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Kieran Mulvaney

Kieran Mulvaney is the author of At the Ends of the Earth: A History of the Polar Regions, and The Great White Bear: A Natural & Unnatural History of the Polar Bear. He has also covered boxing for ESPN, Reuters, Showtime and HBO.

Latest from this author

Since the Apollo missions began, space programs have offered a unique perspective on our home planet.

Firemen on Horse-Drawn Fire Truck, "On the Way to a Fire", Chicago, USA, Postcard, circa 1890.

From ad-hoc 'bucket brigades' to steam-powered fire trucks, firefighting has seen steady advances, while climate change-fueled fires present new challenges.

The Endurance appears to have sunk keel-first, with the bow first impacting the Weddell Sea floor.

Tens of thousands of shipwrecks lie lost and forgotten on the sea floor—but efforts to locate and explore them have seen great advances.

Willie Mays: The Catch

In 1954, the Giants' Willie Mays made a catch that wowed the nation—and became a legendary moment in baseball history.

A dramatic snowy whiteout Arctic landscape with a hot air balloon lying on its side

“Shall we be thought mad?” expedition leader Salomon August Andrée wrote in his journal, just before he perished.

The 'Endurance' Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914-17, led by Ernest Shackleton

The discovery of Ernest Shackleton's ship at the bottom of Antarctica's Weddell Sea recalls a grueling expedition when men endured entrapment, hunger, frigid weather, angry seas—and near madness.

The Keeling Curve was among the earliest charts showing that carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere were on a steady uptick.

5 Moments That Forced Americans to Confront Climate ChangeDraft SharePreviewPublish

Check out some moments that drove the national conversation around climate change.

Miracle of the Andes: How Survivors of the 1972 Flight Disaster Struggled to Stay Alive

When an Uruguayan rugby team crashed in the Andes on October 13, 1972, cannibalism helped some survive two months in harsh conditions.

The Franklin Expedition

In 1845, two ships left England to navigate the fabled Northwest Passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Then they vanished without a trace.

Commander James Fitzjames

What happened to the Franklin expedition remains unclear, but cannibalized remains were identified as belonging to third-in-command James Fitzjames.

The March 8, 1971 fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier unfolded against the backdrop of a nation tearing itself apart over civil rights and the war in Vietnam.

The 1921 Wrangel Island Expedition team: Ada Blackjack, Allan Crawford, Lorne Knight, Fred Maurer, Milton Galle, and Victoria the cat.; 1921.

In the early 1920s, 25-year-old Ada Blackjack survived two years on the frigid Wrangel Island after a failed expedition to claim the island for Canada.

When Joe Louis Fought Max Schmeling, More Was at Stake than Boxing

As Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party loomed over Europe, an American and a German boxer squared off in the ring. They'd meet again two years later.

An image from 2018 showing cannons from the San José on the seafloor.

A fierce 1708 battle caused the Spanish galleon to sink—along with its $20 billion worth of gold, silver and emeralds.