By Marlene Cimons Kristina Stinson never had an allergic reaction to ragweed until after she started working with it. “I think the repeated exposure to the pollen is what did it,” she said. It also didn’t help that her community is chock-full of it. “There is plenty of ragweed in my neighborhood,” she said. “In…
By Jessica Perelman, PhD Student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa “95% of our oceans have never been explored.” This is a statistic that I hear regularly, and it holds a pretty strong message. What’s out there beneath the surface? How is the ocean changing? One of the greatest challenges in conveying the significance…
By Susan Lieberman Sharm el Shekih, Egypt The global community has gathered in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt for the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, or CBD—an international treaty to which every country in the world other than the U.S. is a member (but that’s another story). I am here leading…
2018 is year of the bird, a project launched by National Geographic with the aim of increasing awareness about birds and the threats they face. This year is 100 years since the Migratory Bird Treaty Act was passed, which brought with it increased protection for many bird species. It has also been 100 years since…
By Jeremy Radachowsky By now, we recognize that deforestation and fossil fuel emissions impact polar bears in the Arctic and raise sea levels around the world. But climate change also hits in ways and places less publicized. Climate change has hit Central America hard. In the past several years, hotter, drier, and more variable weather…
Birds will often form aggregations known as flocks when they feed, or fly. The benefit of doing activities as part of a flock is that multiple birds can look out for danger while others forage or fly. Many species will also congregate to form mixed flocks that forage together, this may benefit solitary species that…
With Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s difficult to get the sumptuous meals we are about to consume in a few weeks off our minds. But, have you ever stopped to consider where the food on your table comes from? Unlike the bounty of food that adorns our tables during Thanksgiving, American meals in the nineteenth century were made for subsistence,……
The National Geographic Society is pleased to announce an innovative partnership between National Geographic Education and the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). The partnership will increase access to high-quality professional development in the field of geography. UNI is now offering graduate credit to students who enroll in the National Geographic online course “Connecting the Geo-Inquiry…
Last week governments met in the southern reaches of Hobart, Australia to make decisions on how to manage the vulnerable icy waters around Antarctica. They deliberated in the wake of the recent reports, which concluded with high confidence that climate change will cause dramatic environmental changes and loss of sea ice. As if to underscore…
This post is by National Geographic Fellow and leader of the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project Dr. Steve Boyes….
Seeds come in all shapes and sizes, and are an important part of the diet for many bird species. This variety in seeds has thus led to a wide variety of bird beaks used to feed on them. Seed eating birds can be divided into two groups; those that husk the seed before eating it,…
By Marlene Cimons Climate change has spurred the spread of invasive insects that devour crops, destroy homes, and spread disease. Now, rising temperatures are driving cadaver-eating blow flies to migrate north in search of cooler weather, with consequences for forensic scientists who rely on them to solve crimes. Blow flies are drawn to dead bodies, both human…
The Wyss Campaign for Nature will work with the National Geographic Society, The Nature Conservancy, and conservation partners across the globe to protect lands and oceans for current and future generations…
At the National Geographic Society, we’re mad about maps, so it was understandably difficult to choose just a few from our archive. But to commemorate 130 years since the first time we published a map, we thought we’d do just that. Curated by our own staff geographer Alex Tait and manager of the Map Library Michael Fry, these are some……
(adapted from the book Eye of the Albatross) East Island has just about disappeared. Hurricane Walaka has washed it away. This happened just a few days ago. You might be relieved to hear that it is so remote a part of Hawaii’s Northwest Islands that no one lived there and no one will be affected….