This is Banff National Park, one of the most beautiful—and famous—places on Earth. “It’s a real authentic town and not one that attracts busloads of tourists,” says Andy Brown ...

A version of this story appears in the May 2025 issue of National Geographic magazine. Based in Syracuse, New York, National Geographic Explorer Amy Toensing photographed communities and paddlers ...

New research reveals that memories of fatty and sugary foods are encoded in the hippocampus, helping explain why some cravings feel impossible to resist. Cravings may feel impulsive, but new resea ...

The earthly remains of most of history’s 266 popes (plus some European royals) are buried in Rome—in dozens of catacombs and cemeteries in, under, and around the city. Remains of a sprawling ...

They also can remain submerged for over 20 minutes. PHOTOGRAPH BY Paul Nicklen, National Geographic Image Collection By mid-December, as the Antarctic summer approaches, the chicks have started to ...

The prehistoric crocodile relative may have tolerated both freshwater and saltwater habitats, allowing it to conquer North American coasts in the Cretaceous. Paleontologists have been on the trail ...

Tight hip flexors, especially a deep muscle called the psoas, can silently stress your spine. Here's why this muscle deserves more attention—and how to strengthen it. Lower back pain is often ...

asked the 78-year-old director of the University of Washington’s Center for Ecosystem Sentinels and a National Geographic Explorer. “They’re comical, they’re curious, they’re endearing.” ...

At a time when record crowds are seeing visitors to some U.S. national parks asked to pre-book access, Isle Royale National Park, an archipelago of around 400 islands on western Lake Superior ...

Either way, it won’t be happy. Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collects data at the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Arizona. Recent results from the survey suggest that dark ...

You’ve probably heard of the four stages of cancer—but there’s another even earlier stage that experts say can make a huge difference in treating the disease. Breast cancer is one of the few ...

expanding their geographic and temporal diversity.” The fossil also tells a more detailed story of what the world looked like in the Cretaceous period. “We can imagine a more complex picture ...