The –est

  1. Animals

    To zip through water, swordfish reduce drag

    A newly discovered oil-producing organ inside the swordfish’s head gives the animal slick skin to swim faster.

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  2. Archaeology

    Ancient Europeans may have been first wine makers

    A new chemical analysis uncovers the earliest known wine making in Europe.

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  3. Oceans

    Coral bleaching event is longest on record

    Widespread coral bleaching continues, in the longest episode, over the largest area to date.

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  4. Life

    Fruit fly’s giant sperm is quite an exaggeration

    Giant sperm, about 20 times a male fruit fly’s body length, could make the insects the champs of supersized sexual ornaments.

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  5. Archaeology

    Bear bone rewrites human history in Ireland

    A rediscovered bear bone puts humans in Ireland at least 12,600 years ago.

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  6. Astronomy

    This eclipse goes on and on

    The longest known stellar eclipse hides a nearby star for nearly 3.5 years behind a thick clump of orbiting dust once every 69 years.

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  7. Astronomy

    Earth’s hurricanes have nothing on this quasar

    In a remote galaxy, a cosmic hurricane around a supermassive black hole is driving winds at nearly 20 percent of the speed of light.

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  8. Archaeology

    Tailored Egyptian dress is the oldest ever found

    A pleated dress found in an ancient Egyptian cemetery called Tarkhan was cut, fitted and tailored between 5,400 and 5,100 years ago.

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  9. Anthropology

    Iceman has the world’s oldest tattoos

    A more than 5,000-year-old European mummy gets his tattoos confirmed as world’s oldest.

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  10. Astronomy

    This white dwarf is hotter than the rest

    A new record holder for hottest white dwarf sizzles at about 250,000˚ Celsius.

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  11. Planetary Science

    Way-out world is solar system’s most distant object — for now

    An icy world over 15 billion kilometers from the sun is the new record holder for most distant object in the solar system.

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  12. Anthropology

    More than 9,000-year-old decapitated head discovered in Brazil

    Human decapitation goes back more than 9,000 years in the Americas.

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