50 Mind-boggling and Unexpected Discoveries Ever Made

In 2014, a new species of vine (Boquila trifoliolata) was discovered in Chile that can mimic the leaves of many different host trees. It can change the size, shape, color, orientation, and even the vein patterns of its leaves to match the surrounding foliage. It's the only known plant that can do this.

27. Charles Henry Turner was an African-American scientist who earned his Ph.D. in 1907. He discovered that insects could distinguish pitch, that cockroaches can learn by trial and error and that honeybees can see color.

28. The oldest existing photograph of a US President (John Quincy Adams) was discovered when it was bought for 50 cents in an antique shop.

29. After scientists discovered that deep-sea dragonfish had chlorophyll in their eyes, Pentagon began funding research for inexpensive night-vision eye drops.

30. In 2016, a Bronze Age burial site about 5 miles from Stonehenge was discovered by a badger.

Biologists at Osaka University in Japan have discovered a new way to grow the many separate tissues that make up the human eyeball, including retinas, corneas, the eye's lens, using stem cells extracted from a small sample of adult skin.

32. Before he died in a car wreck, Walter Gehring discovered a segment of DNA, called the homeobox, that has the exact same parts in organisms as diverse as fungi and humans, further indicating that all species evolved from a common ancestor.

33. In 2011, three hunters in Oregon were discovered dead around their campsite with no marks or signs of a struggle. The only unusual thing was the discovery of a dead newt in the coffee pot that was later found to produce Tetrodotoxin, a poison 10,000 times more potent than cyanide.

34. In 1965, Chinese archeologists discovered a 2400-year-old bronze sword (Sword of Goujian), untouched by corrosion, beautifully decorated and still sharp enough to cut with a touch.

35. Scientists have discovered why some people can thrive on less sleep than others. A particular gene variant (BHLHE41) is responsible, and those with it can also handle extended periods of sleeplessness better.

The "suicide palm" was recently discovered in Madagascar that flowers itself to death. The plant grows for decades before exploding with nectar-rich blossoms that deplete the plant's nutrients and cause it to die.

37. In 2014, a priest discovered a sealed room in an old church in Liverpool. The room hadn't been open since before World War 2. It was full of children's toys, books, and candy.

38. In 1872, a ship known as the Mary Celeste was discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic. The last log entry was 10 days before her discovery and when another ship happened upon her, all of the provisions and belongings of the crew were perfectly intact, but the crew were all missing.

39. In 2014, a potentially new state of matter called "disordered hyperuniformity" was discovered in the eye of a chicken.

40. In 2013, a California couple discovered a trove of gold coins in their backyard while walking their dog. Tucked away in eight buried cans were 1,427 rare mint-condition coins dating from 1847 to 1894. A rare coin expert who represents the finders appraised the U.S. coins at $11 million.

Oleg Losev was a Russian inventor sans degree who discovered the LED, as well as negative resistance oscillators, amplifiers, and superheterodyne receivers all 25 years before the transistor. His only job title was a technician.

42. In 2015, the opah fish was discovered to be the first fully warm-blooded fish that circulates heat throughout its body much like mammals and birds.

43. In 1978, over 500 silent films were discovered buried in the Yukon permafrost in Canada. It also including footage of the scandalous 1919 World Series.

44. Scientists have discovered an underwater 'lake' in the Gulf of Mexico with water five times as salty that is highly toxic. For animals (and people) who swim into it, these toxic concentrations can be deadly. Only bacterial life, tube worms, and shrimp can survive in it.

45. Written 4500 years ago, The Diary of Merer is the oldest papyri ever discovered. It details the daily life of workers who built the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Scientists discovered an eel had lived inside a shark's heart in "a facultatively parasitic relationship" in 1997.

47. In 1979, a mummified steppe bison named Blue Babe was discovered in Alaska. While preparing the specimen for display, the research team decided to stew and eat part of the 36,000-year-old mummy's neck to "celebrate the accomplishment".

48. In 2015, Chicago Tribune staff accidentally discovered never before seen photos of the steamship Eastland that capsized in 1915 (3 years after Titanic disaster). This disaster took place off the coast of Chicago due to being top heavy and caused the ghastly death of 844 passengers.

49. In 2015, a dinosaur with bat-like wing membrane was discovered, becoming the closest thing to a dragon/wyvern currently discovered.

50. Eris, discovered in 2005, is more massive than Pluto and would have qualified as the 10th planet in the solar system until its discovery prompted the International Astronomical Union to formally define 'planet' with a size cutoff that also excluded Pluto.