5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

From pirate booty off Massachusetts to a wild nature photo
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 28, 2013 5:28 AM CDT
5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week
A tray holding lead shot, spoons, a metal syringe and the partially crushed barrel of a blunderbuss awaits processing at the Whydah pirate ship museum's warehouse in Brewster, Mass.   (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Neat fact of the week: There's only one authenticated pirate ship wreck in US waters ... and there may actually be pirate booty languishing there as well.

  • There's Sunken Treasure Off Massachusetts: The Whydah sank in 1717, along with riches plundered from 50 other ships. Barry Clifford actually located the wreck in 1984, and has since hauled up some 200,000 items, including gold ornaments and sword handles. But Clifford is convinced there is more loot to be found, thanks in no small part to new documents discovered in April.
  • Photo Proof: 12-Pound Eagle Takes Down Deer: Researchers studying Siberian tigers in Russia came across a strange thing in the woods: the carcass of a deer in the snow—but no sign of any tracks from the predator that killed it. A review of film in a nearby camera trap solved the mystery.

  • Revealed: Why Moms Want to 'Eat' Cute Babies: The smell of a newborn isn't just a pleasant sensation for moms—it might be closer to an addiction, a new study suggests. Montreal researchers found that when women who had given birth recently smelled an infants' pajamas, their brains' reward circuits lit up
  • Island Born by Quake Releasing Mystery Gas: Tuesday's earthquake in Pakistan gave rise to an island roughly half a mile off the coast; the next day locals set off to explore it, and what they describe is an oval-shaped mass no more than 300 feet long—which is emitting some kind of flammable gas.
  • We've Found Water on Mars—a 'Surprising Amount': NASA's Curiosity rover has found water in Mars' soil, and it's knowledge future astronauts can make real use of. "If you think about a cubic foot of this dirt and you just heat it a little bit—a few hundred degrees—you'll actually get off about two pints of water—like two water bottles you'd take to the gym," explains Curiosity researcher Laurie Leshin.
Click for more incredible discoveries, like this one: The moon may not be as old as previously thought. (More discoveries stories.)

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