A biblical figure gets a controversial image makeover. A famous TV personality is killed by a stingray. A far-flung planet gets a demotion. These are just a few of the big stories covered this year by National Geographic News.

Reload the year in nature, science, and exploration with the most popular news stories of 2006.

Strange specimens of natural glass found in the Egyptian desert are products of a meteorite slamming into Earth between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago, scientists have concluded...

A team of archaeologists has discovered what it says is evidence of humankind's oldest ritual.