Nature surrounds us with an amazing variety of animals, insects, birds, plants, and topographic features. To refer to and distinguish the entities in this bounty, we assign them names — often two: one for common use and one, a two-parter, for scientific identification. Usually, the person credited with discovering or …
There are twice as many emperor penguins in Antarctica than previously thought, stated the National Science Foundation in mid April. That’s certainly good news, as concerns about the effects of global warming on penguin colonies rise. But another new report mentions an increasing number of something else in Antarctica that …
As Explorers’ Corner and Natural Habitat Adventures travelers, you already know that your favorite tour companies have never been content to be just the usual, environmentally friendly ones. Both are continually raising the bar for eco-tour providers. Natural Habitat Adventures was the world’s first 100 percent carbon neutral travel company; …
“STS-135: the Final Mission.” Sounds like the title of a new Star Trek film, doesn’t it? In reality, it’s the phrase denoting the end of our nation’s space shuttle program. When Atlantis lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on July 8, 2011, it marked the …
When Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, stepped into her twin-engine plane in Miami on June 1, 1937, they were embarking on an adventure of a grand sort. The two hoped to fly around the world, following the Equator. For four weeks, people across the globe eagerly awaited the …
The statistics regarding a worldwide climate trend toward global warming and the resultant loss of biodiversity are alarming — and attention getting, to say the least. Most of us have heard the often-quoted statement that the planet’s polar bears could be gone by the year 2050. But recent wildlife observations …
When the Carnival cruise ship Splendor was towed into the San Diego Harbor late last week after being stranded off the coast of Mexico by an engine fire, many news reporters and bloggers commented that the 3,299 passengers and 1,167 crew had endured an “adventure at sea.” As far as …