Bright Idea: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Potential new life for an old-school light bulb and the myth of the midlife crisis make the list:

• Light Bulb of the Future: Incandescent?: Incandescent bulbs are notoriously inefficient, but MIT researchers say they've figured out a way to make one that even Al Gore would embrace. More than 95% of the energy in this type of bulb is lost through heat, but scientists got around that through ingenious use of crystals and what amounts to "light recycling." It could have major repercussions for modern LEDs and compact fluorescents.
• Vast Find Made Under Antarctica: Scientists say they've found a canyon system beneath the ice in a largely unexplored region of eastern Antarctica, and it's so massive it appears to dwarf the Grand Canyon. It might also connect to a mammoth hidden lake.

• What Midlife Crisis? Scientists Say It's a Myth: Made it through your 40s without suddenly acquiring a blood-red convertible or a skydiving habit? You're not the only one to miss out on that much-vaunted midlife crisis. University of Alberta researchers say happiness curves upward, not downward, as people age from their teens into their 40s. It took just a simple question for the researchers to come to their conclusion.
• Cougar Has Teeth Growing Where They Shouldn't: A cougar bagged in Idaho had an extra set of teeth—growing out of its forehead. Wildlife biologists are mostly baffled, though they have a few theories, one involving a conjoined twin.
• No, Those Aren't Snails on Pluto: Images beamed back to Earth from the New Horizons probe show objects that bear a weird resemblance to giant gastropods, next to pathways that look like the slimey trails that earth snails leave on concrete. NASA says the objects are actually dirty icebergs—and you'll likely be floored to hear how big some of them are.

Click to read about more discoveries, including the spot were supposed witches were hanged in Salem. (More discoveries stories.)