scientific study

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Pregnant Women Should Avoid Eating This Treat
There's Another
Food No-No for
Pregnant Women
new study
Feb 9, 2017 8:40 AM CST

There's Another Food No-No for Pregnant Women

A sweetener in licorice might affect cognitive function in children

(Newser) - Wine, sushi, deli meat ... licorice? Perhaps. A new study suggests that licorice consumed during pregnancy could detrimentally affect a woman's offspring. Researchers in Finland say the culprit is glycyrrhizin, a tongue-twister of a sweetener that naturally occurs in the licorice plant and is also added to teas and herbal...

Fish Can&#39;t Talk, So They Pee Instead
Fish Can't Talk,
So They Pee Instead
NEW STUDY
Jan 31, 2017 11:43 AM CST

Fish Can't Talk, So They Pee Instead

For cichlids, urination is also a form of communication

(Newser) - Perhaps you know someone who's written his name in snow, you know, with urine. That's essentially what some fish do every day. In a study titled, "To pee or not to pee: urine signals mediate aggressive interactions in the cooperatively breeding cichlid," researchers explain that urination...

Your Life May Indeed Flash Before Your Eyes at Death
Your Life May Indeed Flash
Before Your Eyes at Death
new study
Jan 31, 2017 10:41 AM CST

Your Life May Indeed Flash Before Your Eyes at Death

But not chronologically, more of a jumble, say researchers

(Newser) - The idea that our lives flash before our eyes in the moments before we die may sound close to mystical, but neurologists at Hadassah University in Jerusalem say the phenomenon—or at least some version of it—appears to be quite common. They found, however, that "life review experiences,...

Days After Death, a Body Remains Alive
2 Days After Death,
Some Life
Continues
in Body
NEW STUDY
Jan 25, 2017 6:45 PM CST

2 Days After Death, Some Life Continues in Body

Active genes may be attempting to repair damage: study

(Newser) - Death is more like the slow shutdown of a computer than the flipping off of a light switch, says a scientist, explaining a new study that shows genes in the body remain alive for about two days after the heart stops. In the study of mice and zebrafish, University of...

After Years Without Mate, Shark Makes Her Own Babies

It's the first time a shark has switched from sexual to asexual reproduction

(Newser) - Australia's Reef HQ aquarium had hoped to scale back its shark breeding program. Its female sharks had other ideas. Over the course of six years, Leonie the zebra or leopard shark had produced more than two dozen offspring before she was separated from her mate in 2012. But in...

Bad News: Booze Gives You the Munchies, Too
Bad News: Booze Gives
You the Munchies, Too
NEW STUDY
Jan 11, 2017 8:21 AM CST

Bad News: Booze Gives You the Munchies, Too

At least it does in lab mice

(Newser) - You might hear your stomach rumbling, telling you to fill it with something tasty, but the actual impulse to eat originates in the brain. Now researchers studying the brain cells responsible—called agouti-related protein (AgRP) neurons—say that alcohol activates them, thereby triggering the urge to eat even though alcohol...

Mothers Tend to Hold Babies on the Left
'Ancient'
Signal Dictates
Where Mom
Holds Baby
new study
Jan 10, 2017 8:14 AM CST

'Ancient' Signal Dictates Where Mom Holds Baby

'Positional bias' is common among humans and wild animals

(Newser) - It's long been observed that mothers tend to cradle their infants on their left side, and this has long been at least informally attributed to handedness (so that right-handed mothers have the right hand free). Now researchers report in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution that "positional bias"...

A Blood Test Predicts How Well You're Going to Age

What secrets lurk within?

(Newser) - Every time the oldest people in the world celebrate a birthday, they're inevitably asked their secret to aging. Some cite alcohol, others the lack of it; some how much they sleep, others how little; many talk about just relaxing , and almost all pay homage to having good genes. Now...

Live Near Heavy Traffic? You Have Higher Dementia Risk

Study finds that those who live near major roads are more likely to develop dementia

(Newser) - Those who live near a high-traffic area may be at a higher risk of developing dementia, a new study out of Canada finds. Researchers looked at the records of more than 6.5 million Ontario residents ages 20 to 85 between 2001 and 2012, and found that within that group...

Fossil Fills in Big Blank About the Mysterious 'Ghost Shark'

It belongs to an early chimaera, not a shark

(Newser) - The chimaera, or so-called "ghost shark," is an elusive deep-water fish that has fascinated biologists for more than a century. Like its relative the shark, however, it's made of cartilage and thus rarely fossilizes, so little is known about its evolutionary past, reports Live Science . Now the...

There&rsquo;s a Staggering Number of Insects Above Us
There’s a Staggering
Number of Insects Above Us
NEW STUDY
Dec 23, 2016 8:28 AM CST

There’s a Staggering Number of Insects Above Us

Those that fly over the UK each year have the mass of 20K reindeer

(Newser) - Step outside and imagine there's a blanket of billions of insects overhead—because there probably is. Researchers who spent a decade tracking insects 500 to 4,000 feet above the ground in south-central England using radar beams and nets found about 3.5 trillion bugs and butterflies migrate across...

Scientists Figure Out Why Men Have No Penis Bone
Scientists Figure Out
Why Men Have
No Penis Bone
NEW STUDY
Dec 14, 2016 7:59 AM CST

Scientists Figure Out Why Men Have No Penis Bone

Human sex is just too speedy: study

(Newser) - Monkeys have them. In walruses, they might be up to two feet long. Mice have teeny, tiny ones. So why don't human men have a penis bone? Scientists have a theory, and gentlemen, it might hurt your ego a bit. While researching the bone—known as the baculum—researchers...

New Twist on Why Dinosaurs Got So Big So Fast

Those with funky-looking skulls grew most quickly

(Newser) - For years, paleontologists have theorized that many of the world's largest dinosaurs sported head ornaments (think horns, knobs, and crests) as a means of intimidation and defense, and that these giants evolved to be so big because size helped them be more effective killers. But now new research published...

Impulsive Much? Try a Little Selflessness
Impulsive Much?
You're Probably Selfish, Too
NEW STUDY
Oct 26, 2016 5:48 PM CDT

Impulsive Much? You're Probably Selfish, Too

Scientists find your ability to see others' point of view is related to self-control

(Newser) - If your level of self-control involves spending like Paris Hilton on trust-fund day or needing to be physically restrained at an all-you-can-eat buffet, well, chances are that you also spend a fair amount of time navel-gazing and you have a hard time imagining what it's like from someone else'...

Bumble Bees Learn Trick, Surprise Researchers

Most figured out how to pull string for reward after seeing how it's done

(Newser) - Ever wondered how tiny a bumble bee's brain is? Imagine a sesame seed clinging to a burger bun, reports the Washington Post —in other words, it's about 0.0002% the volume of a human brain, as calculated by Science . But that doesn't mean you can't...

In Algae, a Key to White Cliffs of Dover

They could in theory be replicated in the Antarctic—in millions of years

(Newser) - Had William Shakespeare had a chance to peruse a new study, he might have praised nitrate for the dizzying view from atop the White Cliffs of Dover. That’s because the tiny algae, known as coccolithophores, which helped form the famous cliffs some 100 million years ago benefited from a...

&#39;5-Second Rule&#39; Is Baloney
'5-Second Rule' Is Baloney
study says
Sep 9, 2016 10:14 AM CDT

'5-Second Rule' Is Baloney

In some cases, contamination is instantaneous, say researchers

(Newser) - The five-second rule is off by about five seconds in many cases, and not in the direction you hoped. That's what Rutgers researchers say in a new study debunking the classic kitchen rule, which declares it safe to eat food off the floor if scooped up in a flash....

Tired Brain Makes Us Overeat, but There&#39;s a Fix
Tired Brain Makes
Us Overeat, but
There's a Fix
study says
Sep 9, 2016 8:40 AM CDT

Tired Brain Makes Us Overeat, but There's a Fix

Quick workout after mental activity seems to do the trick

(Newser) - Feel like stuffing your face after a grueling day at the office? Try exercising instead. A new study suggests that exercise keeps you from chowing down on more than your body needs after a tough mental task. Previous research has shown that people eat more after such tasks, like tests...

Study Suggests Link Between Air Pollution, Alzheimer's

Magnetite a 'plausible risk factor' for disease, says author

(Newser) - Air pollution has been linked to strokes, heart attacks , autism , and raised blood pressure . Now, scientists say it might also be responsible for Alzheimer's disease. Scientists at Lancaster University in the UK say they found an "extraordinary" amount of magnetite, an iron oxide toxic to the brain, in...

One of Our Largest Water Sources Is Contaminated

Water in Indo-Gangetic Basin contains toxic salt and arsenic

(Newser) - A river basin in southern Asia is so enormous that 750 million people rely on it for their groundwater. Now, a new study in Nature Geoscience presents an equally staggering stat: 60% of that water is unfit for drinking or farming because it's contaminated by salt or arsenic, reports...

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