Photograph from AP Updated July 24, 2012 Just in time for Amelia
Earhart's 115th birthday—feted online with a Google doodle
Tuesday—comes news from the latest expedition investigating the
fate of the aviator, who disappeared during a round-the-world
flight in 1937. The news isn't especially promising—Earhart's
plane remains missing. But the so-called Niku VII expedition
pursued only one of three main Earhart-disappearance theories,
leaving fertile ground for future searches. The team, funded by
the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR),
is currently on its way back to Hawaii after a five-day sonar
and video search around Nikumaroro. TIGHAR said in an online
statement that it was disappointed that it had not made a
"dramatic and conclusive discovery," but that evidence for the
plane might still be hidden in their data. "Did TIGHAR's Niku
VII expedition find the Earhart aircraft? It's far too early to
say," reads the latest daily report posted online by the
Delaware-based group. "Big piece