A huge haul of bones found in a small, dark chamber at the back of a cave in South Africa may be the remnants of a new species of ancient human relative… "If they are as old as two million years, then they might be early South African versions of Homo erectus, a species already known from that region. If much more recent, they could be a relic species that persisted in isolation. In other words, they are more curiosities than game-changers for now," said William Jungers, an anthropologist at Stony Brook School of Medicine in New York.

Do you think American men — and maybe men elsewhere in the world — are confused about what it means to be a man? A professor at Stony Brook University does, and he has founded a Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities to study the problem.

In their report, Lee Berger and his team describe 1550 fossils representing more than 15 ancient members of a strange new kind of hominin, which they named Homo naledi. (Naledi means "star" in the Sotho language spoken in the region of the cave.) It is the largest trove of fossils of a hominin ever found in Africa–and more await excavation at the site, 50 kilometers northwest of Johannesburg… "There is no doubt in my mind that this is a new species," says Fred Grine, a paleoanthropologist at Stony Brook.

A trove of bones hidden deep within a South African cave represents a new species of human ancestor, scientists announced Thursday in the journal eLife. Homo naledi, as they call it, appears very primitive in some respects–it had a tiny brain, for instance, and apelike shoulders for climbing. But in other ways it looks remarkably like modern humans.

Stony Brook University and Binghamton University were tied along with five others for the 89th national slot in U.S. News & World Report’s 2016 Best Colleges rankings published Wednesday.

Rust tide is once again showing up in the waters surrounding Long Island, but not as intense as years past. Professor Christopher Gobler, of Stony Brook University, says the toxic tide is not harmful to humans, but can be deadly to fish and shellfish.

[In] the annual U.S. News & World Report ranking of the nation’s best universities… SUNY Binghamton… the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry… and SUNY Stony Brook in Long Island staged a three-way tie for No. 89, thus making them three of the top 90 universities in the nation… A statement from Gov. Andrew Cuomo read:

"I congratulate the entire Stony Brook University community on its selection as a top 100 university by U.S. News & World Report. Whether medicine, science, or the humanities, Stony Brook offers a top-flight education no matter what path a student chooses. This type of academic diversity is what not only attracts students to Long Island, but businesses as well because of the high caliber of talent that graduates every year. Stony Brook continues to be set the bar for what it means to be an exemplary public university, and I am proud of its continued achievement."

How has being a man changed? For Michael Kimmel, the 64-year-old sociology professor who founded the Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities at Stony Brook University, part of the State University of New York system, that’s a tough question. On the one hand, the definition of masculinity has expanded to include traditionally feminine virtues such as being nurturing and a hands-on parent. But until recently, the meaning of manhood had yet to come under scrutiny.

This spring marked the 60th anniversary of one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of public health. Researchers announced the success of vaccine trials for polio, the viral illness that crippled children and terrified parents. Those trials paved the way for the eradication of polio in the United States.

It comes from the tens of thousands of septic systems serving homes along Long Island Sound, from old cesspools, fertilized farmlands and the rains that wash across manicured lawns.