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The country's Sandinista government has cut a deal with a reclusive Chinese businessman willing to spend $50 billion on a larger-than-life transport waterway. There are a few unanswered questions, starting with whether Nicaraguans really want it and how much priceless habitat would be wrecked. Traveling the proposed route by motorcycle, boat, and boots, the author hunts for answers.

A Czech bike manufacturer woefully ignores cycling's fastest-growing consumer base: women who rip

The 29-year-old phenom shares his uncensored opinions on doping in his sport

The Alberto Salazar-coached runner isn’t accused of wrongdoing, but as we’ve learned from cycling, he might as well be

What happens when we start a fire and we can't contain it?

The best stories aren't just on paper anymore. Our (totally subjective) ranking assembles the millenium's 33 best new classics.

Research suggests artificial muscle enhancers stick with cheating athletes for life. So will we see lifetime bans for first-time cheats?

This year’s film festival, which kicks off Friday in Telluride, is chock full of 100 films, ranging from feature length documentaries about climbing the world’s toughest mountains to short, art films. Here are the 10 you shouldn’t miss.

In docking Giro d’Italia contender Richie Porte two minutes, the UCI proves—once again—that it has no idea what’s good for the sport.

From major manufacturers to local outfitters, the outdoor industry is coming into its own as a political force. Public lands, and all who love them, stand to benefit in a big way.

Three men BASE jumped from the One World Trade Center in September 2013. Six months later they were arrested. Their ongoing—and, many would say, harsher than necessary—legal battle raises the question: How serious a crime is leaping off a building?

You’ll recognize at least a few of the names on American Rivers’ annual Endangered Rivers list—but what will you do to ensure they remain pristine?

Having been primed to lead Greenpeace into the 21st century, the six-year executive director has suddenly opted to resign.

The avalanche that effectively closed Everest last spring hasn't stopped crowds of climbers from flocking to Base Camp. These are the stories that will define another controversial season.

Five years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, we wanted to know whether the Gulf had recovered—and how much remains to be done.

The 2000 ordeal of four kidnapped climbers in Kyrgyzstan was only the beginning.

Of all the UCI's new anti-doping measures, around-the-clock testing is possibly the most controversial. But the Tour de France champion has spoken out in favor of the practice, even as his peers grumble that it's too invasive.

Human-rights superhero Kumi Naidoo has a tough assignment: lead the organization into 21st-century relevance. But after a year that saw activists lionized (imprisoned in Putin's jails) and then vilified (unfurling a banner on Peru's ancient Nazca lines), can he save the day?

Cycling is finally grappling with its dark past. But until today’s pros speak out about practices within the peloton, nobody will know how far the sport has really come.

Cycling’s governing body knows there’s a long way to go before the peloton races clean. But in releasing a self-critical report, it has finally confronted the elephant in the room: its own complicity.

By doing so, the sport's international governing body is sending a clear message to the pro teams: You can't expect to get away with doping anymore.

The non-profit group Mountain Pact encourages mountain towns to unite politically. The goal: galvanize politicians to protect winter.

We need standards in place to ensure we’re buying in-season produce from the growers themselves.

Liability lawyer and former professional bike racer Megan Hottman spends her working hours representing cyclists who've been injured by reckless drivers. She spends her leisure time riding and telling people what they don't always want to hear: in the perpetual, complicated conflict between two wheels and four, bike riders are part of the problem, and they have to be a big part of the solution.

Your favorite microbrew’s taxes could be cut this year, and that’s a very good thing for beer fans.

In a new effort to protect national parks and wilderness areas from commercial photography, the feds have started going after amateur filmmakers with big social media followings.

This month, a bill was introduced that would limit presidential authority to protect the natural wonders of the U.S.—and it is far more likely to pass than its predecessors. Here's why that's a very bad idea.

After 6 years mired in political turmoil, the controversial pipeline proposal could be concluded this year.

Research continues to reinforce long-standing claims that tapping Canada’s tar sands will push global temperatures to scary heights

Climate change and the global demand for oil will persist whether or not Keystone is built

Putting pipelines through sensitive ecosystems has led to catastrophic oil leaks before. The threat from Keystone is no different.

Canada has the potential to lead the world in renewable energy—if only the government will listen

A hydrologist lays out why Great Plains groundwater is safe from possible leaks in the pipeline

Twenty years after wolves were reintroduced in the Northern Rockies, many politicians would still love to see them eradicated, and hunters and ranchers are allowed to kill them by the hundreds. But the animals are not only surviving—they're expanding their range at a steady clip. For the people who live on the wild edges of wolf country, their presence can be magical and maddening at once.

From that time Lance Armstrong showed us how to fix a flat tire to an investigation into USA Swimming’s sex abuse scandal, we look back at the stories that defined the year.

The Director of Programs at the Natural Resources Defense Council on the fights she faces in 2015, and how to get involved.

The bold move ostensibly protects one of the world’s most productive fisheries. But the bay’s most pressing threat remains: the Pebble Mine.

Most Travelers aren't directly affected by the resumption of U.S.-Cuba diplomatic relations.

For years, it seemed like drug testers would never get ahead of cheaters. The Russian bribery scandal raises an even scarier possibility: the testers are dirty too.

The UCI claimed it had no legal choice but to approve Astana’s WorldTour license—despite the team's five recent doping positives. The result? They're sending a troubling message that long-term change is not sustainable.

In his debut novel, John Vaillant delivers a terrifying border tale

It's been a national park for 50 years. One more step will ensure that it's safe forever.

A conversation with Irvin Muchnick and Tim Joyce, journalists who have spent years documenting the horrible story of sexually abusive swim coaches—and dogging a national governing body that they think is beyond repair

Locally sourced venison is free range and organic—and impossible to get. But that might be about to change.

Shane Davis is data-mining the oil and gas industry to win hearts, minds, and legislative battles

A closer look at swim coaches who abused their athletes

This Friday, Netflix releases Virunga, a documentary thriller about the fight to save the mountain gorillas of Congo’s Virunga National Park. We talked with warden Emmanuel de Merode on what it feels like to be shot while defending the most dangerous wilderness on earth.

SpaceShipTwo's accident poses a major setback to Richard Branson's interstellar vision—and the future of the $250 million taxpayer-funded New Mexico Spaceport.

The German-American surfing writer was kidnapped by Somali pirates in 2012—and held for two years and eight months. Joshua Hammer reports on his imprisonment, drawn-out negotiations to ensure his release, and the ugly business of kidnapping for cash. As the global debate over ransoming hostages heats up, just how should we be getting our journalists home?

Jamie Smith says he was recruited into the CIA as an undergraduate at Ole Miss, cofounded Blackwater, and has done clandestine intelligence work all over the world, operating out of a counterterrorism boot camp in the woods of north Mississippi. Plenty of people believed him, including the Air Force (which paid him $7 million to train personnel) and William Morrow, which signed him up to write his memoir. There's just one little question: How much of it is true?

Will leaping fiery hay bales amount to nothing more than an adrenaline-fueled fad? Or could it one day become an Olympic sport? That all depends on what comes next.

Public park fitness groups are at risk—even as cities push soda bans.

Five business icons share how they flipped the switch on their careers—and how you can follow in their footsteps.

California’s rule requiring cars to give cyclists a three-foot berth went into effect last week. Too bad it doesn't actually keep riders safe.

A new 48 Hours documentary looks into the death of an American multimillionaire—and the bizarre trial of his wife.

Syria is an enthusiastic state sponsor of terrorism and a fiendish fan of torture and oppression. But have you tried the stuffed grape leaves? Patrick Symmes invades before the coalition of the willing can.

The case of Andrus Veerpalu, an Olympic gold medal winning Estonian cross country skier who was accused in 2011 of doping with human growth hormone, raises serious questions about WADA's credibility.

Last year in Nazaré, Portugal, the Brazilian surfer nearly drowned while trying to ride the biggest wave ever surfed by a woman. Most of the alpha males who dominate the sport say Gabeira doesn't belong in their ranks, but nothing will stop her from going back in.

For one young chief, protecting his people means embracing ecotourism.

There are two sides to the story of the biggest environmental lawsuit ever, but a new book tells only one of them.

Yosemite Valley, the birthplace of rebel climber culture is supposed to be all cleaned up and mellowed out. But as a new film shows, the outlaw spirit is alive and well.

Ernest Moniz talks to �����ԹϺ��� about radioactive waste, SuperTrucks, dazzling solar arrays, southwestern breakfasts, and a trout stream that has to remain top secret.

The days of the Homestead Act are over. But if you’re willing to be flexible, there are still ways to get cheap—even free—land.

In the half-century since the Wilderness Act was passed, almost everything has changed. All the more reason to go wild.

Boston’s bike program prepares to take the next step—by making cycling an option for low-income riders, too.

Namibia's desert elephant population is dwindling—so why are they handing out hunting permits?

An excerpt from Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies examines the spaces between borders

A down-and-out polar bear in Argentina could use a change of scenery. Is it too late?

Three plane fuselages in a Montana river might seem like a problem, but there’s more to the accident than meets the eye.

The true story of the mountain's most horrific day, the Sherpas who paid the price, and the aftershocks that will change the mountain forever

Trapping of bobcats, coyotes, and other fur-bearing animals is on the rise—with man’s best friend the collateral damage.

Cuba. Where travelers lounge on picturesque beaches, swirl mojitos, dance til sunrise, and cruise back to their hotels in ’57 T-birds. Travelers, yes. But Americans, no. Until 2011, these indulgences were long off limits to U.S. citizens due to a Bay of Pigs–era trade embargo.  But despite the Obama Administration…

Activists have brought down five proposed dam projects on two Patagonian rivers. What does this mean for one of the world's wildest and most iconic regions?

It's been more than 50 years since the Colorado River regularly reached the sea. But this spring, the U.S. and Mexico let the water storm through its natural delta for a grand experiment in ecological restoration. As the dam gates opened, a small band of river rats caught a once-in-a-lifetime ride.

National parks are America's greatest recreational asset. Now an overdue movement will make them even better.

The UCI’s ruling on the hour record signals that the organization is ready to move into the future. And it also raises a titillating question: who would win—Cancellara or Merckx?

After joining one of the largest moving protests in history with her daughter, Katie Arnold learns that orchestrating an effective march requires more than walking.

Newly prescribed pollution limits are sure to push coal further out of the U.S. energy mix—but overseas demand might help keep coal cranking stateside.

The first county in the United States to outlaw fracking has an idea that could give environmentalists the upper hand—and deliver a major setback to big oil.

Chelsea and Hillary Clinton have teamed up to confront a new challenge—protecting the heavily poached African elephant.