Imagine beating every strain of flu with a single jab. Wiping out your risk of some lethal cancers, HIV, and Ebola during a routine doctor’s visit. That’s the promise of next-generation vaccines, and researchers are closing in on the basic science needed to bring them to reality.

Sexuality and gender play a profound role in shaping identity, but for much of human history how they are determined has remained obscure. How does sexual orientation develop? What is it? Can it be changed?

For all we understand about the universe, 96% of what’s out there still has scientists in the dark. Astronomical observations have established that familiar matter—atoms—accounts for only 4% of the weight of the cosmos. The rest—dark matter and dark energy—is invisible to our telescopes.

Are there limits to the human lifespan? Is it possible to stop the process of aging? On average, humans now live far longer than at any point in our history …

National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Sylvia A. Earle is an oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer who has been called a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress and “Hero for …

We make tools. It defines us. But since the first proto-human tied a stick to a stone, tools have also been making us. Join our panel of philosophers, anthropologists, and …