Topic: National Geographic Society

The world begins celebrating 2013

Australia and Asian nations are celebrating the New Year in style, from fireworks in Sydney and Hong Kong to a street party in Indonesia. Around the world, people are greeting 2013 with optimism.

Top Picks: International light displays, the albums of classical music Grammy nominees, and more

The website Complex provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Amazon's warehouses, PBS airs the history of a renowned ballet company, and more.

Instagram retreats following backlash (+video)

Instagram, a photo-sharing service acquired by Facebook earlier this year, reversed some of the unpopular proposed changes to its terms of service. The remaining new provisions will go into effect on January 19. 

Instagram uproar: A testing ground for Facebook? (+video)

A popular photo sharing site owned by Facebook, Instagram released new terms of service on Monday. Now Instagram users have a month to decide how much control over their data they are willing to give up.  

10 coffee table books that make great gifts

Stuck for a present for that friend that's hard to shop for? Check out one of these gorgeous coffee table books.

Saving Money
30 ways to spend $0 on gift wrap

Gift wrap becomes trash the moment a present is opened, so spending money for it is senseless. Here are 30 ways to never pay for gift wrap again. 

Top Picks: 'Deathly Hallows' Ultimate Edition, Barbra Streisand's unreleased recordings, and more

Ken Burns returns with 'The Dust Bowl,' National Geographic's Andrew Evans documents his travels on Twitter, and more top picks.

Tiny 'Dracula' dinosaur had bristles and fangs, ate veggies

The 200-million-year-old dinosaur 'was two-legged, probably fleet-footed, and had grasping hands,' said researcher Paul Sereno.

World's only undersea lab could shut down

Lack of funding has left the Aquarius Reef Base, an underwater laboratory in the Florida Keys, fighting for its survival.

Latin America Monitor
Brazil's solution to prison overcrowding: time off for reading books

Brazil's prison population is 66 percent larger than the system has room for, writes a guest blogger. In an effort to curb overcrowding, new policies offer reduced sentences for things like reading.

Fossils of ancient human ancestors found hidden in plain sight (+video)

The remains turned up in a large rock in a laboratory at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, the university announced today.

Change Agent
Seeing 'vacant' lots as a community asset

In many neighborhoods people are turning vacant lots into parks, gardens, playgrounds, and more.

More than one third of Americans believe aliens have visited Earth

To the question of whether they believe aliens have visited Earth, 36 percent of Americans who were surveyed said they do, 48 percent aren't sure, and 17 percent said they don't believe so.

Decoder Wire
Alien attack! Americans pick Obama over Romney to battle invasion from space

A strong majority of Americans say President Obama would do a better job than Mitt Romney handling an alien invasion, according to a new survey.  

Did archaeologists really find bones belonging to John the Baptist?

Relics found in an old Bulgarian church is believed to be those of John the Baptist, the biblical figure said to have baptized Jesus.

Top Picks: Historian Niall Ferguson on PBS, Carole King's demos, and more

National Geographic's digital edition shines on the iPad, an old newsreel shows window washers in 1938, and more top picks.

Oldest Mayan calendar found, and it goes way beyond Dec. 12, 2012 (+video)

A Mayan calendar was found deep in the Guatemalan rainforest. But this ancient Mayan calender refutes claims that the world will end Dec. 21, 2012

European Space Agency to explore Jupiter's moons (+video)

The ESA has given the go-ahead for a solar-powered space probe that will examine the icy Jovian moons of Ganymede and Europa, along with Jupiter's upper atmosphere. 

'Survivalist' murder suspect goes to ground in huge earthen 'bug out' bunker

The survivalist movement is aimed toward apocalypse and social meltdown. But for some, the end game is one of their own making, as seems to be the case with accused murderer Peter Keller, holed up in an earthen fort.

Antarctic ice melting from below, reveals satellite (+video)

Antarctica's ice shelves are being melted away by warm ocean currents underneath, shows data collected from a NASA satellite.

Top Picks: 'Once' as a musical, 'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,' and more

PBS's romance 'Birdsong' will appeal to 'Downton Abbey' fans, 'Revenge of the Electric Car' explores why the plug was pulled on the electric car, and more top picks.

People, companies, elephants - it's all relative.

Our choice of pronouns gives clues about how we think about humans, animals, and corporations.

What James Cameron saw 6.8 miles deep in Mariana Trench (+video)

James Cameron describes deepest spot in ocean as 'barren' (+video)

Filmmaker James Cameron became the first person to make a solo dive to Challenger Deep, the deepest known point in the ocean, in a custom-built submersible. 

James Cameron dive launches race to the bottom of the world (+video)

Before James Cameron made a solo dive to the Challenger Deep – the deepest point in the ocean – only one mission had been there before. Now, several groups are planning deep-sea dives, and engineering advances could shed new light on the region.