Five of the most recent experimental discoveries about high energy proton interactions are chosen to demonstrate the predictive power of the existing theory and how it attempts to elucidate the origin of some less understood phenomena. These include the Higgs boson, the cross section increase with energy, the increased proportion of elastic scattering in the same energy range, the exponential fall-off of the elastic differential cross section at sufficiently large momentum transfers (small distances), and the jet emission and ridge formation phenomena observed in very high multiplicity inelastic processes.