At fantasy camps, folks can learn guitar licks from rock-and-roll greats, shag flies with baseball Hall of Famers, or cook at the elbows of celebrity chefs. But to aspiring photographers, 13 high school students probably enrolled in the best camp of all: Photo Camp at the National Geographic Society.
National Geographic News recently spoke with Ultimate
Explorer television correspondent Michael Davie in Freetown, Sierra
Leone, shortly after his evacuation from the Liberian capital of
Monrovia. Davie described his experiences in the war-torn West
African nation.
Twenty years ago, scientists discovered a hole in the Earth's ozone layer above Antarctica. The protective atmospheric layer showed signs of other widespread damage. Now after a decade-long ban on ozone-depleting chemicals, scientists report on the first hints of recovery.
The Southern Ocean ecosystem is threatened by overfishing, say scientists. The warning came at a major conference in London in July, with Antarctic researchers forecasting increased pressure on krill and fish stocks. They fear this could have a devastating impact on sea birds and marine mammals.
Ichthyosaurs were the giant marine predators of Jurassic and Cretaceous seas, thought to have specialized on squid-like prey. Now a new fossil with turtle and bird remains in its gut is causing some experts to question why the group disappeared.
In a stark, almost alien landscape in southern Africa is one of the world's most plentiful, and endangered, ecosystems—a desert called the Succulent Karoo. Here researchers are studying flora for impacts of global warming. This story airs tonight on our U.S. cable television program National Geographic Today.
A thunderstorm that pounded south-central Nebraska in June ended up leaving something for the record books: The largest hailstone ever recovered in the United States, a 7-inch (17.8-centimeter) chunk of ice almost as wide as a soccer ball.
The Greek government has decided to build an Olympic rowing center on the ancient Athenian battle site of Marathon in the western Schinias marsh. Conservation groups are fighting for the protection of the site before the 2004 Olympics in Athens kick off.
As a young man, David Western spent four years herding cattle and goats with red-robed Masai tribesmen in the Kenyan bush. There, he found something remarkable: Contrary to conventional conservation wisdom, cattle grazing fertilized the land and improved species diversity.
A 42-year-old record may fall this summer when two British balloonists attempt to shatter the world-altitude mark for manned balloon flight. Andy Elson and Colin Prescot are waiting for a weather window during which they hope to pilot the QuinetiQ 1 to 132,000 feet (40,000 meters)—the very edge of space.
Archaeologists are trading in their trowels for ground-penetrating radar and remote-sensing robots, while underwater explorers have added multi-beam sonar and real-time video to their arsenal of tools. The new technology is transforming the field of archaeology.
A massive river-drainage project in five South American countries has stirred international debate about the environmental impact. The survival of the continent's second-largest river system may be at stake. Environmentalists are challenging proponents of the project.
Erik Weihenmeyer reached the top of the world; but he never caught even a glimpse of the famous view. He is the only blind person to stand on Everest's peak. Tom Foreman talks with Weihenmeyer about the challenges and rewards of reaching the top, sans vision.
World attention focused on Loch Ness and its legendary monster this month when the fossil of a giant sea creature was found in its murky waters. But scientists now say the discovery was almost certainly a hoax.
In 1938, at the peak of his career, Seabiscuit was the biggest newspaper story in the United States, receiving more column inches than President Roosevelt or Adolf Hitler. But as the popularity of horse racing waned, so did Seabiscuit's fame—until a 2001 best-seller hit bookstores.
