Hundreds of tiny arachnids are likely on your face right now
Hundreds of tiny arachnids are likely on your face right now
Category: Science and Nature
The modern world edges into one of the cradles of humankind
The modern world edges into one of the cradles of humankind
Finding the ordinary amid North Korea’s extravagant propaganda displays
This story appears in the May 2020 issue of National Geographic magazine. Even by North Korean standards, the final event of the country’s 70th-anniversary celebration in 2018 was a jaw-dropping spectacle. Many thousands of torch-wielding students marched in waves around Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square. The electric flame on top of Juche Tower glowed while…
The pandemic may fuel the next wave of the opioid crisis
There’s usually a stream of people headed into the unassuming brick building in the Cedar Rapids neighborhood where Sarah Ziegenhorn runs the Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition. In 2016 when she moved back to Iowa to begin medical school, Ziegenhorn started the small nonprofit to help people who use drugs. Today, the drop-in center provides medical…
Ten years later, BP oil spill continues to harm wildlife—especially dolphins
On April 20, 2010, an explosion at the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig released over 130 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It was the biggest oil spill ever in U.S. waters and remains one of the worst environmental disasters in world history. Eleven rig workers lost their lives. So did…
The uplifting tale of these tiny island foxes, nearly wiped out by disaster
In winter calm, sheets of sleek oil neared the beach. From hillsides, the island’s little foxes must have watched, maybe frightened by the stench or by the dying birds. Though the foxes must have been uneasy on this confusing, deadly Southern California day in January 1969, at least they were safe on the hills. Or…
How absinthe made a comeback in its Alpine homeland—after a century-long ban
Absinthe is still a drink that strikes fear into the heart of some liquor lovers. During the heady days of the belle epoque, La Fée Verte (The Green Fairy) acquired a reputation as the mind-bending tipple of choice for van Gogh, Zola, Rimbaud, Toulouse-Lautrec, and a host of other bohemian artists and writers active in…
She discovered coronaviruses decades ago—but got little recognition
When June Almeida peered into her electron microscope in 1964, she saw a round, grey dot covered in tiny spokes. She and her colleagues noted that the pegs formed a halo around the virus—much like the sun’s corona. What she saw would become known as the coronavirus, and Almeida played a pivotal role in identifying…