Later this summer, undersea explorer Robert Ballard and a team of scientists will embark on a 40-day expedition to the Black Sea and Mediterranean. Among their tools will be Hercules, an innovative remotely operated vehicle equipped with mechanical arms and fingers capable of excavating shipwrecks and undersea archaeological sites.
Tom Sanders is the reigning master of skydiving photography. He has shot commercials featuring stuntmen riding motorcycles out of airplanes, sofas plummeting, and massive conventions of handholding daredevils—all while tumbling toward the Earth. He discusses his life and work with the National Geographic Channel's Inside Base Camp with Tom Foreman.
Wildlife specialists are headed to Kenya's Masailand to get a precise measure of the current lion population and attempt to broker a peace between the predators and livestock owners. The project is supported by the National Geographic Society Conservation Trust and the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund.
At the National Aquarium in Baltimore, researchers are working with a pair of 4-foot-long nurse sharks to investigate how the creature's immune system responds to the anthrax bacterium. The approach may serve as a template for developing other tools to detect other bio-weapons.
The United States won the sixth National Geographic World Championship in Tampa, Florida, today. The runners up were Germany and France. Eighteen countries took part in the competition.
Scientists and anglers have joined forces in a groundbreaking project to discover why aquatic flies are disappearing from U.K. rivers. As close observers of these insects, trout fishers are being trained to help researchers investigate the problem. The scheme spearheads a wider effort to involve thousands of amateur naturalists in conserving threatened species.
The biggest battle ever fought in North America marked a
turning point of the Civil War. While many know the story of Gettysburg,
far fewer know the story of the battlefield itself, which has endured
for the past 140 years.
Why do we know more about our cars than our bodies? There are gauges and sensors in our cars to measure temperature, oil, and gas levels, yet there is no dashboard for the human body. This story airs tonight on our U.S. cable television program National Geographic Today.
Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean sails into theaters this weekend. Like many Hollywood films, it depicts pirate life as a swashbuckling adventure. But life for the real pirates of the early 18th century was often a grim affair.
More of the world's millionaires are found in Western Europe than in any other region, a reflection of centuries of accumulation by established wealthy families, according to a study. But time is not the only factor that builds riches, according to experts. Geography also has a big impact.
To the delight of tourists, hundreds of humpback whales winter in Mexico's sun-splashed Bahia de Banderas. One couple's tour company combines wildlife watching—with research. It is one of a handful of outfitters attempting to clean up Mexico's unregulated whale-watching industry.
In 1961, Wally Funk, was one of 13 women slated for the "Women in Space"
program—until NASA abruptly cancelled it. Today Funk, 64, is the rocket
pilot for Interorbital Systems and still hopes to fly in space. This story
airs tonight on our U.S. cable television program National Geographic
Today.
Hundreds of scientists and volunteers combed Central Park on a recent 24-hour marathon to catalogue every living species they could find. Some climbed trees; others dove muck-filled ponds. "It's not just pigeons and rats, but a pretty good cross section of wildlife," said one participant.
Seeking to boost the commercial space race, a St. Louis foundation plans to award U.S. ten million dollars to the first team to send a trio to the edge of space and back in a reusable spacecraft. This story airs tonight on our U.S. cable television program National Geographic Today.
Nestled along the mountainous border of Bolivia and Peru at 12,530 feet (3,820 meters), Lake Titicaca's manmade "Floating Islands" built from totora reeds are under threat. Pollution is stunting the growth of the totora reed threatening not only the foundation of the islands but the culture of the Uros tribe who constructed them.
