An elaborate, 600-pound (270-kilogram) stone altar stolen from an ancient Maya ball court in Guatemala has been recovered, the National Geographic Society and Vanderbilt University announced Thursday. Professional archaeologists, Guatemalan undercover agents, and local villagers collaborated to recover the altar from a ring of looters and drug runners attempting to sell it in the lucrative antiquities market.

It's been the subject of campfire stories for decades. A camera-elusive, grooming-challenged, bipedal ape-man that roams the mountain regions of North America. Some call it Sasquatch. Others know it as Bigfoot. Thousands claim to have to have seen the hairy hominoid, but the evidence of its existence is fuzzy.

The world of Islam is vast and diverse, but is there room under its tent for democracy? Two Islam experts argue that democracy is consistent with Islam—but what may emerge as a Muslim democracy may not be quite the same as the Western form of government.

One out of every five people on Earth, or some 1.3 billion, practice Islam. While over 80 percent of these Muslims live outside the Middle East, they share the same spiritual center—Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Each year two million Muslims visit the holy city during the sacred pilgrimage known as the hajj.

Wader populations are plummeting globally, say ornithologists. The warning follows an international review of these mainly migratory shorebirds which suggests half of all waders are in decline.

China successfully launched its first manned space mission today. Carrying a single astronaut, the Szenzhou 5 rocket blasted off from northwest China. It will orbit Earth 14 times before returning. Despite the national pride associated with it, the launch was shrouded in secrecy.

Swedish stonecutters excavated limestone from the quarry in Dalarna for nearly 50 years. But since 1993, a different kind of rock has poured forth—along with opera and blues. With near-perfect acoustics and a spectacular natural setting, the defunct quarry now serves as a 4,000-seat amphitheater.

When deep-sea explorers combing the Baltic Sea floor located a Swedish spy plane shot down by the Russians more than 50 years ago, they ended one of the more enduring mysteries of the Cold War.

Energy derived from the moon now trickles into a village near the Arctic tip of Norway via a novel underwater windmill-like device powered by the rhythmic slosh of the tides.

In a windowless New York City lab, scientists are simulating conditions that triggered two of the most explosive volcanic events in recent history: the eruption of Mount Mazama and Mount Vesuvius. The project seeks to better understand and predict volcanic eruptions.

Exactly what happens while following the Kratt brothers on their adventures is a new approach to wildlife filmmaking. The premiere episode of Be the Creature finds them shadowing grizzly bears. "We're going deeper into the creature world now," says Martin, "to live on their turf, by their rules—and just see what happens!"

Archaeologists in Guatemala have unearthed a lost city believed to be one of the crowning jewels in the ancient civilization of the Maya. A six-year study of clues in hieroglyphics and palaces suggest the 1,400-year-old city disintegrated not from drought, as some experts believe, but from royal power struggles.

National Geographic Channel's reality series Worlds Apart premieres its first full season tonight. Viewers follow the Russell family as they travel from Birmingham, Alabama, to Ghana—trading comforts that they know in the hope of gaining understanding of a different culture and an awareness of the common bonds people share.

Since the digital film festival Resfest launched in 1997, digital filmmaking has exploded, with top Hollywood directors now embracing the new technology. This year's festival, which plays in 18 cities around the world, offers a new segment sponsored by the National Geographic Society focusing on geographic literacy.

This month, the National Geographic Society will publish Through the Lens: National Geographic Greatest Photographs, a collection of 250 images that span over 100 years of Geographic photography. The book includes many of the Society's most celebrated photographers, including Sam Abell, William Albert Allard, Annie Griffiths Belt, Jodi Cobb, David Doubilet, Chris Johns and more. Many of the photos have been published previously, while others are available to the public for the first time.