Napoleon's Nemesis: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries

Including a new mandate on how much water to drink
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 1, 2015 5:07 AM CDT
5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week
In a 19th-century Jean-Baptiste Debret painting, Napoleon Bonaparte, right, pins a medal during a ceremony in Paris on July 15, 1804.   (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

A "bombshell" about Jamestown and a slowly sinking DC make the list:

  • How a Neurosurgeon Brought Down Napoleon: As Napoleon Bonaparte's forces moved toward Moscow in the autumn of 1812, Russian General Mikhail Kutuzov burned his own city, fled east, and left Moscow open to invaders. But what some supposed were the actions of a madman instead proved visionary, as Napoleon's troops couldn't handle the early and brutal Russian winter and soon abandoned Moscow for Paris. Researchers now say French surgeon Jean Massot may have had a key role in that course of events.
  • Treasure-Hunting Family Strikes Gold Off Fla. Coast: Spending your summers hunting for sunken treasure can be "monotonous" and "demoralizing," says Eric Schmitt. But the monotony is sometimes broken by a dazzling find like the one unveiled this week. Schmitt's find hailed from a 1715 Spanish treasure fleet that sank off the coast of Florida during a hurricane 300 years ago this week.

  • 4 Jamestown Leaders IDed With Mysterious Relic: Archaeologists have IDed the remains of four men who were high-ranking leaders of Jamestown. In a sign of their importance, the four were buried in the first Protestant church in America, per reports. But it's the relic that was found with them that the Atlantic is calling "a historical bombshell."
  • Drink 8 Glasses of Water a Day? Not So Fast: We've all heard we should drink eight glasses of water a day. But the advice isn't based on scientific evidence, and for some people it may be flat out wrong, report researchers in Harvard Health Letter. Here's how much fluid intake they conclude is ideal.
  • DC Is Sinking, Literally: It sounds like a metaphor but is geological reality: Washington, DC, is sinking. In fact, researchers predict the ground will drop another 6 inches by the end of the century. The cause isn't man-made—it's the result of an age-old geologic process that will continue to unfold for thousands of years—but there's something else going on that's presenting the region with a double whammy.
Click to read about more discoveries. (More discoveries stories.)

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