See a pie-throwing fest, a cone of water vapor around a supersonic jet, and a glacier getting a sun shield in this week's best news pictures.

Apes laugh too, say researchers who tickled gorillas, chimps, orangutans, bonobos, and human babies—suggesting laughter began in a prehistoric ape-human ancestor. Video.

A Swedish cottage gets a lift, a porcupine gets its 15 minutes of high-fashion fame, and miners extract sulfur from a volcanic vent in these glimpses of life from around the globe.

See newborn fluorescent monkeys; an elephant pedicure; a tumbling, fumbling cheese chase; and more in the week's best news pictures.

An owl monkey baby gets a ride, a volcano hisses, and enormous statues descend on an Italian town in these glimpses of life from around the globe.

Thirsty elephants get a helping hand, an old goat retires from the military, Lady Liberty prepares to show off her crown again, and more in our picks of the week's best news pictures.

From polar plunges to an urban Iditarod spoof, two photographers roam the U.S. in search of offbeat events that show "true human spirit."

Texas seventh-grader Eric Yang swept the annual competition today with a perfect score.

A "missing link" found in Germany may be a key to human evolution—a nearly intact skeleton of a 47-million-year-old lemur-like creature. Video.

A landmine-sniffing dog waits, an elephant gets hosed, and Jews remember a deadly plague in these glimpses of life from around the globe.

Scrawnier people perceive approaching sounds to be closer than fit people do—an evolutionary trait that may give weaklings more time to act, scientists say.

Priests and other elites performed smoking and drinking rituals on the lake island, home to the Tarascan Empire in the 15th and 16th centuries.

One year after a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck the mountainous Sichuan Province, killing 90,000 and leaving 5 million homeless, residents are starting to pick up the pieces.

Balsa trees threaten, watermelons beckon, and fish dry in the sun in these glimpses of life from around the globe.

Can too much sunshine drive you over the edge? A new study shows that suicide rates peak during the summer months in Greenland.