National Geographic News

The genetic homeland of Native Americans is a small mountainous region in southern Siberia, a new study suggests.

For mammals, evolving into bigger sizes takes a lot longer than shrinking, new evolution study shows.

Hubble captures a Milky Way "twin," winds shape Mars lava fields, stars carve a nebula's face, and more in the week's best space pictures.

Early spring or long winter? "Immortal" rodent Punxsutawney Phil has made his forecast. Get the odd facts behind Groundhog Day 2012.

A vast iceberg is splitting from Antarctica, thanks to a giant crack in a glacier that's "really important" to sea level rise.

The likely rocky planet orbits squarely in its star's habitable zone, making it a prime candidate for life, astronomers report.

A spiny cucumber and a nanotube ''city'' feature among the winners of the 2011 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge.

Two tiny satellites add to the planet's swarm of "backward" moons and bring the full Jovian family up to 66 natural satellites.

Bacteria in water-filled Caribbean sinkholes could offer clues to what might live on icy moons such as Europa, scientists say.

With ancient origins, "immortal" rodent Punxsutawney Phil rules Groundhog Day 2012. Get the surprising facts behind winter's wackiest U.S. weather prediction.

See the wreck of the Hunley—the world's first submarine to sink an enemy ship—finally unveiled after 11 years in a steel truss.

A fossil croc sporting an odd head "shield" has been found in Morocco, paleontologists say.

See the pictures we love, as chosen by National Geographic photo editors—from a too plush penguin to a pantsless pedestrian.

 

A new report highlights advancements in recycling technology and predicts growth in treatment programs, if people can get beyond ick factor.

For the first time, a NASA spacecraft has directly observed particles that came from beyond our solar system, astronomers announced.

A new analysis of Kepler data hints that scientists can add more than 400 new worlds to the NASA mission's confirmed discoveries.

The plight of charcoal scavengers in the Philippines capital underscores why the United Nations declared 2012 the International Year of Sustainable Energy For All.

The first picture of a planet outside our solar system may actually depict a swirl of space dust, a new study suggests.

Invasive Burmese pythons are likely behind "dramatic" declines of the swamp's mammals—from rabbits to bobcats—new research suggests.

What's more, the Scottish island complex may have been the model for England's famous stone-circle site, new data suggest.