption of an volcano in Indonesia. It's a suggestion tacked onto the end of a study by Dr. Matthew Genge of the Imperial College London published Wednesday in Geology . Titled...

On the Surface of the Moon: Ice, Ice, Baby
Good News
for Future
Lunar Colonists
NEW STUDY
Aug 22, 2018 7:50 AM CDT

Good News for Future Lunar Colonists

Astronomers find 'definitive evidence' of ice on moon's surface

(Newser) - Future lunar colonists shouldn't have too much trouble finding water: In a first, astronomers have discovered ice—specifically patches of frost—on the moon's north and south poles, in areas permanently shaded from the sun. Found by observing how molecules absorb infrared light, the ice is particularly concentrated...

Scientists Make Spaghetti Do What It Rarely Does
Scientists Make Spaghetti
Do What It Rarely Does
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Aug 19, 2018 6:57 AM CDT

Scientists Make Spaghetti Do What It Rarely Does

Snap neatly in two

(Newser) - Scientists at MIT have just completed an excellent pasta parlor trick: They figured out how to snap pieces of spaghetti in two. The uninitiated can test the original problem for themselves: Go to the kitchen, pull out a piece of dry spaghetti, and try to break it into two pieces....

What We Assumed About Easter Island May Be Wrong
What We Assumed About
Easter Island May Be Wrong
in case you missed it
Aug 18, 2018 10:00 AM CDT

What We Assumed About Easter Island May Be Wrong

New study looked at the source of the tools used to carve the heads

(Newser) - The tale of the demise of Easter Island's people may have to be rewritten. The story has long held that infighting as resources ran out was one of the main drivers of the collapse, but a new study published in the Journal of Pacific Archaeology suggests a different scenario....

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