Amazing discoveries and experiences await you in every issue of National Geographic magazine. The latest news in science, exploration, and culture will open your eyes to the world’s many wonders.
RECYCLING FOR A CHANGE. • BRAZIL’S WASTE PICKERS TEST A NEW APPROACH TO TRANSFORM WASTE MANAGEMENT AND LIVES.
WHAT’S COMING
Fulfilling Our Purpose
THE MEANDERING MISSISSIPPI • An innovative cartographer gives the Mississippi River—and its history—a high-tech new look.
THE BACKSTORY • A CREATIVE MAPMAKER SHOWS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER’S HISTORICAL TWISTS AND TURNS.
The Lure of Cold Places • LEAVE THE TROPICS AND THE DESERTS TO OTHERS. A CERTAIN HARDY BREED PREFERS POLAR LOCALES, THE COLDER THE BETTER.
Explorers praised, reviled the cold
LILLYGOL SEDAGHAT
If ticks bite, opossums bite back • DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINES OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION
Worked to the bone in antiquity
GLOWING NEW ACTS TO SEE UNDER THE BIG TOP • CIRCUS NOSTALGIA MEETS MODERN TECHNOLOGY
Costa Rica 9-Day Tour $1295 +tax, fees • Volcanoes, Rainforests, Beaches
WORLD BEAT • EVENTS OPPORTUNITIES ADVERTISING PROMOTIONS
IN ORCHIDS, MYTH AND FOLK MEDICINE MEET
BUZZ SAW MYSTERY • The fossils resembled blades of circular saws. Frozen in time, some of the ancient impressions revealed up to 150 razor-sharp wedges in tightly wrapped spirals, or whorls. For more than a century, scientists questioned: What were they? Answer: The killer jaws of the Helicoprion, an evolutionary outlier from 275 million years ago.
A TANGLED RIVER CROSSING • In northeastern India, heavy rains erode infrastructure. So villagers make their own bridges—out of living trees.
FINS THAT HAVE A PLACE IN HISTORY • ITEMS IN THEN ATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES INCLUDE FAMOUS FOOTWEAR. THESE BELONGED TO SYLVIA EARLE
Don’t Wake the Bear • IN A REMOTE UTAH CAVE, A HIBERNATING BLACK BEAR GREETS UNEXPECTED VISITORS.
UNDER JERUSALEM • CONTROVERSIAL DIGS UNDER THE HOLY CITY ARE REVEALING MILLENNIA OF RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL TREASURES—AND STOKING AGE-OLD TENSIONS.
CONTESTED HERITAGE • HOLY TO JEWS, CHRISTIANS, AND MUSLIMS, MODERN JERUSALEM HAS BEEN SHAPED BY 3,000 YEARS OF WORSHIP, CONQUEST, DEVASTATION, AND REBUILDING.
OUR ADDICTION TO PLASTIC • HOW CONVENIENT, DISPOSABLE PLASTIC OBJECTS CAME TO DOMINATE OUR DAILY LIVES—AND HOW WE MIGHT BREAK THE HABIT, FOR THE PLANET’S SAKE
The Tigers Next Door • SOME ARE IN ROAD SIDE ZOOS, SOME ARE PETS. MANY ARE ABUSED. CAPTIVE BIG CATS IN THE U.S. OUT NUMBER TIGERS IN THE WILD, PUTTING ANIMALS AND HUMANS AT RISK.
A peek into the U.S. tiger trade • Tourism drives tiger breeding in the U.S., where many roadside zoos and other businesses charge guests to pet and pose with cubs. Some exhibitors and breeders make thousands of dollars a day from cubs that are sometimes as young as four weeks.
Some guidelines for seeing wild animals
SAVING AFRICA’S PARKS • TO RESCUE THE CONTINENT’S ICONIC WILDLIFE FROM POACHING AND OTHER HUMAN THREATS, ONE CONSERVATION GROUP IS TREATING DEGRADED PARKS AS IF THEY WERE FAILING BUSINESSES IN NEED OF NEW MANAGEMENT. IT’S WORKING.
A NOVEL ALLIANCE
When the Roof of the World Melts • THE ICE THAT HAS LONG DEFINED SOUTH ASIA’S MOUNTAIN RANGES IS DISSOLVING INTO MASSIVE NEW LAKES, RAISING THE SPECTER OF CATASTROPHIC FLOODING.
GABRIELE GALIMBERTI • FROM OUR PHOTOGRAPHERS