What's inside the yellow box? Amazing discoveries and experiences await you in every issue of National Geographic magazine.
An Environmental Problem We Can Fix
THE FINE ART OF BOARD WORK • With chalkboard as canvas, mathematicians create new forms of language and art.
THE BACKSTORY • OBSOLETE? HARDLY. CHALKBOARDS REMAIN A TIMELESS TOOL FOR WORKING OUT THE MOST COMPLEX PROBLEMS.
The Indelible Legacy of Land • TO BLACK AMERICAN FAMILIES LIKE MINE, SOIL HAS NEVER BEEN SIMPLE. IT REPRESENTS LOSS, DREAMS, INJUSTICE, AND SELF-RELIANCE.
THE ACCIDENTAL SCIENCE LESSON
THE PARAKEET PROBLEM • THEY MAY BE PRETTY, BUT THESE PARROTS ARE INVASIVE PESTS THAT THREATEN BIODIVERSITY.
JEREMY BAILENSON
Rethinking the Everest Selfie • FOR YEARS I THOUGHT MOUNT EVEREST WAS A TRAIN WRECK OF AMATEURS AND EGOS. THEN I WENT THERE AND WAS SURPRISED AT WHAT I FOUND.
THE MISPLACED AFFECTION OF A BEETLE FOR A BOTTLE
DIPLOMACY, SIP BY SIP
WILD ALASKA • America’s least visited national park, Gates of the Arctic is a rugged expanse of mountains and rivers.
A PERFUMED HISTORY • IN A QUEST FOR ‘LIQUID GOLD,’ GENERATIONS OF CRAFTSPEOPLE IN INDIA HAVE BECOME AROMA ALCHEMISTS.
THE DEADLY COST OF DIRTY AIR • POLLUTION ACCOUNTS FOR SEVEN MILLION PREMATURE DEATHS A YEAR AND CAN BE HARMFUL EVEN AT LOW LEVELS. IT’S A PROBLEM WE CAN SOLVE.
HOW THE U.S. CLEARED THE AIR • 50 YEARS AGO THE CLEAN AIR ACT FOLLOWED THE SCIENCE—AND BECAME A MODEL FOR THE WORLD.
POLLUTION’S TOLL ON THE BODY • Dirty air is a complex mix of gases and particles. PM2.5 particles, some of which are so small they pass into the bloodstream, are the deadliest. In 2019 air pollution, indoors and out, is estimated to have contributed to almost seven million deaths worldwide, accounting for nearly 12 percent of the global death toll.
DISPARITY IN THE AIR • People in some of the world’s most populous countries—China, India, Pakistan—breathe the most polluted air. This map of some of the most affected parts of the globe shows readings of PM2.5, or fine-particulate matter, recorded over several months in 2020, with the highest readings selected for each place. The geographic disparity is clear: Of the world’s 50 most polluted cities, nearly all are in Asia, though the exceptional wildfires in the western U.S. briefly led to similar pollution levels in 2020.
WHERE THERE’S FIRE, THERE’S TOXIC SMOKE • AS POLLUTION FROM CATASTROPHIC WILDFIRES GROWS, SCIENTISTS ARE INVESTIGATING WHAT’S IN THAT SMOKE—AND WHAT IT’S DOING TO OUR HEALTH.
BURNING LAND, TOXIC AIR • Every year wildfires fueled by drought, lightning strikes, burning of agricultural waste, and other climate change–driven or human activities ignite large swaths of the world. Using NASA satellite imagery, experts are able to map the aftermath.
Return of the Florida Panther • THE ENDANGERED CAT IS MAKING A COMEBACK, BUT A DEVELOPMENT BOOM THREATENS ITS SURVIVAL.
ROOM TO ROAM • Florida’s panther population is expanding, but struggling, in its human-dominated habitat. Because each cat may need up to 200 square miles of territory, the species must extend its range within the state and beyond to survive. As they push north, the cats face many dangers, from highways to hunters. To help panthers roam, conservationists have created a network of protected habitat on public and private lands throughout the state’s interior, called the Florida Wildlife Corridor. Ranchers own much of this private land and generally support panther conservation.
THE BUGS IN THE TREES • A novel experiment in the Amazon reveals hundreds of species of insects that live far above the rainforest’s floor.
The Genius of Aretha • She was a child prodigy whose brilliance was shaped by pain and passion. This...
