National Geographic Society

Coffee Beans Could Be Extinct In 60 Years; Then What?

If you believe the news from over the weekend that coffee beans are in danger of extinction, you're probably hoarding all the Arabica you can find today and envisioning a future in which coffee -- already liquid gold for many of us caffeine addicts -- can be used as delicious, fragrant currency. No ... More >>

Aliens Welcome: A Playlist for World UFO Day

Having grown up on Unsolved Mysteries and Time-Life books... as well as being completely ignorant of organized religion, my head is full of a thousand examples of Fortean phenomena, unexplainable happenings, and tales of a eldritch and incomprehensible world that gnaws at the edge of reality like a ... More >>

Cover Story: Preppers Ready Themselves for When the Shit Hits the Fan

Preparing for Doomsday is as venerably American as cherry pie. Mormonism, America's most successful homegrown religion, even has hoarding food as one of its tenets. Some prep for a biblical Armageddon, while others do so for secular reasons. Maybe they just want to get out of the rat race and off t ... More >>

Tut, Tut

There are some fascinating objects in this wannabe blockbuster, but mainly it's a grab for crowds and cash.

RenFest: Your Last Chance To Get All Medieval This Weekend

Check out even more of our RenFest pictures gathered up as we wandered the grounds on Friday. This is it, the final countdown. With two days left in RenFest season for this year, it's today and tomorrow to haul yourself up to the fields south of Plantersville, lace yourself into a bodkin, loin clo ... More >>

Amy Blonn: HISD Teacher to Freeze Her Butt Off Near North Pole

HISDAmy Blonn (left) is going to need to dress a little more warmly​A Houston schoolteacher has been selected as one of six across the country to be sent to the Arctic as part of a National Geographic program, HISD announced today. Amy Blonn teaches fifth graders at the district's Outdoor Edu ... More >>

Flea Market Reality Show Being Shot in Houston

Stormville is not the location, in case you're confused​The Pawn Stars may be elsewhere, but when it comes to flea-market superstars, Houston is about to shine. The National Geographic Network is producing a show that rips off is inspired by the various pawn-shop reality TV series on the air, ... More >>

Share Your Christmas Gifts With Us! (Not Literally, Though)

​Long before I ever started writing about food, I always had a copy of Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking at my desk. Yes, even when I worked in human resources. Along with two thesauruses, Webster's dictionary, The National Geographic Desk Reference, The A-Z of Art, the Food Lover's Companion ... More >>

"Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship"

See artifacts from a storied pirate ship

Houston Zoo May Improve Our City's Brutal Reputation On Cable TV

For a while now, cable viewers have had their image of how Houston treats its animals shaped by Animal Planet's Animal Cops, which shows us basically torturing very cute puppies, just for kicks.Happily, the image may be about to change, when the National Geographic WILD channel airs Zoo Confidentia ... More >>

Upcoming Events

Midgets dressed as KISS. (This will be important in a second.)​With big food events like Menu of Menus, iFest, the Grand Food & Wine Affair and the Big Bite Night behind us now, what else is there to look forward to in the coming weeks? A lot, that's what. Cinco de Mayo is right around the co ... More >>

West Texas Town Runs On Batteries. Actually, Just One Very, Very Big Battery

​Outside of changing them in our car or our Fleshlight, Hair Balls never spent much time thinking about batteries. But the folks in the tiny west Texas town of Presidio owe their lives, more or less, to a gigantic, house-sized battery.Until the advent of BOB (Big Old Battery) the only thing linkin ... More >>

NASA Had Proof Of Water On The Moon Sitting In Their Storage Closet

​NASA famously bombed the moon last year in a desperate attempt to prove there's water on it. While water was indeed discovered, we have yet to hear any reliable figures on collateral damage to the affected areas or the native population.It turns out, instead of almost triggering a Earth-Moon war ... More >>

Nerd Alert!! National Geographic Garage Sale Coming To Town

​In this day and age, when it is absolutely impossible to find any decent pictures of bare breasts, National Geographic continues to serve a noble purpose. It no longer involves luring young boys into reading about far-away countries and cultures as they feverishly look for topless native women, b ... More >>

Bloody Good Times at Beaver's Ice House

Photos by Groovehouse Caleb Gutierrez's michelada, rimmed with cumin and salt​While we may not have a palate for wine, it's no secret that Eating Our Words loves beer. And hot sauce. And the two of those things magically mixed together in a pint glass. So in the interest of further promoti ... More >>

Texas Traveler: Brazos Bend and the George Observatory

About an hour south of Houston, far enough away to evade the light pollution from Downtown, stands one of the largest and most powerful telescopes in the nation open to the public. The 36-inch Gueymard Research Telescope is the centerpiece for the George Observatory, a facility owned and operat ... More >>

Asia Society: Pico Iyer

The well-traveled writer discusses his friendship with the Dalai Lama

Overheard at SXSW 2009

"Fuck National Geographic." "It's not technically a mullet." "No, I'm not fucking kidding. She and I are done." "I can't hear you." (Heard umpteen times) "Awesome." "This is awful."

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Darwin!

Photo by J.C. ReidOn second thought, maybe I want that Jackson 5 cake on the bottom... On a recent trip to the El Bolillo Bakery in Houston I snapped a random picture of birthday cakes stacked high on a rolling cart. Later that day when I downloaded the pictures to my laptop, I noticed the salutati ... More >>

Rare Giant Squid Found Near Houston!

A rare giant squid -- a squid with elbows -- has been sighted in the Houston area.It's called the Megapinna squid and even the stoic National Geographic says it's "alien-like."Again, this strange and mysterious animal has been sighted a mere 201-and-a-half miles from downtown Houston.Fortunately, on ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Rich Hornbuckle, Renaissance Man

Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti

Meet Maya Deren’s unusual circle of friends

“Voices of the Tempest”

A multimedia exhibition considers the 1982 sinking of the Argentine cruise General Belgrano

SXSW Day 1: Tricks of the Trade

“Fragile Nature: The Photography of Joel Sartore”

A photographer for National Geographic takes a look at endangered species

999 Eyes Freak Show

Lobster woman, scorpion man and other people with weird hands

Get Lit: Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World’s Greatest Trips, by National Geographic

Lady Chatterley

Chatterley adaptation makes the orgasmic organic

Scott Faingold Listens to Everything

And comes up with a random smattering of tortured musings

Trees and Rocks

FotoFest takes on "The Earth"

Sweeping Riddim

Check the African-spun grooves at Fagilia Houston

Love It, Fear It

A Brit flourishes by studying Houston

O Little Town of West Texas

Lee Friedlander goes to homes for the holidays

Polar Flair

Sigrid Sandström brings arctic splendor to Inman Gallery

Capsule Reviews

A picture of our opinions on local exhibitions

Capsule Reviews

A picture of our opinions on local exhibitions

Water Overdose

FotoFest 2004 will soak you to the bone

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Sub: Par

Kathryn Bigelow's Widowmaker cruises into choppy seas

Peak Performance

Himalaya scales dangerous mountain passes while uplifting the spirit

Insecurity Complex

FotoFest 2000 tries to cover up its deficiencies with sheer volume

Night & Day

June 3 - 9, 1999

Night & Day

January 14 - 20, 1999

User-Friendly Abstraction

Three Houston artists bring a genre new life. Real life.

Night & Day

September 17 - 23, 1998

Moon Shots

At the MFA, lunar imagery blurs the line between science and art

Surfing Safari

Bruce Brown goes back to the beach to hang ten, again

Press Picks

Press Picks

Press Picks