Discovery of hydrothermal systems on the ocean floor in the late 1970s is regarded as one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century and has implications for the flux of chemicals and heat into the oceans, the formation of some mineral deposits, and the origin of life. Over the last 50 years, deep-ocean hydrothermal vents have been found along plate boundaries throughout the oceans of the world.

Combine your visit to Gettysburg National Military Park this summer with a stop at the headquarters General Robert E. Lee used during the Battle of Gettysburg.

For once I wasn’t in a hurry when I pulled off the Trans-Canada Highway and stopped for a bathroom break in Canada’s most easterly national park.

Flamingoes, marine lizards, blue-footed boobies, and even diminutive Galápagos penguins.