5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including an enormous subterranean city and healthier chocolate
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 28, 2015 5:25 AM CDT
5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week
Yes.   (Shutterstock)

Jupiter gone wild and a sweet revelation about chocolate make the list:

  • Turkish Delight: A Huge Underground City: Construction workers demolishing homes in Turkey's Nevsehir province in 2013 found the entrance to what could be the largest ancient underground city ever unearthed in the region. Its creators had a practical reason.
  • Thank You, Chocolate Scientists: Researchers have figured out how to make chocolate healthier. Desirable antioxidants were being lost during the roasting phase, so they added a "nontraditional" step to the process with a somewhat ominous-sounding name: pulp preconditioning. There's another benefit to the procedure that your mouth will appreciate.

  • Biggest Ever Asteroid Impact Found: More than 300 million years after a massive asteroid collided with Earth, scientists have found the planet's 118-mile-long scars. Experts say two huge domes in the Earth's crust about 19 miles underground are evidence of the largest and most powerful asteroid impact ever found. Want to visit? It'll be a long plane ride for most.
  • Blame Jupiter for Our Weird Solar System: Most other solar systems appear to have at least one large planet orbiting close to the star, but the inner part of our solar system is missing—and it's apparently all Jupiter's fault. Researchers believe Jupiter's orbit wandered during our solar system's infancy, with the planet's gravity destroying theorized "super-Earth" proto-planets. This may mean something significant in terms of whether we'll ever find life outside our own atmosphere.
  • This Diet Could Slash Your Alzheimer's Risk: Researchers have found that followers of what they've termed the "MIND diet" cut their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by 53%. If you try the diet, you may miss some of the stuff on the "almost never eat" list, but you do get to have wine every day.
Click to read about more discoveries. (More discoveries stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X