1. NOT FOUND: No evidence yet as what caused Malaysian Airlines to disappear or where it ended up. The $93m cost search operation to find it became the most expensive in history

2. EXPLANATIONS: Plenty of them — from conspiracies to hypotheses and to some wise analyses. Well, no theory is wrong unless it is otherwise proved

3. THEORIES THRIVE: That run the gamut are from wild to sober ones: Hijacked by Russia; US shot it down; MH370 and the downed MH17 in Ukraine are the same plane; it crashed in the southern Indian Ocean; a deranged pilot/passenger drove it into the sea; its abduction by aliens. Think of a possible mechanical/structural failure too. A flight of imagination indeed!

4. ‘WISE’ DEBATE: Aviation experts like Jeff Wise believe the plane flew north along national borders to avoid radar before landing in Kazakhstan. Informed speculation? Well, maybe.

5. THIS JUST IN: A Malaysian interim report suggests the battery for its underwater locator beacon had expired over a year before its disappearance. Any connection to the incident? I don’t think so.

6. POLITICS INVOLVED? The plane had 152 Chinese passengers. Beijing says it considers it as a ‘sensitive political problem.’ Bob Woodward listening?

7. SEARCH AREA: Australian search vessels mapping large swaths of the Indian Ocean’s floor. Is it the right place? The plane headed north toward the Caucasus, many suggest. Need to prioritize the location first.

8. SINKING HOPES: Families hoping against hope, demand UN investigation as Australian PM Tony Abbott questions the value of continuing the search beyond “this point.”

9. PLANE TRUTH: Why the plane disappeared may perhaps never be proved. The search will likely end soon, taking with it all remaining hope

10. CHALLENGE REMAINS: In the case of the 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447, black boxes were located after a difficult 2-year search. Malaysian and Australia say they remain committed to finding the plane.

10 basic things about the missing plane

1. Beijing-bound MH370 lost contact with air traffic control shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, early on March 8, 2014;

2. The plane with 239 passengers simply vanished making it arguably the greatest mystery in aviation history;

3. Some 7 countries pressed planes and ships to carry over 300 sorties along vast tracts of the southern Indian Ocean in search;

4. The focus of search is still in the southern Indian Ocean, near the so-called “7th arc” being monitored by an Australia-led international team;

5. Currently just 4 boats continue to comb a 23,000-sq.-mi. patch of ocean floor 1,000 miles off the coast of Perth;

6. In the history of aerial disappearance, some seven similar incidents have taken place, Air France Flight447 and TWA 800, for instance

7. In late January, Kuala Lumpur announced it as an accident and that no one had survived.

8. MH370 was operated by Boeing 777, generally regarded as having a safety record that is one of the best of any commercial aircraft.

9. Despite presence of two Iranian passengers who were traveling on stolen passports, any foul play in the disappearance has been ruled out

10. MH370 spurred efforts to reduce chances of plane disappearing. A global aviation summit in Montreal last month backed plans to require real-time tracking of any airliner in distress starting in 2016. Lessons learned? Time will tell