Acts of Humankind | National Geographic

Our world is filled with beauty, but also tremendous power. There are forces of nature on our planet that can wreak incredible havoc, destruction, and devastation. Forces that seem unstoppable.

But for every act of nature, there's a force that is equally powerful: the human spirit. It's there in local communities, people risking their lives to save the lives of strangers in the flood. The fearless rescue workers going into harm's way to pull survivors from an earthquake, and the firefighters tirelessly battling blazing forests.

But there's another place where you can find it. Even when the storm passes, the global community of countless researchers, scientists, and explorers who strive every day to learn everything they can to predict, prepare, and help us survive these destructive events.

The knowledge they gain and the stories they tell serve to remind us that there is another unstoppable force of nature on this planet, much bigger than a hurricane, and earthquake, or a tsunami: its humanity.