scientific research

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Professor's Underwater Stay Sets Record

Joseph Dituri is teaching classes from Jules' Undersea Lodge

(Newser) - A university professor broke a record for the longest time living underwater without depressurization this weekend at a Florida Keys lodge for scuba divers. Joseph Dituri's 74th day residing in Jules' Undersea Lodge, situated at the bottom of a 30-foot-deep lagoon in Key Largo, wasn't much different than...

53 Species Aren't Mute After All


53 Species
Aren't Mute
After All
new study
Nov 26, 2022 3:10 PM CST

53 Species Aren't Mute After All

Recordings show some turtles won't stop making noise

(Newser) - Turtles evolved millions of years ago and live in nearly every type of climate, according to Live Science , so it makes sense that they've have something to say. New research suggests they do, documenting noises made by 53 species—50 of them turtles—that had been thought to be...

Climate Change Researchers Suggest a Middle Course

Focusing on worst-case scenarios is unwise, group of scientists suggests

(Newser) - Researchers in Colorado don't dispute that climate change could have catastrophic effects before long. But concentrating on worst-case scenarios can be counterproductive, they said in urging colleagues to focus more on middling potential outcomes, Study Finds reports. "We shouldn't overstate or understate our climate future," said...

Her Career Was Ending. What to Do With Her Worm Samples?

Preserving biological collections can save money and effort

(Newser) - We're guessing you don't think about parasitic flatworms very often. Not the dazzling " Fuchsia Flatworm " or its cousin, the ruffly " Pleasing Flatworm ." Dr. Marian Litvaitis spent a career thinking about them, researching these and other members of the order Polycladida for over 30 years,...

Cabbies' 'Remarkable Brains' Help Alzheimer's Research

London drivers map routes during MRI scans

(Newser) - The brains of London cabdrivers aren't like other people's. Before they're hired, prospective drivers study the city's streets for years and memorize thousands of routes, the Washington Post reports. And it's not just a matter of remembering information long enough to pass the tests; human...

Science Solves Mystery in Marie Antoinette Love Letter

Imaging technology reveals words the recipient scribbled over

(Newser) - “Not without you.” “My dear friend.” “You that I love." Marie Antoinette sent these expressions of affection—or more?—in letters to her close friend and rumored lover Axel von Fersen. Someone later used dark ink to scribble over the words, apparently to dampen...

Cockatoos Hold Classes In Stealing From Trash Cans

Researchers in Australia observed birds giving lessons in dumpster diving

(Newser) - A few years ago, a Sydney scientist noticed a sulfur-crested cockatoo opening his trash bin. Not every resident would be thrilled, but ornithologist Richard Major was impressed by the ingenuity. It’s quite a feat for a bird to grasp a bin lid with its beak, pry it open, then...

Mutated Virus Now Dominates: Research

Vaccine development could be affected by change

(Newser) - Many uncertainties remain about the mutated form of the new coronavirus that has been under study as it quickly spreads. But one question about G614 has been resolved, researchers said Thursday. "This is now the virus," said Erica Ollmann Saphire, who worked on a study published in Cell...

'Best Chance' for Coronavirus Cure? Might Be This Llama

Scientists are trying 'antibody therapies' for near-term coronavirus cure

(Newser) - Llamas are known as sociable animals with pleasantly soft wool—and now, a possible cure for the coronavirus. Scientists say llamas and alpacas at a research farm in Belgium are producing special antibodies that show promise in stopping the coronavirus, the Washington Post reports. A new scientific paper says these...

Scientists Call This a 'Moment of Destiny' on the Amazon

Deforestation threatens to worsen the effects of climate change, they say

(Newser) - Two scientists have assessed the present and future of the Amazon and raised the alarm about the future of the rainforest—and the Earth's climate. Waiting to act could be disastrous, said the scientists, one American and one Brazilian. "Today, we stand exactly in a moment of destiny:...

Planet 9 Might Be a Black Hole
Planet 9 Might Not Be a Planet
new study
Sep 28, 2019 11:30 AM CDT

Planet 9 Might Not Be a Planet

Two young PhDs offer a bold new theory

(Newser) - "What if Planet 9 is a Primordial Black Hole?" That's the title of a new paper about the mysterious gravity source at the edge of our solar system, Business Insider reports. Posted Tuesday on arXiv , the paper suggests that the still-unseen source—which some call Planet Nine, or...

Wasabi Error Triggers 'Broken Heart Syndrome'

Israeli woman thought it was avocado

(Newser) - For many people, mistaking wasabi for avocado would be an eye-watering experience. For an Israeli woman, it was heartbreaking. The 60-year-old woman said she felt pressure in her chest that lasted for hours after mistakenly consuming about a teaspoon of wasabi at a wedding, according to a case described in...

'We Were Thunderstruck': Arctic Fox Walks 2.7K Miles in 4 Months

Female traveled from northern Norway to Canada's far north

(Newser) - An arctic fox walked more than 2,737 miles to go from northern Norway to Canada's far north in four months, Norwegian researchers said. The Norwegian Polar Institute reported the young female fox left her birth place on Norway's Svalbard archipelago on March 1, 2018, and reached Canada'...

After Trump's Decree, Scientists Feel the Chill

They're bracing themselves for funding cuts

(Newser) - To save babies from brain-damaging birth defects, University of Pittsburgh scientist Carolyn Coyne studies placentas from fetuses that otherwise would be discarded—and she's worried this kind of research is headed for the chopping block, the AP reports. The Trump administration is cracking down on fetal tissue research, with...

Black Hole Image Makes a Star Out of Scientist

Katie Bouman's team developed needed algorithm

(Newser) - For the rest of the world, it was an incredible first: a stunning image of a black hole 55 million light-years from Earth. For Katie Bouman , it was all that, plus the culmination of three years of work, the realization of a goal that scientists thought to be impossible, and...

Watch: Tarantula Seen Eating Opossum for First Time
Spiders' Eating Habits
Surprise Researchers
new study
Mar 1, 2019 10:27 AM CST

Spiders' Eating Habits Surprise Researchers

One is spotted feasting on an opossum in the Amazon

(Newser) - Scientists watched on in amazement as a dinner-plate-sized tarantula in the Amazon was seen eating an opossum for the first time. "We were pretty ecstatic and shocked, and we couldn't really believe what we were seeing," says Michael Grundler of the University of Michigan. The finding, recorded...

The Moratorium Was 'Unprecedented.' Now It's Over
The Moratorium
Was 'Unprecedented.'
Now It's Over
the rundown
Dec 19, 2017 2:09 PM CST

The Moratorium Was 'Unprecedented.' Now It's Over

Feds lift ban on funding research into enhanced potential pandemic pathogens

(Newser) - A door that was shut three years ago has been opened, though how far is unclear: In October 2014, the feds put a moratorium on funding studies on germs that could be altered to cause pandemics, or enhanced potential pandemic pathogens. On Tuesday, the National Institutes of Health announced...

Another Hurricane Maria Victim: Monkey Island

It's one of the world's most important sites for primate research

(Newser) - As thousands of troops and government workers struggle to restore normal life to Puerto Rico, a small group of scientists is racing to save more than 1,000 monkeys whose brains may contain clues to some of the most important mysteries of the human mind. One of the first places...

Scientists Discover the Fishy Secret to Surviving Frozen H2O

When oxygen is scarce, a unique process kicks in for goldfish

(Newser) - While it’s a myth that a stiff drink makes you warmer in cold weather, a new study found that alcohol is the very reason some fish survive frozen conditions. Per the BBC , goldfish and crucian carp developed the ability to survive months in icy lakes and ponds using the...

Think Booze Is Your Muse? Scientists Think You're Right

Scientists speculate that alcohol could help us fixate less, move past creative blocks

(Newser) - People who claim to be more creative after a pint may be onto something after all, according to researchers studying the age-old assumption. A team at the University of Graz in Austria reports in the journal Consciousness and Cognition that among the 132 young adults they studied, the ones who...

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