discoveries

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

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Answer to Our Lithium Demand May Lie in Arkansas
Answer to Our
Lithium Demand
May Lie in Arkansas
NEW STUDY

Answer to Our Lithium Demand May Lie in Arkansas

New research shows the state could have up to 19M tons buried in Smackover Formation area

(Newser) - The International Energy Agency has predicted that demand for lithium could grow by 40 times by 2040, and one US state in particular may be the solution to that demand. Researchers say that Arkansas could have between 5 million and 19 million tons of the chemical element, used in batteries...

Potential Depression Remedy: Brain Stimulation at Home

Study suggests patients can wear device to deliver a weak current

(Newser) - A new study suggests that people suffering from a bout of clinical depression might someday don a headset and administer a light electrical current to their brain to ease symptoms. Researchers say a clinical trial involving more than 170 people in the US and UK showed promise toward that end,...

Untouched Tomb to Tell Secrets of Mysterious Petra
At Petra, 'a Discovery of
Historic Proportions'
in case you missed it

At Petra, 'a Discovery of Historic Proportions'

Untouched tomb containing 12 skeletons could reveal secrets of the ancient site

(Newser) - One of the Seven Wonders of the World is still giving up its secrets. In what's being called "a discovery of historic proportions," researchers working around the Treasury monument in Petra, Jordan, have unearthed a tomb containing a dozen skeletons, apparently undisturbed for the past 2,000...

Viking Burial Ground Yields Clues to 10th Century

More than 50 skeletons in Denmark are incredibly well-preserved

(Newser) - In a village in central Denmark, archeologists made a landmark discovery that could hold important clues to the Viking era: a burial ground, containing some 50 skeletons. "This is such an exciting find because we found these skeletons that are so very, very well preserved," says archeologist...

A Big First: Communication Through Dreams

REMspace suggests people could accomplish real-life tasks, like starting a kettle, while asleep

(Newser) - A California-based sleep research startup believes the next groundbreaking advancement for humanity will be in accomplishing real-life tasks while asleep. And as it works toward that goal, REMspace is heralding a remarkable achievement: the first communication between two dreaming people, per Interesting Engineering . On Sept. 24, researchers observed two sleeping...

Scientists Unravel a Famous Painting&#39;s Magic
Scientists Unravel
a Famous Painting's Magic
in case you missed it

Scientists Unravel a Famous Painting's Magic

Brains of viewers of 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' light up as eyes bounce between focal points

(Newser) - Neuroscientists may have figured out why some viewers of Johannes Vermeer's "Girl With a Pearl Earring" become so entranced upon seeing it—especially the original. In their study, researchers had volunteers look at five paintings, as well as reproductions of the same paintings, while wearing contraptions that mapped...

Scientists: Brain Has Built-In Waste Removal System

Cleaning process could get rid of cellular trash that can build up, lead to dementia

(Newser) - A unique peek inside the human brain may help explain how it clears away waste like the kind that can build up and lead to Alzheimer's disease. Brain cells use a lot of nutrients, which means they make a lot of waste. Scientists have long thought the brain has...

Real Explanation of &#39;Longevity&#39; Is Often a Letdown
Real Explanation of 'Longevity'
Is Often a Letdown
new study

Real Explanation of 'Longevity' Is Often a Letdown

Researcher chalks it up to mistaken records or simple lying

(Newser) - Certain regions of the world are known as "blue zones" because of their long-lived inhabitants. Is it the diet? The climate? The good vibes? Turns out, it might simply be lousy record-keeping or outright fraud, reports NPR . The story cites the work of Saul Justin Newman, a research fellow...

Breakdancer Developed &#39;Cone Head&#39; After Years on the Mat
Breakdancers' Odd
Risk: a 'Cone Head'
CASE STUDY

Breakdancers' Odd Risk: a 'Cone Head'

Researchers say Danish man's 20 years of breakdancing gave him one

(Newser) - The Paris 2024 Olympics allowed breaking —or breakdancing, as the oldsters used to call it—making it a joyful international competition. But Danish researchers have released a case study of a longtime fan of the street dance who developed an odd injury after years of head spins. The new...

Scientists Say They've Invented a Better Suture

Material generates an electric field when stretched

(Newser) - Scientists say a new kind of surgical stitch they have developed is as strong as traditional stitches and turns one downside of sutures into a plus. Too much movement can be a problem with ordinary stitches, but the sutures developed by a team of researchers in China generate an electric...

This Ancient Giant Bug Grew to 8 or 9 Feet

Scientists use fossils, CT scans to re-create head of Arthropleura insect

(Newser) - As if the largest bug to ever live—a monster nearly 9 feet long with several dozen legs—wasn't terrifying enough, scientists could only just imagine what the extinct beast's head looked like. That's because many of the fossils of these creatures are headless shells that were...

Lung Cancer Patients Benefit From &#39;Golden Age&#39; of Research
On Lung Cancer Front,
an 'Amazing' Development
NEW STUDY

On Lung Cancer Front, an 'Amazing' Development

Drug combination found to bring longer control to patients with EGFR mutation

(Newser) - Lung cancer kills 1.8 million people every year, making it the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. With advances in precision medicine, however, doctors are helping prevent even more deaths, including with a drug combination just approved by the FDA in August. The results of a phase 3 trial...

From One Ancient Seed, a Biblical Plant Has Sprung
From One Ancient
Seed, a Biblical
Plant Has Sprung
NEW STUDY

From One Ancient Seed, a Biblical Plant Has Sprung

Scientists say the plant that sprouted may have had a medicinal purpose in long-ago times

(Newser) - A seed unearthed in the '80s in a cave in Israel's Judean Desert has produced a tree that scientists say hails from biblical times—and that could boast medicinal powers mentioned in the Good Book itself.
  • The planting: According to research published last month in the Communications Biology
...

US Navy's 'Ghost Ship of the Pacific' Is Found

USS Stewart was deliberately sunk off California in 1946, ending a 'globe-spanning odyssey'

(Newser) - The only US Navy destroyer captured by Japanese forces during World War II has been found in a deep, watery grave off the coast of California. The USS Stewart was stationed in Manila in 1941 to help repel Japanese attacks after the one on Pearl Harbor. But after it was...

At Bottom of Lake Michigan: Dozens of Massive Craters

Researchers say they'll be exploring the possible sinkholes 'for years to come'

(Newser) - NOAA researchers were conducting a sonar survey of the lakebed in the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary (WSCNMS) in 2022 when they noticed strange, circular blobs. Around the same time, shipwreck hunter Brendon Baillod spotted dozens of "irregular shapes" at the bottom of Lake Michigan some 14 miles...

Hurricane Helene Deaths Won&#39;t Stop for 15 Years
Hurricane Helene Deaths
Won't Stop for 15 Years
new study

Hurricane Helene Deaths Won't Stop for 15 Years

Study finds a staggering number of excess deaths happen in years after a tropical cyclone

(Newser) - Hurricane Helene's death toll has been rising for a week. It won't fully stop for 15 years, or so suggests a study published Wednesday in Nature . The New York Times describes the findings as so staggering to the researchers that they spent years checking their math. What they...

Scientists Unravel Why Everest Keeps Growing
Scientists Unravel Why
Everest Keeps Growing
new study

Scientists Unravel Why Everest Keeps Growing

The merging of two ancient rivers set off an ecological chain reaction, study says

(Newser) - Scientists and those adept at trivia contests can tell you that Mount Everest stands at 29,032 feet. Give it enough time, however, and that answer will tick higher, and a new study in Nature Geoscience sheds new insight into why, reports the Guardian . It has to do with the...

Want to Slow Down the Aging Process? Take a Trip
Odd Bonus of Travel:
It May Slow Aging
NEW STUDY

Odd Bonus of Travel: It May Slow Aging

Study suggests positive travel experiences put the brakes on physical entropy

(Newser) - An unexpected perk of travel? It may also involve a side trip to the fountain of youth. That's what a new theoretical study out of Australia's Edith Cowan University published in the Journal of Travel Research suggests. Per the Washington Post , the study sought to see what effects...

Researchers 'Surprised' at 'Period Poverty' Among Youth

New study: 1/3 of teens, young adults can't access tampons, pads, other menstrual products

(Newser) - The Parents portal recently called it "the one back-to-school item teens shouldn't have to buy"—and while many agree that kids should have easy access to period products (think tampons, maxi pads, menstrual cups, etc.), a significant number of them don't. Citing new research from...

What Scientists Learned From 3.6K-Year-Old Cheese
World's Oldest Cheese
Has Secrets to Tell
NEW STUDY

World's Oldest Cheese Has Secrets to Tell

Analysis of 3.6K-year-old cheese reveals spread of kefir bacteria from China's Xinjiang region

(Newser) - In the 1990s, archaeologists peered into the graves of 3,600-year-old mummies in a desert in northwest China's Xinjiang region and found a strange substance smeared on their heads and necks. It turned out to be the oldest cheese ever found, and it's taught researchers quite a bit...

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