NASA's Mars rover transmitted its first color photographs early this morning from the red planet after a successful landing late Saturday night. The high-resolution, "3-D" photographs showcase the Martian landscape from Spirit's landing site in Gusev Crater.

For six weeks, explorer Jon Bowermaster led an expedition across the high desert of southern Bolivia and northern Chile and Argentina known as the Altiplano. His team traveled with kayaks in search of water—an unusual quest for the driest spot on Earth.

The California quail is a beautiful creature. The male has a scaled belly, black chin, and a big, black topknot sticking out of the top of his head. Birding columnist Mathew Tekulsky writes about an encounter with one of these birds at his home in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Using sophisticated computer models, astronomers have mapped a ring-shaped disc in the Milky Way that shows the highest potential for extraterrestrial life in our galaxy. Researchers found that 75 percent of the stars in this habitable zone are older than our sun, holding out the possibility that any potential life-forms would have an evolutionary head start over Earth's.

One million species or more may head towards extinction if the continuing warming of Earth's climate results in the computer-predicted impact on their habitat over the next 50 years, an international group of scientists reported recently. They urged immediate reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions to try to minimize the potential catastrophe.

Like hundreds of other villagers living in Vietnam's demilitarized zone, farmer Ho Hun supplements his agricultural income digging up bombs to sell their metal and explosives. A related story airs Thursday, January 8, on our U.S. cable television program Dangerous Jobs.

Experts have long sought to explain why violins made by Antonio Stradivari and other 17th- and 18th-century craftsmen sound so exceptional. Now, scientists have come up with a possible explanation: A dramatic European cold spell may have enhanced the sound qualities of trees later used by violin makers.

Want to beat the world's best stone skipper? Toss your stone at the "magic angle" of 20 degrees. The hint comes from a team of French scientists who constructed a stone-skipping machine to find out the optimal speed, spin, and angle to achieve the maximum number of bounces.

"The world's largest bony fish looks like a massive swimming head and is extremely gentle and curious," says a marine biologist with the Sea Studios Foundation of the giant ocean sunfish, a sea creature that can grow to more than 4,000 pounds (1,800 kilograms). "Yet it is an animal we know very little about."

Researchers have found that the Hawaiian bobtail squid (Euprymma scolopes) uses a unique built-in flashlight to hide its shadow from predatory fish on the seafloor. The light organ is composed of silvery reflector plates and luminescent bacteria. The find may inspire a new generation of high-tech, nanotechnology gadgets.

After a new case of SARS was confirmed in China, officials there ordered the widespread culling of civets, an animal that has been linked to the transmission of the virus. But some experts now warn that the slaughter of a "scapegoat" species may be a terrible mistake.

Americans and Western Europeans have had a lock on unsustainable over-consumption for decades. But now developing countries are catching up rapidly, to the detriment of the environment, health, and happiness, according to the Worldwatch Institute in its annual report, State of the World 2004.

Many Italian towns and small cities have a Pro Loco, a civic membership organization that works with local businesses and tourism officials to devise ways to enhance the town and attract visitors. It's an idea the rest of us might want to adapt to our own countries, writes National Geographic Traveler magazine's Sustainable Tourism Editor, Jonathan Tourtellot.

Off Florida's Gulf Coast, firstborn bottlenose dolphins are dying in disproportionate numbers. Biologists believe that one reason may be the toxic soup of man-made pollutants that are concentrated in the blubber and reach calves through their mother's milk.

A weevil from the tropical forests of Australia may hold the clue to the artificial manufacturing of opals. The discovery could lead to less expensive opals in the jewelry store, and benefit computer and telecommunications companies.

A sophisticated "fright machine" that randomly plays loud recordings of noises associated with humans—including gunshots and helicopters hovering—may be the solution to scaring mountain lions, bears, wolves and other large predators away from farms and other places where people and domestic animals are threatened. The machine has tested successfully in the field, conservationists report.

The parched, southeastern corner of Bolivia is the unlikely home to a park that houses Latin America's highest diversity of large mammals, and is the stage for an unusual story of protected-area creation and operation.

Scientists have discovered a mysterious species of fly with males bearing highly unusual mis-matched right and left wings. The oddly paired wings might be an extraordinary type of ornament for wooing females, they said.

French archaeologists have unearthed the first mummified lion ever found in an Egyptian tomb. The spectacular find was made in the tomb of King Tutankhamen's wet-nurse, Maïa, at Saqqara, south of Cairo.

It looks nothing like C-3PO of Star Wars fame, but a team of British scientists have created a "robot" that can formulate hypotheses, design experiments, and interpret results on par with the best of their human counterparts.

A chance find has led Russian researchers to unearth a trove of 31,000-year-old hunting tools made from wolf bone, rhinoceros horn, and mammoth tusk along central Siberia's Yana River. The discovery suggests early humans colonized the rugged lands of Arctic Siberia almost twice as early as previously thought.

Jennifer Niven writes books about real-life adventurers. For her latest book she focused on the "female Robinson Crusoe" of the early 1920s—23-year-old Ada Blackjack, the unlikely hero of an arduous expedition into the far North to desolate, uninhabited Wrangel Island for the purpose of claiming the island for Great Britain.

Northern Russia's vast peat bogs may play a pivotal role in regulating greenhouse gas levels throughout the world, according to a new study. Scientists say the Siberian peatland ranks among the world's top carbon sinks, and that Arctic warming may trigger this potential contributor to global climate change.

The Labradoodle, Yorkipoo, cockapoo, and schnoodle are the latest designer hybrid dogs to hit the catwalk. Just as some customize coffee to suit their mood, others are designing pets to match their lifestyle.

For every American who receives an organ transplant, two others are added to a national waiting list that now features more than 80,000 people. As desperation for healthy organs grows around the world, so does an illicit trade in human parts. This Ultimate Explorer story airs in the U.S. on Sunday, January 18, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT on MSNBC.

Among the key insights provided by fitting cameras to humpback whales is a better understanding of their feeding habits and requirements. Footage provided by National Geographic's Crittercam provided some surprising glimpses of how these behemoths feed off the coast of Alaska. This story airs on the National Geographic Channel in the United States on Saturday, January 17 at 8 p.m. ET.

National Geographic's Crittercam crew joined wildlife biologist Laurence Frank in Kenya to test, for the first time, a camera fitted for use on a terrestrial animal. The collar-attached camera around the neck of a lioness passed with flying colors, enduring feeding frenzies and the nibbles of cubs. This story airs on the National Geographic Channel in the United States on Saturday, January 17 at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Barbara French is the real Batgirl. For years French shared her house with a colony of up to 75 bats. Watching and listening, day and night, she's decoded a basic repertoire of bat calls. A related story airs Sunday, January 18, on our U.S. cable television program Be The Creature.

The Steller's jay is in the same bird family as the crow—and shares an extraordinary ability to find food almost anywhere. Birding columnist Mathew Tekulsky describes how one gregarious jay tried to share his sandwich in Yosemite National Park.

Combining field evidence, satellite data, and information collected from museum specimens, scientists in Madagascar correctly predicted where populations of endangered lizards were living—and places to find species previously unknown to science. The method could be useful to identify the most diverse tracts of wilderness before they are obliterated by development.

Spirit is rolling around Mars, looking for signs of water. Opportunity is on course to plop down Saturday on the opposite side of the planet and do the same. What the rovers find, combined with studies of extreme environments on Earth, may help us understand if life could have existed on the red planet.

To satisfy the 14 million Indians who go to the cinema every day, the Indian film industry known as Bollywood churns out more than 1,000 movies a year, at least twice as many as Hollywood. Sometimes, films are made so fast that actors shoot scenes for four different movies simultaneously.

After a 20-year investigation, the first modern survey of Europe's ritual plants has traced the roots of hundreds of trees, shrubs, and herbs central to ancient folklore and religious traditions. Ethnobotanists believe some of the plants, once thought to have magical powers, could be the source of new, life-saving drugs.

Each year, some of the world's most daring rescues at sea are launched from the Chetco River Station, one of dozens of Coast Guard stations that patrol the Pacific Northwest coast. A related story airs Thursday, January 22, on our U.S. cable television program Dangerous Jobs.

Male brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) perform a choreographed song and dance routine that would be the envy of any American Idol contestant. Two biologists have revealed just how complex the communication routine is, part of a broader effort to decipher songbird communication.

Monkeys are able to understand the most basic grammatical rules. But new research on cotton-top tamarins (Saguius oedipus) has shown they can't master the more complex grammars central to human language. The finding identifies a key difference between animal communication and human language.

Shark Bay by its name alone may not sound like the most welcoming of habitats, but dugongs would beg to differ. Located on the western coast of Australia, Shark Bay contains vast seagrass meadows within its warm, shallow waters—just the right habitat for a myriad of marine animals, including the distinctive "sea cow," or dugong.

Mike Heithaus is used to the public image of sharks as mindless killing machines. But one thing he's learned from using Crittercam is that "sharks are a lot more boring than you'd expect."

Too few international tourists are worse than too many, says National Geographic Traveler geotourism editor Jonathan B. Tourtellot—especially when it comes to smashing stereotypes. Also, why planned development maps are raising eyebrows in Massachusetts, and top farm-stays in Poland.

When it comes to great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), the news is both bad and good for surfers: While the curious animals often "taste test" unfamiliar objects, they rarely eat people. A related story airs Sunday, January 25, on our U.S. cable television program Be The Creature.

The largest bony fish in the world, the Mola mola, or giant ocean sunfish, can grow up to ten feet (three meters) long and weigh more than a two-ton pickup truck. Yet relatively little is known about these gentle giants of the sea. Marine biologist Tierney Thys aims to change that.

The latest digital cameras have made vacation photography a snap. Read what National Geographic Traveler editors have to say about finding the right digital camera, buying memory cards, and the advantages of digital over analog photography.

Zoologists have discovered a mystery bird on an Indonesian island which they believe is new to science. Found in a region rich in endemic species, they suspect the bird is descended from castaways blown from oversea.

Africa's mountain gorillas were decimated by civil unrest, poaching, and habitat destruction during the 1960s and '70s. Now, despite the effect of war and genocide, a new census reveals that the population of those great apes in the Virunga mountains has increased by 17 percent. A related story about the mountain gorillas airs on our U.S. cable television program National Geographic On Assignment tonight.

Upon rediscovering a classic 19th-century tale of survival in the Sahara, author Dean King embarked on his own arduous crossing of Morocco. National Geographic Adventure recently spoke with King about his epic trek and the shipwrecked American sea captain who inspired it.

Seventy-seven percent of Yemeni women can't read, according to UNICEF. A novel pilot project in the country aims to teach literacy through traditional oral poetry, empowering women and upholding a centuries-old art form.

Vultures once clouded the skies of South Asia, forming the subcontinent's traditional carcass-disposal system. But in recent years vulture populations have almost disappeared—and now researchers think they know why. The killer could be a painkiller commonly fed to ailing livestock.

Researchers believe a jawbone found by a Thai sandpit worker and dating to the Late Miocene era seven to nine million years ago belongs to a new orangutan relative. The discovery suggests orangutans' most recent ancestors evolved in equatorial forests similar to those in Southeast Asia.

With rough seas and heavy winter storms, stretches of the Pacific Northwest coast offer some of the world's most hazardous commercial fishing. But the filthy, accident-prone work can net big catches—and big payoffs. A related story airs Thursday, January 29, on our U.S. cable television program Dangerous Jobs.

New research reveals that Israel's blind mole rat (Spalax ehrenbergi) uses the Earth's magnetic field like a compass to maintain course during long journeys. Perhaps more intriguing is the rodent's cunning habit of navigating around obstacles it hasn't come into contact with.

Scientists are planning to throw an object at 22,000 miles per hour into a comet—to see what will happen. Hurling a trash can-size spacecraft into Comet Tempel 1 in 2005 may provides clues about what comets are made of, and also how they may be deflected from colliding with the Earth.

Emperor penguins breed in winter, without any food or nest, in the coldest, most inhospitable place on Earth. No other animal is better equipped to survive the freeze-dried wastes of Antarctica. Yet the penguins are equally at home beneath the ice. With the help of Crittercam, scientists have been given a bird's-eye view of these skillful submariners.