It’s natural to think that outdoor gear is best enjoyed in the great outdoors. Heck, that’s what it’s designed for! But urban living sometimes demands rugged goods with innovative capabilities. You’d be surprised how handsome yet practical they can be, too.

The North Face is partnering with a Japanese company to make new parkas from synthetic spider silk. And everyone’s favorite Minnesota dentist is in trouble with the law again due to allegedly illegal hunting practices. It’s What’s New Outside.

Combining cross-disciplinary skills from a diverse array of sports — water skiing, basketball and butterfly catching — skarping doesn’t just look like a lot of fun, it helps the environment too. The asian carp is an invasive species injuring boatmen across the midwest.

Donald Trump is accusing Ben Carson of lying in his story of attempting to stab a friend as a teenager. “How stupid do people have to be to believe that?” Asks Trump, challenging the assertion that a belt buckle could turn a knife blade. Let’s armchair quarterback this.

Ever read a fantasy book or watched a science fiction movie and struggled to suspend your disbelief due to the total lack of reality in some make believe weapons? Here’s advice for people writing this stuff on how to get guns and lasers and bow and wands right.

Republican politicians want to sell your National Forests, Wildernesses and Wildlife Refuges to private interests. And that’s particularly controversial out west, where state economies rely on outdoor recreation for billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs. New data shows this will be a hot issue in key…

The biggest western diamondback rattlesnake ever caught? An Arkansas man borrowed a hot pink snubnose revolver from his wife to shoot this one after it bit one of his dogs.

“Wow, the tremendous amount of support I have received from the community is truly humbling,” reads the most upvoted comment in the CEO of REI’s Ask Me Anything on Reddit. Except it’s not from him, it’s from an employee complaining about working conditions. And he’s not alone. Update!

Before there was a CIA there was England’s Special Operations Executive. And, as WWII heated up, it put all of its collective tradecraft knowledge into a single training manual. And, it turns out that training spies to operate behind enemy lines is often good training for going outdoors, too.

Alberta’s Skyline Trail is popular for a reason. It offers stunning alpine scenery, exciting hiking, and it’s easy to access. We spent two days trekking it; here’s everything you need to know to tackle it yourself.

Kerigan Disorda wants to become a wildlife biologist when she grows up, in order to learn more about her favorite animal: the black bear. Follow along as she hunts one of those in Vermont.

America has a new predator, and it’s thriving in the northeast. Meanwhile, the outdoor economy is starting to throw its weight around in Washington DC (also home to coywolves) and an engineer has busted a popular survival myth with math. This is What’s New Outside.

Outside the Florida Everglades, cougars haven’t lived east of the Rockies in over 100 years. But, a new study finds there’s a strong likelihood that states like Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin could become home to healthy populations of the large carnivores in the next few years.

Traditional gas masks are designed to seal to your face and neck, protecting you from breathing harmful chemical or biological agents. But they won’t work with full beards, which is a problem if you’re a Sikh warrior like Harjit Sajjan. His solution?

If you talk about knives on the Internet then you’ll know the Chris Reeve Sebenza is held up as the pinnacle of production knife perfection. But what’s it like to use and carry one in the real world? I let this one bite me to find out.

LIBERALS, AM I RIGHT? IF IT’S NOT MAKING UP CLIMATE CHANGE, IT’S TRYING TO TAKE OUR GUNS. WHY DO THEY HATE AMERICA?

A report published by the National Wildlife Federation finds that the majority of Americans can expect to suffer mental health problems as a result of global warming and warns that our mental health system is not equipped to handle it.

Yesterday, we showed you Ted Cruz holding his shotgun backwards, blatantly flouting the first two rules of gun safety. Now, we have a new video from the same photo op perfectly demonstrating why this is a bad idea. Would you want to be one of the hunters he’s pointing his gun at?