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Welcome To The Harshest Place On Earth

Antarctica is the least explored and understood continent on Earth. The sun never rises in winter whilst in summer it never sets. Barely anything can survive here but despite this, humanity is working hard to explore it with the world's top scientists.

Follow Genetics 101 What is a genome, and how are traits passed from generation to generation? Learn how pea plants helped launch the study of genetics and how the field of genetics research has evolved over time.

Genetics 101

Follow See Why This Colourful King Of Birds Is The Centre Of Conservation Efforts The western tragopan (or jujurana, which means “king of birds”) is one of the most vulnerable pheasants in the world; just 3,300 survive in the wild today. This species can be found only in the western Himalaya and is most protected in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. National Geographic grantee Munmun Dhalaria created a short film that features her sighting of the bird, one of the longest jujurana sightings ever to be documented in the wild. Dhalaria’s film also highlights the bird’s courtship display in captivity and the state’s overall conservation effort to protect the king of birds.

See Why This Colourful King Of Birds Is The Centre Of Conservation Efforts

Follow Iceman Autopsy Iceman Autopsy

Iceman Autopsy

Follow What's The World's Most Littered Plastic Item? Cigarette Butts Cigarette filters are made of a plastic called cellulose acetate. When tossed into the environment, they dump not only plastic, but also the nicotine, heavy metals, and many other chemicals they’ve absorbed into waterways, and eventually oceans. But, there are solutions that can help our health and our planet.

What's The World's Most Littered Plastic Item? Cigarette Butts

Follow Sparse Snowpack Worsens California Drought Crisis "It could be pretty grim," says California's chief of snow surveys, looking toward the summer months. During one of the worst droughts in centuries, state officials are concerned. The snowy stockpile of water in the Sierra Mountains is the state's real reservoir, supplying about a third of the water used by farms and cities when it melts each spring and early summer. National Geographic followed California’s top snow surveyor on a recent snow inspection, and he's sounding the alarm.

Sparse Snowpack Worsens California Drought Crisis

Follow See How This School Of Tiny Fish Uses Bacteria To Glow In The Dark August 14, 2019 — While scuba diving at night along a coral reef in the Solomon Islands, marine biologist and National Geographic Explorer David Gruber witnessed what he describes as "the closest [he's] had to an Avatar moment." Thousands of flashlight fish swam before him, forming shapes, and illuminating the dark ocean waters. What he saw could be the largest school of glowing fish ever seen and captured on camera. Casting a vibrant blue glow as they swim, flashlight fish owe their bioluminescence to the bacteria that grow in an organ underneath their eyes. It's a symbiotic relationship that allows the bacteria to obtain extra oxygen needed to survive, and the fish benefit from the glowing light emitted from the organ, which they can "blink" on and off using special skin folds. In a recent study published in PLOS ONE, it was observed that flashlight fish use the glowing light to coordinate their schooling and avoid predators.

See How This School Of Tiny Fish Uses Bacteria To Glow In The Dark

Follow Behind The Scenes: A Rumour About Opiates And Pangolin Scales Is Debunked Scientists at the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon recently investigated a claim about pangolin scales—that they contain tramadol, an opiate used for pain relief that, like all opiates, has the potential for abuse. Concerned by the rumors and inquiries by law enforcement, the forensic team decided to do a chemical analysis to look for the presence of tramadol in several samples of pangolin scales. The results showed there was no presence of the chemicals. Pangolins are believed to be the most trafficked mammals in the world, and across Asia and Africa their populations are dwindling. The demand for their scales stems from the belief that they have medicinal benefits.

Behind The Scenes: A Rumour About Opiates And Pangolin Scales Is Debunked

Follow TIL: Some Sharks Can Glow In The Dark You probably know that your visual perception of the world is a bit different than your pets’. Dogs see things with less colour than humans, snakes can see infrared, and if you have a pitbull, it lives in a world where red and green are the same colour. This brings up a good question. Why do you have a pitbull? You should get a cat instead, and when you do, it is important to know that your new friend can’t focus on objects farther than 6 metres away. The point is, animals have evolved to see in a variety of ways. But how can we see things through their eyes? Marine biologist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer David Gruber collaborated with a research team to develop lights and camera filters that allowed him to do just that, underwater. Through their work, the team discovered biofluorescence in an abundance of aquatic species. This “glowing” trait has to do with how an organism absorbs and emits light. Research has indicated that this radiance is possibly used for communication and camouflage. One caveat: You need a certain species of eyes (or David’s camera) to see it. Swell sharks (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum) have fluorescent proteins inside their skin, which are triggered by the ocean’s blue light, becoming visible to other swell sharks. David’s camera has special yellow filters that allow the simulation of a swell shark’s vision. It turns out there is a massive rave going on 500 metres below the ocean’s surface, and one of the glowing guests is a type of catshark!

TIL: Some Sharks Can Glow In The Dark

Follow These Sharks Glow Underwater—Thanks To Tiny Lightsabers Why do sharks glow? After discovering more than 200 biofluorescent marine creatures, scientists are studying the role of this phenomenon.

These Sharks Glow Underwater—Thanks To Tiny Lightsabers

Follow Activate | Trailer Hugh Jackman, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Becky G rally global citizens in campaigns to push world leaders into action against extreme poverty. Join artists and activists who have joined the Global Citizen worldwide movement to drive change for pressing global issues.

Activate | Trailer

Follow See The Crack Splitting An Antarctic Ice Shelf In Two Stunning drone footage captures Chasm 1, a huge crack on the Brunt Ice Shelf. When it inevitably intersects with the nearby Halloween Crack, an iceberg the size of Houston, Texas will break off into the ocean.

See The Crack Splitting An Antarctic Ice Shelf In Two

Follow Lion Protector: Biologist Helps Big Cats And People Coexist The fewer than 2,000 lions left in Kenya face many threats, including retaliatory killings by herders who lose livestock to the big cats. National Geographic 2014 Emerging Explorer and conservation biologist Shivani Bhalla started a nonprofit, Ewaso Lions, to help herders learn to live with lions—giving the big cats their best chance of survival.

Lion Protector: Biologist Helps Big Cats And People Coexist

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