See shining plastic people, ballplayers, and empty flights to Mexico City in these glimpses of life around the globe.

After a factory had found a 40-million-year-old whale fossil in a limestone kitchen counter, researchers investigated the stone's fossil-packed quarry, which could shed light on the origins of African wildlife. Video.

Three thousand years ago, a fortified city on Egypt's border was both a warning to invaders and an awe-inspiring gateway for travelers--as evidenced by newly revealed grand temples and rare cravings.

See how a flu virus attacks, mutates, and becomes contagious—perhaps resulting in an outbreak or even pandemic. Video.

A rare collection of more than 2,000 species of Chinese fungi, sent to Cornell University for safekeeping after the outbreak of World War II, will soon be on its way back to its native land.

Swine flu started sweeping the globe, a unique Roman artifact was unearthed, and a baby gorilla was found in an animal trafficker's suitcase, as seen in this week's selection of the best news pictures.

A temple filled with broken metal, ivory carvings, and stone slabs engraved with a dead language could cast new light on the "dark age" that was thought to have engulfed the region from 1200 to 900 B.C.

Does your town bring you down? A new U.S. government study reveals regions most prone to "frequent mental distress." Hint: It may not just be the grass that's blue in Kentucky.

Dueling cyclones, tropical atolls, and solar loops are among the top ten images of Earth and its neighbors, as picked by readers of a NASA Web site.

A sacred mountain, a Manhattan Project hangar, a famous L.A. hotel, and more may soon disappear, erasing "a piece of our heritage," according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

See flapping fish, bear hugs, and some of the last remaining people from a hunter-gatherer tribe in these glimpses of life around the globe.

Archaeologists in Egypt have found 53 rock tombs containing preserved mummies and painted coffins dating back as far as 4,000 years. Video.

As the world ponders a global swine flu pandemic, nuns don surgical masks, officials with heat-sensitive cameras scan travelers, and scientists probe pork.

See the New York City island of today--and as it was 400 years ago, when wolves and elk roamed, forests stretched to the horizon, and Native Americans were the only New Yorkers.

See a bouncing baby marsupial, a Maya fire sport, ants with radio "backpacks," and more in the week's best news photos.