5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including the world's first successful 'dead heart' transplants
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 25, 2014 5:18 AM CDT
5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week
   (Shutterstock)

A dinosaur with "horrible" hands and an ancient Ukrainian temple make the list:

  • Docs Transplant 'Dead Hearts' Into 3 Patients: An Australian heart transplant unit has been toiling for 20 years to transplant a "dead heart" (one that's not still beating in a brain-dead donor) into a live patient, and they've finally done it not once, but three times. The process behind how it's done is fascinating.
  • Skip Coffee Before a Big Meeting, Introverts: That java jolt might not boost your performance and may actually have the opposite effect for inward-facing individuals. While a new book says that extroverts may indeed benefit from a cup or two of joe before congregating in the conference room, "introverts perform less well." It all goes back to fundamental differences between the extrovert and introvert brain.

  • Mountain Camp Proves Ice Age Humans Were Tough: Archaeologists who found ancient settlements 3 miles above sea level in the Peruvian Andes were surprised to learn humans lived there between 12,000 and 13,000 years ago. But it wasn't the view that lured them.
  • Meet the Humpbacked Dinosaur With 'Horrible' Hands: A half-century ago, researchers found two arms in the Mongolian desert that clearly belonged to a big dinosaur—they were 8 feet long and ended in nasty claws. Now, scientists have pieced together the rest of Deinocheirus mirificus (which roughly translates into “unusual horrible hand"), and it's not pretty.
  • Ancient Temple Found Filled With Animal Bones: A stunning find in Ukraine: a temple that's said to be older than the invention of writing. The wood-and-clay structure contains lots of animal bones—perhaps the remains of animals sacrificed on the building's eight platforms made of clay. Also inside: Hair accessories?
Click to read about more discoveries, including another excavated sphinx head and serious flaws in the supposed identification of Jack the Ripper. (More discoveries stories.)

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