Amy Bucci
of NG Staff
Where would you go to track down the largest weasel known to man, the wolverine? Don’t forget to take into consideration its sharp teeth and claws, its fierce hunting abilities, and its propensity for remote environments. National Geographic grantee Gregg Trenish and his team decided to travel to a vast region in northern Mongolia know…
Celebrate International Women’s Day with great quotes from women explorers, and learn about the inspirational work they’re doing.
National Geographic explorers kicked off their Thanksgiving celebrations by sharing with us some of the things they are grateful for. From chirping monkeys to the essential local burritto truck, our explorers continue to remind us to cherish the earth and celebrate the world around us. “After frightening mishaps in small aircraft in remote places, accidents…
Cultural anthropologist and media ecologist Mike Wesch examines how the internet has changed communication and relationships today. He addresses questions of anonymity, user generated filtering, participatory culture, and more with various experiments online. As one reviewer exclaimed, “Who knew anthropology could be so much fun?” What project are you working on now? I am working…
Geography Awareness Week Kicks Off!
Posted by Amy Bucci of NG Staff on November 12, 2012 
Geography Awareness Week, established by presidential proclamation in 1987, is an annual public awareness program led by National Geographic, that celebrates the importance of geography education. Each year, more than 100,000 Americans take part in Geography Awareness Week activities through programs in their schools, local communities, and even their own backyards. This year’s “Geography: Declare…
Emerging Explorer Feliciano Dos Santos uses a guitar and a strong sense of rhythm to fight against against diseases and speak up for clean water and sanitation in Mozambique. Dos Santos contracted polio due to poor drinking water when he was a little boy growing up in Niassa Province and doesn’t want other children to…
Emerging Explorer and data scientist Jake Porway is part of a new genre of National Geographic explorer in that his expeditions are occurring digitally. He is connecting nonprofits with data scientists eager to make a difference and help solve social, environmental, and community problems. What project are you working on now? I’m working on running…
Elena Garcea, a member and leader of multiple National Geographic archaeological projects in Africa, has always been interested in studying ancient people’s lifestyles. When she’s not in the field, she teaches paleoethnology and interprets the data from the field. What project are you working on now? My current field research takes place in a small…
In recognition of her pioneering work with chimps on the savannas of Senegal, Jill Pruetz was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2008. Over the years she and her team have discovered that chimps were using tools to kill bush babies, chimps stayed in caves to keep cool, and even successfully returned a lost…
In 2011, astronomer Knicole Colón received a Young Explorers grant to examine “hot-Jupiters,” Jupiter-size, gas giant planets orbiting close to their host stars, and “super-Earths,” rocky planets about ten times larger then Earth. What project are you working on now? Being an astronomer, I’m currently analyzing data from the 10.4-meter Gran Telescopio Canarias. Specifically, I…
What’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys? Hanging out in a field of monkeys, especially the gelada monkeys of Ethiopia. Biologist Jacinta Beehner received two grants from National Geographic to study the introduction of new males on gelada females and how geladas assess potential rivals and mates. What project are you working on now?…
As Sea Otter Awareness Week comes to a close, we wanted to highlight one of our explorers, Lily Maxine Tarjan or “Max”, who received a grant from National Geographic in August of this year to conduct the first in-depth analysis of the sea otter mating system. What are your favorite and least favorite things about…
Updated on 9/29/12 Rather than pursuing a childhood dream of being an orchestra conductor, Martin Nweeia chose to be a dentist and marine mammal biologist instead. With help from a National Geographic grant, he sought to uncover the secrets behind the extraordinary tusk of a whale—the narwhal—that resembles the horn of a unicorn. In 2000,…
Jennifer Burney, named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2011, continues her work on agricultural solutions for struggling farmers. She observes, for example, that “as great as local organic food may be in my own kitchen, we’ll never feed the whole world that way. Like it or not, ‘Big Agriculture’ is why we’ve been able…
Producer from Untamed Americas Shares Wildlife Filmmaking Tips
Posted by Amy Bucci of NG Staff on September 17, 2012 
“As a filmmaker I’ve been from one end of the earth to the other trying to get the perfect shot and trying to capture animal behavior never seen before.”—Karen Bass, Untamed Americas Series Producer Untamed Americas, a four-hour high-definition miniseries event explores the Americas like we’ve never seen them before, giving us an intimate look at…
“The oceans cover 71 percent of our planet,yet only five percent of it has been explored.” —Dr. Robert Ballard This Sunday, September 16, 2012, National Geographic Channel will air “Alien Deep” featuring Dr. Bob Ballard, and his expeditions on the E/V Nautilus. We interviewed one of the chief scientists from the show and expedition leader…
Rayna Bell received a grant from National Geographic in 2010 to research patterns of diversification in a species-rich genus of reedfrogs from Central Africa. Inspired by stories from her high school biology teacher about fieldwork in Africa, Bell decided to pursue research in evolutionary biology as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley. Now a graduate student…
Explorer Tshewang Wangchuk possesses an unusual collection of three hundred scat samples from elusive snow leopards in Bhutan. He gathered these samples with a grant from National Geographic in 2009 to examine the snow leopard population status and its relation to livestock predation using non-invasive tactics. More recently, Wangchuk just returned from the field this…
Emily Ainsworth was so determined to travel and photograph the world that she worked multiple odd jobs, even scrubbing toilets to follow her dream. Her fascination with the human spirit brought her to photograph spiritual life on the Ganges, the Hutong maze of Beijing, and nomads in Mongolia. “I find it compelling how, working as a photographer and anthropologist gives…
Dario Piombino-Mascali’s work requires a high tolerance to some creepy situations. Documenting the huge number of mummified remains present in his native island, Sicily, and also throughout the world, our Explorer of the Week’s time is often spent with the remains of folks who died hundreds of years ago. He discovered a secret formula that…
This week we are featuring Amanda Rivkin, a photographer who decided to focus her lens on Azerbaijan’s offshore oil fields in the Caspian. Using funds from her Young Explorer grant, she followed the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline’s 1,100-mile route, which skirts five conflict zones in three countries representing believers of both Islam and Christianity. Rivkin’s…
In 2008, National Geographic funded Christopher Golden‘s research on bushmeat consumption and trade in Madagascar. His interest in the Malagasy’s reliance on natural resources and their health started with a visit to Madagascar in 1999 with explorer Luke Dollar. Golden’s continued success can be attributed to his expertise in multiple fields (ecology and epidemiology) his…
We are pleased to announced that this week’s explorer is Samuel “Doc” Gruber, a shark expert who received funding from National Geographic in 2009 for his research on adult lemon sharks. As owner and director of the Bimini Biological Field Station located in Bimini, Bahamas, Gruber offers marine biology internships to people interested in shark research. He is a recognized…
Obama vs. Romney: Who Would Handle an Alien Invasion Better?
Posted by Amy Bucci of NG Staff on June 28, 2012 I am not sure if this was timed as part of a sendoff for our very favorite Breaking Orbit blogger, Victoria Jaggard, or for the new show Chasing UFOs airing Friday, June 29 on the National Geographic Channel , but National Geographic has just released the results of new survey that declares most Americans think…
Coasts and Forests: Untamed Americas
Posted by Amy Bucci of NG Staff on June 11, 2012 Don’t miss the second half of Untamed Americas airing on National Geographic Channel tonight, putting the spotlight on coasts and forests. Just some of the facts we’ll learn: • One of the rarest, most elusive animals on earth, the kermode or spirit bear can be found in the Great Bear Rainforest of Canada. Neither albino…
