Mainstream media coverage does not always give you the best picture of what’s happening in the world. While most DID cover Tom Cruise’s wedding, for instance, how many people heard about the 50 new plant and animal species discovered in Borneo?

To help air some of the largely unheard of (yet highly interesting) news that fell through the cracks in 2006, a Tampa Tribune reporter has scoured dozens of major news outlets and compiled 50 new discoveries that occurred in 2006.

Here are a few from the list (click on the link below to see it in its entirety):

• U.S. life expectancy in 2005 reached a record high of 77.9 years.
• The part of the brain that regulates reasoning, impulse control and judgment is still under construction during puberty and doesn't really mature until about age 25.
• The U.S. government has paid about $1.5 billion in benefits to thousands of sick nuclear-weapons workers since 2001.
• Scientists have discovered that certain brain chemicals in our tears are natural pain relievers.
• Ancient humans from Asia may have entered the Americas following an ocean highway made of dense kelp.

TBO.com December 26, 2006