discoveries

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Scientists May Have a Way to Stop Banana Apocalypse

They've pinpointed genetic resistance to a devastating fungus

(Newser) - Bananas may not be doomed after all . Australian researchers say they've pinpointed a key stretch of DNA that helps some bananas fend off a major fungal threat—a finding they hope will keep the $140 billion global industry from repeating the near-wipeout of the Gros Michel variety in the...

Panama Unveils Its Tomb of Gold
Panama Unveils
Its Tomb of Gold
Feb 24, 2026 8:07 AM CST

Panama Unveils Its Tomb of Gold

Grave of high-status figure contains gold ornaments, ornate pottery

(Newser) - A grave that hadn't seen daylight in more than a millennium has been uncovered in central Panama—and its primary occupant was no ordinary local. Archaeologists say Tomb 3 at the El Caño site in Coclé province, about 125 miles southwest of Panama City, dates to roughly 800AD–...

Bird-Watching May Reshape Brain, Sharpen Thinking
Bird-Watching May Reshape
Brain, Sharpen Thinking
NEW STUDY
Feb 24, 2026 7:56 AM CST

Bird-Watching May Reshape Brain, Sharpen Thinking

Brain scans link birders to denser attention networks

(Newser) - If you've spent years scanning the treetops with binoculars, your brain may actually look different than other brains. A small Canadian study of nearly five dozen adults found that experienced birders had denser brain tissue in regions tied to attention, visual processing, and working memory than novices did, and...

How Do Horses Whinny? They Whistle, Sort Of
The Science
Behind a Horse's
Whinny? Whistling
NEW STUDY
Feb 23, 2026 12:24 PM CST

The Science Behind a Horse's Whinny? Whistling

A horse's neigh may be unique in the animal kingdom

(Newser) - Horses whinny to find new friends, greet old ones, and celebrate happy moments like feeding time. How exactly horses produce that distinctive sound—for the uninitiated, also called a neigh—has long eluded scientists, reports the AP . The whinny is an unusual combination of both high- and low-pitched sounds, like...

Rain From Amazon's Tropical Forests Is Worth Billions

Study estimates region's forest-made rain adds $20B a year for agricultural efforts

(Newser) - Each patch of tropical forest is doing more than sheltering wildlife—it's also quietly manufacturing rain on a massive scale, a new study finds. University of Leeds researchers estimate that every hectare of tropical forest helps generate about 634,000 gallons of rainfall annually, roughly enough to fill an...

Ceramics Found on Shipwreck Upend Singapore's Origin Story

Cargo on Temasek Wreck shows that the island nation was a major trade hub during Yuan dynasty

(Newser) - Singapore's past just got a lot busier than the "sleepy fishing village" origin story suggests. A newly analyzed 14th-century shipwreck off its coast has yielded 3.9 tons of Chinese ceramics, offering the strongest maritime evidence yet that the island was a serious trading center centuries before the...

Shark Turns Up in a Most Unexpected Place

Video provides first evidence of a shark cruising the frigid Antarctic Ocean

(Newser) - An ungainly barrel of a shark cruising languidly over a barren seabed far too deep for the sun's rays to illuminate was an unexpected sight. Many experts had thought sharks didn't exist in the frigid waters of Antarctica before this sleeper shark lumbered warily and briefly into the...

Healthy Adults Fart About 32 Times a Day
Scientists Have a
Magic Number
for Daily Farts
NEW STUDY
Feb 18, 2026 7:21 AM CST

Scientists Have a Magic Number for Daily Farts

Scientists say healthy adults pass gas about 32 times a day in 'Smart Underwear' study

(Newser) - If you think you're an outlier in the gas department, science has news: You probably aren't. Researchers at the University of Maryland strapped "Smart Underwear" onto healthy adults for a week and found they passed gas an average of 32 times a day, though individual totals ranged...

Ancient Bone May Be First Proof of Hannibal's Elephants
Ancient Elephant Bone
May Prove Hannibal Legend
new study
Feb 16, 2026 3:16 PM CST

Ancient Elephant Bone May Prove Hannibal Legend

Fossil in Spain appears to back up the notion that he used the animals centuries ago

(Newser) - A bone from an elephant foot discovered under a fallen wall in southern Spain may be the first tangible proof that Hannibal really did march war elephants through Europe, reports the BBC . Archaeologists say the 4-inch foot bone, uncovered at an Iron Age site known as Colina de los Quemados...

11-Year-Old's Fossil Find 'Blew All of Our Minds'

Wyoming's Touren Pope discovers nearly complete softshell turtle from 48M years ago

(Newser) - An 11-year-old's casual rock hunt in Wyoming ended with a big fossil find. While searching for quartz crystals and other rocks on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in southwest Wyoming with his grandparents in September, Touren Pope spotted what experts now say is a 48-million-year old turtle specimen,...

Your Brain May Thank You for Training on This Game
Your Brain May Thank You
for Training on This Game
in case you missed it
Feb 14, 2026 3:08 PM CST

Your Brain May Thank You for Training on This Game

Study links visual 'speed training' to 25% lower dementia risk among older adults

(Newser) - If you're over 65 and willing to log a few hours a year on a specific brain game, a new study suggests your future self might thank you in the coming years. Researchers tracking nearly 3,000 older adults for two decades found that those who completed up to...

Elephants Have a Secret: Sensitive Whiskers
Elephants Have a Secret:
Sensitive Whiskers
new study
Feb 13, 2026 11:16 AM CST

Elephants Have a Secret: Sensitive Whiskers

Unique structure gives their trunks unusual dexterity, study suggests

(Newser) - If you've ever watched an elephant perform a delicate task with its trunk, the secret might lie in something easy to miss: whiskers. New research in Science finds that the hundreds of fine hairs coating an elephant's trunk are among the most advanced sensory whiskers known, turning the...

Device Suggests Correct Antibiotic in 36 Minutes
Device Suggests Correct
Antibiotic in 36 Minutes
new study
Feb 9, 2026 4:11 PM CST

Device Suggests Correct Antibiotic in 36 Minutes

Traditional lab tests take up to 72 hours

(Newser) - If new research holds up, doctors may be able to get lab-style answers on pathogens before they've finished a coffee. A team at McGill University says they've built a device that can both identify bacteria and flag which antibiotics will work against them in just 36 minutes—versus...

Doctors: Don't Freak Out About Your Cortisol Quite Yet

Wellness influencers paint stress hormone as a villain, but experts say not so fast

(Newser) - The stress hormone cortisol is currently the talk of the internet. Wellness influencers warn about the various symptoms of chronically high cortisol—for example, waking up at 3am, swollen "cortisol face," and accumulating belly fat. Many offer diet and exercise routines that they claim will help. But do...

Jupiter Is a Smidge Smaller Than We Thought
For Jupiter, 'Textbooks Will
Need to Be Updated'
in case you missed it
Feb 8, 2026 3:12 PM CST

For Jupiter, 'Textbooks Will Need to Be Updated'

New measurements reveal the planet is a bit thinner, flatter than believed

(Newser) - Jupiter hasn't shrunk, but our best measurement of it just did. Using fresh data from NASA's Juno spacecraft, scientists say the solar system's largest planet is slightly smaller and squatter than decades-old estimates suggested, reports Smithsonian Magazine . The revised dimensions, published in Nature Astronomy , trim roughly 15...

Air Pollution May Make Ants Go Haywire
Air Pollution May Make Ants
Turn on Each Other
new study
Feb 7, 2026 11:10 AM CST

Air Pollution May Make Ants Turn on Each Other

Study suggests they attack nest mates and even abandon their young

(Newser) - Ants living in smoggy air may be turning on their own, and even abandoning their young, because pollution is scrambling their social signals, new research suggests. In lab tests described this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , scientists exposed individual workers from six ant species to...

Scientists Say This Ape Had Some Imagination
Scientists Say This Ape
Had Some Imagination
NEW STUDY
Feb 6, 2026 7:21 AM CST

Scientists Say This Ape Had Some Imagination

Researchers say Kanzi the bonobo knew how to play pretend, though others aren't so sure

(Newser) - By age 2, most kids know how to play pretend. They turn their bedrooms into faraway castles and hold make-believe tea parties. The ability to make something out of nothing may seem uniquely human—a bedrock of creativity that's led to new kinds of art, music, and more. Now,...

On Longevity, 'You Don't Have as Much Control as You Think'

Study suggests genetics explain over half of lifespan differences, rather than lifestyle choices

(Newser) - How long you live may be more baked in than you think, according to a new analysis of longevity that leans heavily toward genes over lifestyle. In a paper published Thursday in Science , researchers led by Uri Alon of Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science report that inherited factors appear...

It's the Oldest-Ever Evidence of a Fatal Bear Attack

Reanalysis of an Italian cave burial reveals teen's death was likely caused by a bear

(Newser) - A Stone Age teenager whose remains were discovered in 1942 did indeed meet the violent end that had long been suspected. Scientific American reports that a reexamination of the famed "Il Principe" skeleton, found in an Italian cave and dating back 27,000 years, produced strong evidence he was...

Researchers 'in Shock' at Bird Spotted Off California Coast

Waved albatross is usually hanging out in the Galapagos, not the Golden State

(Newser) - Scientists on a research vessel off the Central California coast spotted a waved albatross, marking just the second recorded sighting of the bird north of Central America. The yellow-billed bird with black button eyes, which can have an 8-foot wingspan and spends much of its life flying over the ocean,...

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