National Geographic's photographic history of monkeys in space.
posted by Joe Beese on Jun 2, 2009 - 15 comments

The End of Plenty: Our hot and hungry world could face a perpetual food crisis. From National Geographic Magazine. [more inside]
posted by dgaicun on May 17, 2009 - 36 comments

Wild Wonders of Europe "wants to show that Europe really is not about just highways and cities. But today, many seem to know more about nature in Africa or in America, than in Europe, because that is what’s on TV. The European natural wonders are still very little known to the World. We want to change that." 58 nature photographers are working on the project, and there are 29 galleries representing 16 countries thus far, with more to come. [via]
posted by cog_nate on Apr 17, 2009 - 14 comments

Make Believe you're in a jungle movie. Watch the frozen baby elephants mammoths go by. The beat world is groovy. [more inside]
posted by Science! on Apr 17, 2009 - 9 comments

Necessary Angels. They are not doctors. They are not nurses. They are illiterate women from India's Untouchable castes. Yet as trained village health workers, they are delivering babies, curing disease, and saving lives—including their own. Photo Gallery. Video.
posted by amyms on Dec 11, 2008 - 14 comments

Nothing but a few pretty pictures.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Aug 22, 2008 - 29 comments

The National Geographic Flashback is a section where the magazine publishes old pictures from its archives. There are many strange and wondrous pictures. Some of my favorites include: turtle riding, cooking with verbs, moving the lawn at Stonehenge, Robert Peary at the North Pole, artist along the Dordogne, cannibal fork, Great Pyramid of Khufu lit up by 6500 bulbs and flying car.
posted by Kattullus on Jun 24, 2008 - 11 comments

Planet Mechanics Dick Strawbridge and Jem Stansfield have been travelling Europe (for National Geographic UK) on a mission to lower energy consumption (and make interesting television). Air Propelled Sandwich | Cow Power | Lake District Dilemma | Solar Paella | Electric Water Taxi | Surf Power | Heavy Metal House | Tree Powered Truck
posted by chuckdarwin on May 27, 2008 - 32 comments

National Geographic has a really neat photo gallery of nudibranchs. These are very colorful, very cute sea slugs. Enjoy.
posted by phunniemee on May 18, 2008 - 43 comments

National Geographic Magazine is all about the photos. Check out the Editor's Choices. Other goodness includes the Daily Dozen, a jigsaw puzzle generator, and user-generated photo galleries.
posted by RussHy on Oct 1, 2007 - 9 comments

Braving Alaska is a fantastic 1992 National Geographic special that may make you want to move to Alaska. Focusing on a handful of U.S. families who have moved from the cities in the lower 48 to handmade homes above the arctic circle and now receive their mail by bush pilot maybe 3 times a year, living hundreds of miles from their nearest neighbor, and exist entirely of their own capability, the documentary is a fascinating view of life WAY off the grid. Presented here in a YT playlist of six segments, there are more great moments (from sawing through the frozen fish to the enumeration of meals made from Moose) than I can list.
posted by jonson on Sep 26, 2007 - 22 comments

National Geographic has a lot of cool webcams. Pete's Pond in Africa is my favorite. (previously) It's up and running again for its third season till mid-December, the end of the dry season. Best viewing times are 4-8 PM EST and 12-4 AM EST. Lots of highlights can be found at youtube, of course. NG also provides the Seal Cam from Año Nuevo, California, Bald Eagle Cam from Maine, the Kakadu Cam from Australia and and the Polar Bear Cam from Canada. There are a lot of grizzly bears fishing right now on the Bear Cam from Alaska, but the Crane Cam from Nebraska is down right now. To view these cams you have to sit through a short commercial at first, but after that it's all live wildlife goodness. There are also very active forums where people share their screencaps and vicarious adventures.
posted by wsg on Sep 3, 2007 - 11 comments

"All over Orlando you see forces at work that are changing America from Fairbanks to Little Rock. This, truly, is a 21st-century paradigm: It is growth built on consumption, not production; a society founded not on natural resources, but upon the dissipation of capital accumulated elsewhere; a place of infinite possibilities, somehow held together, to the extent it is held together at all, by a shared recognition of highway signs, brand names, TV shows, and personalities, rather than any shared history. Nowhere else is the juxtaposition of what America actually is and the conventional idea of what America should be more vivid and revealing."

"Welcome to the theme-park nation." [more inside]
posted by wander on Mar 2, 2007 - 61 comments

Kira Salak is a writer who embodies an old-fashioned spirit of adventure. She has kayaked the Niger River solo; during her time in Africa, she freed a slave. On another trip, she sampled Ayahuasca in the Peruvian jungle. At the age of 24, she trekked alone through the tribal violence of Papua New Guinea. Her work is a wonderful alternative to the blandness and narrowness of contemporary consumer society, in which there is nothing new to be discovered and everything can be reduced to lucre.
posted by jason's_planet on Oct 17, 2006 - 21 comments

Gnostic Gospel of Judas, they say! Hot on the heels of Christ On Ice and the, er, "newly discovered" Gospel fragment, the news outlets are currently drooling all over National Geographic's recent conclusive dating and translation of surviving fragments of the Apocryphal Gospel of Judas, now dated to about 300 CE. The text is classically Gnostic, emphasizing a duality splitting Christ's "spiritual" and "fleshly" natures, as opposed to Christian orthodoxy's belief in the Incarnation. Looking beyond the wide-eyed "OMG THIS WILL REVOLUTIONIZE CHRISTIANITY AS WE KNOW IT" sensationalism, Internet Monk asks if a 300 year-old apocryphal biography of George Washington would be regarded as authentic were it discovered in 1970. James F. Robinson, an expert on ancient Egyptian texts, regards the Judas Gospel as mostly a dud, produced by Cainite Gnostics who took it upon themselves to "rehabilitate" villians of Bible mythos. Even if you don't believe in the account of Judas, there's no denying his contributions to the Christian narrative. Truly a historical icon.
posted by brownpau on Apr 6, 2006 - 42 comments

That thing called love. "National Geographic Photographer Jodi Cobb scoured the globe to document how people define love and how it fits into their lives." Some great photos and interesting commentary.
posted by CunningLinguist on Feb 17, 2006 - 17 comments

National Geographic Video of 7 lions attempting to kill & eat a full grown elephant. embedded wmv, amusingly hyperbolic narrator
posted by jonson on Dec 23, 2005 - 29 comments

Michael Moore giving Farenheit 9/11 out for free October 26th to any participating independant video store. In other non related news, National Geographic calculates that 85% of young Americans cannot point out Iraq on a map.
posted by Keyser Soze on Oct 21, 2004 - 20 comments

Cocaine Country, Sights & Sounds. An 8 minute Flash movie from National Geographic's story, Cocaine Country, by Carlos Villalón, about cocaine in Colombia and what the crop means to the people. [Via TalkLeft.]
posted by homunculus on Jul 2, 2004 - 3 comments

Behind the scenes of National Geographic's first all-digital shoot.
posted by starscream on Jan 14, 2004 - 20 comments

Built for the Kill. No Halloween costume? How about going as a chameleon? deconstructing the world's deadliest killers. A game by World Archipelago for National Geographic Channel Europe. Guide your Namid chameleon, barn owl, American alligator, grassland cheetah, and Komoto dragon around the screen using the cursor keys. Your stealth and power need to be up to capture prey or they will escape. Finally, guide your Orca around the screen using the space bar to dive under boats or attack prey that are beneath the water. When you reach the beach use the space bar to launch an attack on the seals. (Flash and music ahead....)
posted by Dunvegan on Oct 31, 2003 - 2 comments

"everyone knows the consequences of killing three Americans" from the guy who hung out with the taleban - and one of the few who actually makes the right call on al queda: "But instead of just always knowing that it was a small Mickey Mouse outfit, now they made it into this huge global conspiracy, which it isn't. Which has created all kinds of problems in the Muslim world because we're sort of demonizing the wrong people. The bad guys are living in America and Saudi Arabia and Germany and the U.K.; they're not sitting in caves in Afghanistan." - say what you will about the guy, hes got b*lls that clank when he walks.
posted by specialk420 on Jan 30, 2003 - 26 comments

Life imitates an old joke... sort of. National Geographic's Swimsuit Issue.
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Jan 24, 2003 - 20 comments

Sony writes 'article' for Salon. In an effort to find new revenue streams, Salon has published an ad/article written by Sony Corp. National Geographic and Parent Soup have also published ad/articles, though the New York Times said no. While the articles do not directly reference Sony products, the feature people who do fascinating things with technology... technology which, it just so happens, is advertised conveniently right next to the technology featuring passage. Is this sort of thing ever ethical? If so, what sort of disclosures are necessary. Clearly the ad/articles are intended to appear to be regular content.
posted by 4easypayments on Dec 2, 2002 - 29 comments

An international survey for National Geographic finds that of Americans surveyed between 18 and 24, half couldn't find New York on a map of the US, only one in seven can find Iraq on a map of the world, and one in nine couldn't find the United States on that same map. Sweden averaged 40 correct answers out of 56. The US averaged 23. What is the US doing wrong that countries like Sweden are doing right in education and world awareness?
posted by AaRdVarK on Nov 20, 2002 - 127 comments

On Solidarity, Community Spirit And Going Meerkat-Mad: They're cute, they're smart; they're funny, they're sociable; they're even considered the epitome of cooperative living. In fact, they could probably teach MetaFilter a lesson or two. In their September issue, National Geographic has gone stark, raving meerkat-bonkers - and not a moment too soon either. We're talking new desktops here, no mistake..[Flash needed for first link - definitely worth waiting for it to load - Real or WindowsMedia for some other on-site features.]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Aug 24, 2002 - 20 comments

Wow. The little Afghani girl whose eyes captivated a nation back in 1985 (when her portrait graced the cover of a National Geographic magazine) has been located (alive!).
posted by silusGROK on Mar 12, 2002 - 38 comments

Thousands of Women Killed for "Family Honor" This story was done by the National Geographic News...the photo gallery was heartwrenching. Don't go there if you just ate.
posted by bunnyfire on Feb 22, 2002 - 48 comments

Everybody remembers this girl from the cover of National Geographic c1985 and on the cover of their Best 100 Photos Ever book. Now she's in hiding on the Afghan-Pakistani border believing the CIA are after her when they found out she gave English classes to Bin Laden's daughters. There was already a major hunt for her after the photo came out
posted by Zootoon on Feb 5, 2002 - 16 comments

National Geographic Traveler has put together a list of 50 places in the world you should visit in your lifetime. I'm not as well traveled as I'd like to be, so I really don't know if these places are as impressive as they sound. Did they leave anything out, or does that just about cover it?
posted by Jairus on Aug 30, 2001 - 40 comments