For centuries, humans have lived underground. Today, that ancient practice is under dire threat—even as cave life makes more ...

A colorized computed tomography (CT) scan of the brain revealing blood vessels in the brain. A new study finds microplastics accumulate at higher levels in human brains than in the liver and ...

This story appears in the February 2019 issue of National Geographic magazine. It’s 4:54 a.m. on a chilly November morning in 2016 in Yosemite National Park.

A version of this story appears in the October 2023 issue of National Geographic magazine. Editor's note: This story first published on June 16, 2023. It has been updated.

Maybe, with a little luck, he would make another discovery that would change the map of human evolution. A version of this story appears in the February 2025 issue of National Geographic magazine.

The first picture would have to be of the Tuckers in Mobile, Alabama, right after Katrina. Mr. Tucker died two months after I took the picture. It made me think about my own mortality.