See a picture of a commuter train in Tokyo, from National Geographic.

Left-wagging tails stress dogs out, while right-wagging tails encourage them to stay relaxed.

When a beam of sunlight strikes a molecule in the atmosphere, what's called "scattering" occurs, sending some of the light's wavelengths off in different directions. This happens millions of times before that beam gets to your eyeball at sunset.

There are different types of multitasking. We focused on the type that demands a rapid switch between multiple tasks.

See a picture of a snowy landscape in Japan, from National Geographic.

The 8,530-foot-high (2,600-meter-high) mountain spewed ash up to 4.3 miles (7 kilometers) high, requiring the evacuation of villagers living around its base.

A largely agricultural and labor-intensive economy, poor infrastructure, and a tropical climate all play a role in higher rates of lightning-related deaths and injuries in countries such as South Africa, Malaysia, India, and Bangladesh, according to research meteorologists.

Want to be a part of this story? Check out the assignment and contribute your best photos.

A moonless night means darker skies, which promise to bring more of the five to ten shooting stars per hour into view this year.

See a picture of women harvesting kash in India, from National Geographic.

There are more than five million cubic miles of ice on Earth, and some scientists say it would take more than 5,000 years to melt it all.

These findings "provide neuroscientific evidence in support of the Snake Detection Theory, which posits that the threat of snakes strongly influenced the evolution of the primate brain," according to the study.

The problem astronomers have with their finding is that according to what we understand about planet formation, this hot lava world couldn’t have formed so close to its star, nor could it have moved there.

The sharks survived the Great Dying, lasting at least another 170 million years—well into the age of dinosaurs. "Something we didn't ever expect—[it's] so amazing to find these ancient sharks. "We were looking for modern sharks, to be honest."

See a picture of cyclists in Thailand, from National Geographic.

Bleasdale’s years of covering the Democratic Republic of the Congo have brought him to too many child funerals—and inspired him to raise money for the orphanage where Innocent died.

A beetle's adhesive pad appears celebratory, flaunting neon bristles. A primary color scheme and textured fluorescent effects make for a three-dimensional experience.

Join Project Noah to share your wildlife photos and help document and protect the world's great habitats.

Total solar eclipses occur only every few years; the most recent one was on November 12, 2012, over the South Pacific. The next one after this weekend comes in 2015 over the North Atlantic.

The list of 441 plants and animals—with 258 plants, 84 fish, 58 amphibians, 22 reptiles, 18 birds, and one mammal—doesn’t even attempt to catalog an additional vast array of invertebrates still waiting to be named.

The monotone color palette and the deliberate posture of the performer juxtaposed with the shadowed, slightly askance curtain is an example of perfection and imperfection working together.

Because the ocean depths are thought to absorb about 90 percent of the excess heat seen from global warming, increased attention has turned to their heat-absorbing capabilities in recent years.

Around the world the observance of DST remains very much mixed. In Russia, which abolished daylight saving time in 2011, dark mornings are so unpopular that a coalition have proposed legislation to reinstate the practice by the end of this year. Meanwhile Japan hasn't observed DST in over 60 years.

Why does Walter Boggs keep building and creating? I think the question caught him by surprise, but he thought about it for a while, and the best answer he was able to give me was this: “I just have to.”

See a picture of sunlight playing on a mountain landscape in Chile, from National Geographic.

Should a mammal try and dig up the burrow for a tasty spider snack, T. blondi has a weapon more useful than venom: urticating hairs on its abdomen.

The mirrors beam sunlight into the town's main square, producing an ellipse of light at least 80 percent as powerful as direct sunlight on the mountain.

When Bhangarh, a local capital in northwest India, was conquered by the raja of Jaipur in the 1720s, the city was quickly deserted.

"I can say we have found the tip of the beak of the Triassic kraken," says McMenamin. His proof? A fossilized squid's "pen"—a chitinous paddle found inside squid mantles—that dates to about 218 million years ago.

See a photo of a snorkeler in a cenote near Tulum, Mexico, by Paul Nicklen, from National Geographic.

Vampire bats generally feed on the blood of mammals and, while they usually prefer livestock, turning their fangs on humans is not unheard of.

Halloween's origins date back more than 2,000 years. On what we consider November 1, Europe's Celtic peoples celebrated their New Year's Day, called Samhain.

Canada, coast to coast, is a huge country—and one filled with stunning scenery.

Using measures such as temperature and abundance of water and food to examine the future health of Earth's biosphere, the scientists have mapped out how all life may begin to die off.

See a photo of a leopard perched in a baobab tree in Botswana’s Okavango Delta by Beverly Joubert from National Geographic.

Diet is the main difference between then and now, according to Saunders. "We've invested many years of trial and testing into customizing a diet that will give us the sustenance we need to cover the full 1,800 miles," he said.

Rabies travels through the nerves, so when someone is bitten, the disease can take weeks to manifest itself. But once there are clinical symptoms—anything from fever or headache to paralysis or hallucinations—it's 100 percent fatal.

"One of the reasons we're finding new species is because we're finding new tools," he explained. "Genetics opens a new window into these kinds of questions."

Get your dose of outstanding travel photos.

See a photo of a fjord in western Norway, by Erlend Haarberg, from National Geographic.

"Remipedes are small, fragile, and live in dark underwater cave systems. So they need a good efficient trick to catch—and then not lose—their prey.” Venom is the trick evolution provided.

See extreme adventure photos featuring tips from athletes and photographers.

“Killing animals to save them is not only counterintuitive but ludicrous,” he told National Geographic. “We're talking a highly endangered species, and generating a furor to kill them in the name of conservation is not going to do anything to help them in the long run.”

The Earth's moon plays hide and seek with distant stars and our sun this week, and the nighttime sights include a double comet show in the pre-dawn skies.

See a photo of a threespot damselfish in Kimbe Bay by David Doubilet, from National Geographic.

Scientists are wiring the insects to better understand how motion is controlled.

"Other than Earth, Titan is the only other world in the solar system that appears to have stable bodies of liquid on its surface, except on this distant moon because surface temperatures are a nippy – 290 degrees Fahrenheit, the liquids here are not water but hydrocarbon."

What are the real stress worries for pet cats? "There are some kinds of cats that are very anxious about something, and you pick that up from the stress hormones they are excreting as well as the fact that they are very nervous when they are being stroked."