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Hi,

Is the 'that' in the following structures a conjunction?

There is strong circumstantial evidence THAT areas in Brazil hit hard by Zika have experienced a sharp increase in the number of babies with microcephaly.

Are there other urgent questions THAT scientists are asking?

1. conjunction
2. pronoun

For the first one, it's easier to see how "THAT" is a conjunction if we take a shorter sentence:

I see that your face is red.

In this sentence, "that your face is red" is a noun clause, introduced by the conjunction "that". Noun clauses act in exactly the same way as nouns, which means they can do any of the "jobs" that nouns do in a sentence. In this case, the noun clause acts as the direct object.

I - subject
see - verb
that your face is red - direct object

We can imagine a "simpler" direct object that this noun clause might replace:

I see your face.

Hope that helps!