Will Earth's most fragile unexplored ecosystems survive the age of adventure?

The come-on: Grab two hours of challenging fun and fast adventure. But when a dark wall of water swept away lives and reputations, the question became: Why?

Soaring over four continents, three oceans, and assorted hostile nations aboard a high-tech gondola, Bertrand Piccard of Switzerland and Brian Jones of England this year became the first men to circle the world by hot-air balloon. Here is their diary—the unforgettable highs, the lows, and the humdrum routine experienced by the unlikely duo who vowed to boldly g

The Ideas Toward a Larger Life

The Great Reinhold Messner unmasks his latest conquest

When a promising young runner went missing in Wyoming's Wind River Range, everything changed for the community of athletes she left behind.

Bill Haast, human pincushion, explains the pain and profit of being nailed 163 times—and counting—by his little scaly friends

In the dusty realm of big-league map collecting, one man cut a darker figure than his milquetoasty colleagues. Armed with an X-Acto knife and an arsenal of fake identities, he systematically ransacked the nation's libraries, hoping in his own peculiar way to dominate the globe.

There’s nothing funny about motion sickness. Really. I mean it.

What kind of person sticks a ferret down his pants for more than five consecutive hours? Our writer tried to find out.