A 'New' Taste: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Intriguing discoveries for food lovers and art lovers make the list:

• Scientists Say They've Found a Sixth Taste: Wondering why a bread bowl full of pasta with fries on the side can really hit the spot? It could be a heretofore unknown sixth taste that scientists claim to have discovered. Up until now, the five tastes humans were known to be able to sense were sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. It might be time to add "starchy" to that list—and it would make evolutionary sense.
• Missing Piece of Magritte Painting Is Found: An "exciting art world jigsaw puzzle" is nearly complete after the third piece of a painting by Belgian artist René Magritte missing for more than 80 years was discovered hiding at the Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery in Britain. Magritte's The Enchanted Pose was part of a 1927 exhibition, but no one purchased it, and it was returned to Magritte. He apparently cut it into four pieces, which means only one more is missing. Why he did so is a mystery.

• Drug Shows Promise Against One of the Deadliest Cancers: A new study is raising hope that a new drug can fight a particularly deadly form of pancreatic cancer. Researchers say an immunotherapy drug known as IMM-101 extended the lives of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. The news gets even better when it comes to side effects.
• Scientists Flick Switch, Boozy Rats Stop Drinking: A new study on rats suggests that alcoholism can be reversed by essentially switching off the urge in the brain. It all has to do with a specific set of brain cells in the amygdala that become activated when a person drinks to excess. Deactivate them, and surprising things happen.
• '5-Second Rule' Is Baloney: The five-second rule is off by about five seconds in many cases, and not in the direction you hoped. That's what Rutgers researchers say in a new study debunking the classic kitchen rule, which declares it safe to eat food off the floor if scooped up in a flash. Sometimes, contamination occurs instantly, though it all depends on what kind of food, and what kind of surface it hits.

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