Ten years after a tornado felled 11 of its 20 bridge towers, the historicKinzua Bridge in McKean County, Pa., once considered an "Eighth Wonder of the World," is now a reinvented tourist attraction. Its ruins lure visitors by the thousands, and serve as a reminder of man's engineering feats and how Mother Nature can take them down. Originally built in 1882, the Kinzua Bridge once held the record for tallest railroad bridge in the world. It was rebuilt in 1900...

It's an adrenaline-junkie's perfect hiking trail: a crumbling 3-foot-wide path hangs 300 feet above a rocky gorge and has been slowly falling apart for the last 100 years. El Caminito del Rey, known as the most dangerous trail in the world, is a path in Malaga, Spain that was built in 1905. Originally meant to connect two hydroelectric power plants, the path follows the walls of El Chorro Gorge and has no handrails, according to Atlas Obscura. It's been a...

Wild ponies are herded into the Assateague Channel during a rain storm for their annual swim from Assateague Island to Chincoteague on July 24, 2013, in Chincoteague, Va. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) More than 100 ponies braved thunder and lightning to make the annual swim across the Assateague Channel in Virginia this week, thrilling huge crowds who came from near and far to see the wild ponies. The 88th Pony Swim was nearly derailed by the combination of a high tide,...

Officials investigate a United Express passenger plane that landed safely at Newark Liberty International Airpor after taking off from the airport after reporting smoke in the cockpit. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) NEWARK, N.J. — A passenger plane has landed safely at Newark International Airport in New Jersey after the crew detected the smell of smoke in the cockpit. (MORE: ) Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Steve Coleman says United Express Flight 4890 was headed for Pittsburgh. The...

In this photo provided by Jared Rosenstein, a Southwest Airlines plane whose nose gear collapsed as it touched down on the runway is surrounded by emergency vehicles at LaGuardia Airport in New York. (AP Photo/Jared Rosenstein) NEW YORK — A Southwest Airlines jet that made a hard landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport touched down on its front nose wheel before the sturdier main landing gear in back touched down, federal investigators said Thursday. The nose-pointed-down landing described by investigators...

Honeybees form swarms when they're looking for a new home. (Thinkstock/John Foxx) A soccer ball-sized swarm of honeybees descended upon the Charlotte airport in North Carolina on Thursday, causing a delay of more than two hours while passengers sweated in the hot plane and waited for the winged insects to be lured away. The bee swarm, which included a queen, was searching for a new place to build a hive on the tug at the front of the plane, said...

Summer is the season for growing and harvesting, when a number of vibrantly colored flowers bloom across acres and acres of farmland. Among some of the most beautiful of the crops are lavender, canola, poppies and cotton. Farms filled with these plants are dazzling when seen from high above or from on the ground, and they attract tourists interested in agriculture, regional economics, and health. Although poppies are most infamous for being the plant from which opium is derived, the...

Some of the best views of a city can be seen from above -- an impressive skyline lit at night, buildings engulfed in dramatic fog, or majestic monuments set against a mountainous landscape. Aerial views offer a unique perspective of a city, and highlight its natural features, such as parks, rivers or canals, as well as its architecture and other man-made wonders. Aerial photographs, however, are some of the most tricky to successfully shoot and aerial photographers need to depend...

(Chris Hondros/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Top U.S. officials met Saturday to review the threat of a terrorist attack that led to the weekend closure of 21 U.S. embassies and consulates in the Muslim world and a global travel warning to Americans. President Barack Obama was briefed following the session, the White House said. Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, led the meeting and then joined Lisa Monaco, Obama's assistant for homeland security and counter-terrorism, in briefing the president, the White...

Aerial view from a hot air balloon as it flies over the ruins of Pompeii city, near Naples, May 27, 2005. (Mario Laporta/AFP/Getty Images) ROME — Italy's government is trying to spare the ancient ruins of Pompeii from further neglect. Premier Enrico Letta told reporters that his Cabinet on Friday approved the appointment of a special superintendent to ensure that millions of euros in government and European Union funds for maintenance and restoration of the archaeological marvel and tourist site...

Viewers' Choice National Geographic readers selected Dody Kusuma's photo, Another Perspective of the Day, as the winner of the Viewers' Choice award. Kusuma snapped the photo of a fisherman casting a net at Bira Beach, off the waters of Indonesia. (Photo and caption by Dody Kusuma/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest) Winners of the 2013 National Geographic Traveler's Photo Contest have been announced, and the images are nothing short of stunning. This year's judges had the daunting task of narrowing the...

Birds of War December 5, 1941: Two American dive-bombers fly over Miami on a training mission. (Keystone/Getty Images) In 1909, the U.S. Army Signal Corps purchased its first aircraft, a Wright Model A. The first military role for an aircraft was reconnaissance, and by World War I military aviation grew to include several roles including scouts, artillery observers, fighters and bombers. World War II signified an era of rapid advancement in aircraft technology, with major performance and range increases and...

A Southwest airline's plane rests on the tarmac earlier this month after what officials say is a nose gear collapse at LaGuardia. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File) NEW YORK -- The captain of a Southwest Airlines plane that landed on a collapsing nose gear at LaGuardia Airport took control from the first officer just 400 feet from the ground, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday. It's unusual for a co-pilot or captain to take over a plane that's landing when...