discoveries

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

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Stand Up, Desk Jockeys —for at Least 2 Hours a Day

Guidelines say to eventually bump that to 4 hours to combat sedentary sitting

(Newser) - Office lackeys may spend up to 75% of their workday sitting, which can lead to serious health consequences . That's why an international panel now recommends office workers stand at least two hours a day, eventually bumping that to four hours, per a press release . The new guidelines, published in...

Tallest Redwood in Muir Woods Not So Old After All

Ring analysis shows Tree 76 is a mere 777 years old—not 1,500

(Newser) - You had us all fooled, Tree 76. Up til now, scientists believed that the tallest redwood in California's Muir Woods was about 1,500 years old, the Los Angeles Times notes. But the 249-foot-tall giant—or, as the San Francisco Chronicle now refers to it, "a puerile sprig...

How 'Pygmy' People's Rampant Pot Use Protects Them

May lower rates of infection by parasitic intestinal worms: study

(Newser) - Marijuana was a painkiller in ancient Egypt and an anesthetic in ancient China and Taiwan, Medical Daily reports. Now, an anthropologist says the Aka foragers of the Central African Republic may be unconsciously using the plant to ward off parasitic intestinal worms. Ed Hagen of Washington State University Vancouver surveyed...

Florida Fish Have Babies by 'Virgin Birth'

Smalltooth sawfish stun scientists with offspring

(Newser) - Looks like female sawfish don't need the guys so much anymore. Scientists have discovered seven examples in Florida of virgin-birth offspring by smalltooth sawfish, an endangered species whose members grow up to 25 feet in length and have long snouts studded with teeth, LiveScience reports. Their offspring may provide...

Bomb Blasts May Be Aging Soldiers&#39; Brains
Bomb Blasts May Be
Aging Soldiers' Brains
NEW STUDY
Jun 1, 2015 4:32 PM CDT

Bomb Blasts May Be Aging Soldiers' Brains

Even if they were far from the blasts

(Newser) - American soldiers exposed to bomb blasts in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering early brain degeneration and aging—even if they were far from detonation, USA Today reports. In all, 256 veterans and service members between the ages of 19 and 62 were analyzed in a study published today in Brain:...

How Contact Lenses Change Your Eyes

 How Contact Lenses 
 Change Your Eyes 
NEW STUDY
Jun 1, 2015 1:05 PM CDT

How Contact Lenses Change Your Eyes

May alter eye bacteria, boost risk of infection

(Newser) - Contact lenses improve your vision temporarily, but they may also make lasting changes to your eyes. Twenty volunteers, including nine daily contact wearers, allowed researchers to swab various parts of their eyes, plus the skin directly below. Scientists then performed genetic tests on the swabs and on the wearers' used...

1st Sunken Slave Ship Found After 220 Years

212 slaves died on the Sao Jose-Paquete de Africa, en route to Brazil

(Newser) - The first-ever wreckage of a ship that went down with slaves on board has been found just 100 yards off the coast of South Africa where it sank in 1794. The Portuguese ship, Sao Jose-Paquete de Africa, set out from Mozambique Island with more than 400 slaves shackled in its...

Evidence in Ancient Mystery: Skeleton, Severed Head

Discovered skulls could shed light on British warrior queen

(Newser) - First, they discovered 3,000 skeletons dating back to the Great Plague . Now archaeologists excavating parts of an ongoing commuter railway project in London have uncovered skulls lined neatly on a Roman road—and one lying between the legs of a headless skeleton, the Telegraph reports. Other skulls discovered in...

Women Sleep More, Wake Up Feeling Worse

The alarm-clock app Sleep Cycle delves into sleeping habits

(Newser) - For women who sleep long hours but wake up cursing the day, there's an app for that—or at least an app that corroborates your experience. The alarm-clock app Sleep Cycle gathered stats on one million users across 50 nations over nine months, and found that women aged 16...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a possible obesity fighter and how old-time cannibals prepared dinner

(Newser) - Evidence of the first known murder and an unlikely cancer killer make the list:
  • Prehistoric Crime Scene Offers Evidence for First Murder : Scientists digging around in the "Pit of Bones" in a Spanish cave found the skull of a young adult who lived around 430,000 years ago, and
...

&#39;Sweet Tooth&#39; May Be &#39;Achilles Heel&#39; of HIV

 'Sweet Tooth' May Be 
 'Achilles' Heel' of HIV 
study says
May 29, 2015 12:17 PM CDT

'Sweet Tooth' May Be 'Achilles' Heel' of HIV

Researchers block virus from feeding on sugar, starve it to death

(Newser) - Imagine you're hankering for a snack, but your refrigerator is chained up. Now imagine you're the HIV virus, and inside your fridge is the food you need to grow and spread. A new study from Northwestern Medicine and Vanderbilt University provides the chains: Researchers say they've found...

Study: Women Let Handsome Men Off Easier

Homely men who misbehave aren't given as much slack: study

(Newser) - Males wooing women can get away with acting a little creepy if they're good-looking, but the homely ones are out of luck, suggests a new study out of Eastern Kentucky University. To gauge their perceptions of men, researchers showed 170 female college students two male faces with similar features—...

Swiss Figure Out Why Their Cheese Has Holes

Lack of hay dust was causing hole shortage

(Newser) - Swiss scientists say they've solved a problem many people may not have noticed: the disappearing holes in Swiss cheese. Researchers at a government agricultural institute say that contrary to a century of scientific belief, the holes are caused by hay particles, not bacteria, and modern milking is just too...

Tattoo Risks Greater Than Thought
 Tattoo Risks 
 Greater Than 
 Thought 
study says
May 28, 2015 2:39 PM CDT

Tattoo Risks Greater Than Thought

Study: 1 in 10 have a skin reaction, and it can last for months or longer

(Newser) - A new survey of those who have gotten tattoos suggests that more people than realized suffer a nasty skin reaction as a result. NYU researchers determined that 10% of people suffer short-term complications such as a rash, infection, or swelling that last for days or weeks. But the scarier stat...

Stoned? Booze Dramatically Increases Your High

New research finds that any amount of alcohol dramatically ups THC levels

(Newser) - Marijuana and alcohol are one of the most common drug combinations implicated in car accidents, so researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse recently set out to better understand how the two interact. Reporting this week in the journal Clinical Chemistry , they found that alcohol dramatically increases TCH levels...

Scientists Find Evidence of 'History's First Murder'

Victim was bashed in head, chucked down cave shaft

(Newser) - An examination of ancient remains from a cave in Spain turned into an episode of CSI: Middle Pleistocene when scientists found evidence of what they say is the first known murder. The skull found in the "Pit of Bones" site belongs to a young adult who lived around 430,...

Study IDs Number of Drinks 'Beyond the Safe Level'

...when it comes to elderly drinkers

(Newser) - The elderly might want to lay off the alcohol, based on a new study that describes the serious consequences of just one or two drinks per day. Harvard Medical School researchers surveyed 4,466 people with an average age of 76 who also underwent heart scans, and found minimal alcohol...

Scientists Fight Skin Cancer With Herpes—Successfully

Modified virus kills cancer cells, awakens immune system

(Newser) - Adding herpes to skin cancer sounds like adding insult to injury, but researchers say that a modified version of the virus that causes cold sores has led to a major breakthrough for cancer patients. The genetically engineered virus stopped melanoma by "killing cancer cells and sparking the immune system...

Archaeologists Learn How Cannibals Prepared Flesh

Some bones appear to have been boiled with axiote or chilli

(Newser) - With evidence of cannibalism persisting throughout many eras and across many lands, scientists recently set out to determine precisely how one known group of cannibals prepared human flesh. Reporting in the journal Archaeometry , they say the remains of 18 men, women, and children dating to between 700BC and 500BC, found...

Could 'Thunder God Vine' Extract End Obesity?

Mice fed extract from Chinese plant lost weight, big-time

(Newser) - Could a Chinese plant make our lifestyle of dieting, exercise, and rampant obesity a thing of the past? Well, a new study says that mice given an extract from the plant—known as "thunder god vine"—ate as much as 80% less than their counterparts and lost 45%...

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