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Uncovering Brilliance in Unlikely Places

Education. Conservation. Exploration.

Innovation through Illumination

There are extraordinary answers hidden in ordinary places where nobody thought to look closely enough.

Conservation Expeditions

We explore understudied places and threatened ecosystems to advance research and conservation.

Explore our expeditions

We conduct and support field expeditions to investigate unanswered questions about the natural world. Through careful observation, sampling, and measurement, we document what might otherwise go unrecorded—and preserve it for others to study.

How we work
Conducting fieldwork · Supporting scientists · Equipping local research teams

Young Explorers

We cultivate the next generation of explorers through hands-on activities and mentorship.

Explore Young Explorers

We’re preparing guided field experiences where young people learn to observe, document, and investigate the natural world alongside scientists and explorers. From field notebooks to species identification and environmental measurements, curiosity becomes something they can put into practice.

In practice
Field notebooks · Species identification · Mapping and microscopy · Environmental measurements

Field Atlas

We share field datasets and discoveries so others can learn from and build on them.

Discover the Field Atlas

From the field to the lab, we record what our teams observe, measure, and sample. As we collect data, we will publish it for the public good: open insights, measurements, and metrics from places and questions that are not otherwise found on the internet.

Field to lab
Observed and sampled in the field · Examined in the laboratory · Published for the public good

Advancing science. Sharing the knowledge. Educating the next generation of explorers.

We explore underserved places, fund overlooked science, and share open scientific datasets from the natural world.

Along the way, we train the next generation to become explorers, scientists, and leaders.

Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children.

Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt

Upcoming Opportunities

We are already out in the field, headed to Guatemala and the French Alps. We’re opening applications for our first Young Explorers flagship program in Spring 2027.

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Get Started
  • GuatemalaConservation ExpeditionAcatenango Volcano Conservation Expedition – Fall 2026
  • French AlpsConservation ExpeditionVanoise Conservation Expedition – Fall 2026
  • BotswanaYoung Explorers Annual ProgramApplications Opening Soon, Spring 2027

The Non‑Profit Institutewhere Curiosity is Cultivated

Anchiano was the landscape where one of history’s great observers first learned to look at the natural world. Leonardo da Vinci grew up observing the landscapes around Anchiano. Long before his notebooks were filled with anatomy, engineering, water, flight and biology, there was curiosity about the world immediately around him.

What draws us to Leonardo is not simply his reputation as an inventor. It is his way of approaching the unfamiliar. His drawings and notebooks reflect a curiosity that moved across plants, landscapes, anatomy, engineering, and the movement of water, using careful observation to investigate connections throughout the natural world.

For us, Anchiano represents the spirit which that curiosity can cultivate: access to nature, time to observe, encouragement to ask questions, and the freedom to follow an idea across disciplines. We chose the name because we want to make those opportunities possible for more people, in more places.

Red chalk drawing of an old bearded man, presumed to be Leonardo da Vinci
Portrait of a man in red chalkc. 1512, presumed self-portrait. Biblioteca Reale, Turin.

Join Us

There is more than one way to explore with Anchiano.
Find where you belong.

Join the work, the curiosity, and the community.

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