The behemoth coral, discovered in October in the Solomon Islands, is longer than a blue whale and older than the United States. The world’s largest standalone coral (shown) has been discovered off the coast of the Solomon Islands. Manu San Félix/National Geographic Pristine Seas Off the coast of the Solomon Islands lurks a centuries-old being

Excerpt from the November 16, 1974 issue of Science News The discovery of potential cancer-causing agents in U.S. tap water led to the Safe Drinking Water Act — a law that continues protecting public health. Level1studio/The Image Bank/Getty Images EPA to study tap water carcinogens — Science News , November 16, 1974 There is evidence

Rocks returned by China’s Chang’e-6 mission are just 2.8 billion years old The Chinese Chang’e-6 lander, shown, gathered samples from the farside of the moon in early June. CNSA The first samples from the farside of the moon contain signs of surprising volcanic activity near the lunar south pole. Two separate analyses of lunar rocks

Four of those pesticides also show links to prostate cancer death Nearly two dozen pesticides show links to prostate cancer in the United States, a new study shows. Richard Hamilton Smith/Corbis Documentary/Getty Images Nearly two dozen pesticides are associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer in the United States, researchers report November 4 in

On a warm, sunny day in April, biologists David Duffy and Jessica Farrell prepare to motor down the Matanzas River on a small boat to catalog the area’s aquatic life. Ripples signal the river’s lazy flow along Florida’s northeastern coast. Birds fly overhead, some settling onto mangroves occupying the river’s edge. The muddy-brown waters obscure

The continuity of sight makes it a good target for magic tricks. Can sound work the same way? Magic tricks rarely rely on sound alone, possibly because of differences in visual and auditory perception. A recent contest to create a sound-only illusion is part of an effort to explore that. oxygen/Moment/Getty Images Close your eyes

A molecule in lizard saliva may make it easier to find certain tumors in the pancreas. Insulinomas — benign tumors that can cause low blood sugar and sudden fainting spells — are notoriously hard to detect using current scanning methods. But by using a tweaked variant of a protein found in Gila monster saliva as

X-ray imaging reveals signs of slow dental development in a youth from an early Homo species X-ray imaging views of an ancient Homo skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, show teeth used in a new analysis of dental development in green. Teeth shown in orange and red were not included in the study. Re-creations of teeth missing

Inside a specially constructed safe at the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa sit the fragile remains of the world’s most celebrated human ancestor. She was once a hardy survivor in an unforgiving environment, but now her partial skeleton receives round-the-clock protection in a temperature-controlled setting. In her prime, nearly 3.2 million years ago

Transmission of Oropouche to the womb means it has a feature in common with Zika and dengue Oropouche virus is primarily spread by infected Culicoides paraensis midges. These very small biting flies are only a few millimeters in length. CDC A virus that caused a large outbreak in Brazil this year can spread from a