discoveries

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

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Egypt Unveils Newly Found Ancient Artifacts

Many were at the famed Ehnasiya necropolis

(Newser) - Archaeologists have unearthed a set of ancient artifacts in Egypt including Pharaonic funerary furniture, remains of a Roman basilica, and a marble head of Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of love and beauty, per the AP . The remains of the basilica and Aphrodite's head were found in an ancient...

Custom Gait Training Eases Arthritis Pain in Knees
Learning to Walk Differently
Can Help Knee Pain
NEW STUDY
May 31, 2026 3:45 PM CDT

Learning to Walk Differently Can Help Knee Pain

Research shows that personalized gait training eases knee osteoarthritis, slows damage

(Newser) - A tweak to how you walk might someday join medication on the list of ways to ease arthritic knee pain. In a yearlong clinical trial detailed in the Lancet Rheumatology journal , researchers at the University of Utah, NYU, and Stanford found that patients with knee osteoarthritis who were trained to...

Upbeat Music May Help You Work Out Longer
Tweak Your Playlists
for Longer Workouts
NEW STUDY
May 30, 2026 5:30 AM CDT

Tweak Your Playlists for Longer Workouts

Fast-tempo, personalized tunes linked to 20% longer sessions, per new research out of Finland

(Newser) - Turning up the tempo on your workout playlist may do more than just make the miles feel shorter. A small Finnish study finds that exercising to fast-paced music—roughly 120 to 140 beats per minute—was linked to people lasting about 20% longer before hitting a wall than when they...

Fish Seem to Nap Like Humans
Fish Seem to Nap
Like Humans
new study
May 29, 2026 11:16 AM CDT

Fish Seem to Nap Like Humans

New study of zebrafish maps four distinct, humanlike sleep stages

(Newser) - Fish may lack eyelids, but when it comes to sleep, a new study suggests they're a lot more like humans than you might guess. The study in Nature Communications finds zebrafish cycle through four distinct sleep "substates" that parallel human sleep stages—right down to something resembling naps,...

Scientists Say They've Solved Century-Old Pigeons 'Mystery'

Research suggests the bird navigates with the help of its liver

(Newser) - A surprising gut feeling may be helping pigeons find their way home. Pigeons are a well-known group of frequent fliers that can traverse hundreds of miles in a single day, and for thousands of years, humans have used them to carry news, personal notes, and military messages. Scientists have long...

Deep in Space, a 'Paradigm Shift' on Black Holes

Webb Telescope spots massive black hole that was 'born big' even before its own galaxy

(Newser) - Astrophysicists may have to flip the script on how the universe's "monsters" are born. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, an international team has found strong evidence that at least some supermassive black holes appear to have been "born big," instead of slowly growing from dead...

Looking for Lower Blood Sugar? Try an 'Exercise Snack'

With just 4 one-minute bursts of activity a day, adults with Type 2 diabetes may find relief

(Newser) - A workout that takes less time than brushing your teeth might help people with Type 2 diabetes keep their blood sugar in check. A new study in the journal Diabetologia found that doing four 60-second bursts of simple at-home moves like squats, jogging in place, or jumping jacks across the...

This Much Sleep Could Help Slow Down Aging
Researchers Suggest
a Sleep Target to Slow Aging
NEW STUDY
May 26, 2026 7:59 AM CDT

Researchers Suggest a Sleep Target to Slow Aging

Study finds that between 6.4 and 7.8 hours of shut-eye is the 'sweet spot'

(Newser) - Turns out there really is a "just right" amount of shut-eye, and it's narrower than you might think. A massive UK Biobank analysis of about 500,000 people, published in Nature , found that regularly sleeping between roughly 6.4 and 7.8 hours a night was linked to...

Hardly Anyone Has Seen 'Cute' New Octopus Species
Hardly Anyone Has Seen
'Cute' New Octopus Species
NEW STUDY
May 25, 2026 8:58 AM CDT

Hardly Anyone Has Seen 'Cute' New Octopus Species

Blue species from Galapagos could fit in the palm of your hand

(Newser) - If you want to meet the newest octopus on the scientific record, you'll need to head nearly 6,000 feet down off the Galapagos. Researchers have formally identified a bright blue, golf ball-sized species, Microeledone galapagensis, in the journal Zootaxa —more than a decade after first spotting it with...

Weight Loss Drugs Tied to Lower Cancer Progression
This Pattern on Weight Loss
Drugs Is 'Hard to Ignore'
NEW STUDIES
May 22, 2026 8:10 AM CDT

This Pattern on Weight Loss Drugs Is 'Hard to Ignore'

Research links GLP-1 meds like Ozempic to slower cancer progression

(Newser) - Blockbuster weight-loss drugs may be doing more than shrinking waistlines—they could be slowing cancer, too. Four observational studies suggest patients on GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic and Mounjaro had slower tumor growth, were less likely to see early-stage cancers advance, and in some cases were less likely to develop...

Ancient Engineers Made Great Pyramid Quake-Proof
Ancient Engineers Made
Great Pyramid Quake-Proof
new study
May 21, 2026 1:03 PM CDT

Ancient Engineers Made Great Pyramid Quake-Proof

Study sheds light on the 'extraordinary' feat in Egypt

(Newser) - Earthquakes have rattled Egypt for millennia, but one structure keeps shrugging them off: the Great Pyramid of Giza. A new study says that's no accident, crediting the 4,600-year-old monument's design with keeping it unusually steady when the ground moves, reports Live Science . For their study in Scientific...

Researchers Discover Oldest Surviving English Poem

Caedmon's Hymn was written in the 7th century after a dream

(Newser) - The researchers in Ireland looked at their computer screen, marveling at a medieval book tracked down in a Roman library. They flipped through its digitized pages and found their sought-after treasure: the oldest surviving English poem. "We were speechless. We couldn't believe our eyes when we first saw...

America's Teens Are Sleeping Less Than Ever
America's Teens Are
Sleeping Less Than Ever
NEW STUDY
May 15, 2026 11:25 AM CDT

America's Teens Are Sleeping Less Than Ever

Screen time, academic and job pressures, inequalities drive record-low rest

(Newser) - Teenagers are turning out the lights later than ever, and a massive new study says the problem is getting worse. Researchers at the University of Minnesota analyzed survey data from more than 400,000 US students in grades 8, 10, and 12 collected between 1991 and 2023 and found sleep...

Instead of Building Own Nests, Some Birds Turn to Thievery

Study finds Hawaiian honeycreepers frequently swipe nesting materials from their neighbors

(Newser) - In a patchwork of Hawaiian forest islands marooned by old lava flows, some native songbirds have turned to larceny. A new study finds that several species of Hawaiian honeycreepers routinely swipe nest-building materials from their neighbors rather than gather their own, reports the New York Times . Researchers tracking 216 nests...

Early Trial Inches Us Closer to 'Functional Cure' for HIV

With one infusion, engineered immune cells kept virus undetectable—close to 2 years for one patient

(Newser) - A decades-old cancer strategy may have just inched HIV research into new territory. In a small study, two people saw their HIV levels plunge to undetectable levels—one for close to two years—after just one infusion of genetically engineered immune cells, without continuing standard daily medication, reports the New ...

Slower Walking Might Signal Hearing Loss
Slower Walking Might
Signal Hearing Loss
new study
May 11, 2026 1:14 PM CDT

Slower Walking Might Signal Hearing Loss

Study links reduced gait to surprising culprit

(Newser) - Regular walkers who notice their speed has slowed might reasonably blame their knees. A new study suggests a different, and perhaps surprising, culprit: their ears. A study out of the University of Michigan of more than 57,000 iPhone users found that people with greater hearing loss tended to walk...

Volunteers Help Double Known Number of Brown Dwarfs

Citizen scientists have detected more than 3K of the enigmatic gas balls

(Newser) - Citizen scientists poring over old NASA images have doubled the known population of a strange class of objects called brown dwarfs. NASA says a decade-long effort under its Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project has turned up more than 3,000 previously unknown brown dwarfs—gas balls that can be up...

New Wheat Hybrids Slash Devastating Fungus by 70%
This Weed Could
Save Our Wheat Crops
NEW STUDY
May 7, 2026 5:42 PM CDT

This Weed Could Save Our Wheat Crops

Scientists say gene pulled from wild grass helps create wheat hybrid resistant to destructive fungus

(Newser) - A weedy grass that farmers usually curse could help save their wheat. Chinese researchers report that they've pulled a powerful gene from coach grass (Elymus repens) and moved it into wheat, sharply reducing damage from Fusarium head blight, or FHB, a major fungal disease, per Phys.org . In greenhouse...

A Real Heady Trip Could Permanently Change Your Brain

Powerful psilocybin experiences linked to long-term structural shifts in brain wiring: researchers

(Newser) - Researchers may be inching closer to explaining what's happening in the brain during—and after—a psychedelic trip. A small study in Nature Communications found that a single high dose of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, was linked to subtle structural changes in brain wiring that appeared to...

Turning Phones Off During School Day Has Mixed Results

Research shows restrictions cut in-classroom use sharply but yield few academic gains

(Newser) - Cellphones may now be shoved into pouches during the school day, but test scores aren't exactly soaring as a result. A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that school cellphone bans, now in place in some form in about two-thirds of states, have "...

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