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Explorers

Ski mountaineering legend Kit DesLauriers ascends Mt. Isto, the new highest peak in the Brooks Range

Cool Finds

After 60 Years, An Expedition Determines Highest Peaks in U.S. Arctic

Glaciologist Matt Nolan and ski mountaineer Kit DesLauriers tested a new mapping system to end uncertainty about the highest mountain in the Brooks Range

A cruise ship in Alaska, similar to the one that will cross the Northwest Passage in August

Trending Today

Cruise Ship Set to Sail the Perilous Northwest Passage

Crystal Cruises will sail a ship with over 1,000 passengers through the legendary—and deadly—Arctic route

An artist's rendering of the ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter

Trending Today

Mission to Find Life on Mars Blasts Off

The European Space Agency kicks off its ExoMars project to look for methane and other signs of life in the Martian atmosphere

Cool Finds

Deep-Sea Robot Spies Ghostly, Unknown Octopus

Previously-undiscovered octopus spotted hanging out on the ocean floor

Shackleton brought everything from trashy novels to accounts of Arctic rescues with him to Antarctica.

Cool Finds

Historians Finally Figured Out What Was on Shackleton’s Bookshelf

The brave explorer likely found solace in his library

Polar explorer Henry Worsley (right) with Prince William of Britain in October, 2015.

Trending Today

Antarctic Explorer Dies 30 Miles Short of Goal

Henry Worsley nearly crossed Antarctica, unaided

When the crew felt they had a good chance of freeing the trapped Endurance from the sea ice of the Weddell Sea, they put the sails up. As we know, this and other attempts failed. Realizing the ship wasn't moving, Hurley went onto the ice to take this photograph. New details of sea ice have been revealed.

Trending Today

Restored Photos From Shackleton’s Antarctic Wreck Reveal New Details

Photos taken during Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition have been digitally restored for the first time

During the first two years of the team's studies, snow sealed the entrance to Snow Dragon cave. But in recent years, low snowpack has kept the entrance open year-round.

Cool Finds

Behold the Beauty of Disappearing Glacier Ice Caves on Mt. Hood

Catch them before they’re gone — these tunnels and caverns may soon melt away

Cool Finds

Arctic Explorers Uncover (and Eat) 60-Year-Old Food Stash

Tins of jam and crackers hidden in Greenland’s Arctic desert made for a delicious surprise

A detail of "Lewis and Clark at Three Forks" by Edgar Samuel Paxson, mural in lobby of Montana House of Representatives

Cool Finds

How to Reconstruct Lewis and Clark’s Journey: Follow the Mercury-laden Latrine Pits

One campsite has been identified using the signatures left by men who took mercury-laced purgative pills to treat constipation and other ills

A stone etching on the grave of crewmember Lt. John Irving depicts the dire conditions that the Franklin expedition faced when they reached the Canadian Arctic.

New Research

Franklin’s Doomed Arctic Expedition Ended in Gruesome Cannibalism

New bone analysis suggests crew resorted to eating flesh, then marrow

Urban Explorations

There Are New World Heritage Sites, Here Are the Ones You Should Travel to Now

This year, 24 sites from across the globe have been added to the heralded Unesco list

Did This Map Guide Columbus?

Researchers decipher a mystifying 15th-century document

Cool Finds

This Man Plans to Spend a Year Living in a Giant Ball on an Iceberg

Adventurer Alex Bellini wants to watch a Greenland iceberg melt while he dwells in a “survival pod”

A view of the dense Honduran rain forest.

Cool Finds

Amazing Ruins of a Long Lost City Discovered in Honduras

A scientific expedition into the depths of the Honduran rain forest discovered a lost city

From the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center

When Steve Fossett Became the Magellan of the Skies

Ten years ago, the pioneering adventurer took off in pursuit of a new record in circumnavigation

Cool Finds

A Dutch Actress Is Journeying to the South Pole on a Tractor

She pays tribute to great polar expeditions of the past and carries the dreams of thousands with her

An illustration based on Livingstone's materials depicts the famous meeting of Livingston and Stanley at Ujiji, Lake Tanganyika in Africa.

Decoding the Lost Diary of David Livingstone

Modern technology allowed researchers to reveal that the good doctor was not all that the public presumed

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Document Deep Dive

John Smith Coined the Term New England on This 1616 Map

After Jamestown, Smith pushed the English to settle the northeast, identifying Plymouth as a suitable harbor four years before the Pilgrims landed there

The King receives members of Scott's expedition at Buckingham Palace in England here. Shown are Lt. Bennie, Paymaster Drake, Paymaster Drake, Commander Campbell, Commander Evans, Commander Bruce, and Sir Levick, 1913.

Cool Finds

Antarctic Explorer’s Journal Found In Melting Ice

George Murray Levick served as a photographer, zoologist and surgeon with the North Party

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