National Geographic Society

“It was unbelievable. I have seen auroras from many countries in both hemispheres, but never expected to see it from this latitude overhead,” #NatGeoExplorer Babak Tafreshi says of his experience with the aurora borealis seen from Maine, and many other parts of the globe, in May 2024. In a way, the event highlighted what Tafreshi has been working to communicate through his visual work: No matter where on Earth people are, they look up at the same sky. As a visual storyteller and astronomer, Tafreshi’s work pays homage to humans’ shared, eternal roof. Take a deeper look how: https://lnkd.in/eXh-MZhB. Photo by Babak Tafreshi

Today’s #WorldChimpanzeeDay marks the anniversary of when #JaneGoodall first arrived in what is now Tanzania's Gombe National Park! She first arrived at her field site 64 years ago, launching her journey as the conservationist, scientist and humanitarian whose groundbreaking discoveries shaped our understanding of chimpanzees and their conservation. Photo by Vanne Goodall

Exciting new findings in the world of wildlife intelligence! 🐒 #NatGeoExplorer, primatologist and ethologist Tiago Falótico and his team recently found that bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) living at Serra da Capivara National Park and Ubajara National Park in Brazil consistently used stone tools to dig out roots and insects for food and for use in nut cracking. The recently published findings are essential contributions to our understanding of the evolution of tool use in primates. Falótico is part of the National Geographic Society’s Wildlife Intelligence Project, inspired by the groundbreaking work of Dr. Jane Goodall and the Templeton Prize. Explore more of their work: https://lnkd.in/duGEuy9T Photo by Tiago Falótico

Using 360º immersive videos, virtual reality interactive tours and 3D modeling, #NatGeoExplorer Daniel Venturini researches the under-explored features of some of the most distant and least protected oceanic islands of Brazil. “These islands are tremendously important for ocean health: they hold substantial rates of fish biomass and endemism, serve as a refuge for marine organisms and migratory species, carry unique geological features, intriguing stories and an outstanding aesthetic appeal,” Venturini explains. His goal: to educate and inform a wider audience of the unique content found in these areas. “Allied with a well-planned and open-access distribution, we will make these oceanic islands accessible for a wider audience to appreciate and learn from.” 📷 A distant view from the northern face of Trindade Island, located off the coast of Brazil (Photo by Daniel Venturini).

"Space is for everyone, not just astronauts and scientists. It's for artists, poets, and singers too," #NatGeoExplorer and celestial steward Moriba Jah says. “Humans need to feel a connection to the sky.” Jah is paving the way for sustainable space exploration by tackling the growing issue of space debris, advocating for a future where space research respects and preserves our environment. Discover more about his journey: https://lnkd.in/ePhggbvh Photo by Steven Lyon

Just over a decade ago, the arapaima — a fish capable of growing up to 10 feet long and weighing up to 500 pounds — faced extinction, its numbers ravaged by overfishing. But conservation efforts spearheaded by local communities have turned things around, with arapaima numbers dramatically increasing across the Amazon 🐟. The arapaima’s resurgence is a conservation triumph that can serve as a blueprint for safeguarding other large aquatic species in the Amazon and globally, according to Brazilian ecologist and #NatGeoExplorer João Campos-Silva. And it highlights the crucial role of local communities in leading successful conservation endeavors. Campos-Silva works with communities along the Juruá River, a major Amazon tributary in western Brazil, as part of the National Geographic and ROLEX #PerpetualPlanet Amazon Expedition — a multi-year science and storytelling exploration of the Amazon River basin to further our understanding of this intricate freshwater system and advance solutions to ensure its protection. Explore more: https://lnkd.in/ejM_yhci. Photo by André Dib

No matter where on Earth people are, they look up at the same sky. “The night sky is an eternal roof above us. It has been there the whole time and it connects us through the past and future, a variety of ideas, cultures and beliefs we have. It’s like, ’one human, one sky,’” Nat Geo Explorer Babak Tafreshi marvels. The science journalist, editor and photographer is known mostly for the way he photographs the dark sky. Tafreshi has immortalized stunning scenes of the planet’s star-studded roof as it appears on nearly every continent through photographs, videos and immersive media. His growing catalog of visual storytelling is a portal to connect humans to the sky, and each other. Get a glimpse into Tafreshi’s dazzling work: https://lnkd.in/eKfMFSJz. 🌌 Photo by Babak Tafreshi

Which traits are innate and which depend on circumstance? #NatGeoExplorer Christopher Schmitt has been contemplating this question since he was young. Schmitt shares, “I grew up as a visibly gay kid in the Midwest [United States], where I was exposed to a lot of bullying in which others speculated, often cruelly, about how I got to be that way…so [I had] a kind of existential panic around whether this hugely important trait was innate and immutable, or environmental and maybe then changeable.” Now, working with vervet monkeys as a primate geneticist, Schmitt studies how genetic factors underlying traits like body fatness can experience changes as a result of the environment, such as diet or drought exposure. For Schmitt, “it’s immensely satisfying to take these existential anxieties from our queer childhoods and reframe them into a strong theoretical grounding for understanding the biological origins of complex traits. Of course, the monkeys are pretty great, too.” 🐒 Read more at https://lnkd.in/e8P5cWF2. Seen here are Schmitt in the field at Cocha Cashu Biological Station in Peru (Photo by Andrew McFarland), and another of his study species, a wild yellow-tailed woolly monkey mother and infant, photographed at his field site in Beirut, Corosha, Peru (Photo by Sofia Weaver). #PrideMonth

On this day in Base Camp history, First Lady Lady Bird Johnson arrived at the National Geographic Society’s then-new 17th Street building in 1964 to inaugurate the Bell Systems new “picture phone” service. 📺 The historic June 24th call between the First Lady and Bell Telephone Laboratories scientist Dr. Elizabeth Wood in New York was the first of many video calls to come. We continue to transform our Washington, D.C. Base Camp headquarters to lay the foundation for many more “firsts” in our future — explore how at natgeo.org/basecamp. Video provided by the National Geographic Society's Special Collections

To understand how the flooded forest tolerates and adapts to the shifts in annual flooding and to water scarcity during the dry season, ecologist and #NatGeoExplorer Julia Tavares is studying the ways in which trees respond to these extremes. Tavares is examining the traits of individual trees to understand their physiology and ascertain how they can survive in their changing environment. “The research that we are doing here is really, really important because as the climate is changing, especially for the flooded forest, we don’t know how they will cope with future changes,” Tavares says. “So it’s very important that we understand now so we can predict what could happen and give guidance on which areas we should protect.” Tavares is working alongside fellow Explorer Thiago Silva to generate unprecedented data on how the Amazon wetlands function. Their results will allow for predictions of how this understudied ecosystem will respond to the changing wet and dry seasons before they are pushed beyond their ability to survive. This work is part of the National Geographic and ROLEX #PerpetualPlanet Amazon Expedition — a multi-year science and storytelling exploration of the Amazon River Basin, from the Andes to the Atlantic, to further our understanding of this intricate rainforest system and advance solutions to ensure its protection.