National Geographic Magazine - UK

What's inside the yellow box? Amazing discoveries and experiences await you in every issue of National Geographic magazine.

FROM the EDITOR

OUR WORLD • BEHIND THE SCENES WITH NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORERS • These contributors have received funding from the National Geographic Society, which is committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world. Learn more about the Society’s support of Explorers at natgeo.com/impact.

IN FOCUS • JUST IN FROM OUR PHOTOGRAPHERS

THE SNEAKY GENIUS OF NATURE’S BRIGHTEST THINKERS • We know that bees are the pollinators that feed the planet. What science is now learning is that they’re far smarter than we ever imagined. Here’s how that discovery could change what we think about one of the world’s most important animals.

Nature’s Engineers

The Ingenuity of Wild Bees

WHY THE Antarctic Seafloor IS A TIME MACHINE • To learn about ancient marine ecosystems, Cristian Lagger is exploring some of the coldest, deepest places on the planet.

UNEARTHING a city FROZEN in time • Five thousand years ago, the Indus city of Mohenjo Daro, in modern-day Pakistan, was one of the world’s most advanced ancient metropolises. Now, archaeologists exploring the fragile ruins are discovering with new clarity just what made the sprawling settlement an urban marvel.

Mighty metropolises along the Indus • Some of the world’s first cities emerged in the third millennium B.C. on the fertile floodplains of the Indus River, an area now recognized as a cradle of civilization. Today scholars refer to this as Harappan culture, after the first city to be extensively excavated, in 1920.

What made Mohenjo Daro an engineering marvel

THE GLOBAL HUNT TO UNLOCK THE HEALING POWERS OF POOP • Gut-borne bacteria could inspire treatments for a huge range of maladies. And some of the most useful bacteria can be found in some of the world’s most isolated places. That means scientists are fanning out around the globe, trying to reach far-flung communities before that isolation is disrupted. It’s messy work, for reasons you might not expect.

A FAR-FLUNG FECAL ARCHIVE • Some of the most medically promising bacteria are found in places where isolated diets contribute to highly particular stool samples that—especially when compared with what’s found in the industrialized world—might unlock breakthroughs.

FREEDOM on TWO WHEELS • A photographer captures how boundary-pushing cyclists reclaimed the streets of New York City.

SIX MILLION ON THE MOVE • In a remote corner of South Sudan, researchers recently discovered the world’s largest overland migration—an unfathomable parade of antelope that remained hidden from view during decades of war. Now, as conflict recedes and development rushes in, a new problem looms: Can this incredible spectacle be saved?

THE ECOLOGIST WHO REVEALED THE MIGRATION TO THE WORLD

THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL BALANCING CONSERVATION WITH DEVELOPMENT

THE CARTOGRAPHER MAPPING INVISIBLE CORRIDORS BEFORE THEY VANISH

FOLLOWING THE WATER

THE CONSERVATION OFFICER WALKING HUNDREDS OF MILES TO LOBBY FOR WILDLIFE

THE KING CHARTING A SUSTAINABLE PATH FOR THE FUTURE

RISE of the HUMANOIDS • Probing the enduring appeal of robots that look like humans

REIMAGINING THE ARAL SEA • A generation ago, the vanishing of the Aral Sea became global shorthand for environmental desolation and ruin. But today, for the communities that stayed, the region has become an essential test bed for building a resilient future.

Fading of a Sea

PAINTING the EDGE OF THE SKY • WATERCOLOR ILLUSTRATION, 1933