Photo: A cactus bee pollinates a barrel cactus in Tucson, Arizona. Photograph by Mark W. Moffett

Pollinators help produce much of the food found in our grocery stores. Bees alone are behind every third bite of food we eat.

Renowned bug and plant wrangler Stephen Buchmann gives a behind-the-scenes look at the busy world of pollinators. He offers gardening tips for planting wildflower gardens to attract colorful pollinators like butterflies and hummingbirds.

Government-guaranteed maternity and paternity leave varies widely around the world. Mothers have significantly more access to paid leave than new fathers. (Maps include parental leave as well). Click to expand.

Credit: Map: Heymann, S.J., and Earle A. Raising the Global Floor: Dismantling The Myth That We Can’t Afford Good Working Conditions For Everyone. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010.

The importance of mothers and fathers bonding with their babies early in life is well known. But many parents, particularly dads, can’t afford to take a chunk of time off work once the baby’s born. In countries around the world, the contrast between paid maternity and paternity leave is striking. The maps above illustrate the availability of government-guaranteed paid leave for new mothers and fathers.

Out of 192 countries, 177 provide some form of paid maternal leave. Yet only 54 countries grant paid paternity or parental leave. Unlike most affluent countries, neither the U.S. nor Australia provide any government-paid maternity or paternity leave. (U.S. employer-based paid parental leave covers less than 10 percent of new dads.) Australia is due to start providing paid parental leave in 2011.

“Globally, men's chances of taking paid leave to care for an infant lag far behind women's,” says Dr. Jody Heymann, co-author of Raising the Global Floor: Dismantling the Myth That We Can’t Afford Good Working Conditions for Everyone.

It may be the strangest mammal in the world—spiky hairs, pointy beak, no nipples, four-headed penis. The long-beaked echidna, found in the rain forest of New Guinea’s Foja mountains, has adapted in remarkable ways. A monotreme, from a group of egg-laying mammals that have been around since the time of the dinosaurs, this primitive animal serves as a living link between mammals and reptiles. 

Short-beaked echidnas and platypuses are the only other living monotremes. Weighing up to 36 pounds, echidnas have powerful bodies that allow them to dig easily. Muscular shoulders, strong arms, and five-clawed feet enable them to dig straight down into the ground, disappearing from sight within minutes.

Classifying the world’s tallest, thickest, biggest, and oldest trees can be an extreme challenge. For the National Geographic "Extreme Trees" poster, featured in several of the magazine’s international editions, we took a look at what counts when measuring. Trees grow, limbs fall, ways of measuring change, and new trees are discovered, so figuring out which trees to highlight wasn’t easy.

Many of nature’s creatures could put on their own version of a Milan fashion show. With their eye-catching coats of fuzzy algae, fluttery tiered layers, star patterns, and delicate crimson strands, they would inspire even the most particular designer.

Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu is a war zone. Rival militias, al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, as well as the Transitional Federal Government, fight for control of the city. Bombings, kidnappings, and shootings are part of everyday life. Ironically, the food centers run by the Somali nonprofit SAACID are some of the safest places to be.