As if taking off your shoes at the airport and having them electronically sniffed for explosives was not strange enough, future security devices could include heat sensors that would scan crowds for individuals thinking about committing, or having committed, some sort of deceptive act.
The search for the truth of the lost island Atlantis has intrigued scientists and historians for 2,000 years. French geologist Jacques Collina-Girard suggests that Atlantis existed, was located in what is now the Strait of Gibraltar, and succumbed to rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age 11,000 years ago.
The story of U.S. Route 66 is the story of two roads—the one that existed and carried Americans west, and the emblematic road celebrated by an important novel, a song, a beat poet, a TV show, and endless nostalgia.
Three South African scientists have identified several carnivores that may have preyed upon human ancestors 2.5 million years ago. Analysis of fossilized tooth enamel indicates that Megantereon, an extinct saber-toothed cat with oversize
fangs, the leopard, and spotted hyena hunted and ate early hominids.
The FBI is developing a computer program code-named "Magic Lantern" that can unscramble encrypted files. The plan is to use it against the bad guys, but privacy and legal experts worry that the program could violate citizens' civil right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Scientists have known surprisingly little about white sharks—how long they live, where they go to breed, how often they reproduce. A new study using satellite technology is providing the data needed to answer some of the questions.
An environmental group hopes to reintroduce beavers to the Scottish Highlands 400 years after the species was hunted to extinction in Britain. Farmers, landowners, and area residents are opposing the controversial plan.
Scientists in Great Britain are working to determine whether the cause for plummeting numbers of cod and other fish in the northern Atlantic can be attributed solely to overfishing or whether climate change may also be a factor.
It's right whale calving season in the waters off the coasts of Georgia and Florida, and scientists say it looks like a good year. With the adult population at about 350, Atlantic right whales are hovering on the brink of extinction. But this year the whales look healthy and well fed, and protection schemes are improving.
Curious to learn why many of a parrot's feathers are fluorescent in certain light, a team of scientists discovered that the characteristic is important in sexual mating—prospective mates go with the glow.
The U.S. military has asked a research institute to develop an odor so universally repulsive it would be considered unbearable by people from all cultures. Possible uses of such a "stink bomb" include crowd control and deterring people from restricted areas, says a psychologist working on the project.
Two researchers may have put the final stake in the heart of a proposed solution to global warming that calls for seeding the oceans with iron to increase phytoplankton as a way of drawing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
A new method to reduce rust and corrosion in the ballast tanks of ocean vessels may also be key in preventing the spread of foreign aquatic species that stow away in ballast water. Nitrogen gas is pumped through the ballast tanks to purge the seawater of oxygen.
Astronomers said an asteroid capable of causing widespread devastation narrowly missed hitting Earth on Monday. Had it arrived four hours earlier on its journey around the sun, they said, it would have scored a direct hit.
According to a new theory presented this week at a major scientific meeting, an exploding star may have destroyed part of Earth's protective ozone layer two million years ago, devastating some forms of ancient marine life.
In less than 30 years finches in the United States have undergone a remarkable adaptation. Montana populations have evolved to produce large females and small males. In Alabama, by contrast, finches produce large males and small females. Scientists believe that the females influence the size of their offspring by controlling the hatching order of their eggs.
Nearly every global environmental indicator has worsened over the last decade, say the authors of the Worldwatch Institute's annual State of the World report. They liken the deterioration of the health of the planet to "slow-motion terrorism just as threatening over the long term as the events of September 11."
National Geographic News interviews Don Belt, senior editor of National Geographic magazine and editor of National Geographic's The World of Islam, a compilation of articles and images that have been published in the magazine over 98 years. An expert on the Muslim world, Belt shares his views on tensions between Islam and the West and reviews how articles published by National Geographic decades ago foreshadowed the news in today's headlines.
In December last year an illegal shipment of 7,500 turtles was seized in Hong Kong. Stacked like hamburger patties, one on top of another, live turtles were found crammed into crates, without food or water and some still with hooks in their throats, bound for the food markets of China. Now heroic efforts, coordinated by the Turtle Survival Alliance, are underway to rehabilitate and relocate the animals.
By using an innocuous virus derived from HIV, scientists have developed a new way of producing animals that carry genes from other organisms. It overcomes some of the problems of present methods used to create transgenic animals, which are widely used in biological research. Mice "infected" with a jellyfish gene caused the animals to glow under fluorescent light, proving the successful transfer of genetic material from one organism to another by this new method.
Evolutionary biologists have long wondered why females in most species typically mate with more than one male. A study of crickets suggests female promiscuity is a hedge against giving birth to the young of a sibling or close relative.
After the frozen mummy of a 5,000-year-old man was found in the Alps a decade ago, scientists speculated he had been a victim of bad weather, a hunting accident, or foul play. Now, an archaeologist has proposed that the man was killed as a sacrifice to the gods.
Ireland has approved plans to build the world's largest wind farm on a sandbank offshore from Arklow, south of Dublin. A similar project has been proposed for construction off the coast of Massachusetts. Such large wind-power stations may someday be an important source of clean, renewable energy.
Among birders, the majestic black and white ivory-billed woodpecker holds the status of the Holy Grail. Many people believe it's extinct. But others disagree, and have mounted an expedition to comb the swamps of Louisiana in search of the bird.
To most men, a woman's body language is one of the most mystifying things in the universe. But male satin bowerbirds have cracked the code, and modify their courtship based on females' body language, a new study shows.
Scientists have found a place on Earth that they believe is analogous to conditions on Mars and the Jovian moon Europa, and the site is teeming with a group of microbes that far outnumber bacteria. The discovery supports the idea that life may exist on other planets and moons.
As public concern grows over the accelerating extinction of species, taxonomists—the scientists who traverse the globe to collect, identify, and enumerate the world's plants and animals—have also been disappearing at an alarming rate.
Extensive sea ice and two massive icebergs along the coastline of Antarctica disrupted the breeding season and foraging of several penguin colonies this year. With their normal swimming routes blocked, some penguins have to walk for days going to and from their colonies.
The strength and elasticity of spider silk make it a good candidate for a broad range of medical and industrial applications, but creating it artificially has been difficult. Now, a Canadian biotech company has done it by inserting the genes for spider silk into the cells of mammals.
Robert E. Lee, the great Confederate general, fought for the Confederacy because he believed each state was sovereign unto itself. Edward C. Smith, director of American Studies at American University in Washington, D.C., believes Lee came to regret his decision.
The British Museum has mounted a major exhibition on the art and traditions of the peoples of the Amazonian rain forest and their deep spiritual connection with the land. Related presentations were organized to look at the threats to that way of life.
In Alaska, Yellowstone, British Columbia—wherever the land is wild and the salmon are plentiful, there are bear viewers. But as the number of them soars, many concerned experts say the industry needs to be regulated before someone gets hurt.
Organic material, including petroleum, is a large potential source of energy. Now, scientists have harnessed a group of naturally occurring bacteria to generate electricity from organic material in river sludge—but don't expect to load a "mud battery" into your car anytime soon.
Hundreds of thousands of victims of the volcanic eruption in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are walking over cooling lava to get to their homes despite warnings from aid agencies that the area is still unsafe because of poisonous fumes and ash and the danger of further eruptions.
By mounting video cameras on the heads of Weddell seals in Antarctica, scientists have gained much insight into the life of the seals. But the data also provides another unexpected bounty: a rare look at fishes in the dark and freezing waters beneath the ice pack that have been difficult to study.
The Torajan people who live in a remote valley in Indonesia believe their ancestors confer good crops, health, and fertility to the family. Honoring ancestors at death is therefore obligatory, but the elaborate nature of funerals can burden a family for many years. A report by National Geographic Today.
Scientists are drilling into a huge crater in Mexico created 65 million years ago by an asteroid or comet that slammed into Earth—and, as popular theory has it, wiped out the dinosaurs. The goal is to learn how it devastated the global environment, clearing the way for the rise of mammals, including humans.
What influences social organization? A combination of factors is involved, but a study of fire ants shows that a single gene can play a major role. The research showed that the ants form two different kinds of colonies depending on which variant of a particular gene they carry.
Many scientists study conditions at Earth's two poles for signs of environmental and ecological changes that may be related to global warming, but the data often seem contradictory. The authors of several new reports on Antarctica explain the apparent discrepancy.
One of Earth's most peculiar creatures, the ice worm, is the focus of study for millions of students participating in a virtual expedition to the glaciers of Alaska. The activity is part of an educational program called the Jason Project.
The life of Herod the Great was the stuff of legend, but the cause of his grisly death more than 2,000 years ago has been a mystery. In an annual medical event that reexamines the death of famous people, a U.S. physician says Herod appears to have died of chronic kidney disease and related complications.
In more than a dozen trips to Vietnam, Douglas Niven sought out images of the war that were taken by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong photographers in often bare-bones conditions. These can be seen for the first time in a new book published by National Geographic. Full story and photo gallery:
Two teams of scientists predict more extreme rainfall and greater flooding over the next 100 years. According to their projections, the northern latitudes—Canada, Alaska, northern Europe, and northern Asia—will be most affected.
The Canadian lynx is listed as threatened in the United States, but efforts to protect it have been difficult because the extent of its habitat has not been clear. A new study solves at least part of the puzzle.
An international team is in a remote region of the Caucasus to retrieve two mysterious devices thought to be highly radioactive. The objects may be two of several hundred missing generators made by scientists of the former Soviet Union. The discovery of the objects lying out in the open has stirred concerns that unaccounted for radioactive materials from the Cold War could end up in the hands of terrorists.
Satellite photographs show that the Namibian coast off southwestern Africa is belching up massive amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas—commonly known as "rotten egg" gas. The gas robs the water of oxygen and suffocates marine life, raising fears about the possible collapse of local fisheries.
A growing power struggle between Pashtun supporters of the exiled king of Afghanistan and forces of the Northern Alliance—which has all sides filling sandbags, digging trenches, and bolstering their firepower—is seen as a key test of the authority of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
