In an inconspicuous office building in West Los Angeles, far from the turmoil of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Institute for Creative Technologies is developing virtual reality projects for the U.S. military. Its mission is to bring some Hollywood razzmatazz to Army war games and training exercises.
As cities grow worldwide, packing in enormous numbers of residents, the risk of a cataclysmic earthquake is rising, experts agree. The odds of a single quake killing a million or more people may now be as high as one in a hundred years.
New research adds to increasing evidence that tea is not only a much-loved beverage, but may offer a host of health benefits as well. A recent study reveals how substances found in tea may help prime the body's immune system to fight off infection. Other chemicals in green tea may be linked to skin cell rejuvenation.
Training for Mars, scientists are testing robots designed to find microscopic life-forms in Chile's Atacama desert—one of the most inhospitable corners on Earth. The three-year mission is sponsored by NASA's astrobiology exploration program.
Once a mountaintop where howler monkeys roamed, the lush island of Barro Colorado in the middle of the Panama Canal, is now also populated by scientists at work for the Smithsonian Institution's Tropical Research Institute. The island's tropical forest is one of the most intensively studied preserves on the planet.
California-based bioengineer Michael Dickinson has built an entire research lab, not to mention a professional career, dedicated to answering just how a fly's brain controls its muscles in precision flight. At last, some answers.
As the death count from SARS rises, health officials struggle to understand the potential of the viral threat and to frame a battle plan. But as researchers reveal, it isn't easy to gauge whether SARS, or any virus, can trigger a global epidemic. SARS updates appear on our U.S. cable television program National Geographic Today.
Turmoil in the Mideast and rollercoasting gasoline prices have focused attention again on the world's addiction to crude oil. But an alternative fuel gaining respect is vegetable oil. It can be grown on the prairie and, when used as fuel, makes almost no contribution to global warming. Best of all, veggie fuel biodegrades quickly, is nontoxic, and the exhaust smells like french fries.
Sidelined over decades because of their dwindling numbers and ancient way of life, the San people of southern Africa have dwindled to a few struggling communities living on the edge of society. But now their traditional knowledge may be their salvation; international drug companies have agreed to pay royalties for an appetite-suppressant the San have been chewing on for thousands of years.
Scientists have cracked the genetic sequence of the virus believed to cause severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The sequencing reveals a virus that began its life in an animal, then mutated before picking up the power to infect people.
Genetic markers commonly found in modern humans all over the world could be evidence that our earliest ancestors were cannibals, according to new research. Scientists suggest that even today many of us carry a gene that evolved as protection against brain diseases that can be spread by eating human flesh.
When an apartment complex in Hong Kong suddenly turned into the latest epicenter of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) last week, health officials were puzzled. How could a virus that is usually transmitted by a simple cough or a sneeze infect hundreds in a building with no central ventilation?
Recent scares about biological and chemical terrorism—and the rapid spread of the mysterious new disease SARS—has renewed fears that the unseen enemy of viruses, microbes, and microscopic poisons, can be more terrifying than the largest army. But is the U.S. prepared for a massive attack? Not remotely, journalist Laurie Garrett tells Inside Base Camp With Tom Foreman.
On one of Earth's all-time worst days, a giant comet or asteroid struck Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula some 65 million years ago, ultimately killing the dinosaurs and 70 percent of life on the planet. A new high-resolution map, based on NASA imagery gathered from space, shows the most telling evidence of the 112-mile (180-kilometer) wide crater.
For bird species whose males and females differ in color, guys with the brightest feathers tend to have the greatest lady luck. New research confirms that birds with the gaudy plumage also tend to die earlier. This is not a problem for the species as vacant territories are quickly recolonized by new generations—provided that sprawl and other human development do not get in the way.
