Survival

Explore the Enigmatic Arabian Desert: Vast Sandscapes & Rich Heritage Await. Discover the Arabian Desert's Beauty and Mystique

By MapQuest Travel

An original survivalist, Dick Proenneke built his home by hand and lived alone in Alaska. But he was also a legendary conservationist and documentarian. Learn more about his remarkable story.

By Nathan Chandler

Coconuts, found on islands in the Pacific, really would be an excellent food source for a castaway.

By Patrick J. Kiger

If you went cave exploring and lost your way, would you how to get out? We talked with the experts for real-world advice.

By Nathan Chandler

The spherical orange pod could be a saving grace when a storm gets too rough to escape — if you can afford it.

By Kate Kershner

Catastrophe takes many forms and could occur at any moment, so sometimes dread gets the best of us. But some of our fears are justified. What disasters may really be in our future?

By Nicholas Gerbis

A pair of physicians determined that the great British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton died from a hole in his heart.

By John Donovan

Not everything natural is safe — many plants and animals can sicken or even kill you if you eat them. Here are 10 of the deadliest.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

They can be, and they already are, but there's a lot more that we could do with drones to save lives.

By Chris Opfer

Vanished hikers. Disappearing backpackers. Missing children. Are these mysteries in the great outdoors due to accidents, mistakes and bad luck, or evidence of something more sinister?

By Alia Hoyt & Becky Striepe

How do you tie a knot if it's impossible to do so? Maybe this is a trick question.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

The will to survive is ingrained in all of us, but some have had that will tested to the extremes. What would you do to stay alive if you were stranded in the desert or thrown overboard at sea? Find out what these 10 people did.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Fight or flight aren't the only possible responses to an emergency situation. Flight can actually sometimes make the problem worse. When is trying to run a really bad idea?

By Chris Opfer

When a pandemic or disaster strikes, you may be stranded at home for a while. How will you manage? The good news is that there's already a wide range of useful survival tools right there in your kitchen or garage.

By Chris Opfer & Kathryn Whitbourne

You're stranded on a boat at sea, no substantial food or water for days, living off collected rain and already having lustily consumed the leather brim of your hat. That's when you realize there's a huge chunk of meat sitting right next to you.

By Kate Kershner

Help when you're lost at sea or in the woods could be as close your credit card, cell phone innards or anything else that can make a reflective surface and let you flash a signal. Here's how.

By Patrick J. Kiger

It may not look like much, but this little piece of wristwear is very useful in a bind. Unlike other jewelry, it can help you get dinner, stop blood or make a shelter.

By Chris Opfer

Long before GPS, before radar, indeed before the compass, people used the stars in the sky to figure out their destinations. You can do it, too. Here's how.

By Julia Layton

PVC pipe is not only useful in building and transporting water. It has a whole 'nother life as a tool for surviving after a natural disaster. We'll look at some of the unusual uses of PVC.

By Laurie L. Dove

The desert is a place of extremes. And camping in such an unforgiving environment requires a good deal of preparation, and above all, a lot of respect.

By Mark Boyer

You need to treat a bat bite, but don't know how to do it. Learn about how to treat a bat bite in this article.

By HowStuffWorks.com Contributors

If you live in a disaster-prone area, you probably know how to prepare your home and what to stock up on in case a hurricane or tornado strikes. But have you thought about what to do with your pet? That's a part of disaster preparedness, too.

By Sarah Grace McCandless

When two thrill-seeking snowboarders decide to take a chance on a slope that's marked off-limits, it's the tax payers who ultimately pay for their rescue. Or, do the rule-breaking skiers foot the bill?

By Charles W. Bryant

Well, we can. But why don't we do more of it? With oceans and oceans of seawater, you'd think we could make enough freshwater to never go thirsty again

By Nicholas Gerbis

Blackberries, raspberries and cranberries are all found in the wild, but you'd better be sure you've got the right berry before you eat one off the vine. There are plenty of berries in the woods that could kill you.

By Patrick J. Kiger