Desert wildlife: diverse, threatened, and misunderstood

This article sheds light on the surprisingly diverse wildlife that thrive in deserts, while also highlighting the gaps in human understanding of these ecosystems. Deserts are home to one-quarter of terrestrial vertebrate species—three percent of...

Listen to a podcast about the eerie side of national parks

Although the National Park System is a relatively recent invention, the lands it includes have been around since the dawn of time and, as a result, have accumulated some interesting folklore. This podcast walks you through some of the best legends about the parks.

Explore three of the world's most iconic deserts

Investigate the Gobi Desert in Central Asia, the Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan, and the Sahara Desert in Northern Africa as you learn about the wildlife and people that call these places home. Click through images of the Gobi Desert, which—located in...

Discover the 'American Serengeti' Lewis and Clark first recorded

This podcast traces the 19th-century exploration of the Great Plains' biodiversity—beginning with Lewis and Clark's wildlife cataloging and continuing through a century of documenting the Natural West's remarkable species and landscapes.

A riveting retelling of the 1846 Donner Party, the doomed western pioneers

Eighty-one people went with the Donner Party into the Sierra Nevada mountains in the winter of 1846 via what they thought would be a shortcut to the West. Only 41 came out. The infamous episode of Western travel is captured in narrative detail in this four-part podcast series. This first episode reveals the motivations that pushed the party on this specific route.

Take a virtual journey through the world's deserts with Google Earth and BBC

Explore some of the world’s deserts in this “Natural Treasures” collaboration between Google Earth and BBC Earth. Visit the Namib Desert in Namibia where the simplest strategy to escape the heat is to emerge only in the cool of the night....

Watch city kids encounter the national parks

Part of Ken Burns’ "The National Parks: America’s Best Idea" film series, this video follows students from Las Vegas and Miami as they visit national parks. In Death Valley, the students get hands-on lessons in geology, while in Biscayne, they canoe through secluded groves and past coral reefs.

Restoring desert ecosystems: Successes, failures, and ongoing efforts

This article discusses ecological restoration in desert environments, focusing on the various techniques and challenges related to restoring desert ecosystems. In the complex endeavor of desert restoration, experts attempt to pinpoint the most...

The fragility of the alpine tundra

This article takes readers into Rocky Mountain National Park's Alpine Tundra, an area above the tree line where only specially adapted plants can survive. One such plant is the cushion plant, which avoids strong winds by growing close to the ground...

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure.

Every type of US national park, explained

Ever wonder what kinds of sites comprise the US National Park System? Using the recent re-designation of New River Gorge as a national park as a jumping-off point, this engaging video breaks down the 19 different designations within the National Park System. This includes parks, reserves, monuments, and scenic trails.

The creation of the parks often involved displacing Native tribes

Early parks like Yellowstone, Glacier, and Yosemite involved the removal of tribal communities like the Shoshone, Crow, and Nez Percé, undermining the popular narrative that parks preserved an uninhabited wilderness.

Side-by-side shots of once-dry California lakes now filled

In late 2022, much of California was in drought; by early 2023, after a series of downpours from atmospheric rivers, much of the state's reservoirs had been re-filled. See the dramatic difference in this series of photos.

Marfa, an art colony in the West Texas desert with a population of around 2,000, has its own NPR affiliate.

National parks, explained

Roughly 83 million acres of the United States are set aside as federal National Parks land, an area large as Germany. From the original Yellowstone Park to small monuments and memorials, learn the essentials on this portion of America dedicated to public enjoyment and recreation with our quick explainer video.

Simulating the moon's surface in the desert

And why is the next cohort headed there? The geological conditions in Flagstaff, Arizona, can easily echo those of the moon, making the area a prime spot to train astronauts. This article explains how scientists crafted these training grounds and why astronomers are drawn to the nearly century-old city.

BBC Radio 4 tackles the history of Stonehenge

On this podcast, host Greg Jenner humorously unpacks Stonehenge’s biggest myths and mysteries—from what a “henge” actually is, to how alien theories emerged, and why the monument was once sold for just £6,000.

Listen to a podcast exploring reported UFO and alien sightings

From the most shocking accounts of abductions and UFO sightings to an interview with a Harvard professor about these claims, dive into fascinating stories about run-ins with ETs that have continued to be told for decades.

What can be found underneath the Saharan sands?

Watch this 19-minute video to learn more about what can be found under the Sahara Desert, which spans almost all of northern Africa and is one of the largest deserts in the world. Deep under the Sahara desert sands lies evidence of life that once...

How are scientists turning deserts into farmland?

This article explores how engineers are using a liquid nanoclay solution to transform barren deserts into productive fruit farms, drawing inspiration from how clay particles carried by floodwaters in the Nile Delta used to improve the fertility of...

California is one of the world’s 35 biodiversity hotspots

The state comprises the hotspot known as the California Floristic Province, where roughly 3,000 species of vascular plants grow—roughly three-fifths of which are found nowhere else in the world (also known as endemic).

Explore landforms that exist across America's national parks

Landforms are not just scenic vistas; they are geological storytellers that shape ecosystems, climates, and our understanding of Earth's history. In this comprehensive look at landforms from the National Park Service, you will learn not only about different types of American landforms, but you will understand how these geological features are shaped by various forces, how they reveal an area's geological history, and how they influence climate and ecology.

Explore the technical side of the Erie Canal

Listen to this podcast from Northwestern University exploring the canal’s groundbreaking infrastructure—from locks and aqueducts to its role as America’s first large-scale engineered waterway.

Permanent staff at National Park Service dropped nearly a quarter in 2025, impacting various aspects of park life.

NASA satellite data and sound recordings used to assess rainforest health

This two-minute video describes the work of scientists who are analyzing the impact of repeated forest fires in the Amazon by recording the unique sounds in degraded forests. The team is using acoustic sensors to record sounds of wildlife in the...

The science of dogs, from wolf origins to color-blindness

This under 10-minute podcast episode dives into the rich, fascinating science behind dogs: From their world-class sense of smell to their domestication from wolves.

Explaining why animals don't cross this invisible line in Indonesia

Although the distance separating the two regions is small, East and West Indonesia have starkly different species, puzzling scientists for decades. Biogeographers use the theory of plate tectonics to explain the phenomenon, arguing the two regions...

What happens when a cemetery goes out of business?

When a cemetery goes out of business, what happens to all the bodies? And how do cemetery business models work in the first place? This podcast episode answers those questions and others as host PJ Vogt interviews a cemetery expert who grew up in a cemetery before he began studying them as an adult.

Hot, semiarid, coastal, cold: An overview of the four desert types

This article describes the various characteristics of deserts, including their geography, their climate, their soil, and the wildlife and vegetation that inhabit them. All desert climates are characterized by extreme temperatures and low rainfall,...

Browse the prehistoric salad bar with these ancient plants

In this video, Benjamin Burger, associate professor of geology at Utah State University's Uintah Basin Campus talks about the different types of plants present during the Mesozoic Era. Professor Burger explores how these plants changed over time, served as food sources for the dinosaurs, and co-evolved with them during this period.

Biosphere 2 revealed limitations in maintaining wildlife in unfamiliar environments

Trees appeared to become weak and more prone to breaking because a lack of wind caused them to no longer need to develop stress wood. The extinction of pollinators—potentially due to an explosion in the population of longhorn crazy ants—was also unexpected.

Some tribes push for national parks to be under Indigenous control

Ojibwe author and academic David Treuer talks about his push for 80 million acres of American national park land to be returned to Indigenous stewards. Treuer proposes the government grant control of this land to a consortium of tribes, which would maintain and manage it for use by all Americans.

'Statelessness: Citizens of Nowhere' podcast examines how statelessness erodes identity

This podcast series explores how millions live without citizenship or legal status. Through expert interviews and personal stories, it examines how history, borders, and policy can leave entire populations without citizenship and rights.

Watch how wild animals are projected into a mall

Centered around a dynamic, ever-changing watering hole, the experience allows you to meet a diverse range of animals from Africa to the Arctic as they graze, drink, and interact with the environment around them.

The real stories behind America's national parks

The history and impact of national parks is complex. The authors of "Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and The National Park Idea" curated this list of nonfiction books examining American national parks from a variety of perspectives.

The world's largest deserts—areas that receive less than 10 inches of annual rainfall—are led by the Antarctic and Arctic regions.