National Geographic

Smuggled puppies, raging fires, a Sistine ceiling, and more in the week's best news photos.

Scientists are one step closer to creating a Harry Potter-like invisibility cloak. But when we'll be able to hide under the high-tech garments is a matter of "will and money," experts say.

Sloping features at Mars's mid-latitudes are the largest bulk of water ice not at the poles and could be leftover from past climate changes, radar data suggest.

Long seen as myth, an ancient Amazon civilization may have been fueled by a man-made soil. Scientists are racing to recreate the recipe, which they say might fight hunger and global warming.

The first genetic blueprint from an extinct animal could reveal what separates the fuzzy giants from elephants—and may open the door to a "resurrection."

Unexpected numbers of high-energy electrons could be physical evidence of the mysterious substance—or they may reveal a nearby astrophysical object that's bombarding Earth.

Newly discovered fossils of the oldest known swimming turtles show the reptiles first took to water some 165 million years ago, researchers say.

Archaeologists in Israel announced new discoveries at what the team believes is the tomb of the biblical King Herod on Wednesday.

A tree-devouring Asian beetle is encroaching on New England's forests, beloved for their brilliant autumn colors and maple syrup, experts say.

Seized during a Malaysian raid, the owls shocked wildlife-trade monitors. The sizes of this and another November seizure point to organized crime, experts say.

Iran's largest saltwater inland lake is diminishing because of drought, alarming environmentalists.