Ninety percent of the world's oceans remain unexplored. But with new technology we are at last able to probe Earth's last great frontier—and learn about the animals that have adapted to near-freezing temperatures, crushing pressures, lack of light, and sparse food.
They may not be getting new ties this Sunday, but a crew of animal fathers put in serious time—and sometimes unusual methods—in their bid for parenthood. From the hardhead catfish, which goes on a multi-week starvation diet while holding its young in its mouth, to the South American marmoset, which cares for its babies from birth, these fathers are hands- (and fins-) on parents, a quality which helps their species' survival.
A fire ant species originally from Brazil does at least a billion dollars in damage yearly in Texas alone. Now scientists plan to fight fire with fire, importing alien flies to beat back the alien ants.
Single-celled plants called diatoms dominate the surface layer of the ocean around Antarctica. Their unique glass-hoarding behavior has allowed scientists to map the delivery of ocean nutrients around the world.
With some 200 U.S. localities now banning "dangerous" dog breeds such as pit bulls and Rottweilers, dog owners and animal organizations are using the U.S. Constitution to try to retrieve the right to keep such canines. Some experts say aggression in dogs is not necessarily breed-specific—owners may share the blame.
Wild Atlantic salmon are in trouble, but they have some valuable friends in the New England schoolchildren who take part in the U.S. government's Adopt-a-Salmon Family program. By raising and releasing young salmon, students hope to promote the fish's recovery, while learning firsthand the importance of clean and healthy watersheds.
A new and terrifying disease struck England in October of 1831 and quickly spread across the kingdom. Over the next two years, thousands died a gruesome death from this mysterious illness, so virulent that a person could be in good health at dawn and be buried at dusk. There was no cure. A related story airs on our U.S. cable television program National Geographic Channel Presents I: Sewers of London.
An estimated three-quarters of all marine life is maintained by a single ocean-circulation pattern in the Southern Hemisphere that pulls nutrient-rich waters from the deep ocean, brings them to the surface, and distributes them around the world.
After a seven-year, roundabout planetary voyage, the international Cassini-Huygens spacecraft is poised to begin a four-year tour of Saturn, its rings, and 31 known moons, including Earthlike Titan.
One-celled ocean plants known as phytoplankton produce half the world's oxygen. They also trap large amounts of carbon dioxide. Some scientists believe that enriching the world's oceans with iron would encourage phytoplankton blooms and help regulate global warming.
Wherever people go, rats go too. Researchers are using this fact to help understand human migration patterns. A new genetic comparison of rats from various Pacific islands presents clues to the origins of Polynesian people.
Even as NASA struggles to save the Hubble Space Telescope, it's got something even more impressive already under construction. The next great space telescope is to launch in 2011, and it promises to see vastly farther than the Hubble can—perhaps even to the beginning of the universe.
The U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts are in for another pounding this hurricane season, forecasters say. And recent history suggests we're at the start of hurricane boom that won't let up for years, possibly even decades.
The Titanic has significantly deteriorated since its discovery in 1986, explorer Robert D. Ballard announced yesterday during a telephone press conference from a research ship above the wreck in the North Atlantic. Ballard found the Titanic in 1986. He is currently leading an expedition to assess how it has changed since then and to ensure its future protection.
The fossil skull of a new species of dinosaur—a wrinkle-faced carnivore called Rugops primus that lived 95 million years ago—has been found in a remote part of the Sahara.
