18 | THE END OF AGING?

Scientists have cracked the code of making old cells young again - and after more than a decade of lab research, the technique is entering human clinical trials. If it works, it might dramatically extend human life.



44 | WHERE A MILLION FALCONS GO TO ROOST

Years of searching led to ornithologists to central Angola and the incredible spectacle of the place they call Falcopolis.



54 | PULLING OFF A BALANCING ACT BY MOONLIGHT

The perfect homage to an iconic photo took years of planning and one brave unicyclist.



56 | ON THE RUN WITH THE ATLANTIC'S SILVER SURFERS

Millions of striped mullet surge along the Florida coast in a spectacle of abundance that's a sign of health in a complex ecosystem.



70 | CAN WILDFLOWERS HEAL THE TOXIC MESS FROM THE LOS ANGELES FIRES?

Restoring native plants can help repair damaged soils - and sow the seeds of hope.



76 | THE SURPRISING DETOUR OF THE WORLD'S OLDEST SUPERHIGHWAY

As tourism booms in Uzbekistan's oasis cities, once the crossroads of the world, one traveler takes to the rails to plumb the legacy of history's most romantic supply chain network.



102 | HOW ART BECOMES A LIFELINE

Figurines carved by Japanese Americans in World War II incarceration camps are symbols of dignity and resilience.



104 | A HARD REIGN

With new threats facing the regal predators of the African savanna, a young lion's journey to adulthood has never been more hazardous.



114 | WHAT DINOSAUR 'MUMMIES' REVEAL

Fossilized skin is helping rewrite prehistoric science.



118 | MAKE WAY FOR GIANT ANTEATERS

Rapid development is nudging a distinctive Brazilian species onto ever busier roads. To protect the animals, researchers are leading a push to rethink what a highway can be.

16__| REVEALING THE SECRETS THAT MUMMIES KEEP

Scientists from Italy's one-of-a-kind Institute for Mummy Studies are revolutionizing the study of ancient remains, visiting burial sites across the globe to uncover new insight into how long-dead humans once lived.



40__| INSIDE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S BRAND-NEW MUSEUM OF EXPLORATION

How a groundbreaking attraction opening this summer celebrates the work of discovery.



46__| WONDERS OF AMERICA

As the United States marks 250 years of independence, we're celebrating the country's distinctive and superlative places and experiences-the grandest, wildest and strangest bits of American geography and culture across every state and territory.



80__| CAN THESE TINY INSECTS STOP THE NEXT WILDLIFE PANDEMIC?

Blowflies gobble up decaying flesh and feces. Their voracious appetites could help scientists detect disease before it spreads.



84__| THE SNAKE THAT SAVES MOUNTAINS

Conservationists in western Honduras rallied around a seemingly unlikely species: the venomous jade palm pit viper. Now they're leveraging sentiment for the serpent to launch creative protections for its cloud forest habitat.



102_| GLIMPSING THE FUTURE OF FRESH FOOD

Along Spain's southern coast, a peninsula packed with greenhouse is a critical laboratory for feeding an expanding population.



106_| KOALAS' NEW SHOT AT SURVIVAL

A promising vaccine might just stamp out one of the gravest threats to the much loved marsupials.



108_| WHAT IT TAKES TO LIVE BEYOND EARTH

As plans take shape to travel to the moon and Mars, a growing number of scientists and enthusiasts are staging ever more elaborate simulated missions. Here's what the dress rehearsals are teaching us about the next era of space travel.

16__ THE OKAVANGO GIVES UP ITS SECRETS

For more than a decade, researchers have been honing new techniques to explore and study one of Africa's greatest river systems. The full scope of what they've found is only now coming into view.



36__ WHAT RAINBOW REPTILES CAN TEACH ABOUT EVOLUTION

The many hues of Spain's Ibiza wall lizards might offer fresh insight into the mechanics of natural selection.



38__ HOW THE SAGRADA FAMILIA REACHED FOR HEAVEN

A century after the death of its visionary architect, Antoni Gaudi, the world's tallest church is at last nearing completion in Barcelona.



54__ A LEGENDARY CHEESE'S SHOCKING SECRET INGREDIENT

It's maggots! And the Sardinian delicacy is finding fans among traditionalists and the larva curious.



62__ SEARCHING FOR THE INCA'S LOST CITADEL

A spate of big discoveries led archaeologists to look closer at a once neglected set of Andean ruins. Now their work is revealing intriguing details about Inca religious practices - and may solve a centuries-old mystery.



86__ WHY ARE CROP CIRCLES EVERYWHERE?

How a deceptively simple innovation transformed much of the world's farmland into a dot matrix.



90__ THE LAST LIONS OF GIR

The protection of the world's only remaining Asiatic lions, in western India, is a conservation success story. But what happens when big cats outgrow a small sanctuary?



110_ THE GREAT BUTTERFLY FAKE-OUT

The facelike markings on some butterfly wings have evolved in ways we're only starting to understand.



112_ LESSONS OF A LANDSLIDE DETECTIVE

Climate change is causing more frequent landslides worldwide. In Alaska, where the risk looms large, one iconoclastic geologist is on a mission to learn how to predict them.

16__ SECRETS OF THE BEES

New research tells us that they're smarter than we ever knew. Now, with colonies around the world under enormous threat, we're learning how bees' intelligence could be the key to their survival.



38__ WHY THE ANTARTIC SEAFLOOR IS A TIME MACHINE

In the deepest reaches of the Southern Ocean, marine biologist Cristian Lagger is discovering an ecosystem undisturbed for centuries.



42__ UNEARTHING A CITY FROZEN IN TIME

Along Pakistan's Indus River, the ruins of the ancient city of Mohenjo Daro - once considered too fragile to excavate - are opening to renewed scrutiny and revealing fresh marvels.



64__ UNLOCKING THE HEALING POWERS OF ... POOP

Better understanding of gut-borne bacteria might lead to treatments for everything from diabetes to Parkinson's. First, researchers need to collect samples from some of the world's most isolated spots. It can be messy.



82__ FREEDOM ON TWO WHEELS

A photographer hits the streets with the young cyclists of New York City's rideout culture.



88__ SIX MILLION ON THE MOVE

For decades, the world's largest overland migration transformed the savannas of South Sudan - but was largely hidden from view. Now that it can be glimpsed, can it be saved?



114_ RISE OF THE HUMANOIDS

Why the engineers never tire of making robots that look like humans.



116_ REIMAGING THE ARAL SEA

When it began to dry up, the sea became an emblem of eco-catastrophe. Today, for the nearby communities that hung on, a new picture of resilience is emerging.

The Mystery of A Byzantine Shipwreck: What A Lost Treasure Could Reveal About The Medieval World



18__ LOST & FOUND

Off the Croatian coast, a mystery surrounds a Byzantine shipwreck carrying gold coins and priceless jewelry. Unraveling it has some historians rethinking the arc of one history's mightiest empires.



40__ YOUR CHIA PET'S ROOTS GO DEEPER THAN YOU THINK

The kitschy planters, enjoying a TikTok-driven resurgence, put a pop-culture spin on a Mexican tradition.



46__ HOW NATIONAL PARKGOERS LEARNED TO LOVE MODERNIST ARCHITECTURE

Decades after a makeover of the U.S. parks system, visitors are at last warming up to bold mid-century design.



54__ THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 33

Our annual tribute to 33 adventurers, creators, icons, and visionaries, from all across the globe, who are finding solutions to urgent problems, making extraordinary discoveries, and inspiring us along the way.



98__ NATURE'S ULTIMATE GLOW-UP

One photographer's fascination with fluorescent critters is shedding new light on why so many tiny creatures glow.



106_ LIVING HISTORY

In Abu Dhabi, curators behind the world's newest major natural history museum have gone to incredible lengths to obtain eye-popping specimens - and send a powerful message about our modern need for nature.

18__ Unlocking Nature's Miracle

Genetically modified silkworms and microbes are producting "supersilk," a breakthrough material that could yield everything from stronger textiles to greener detergents - and even change the future of medicine.



42__ How TikTok is Resurrecting Scots

Scotland's long-disrespected language is enjoying a wee revival. Ye ken?



48__ The Greek Canal That Took 2,500 Years to Build

After a couple millenia of false starts, the Corinth Canal became a reality. Then it became a tourist destination.



52__ Learning to Listen in Japan

At jazz cafes known as kissas, where vinyl aficionados gather in hushed reverence, there's no such thing as background music.



68__ Does the Naked Mole Rat Hold the Secret to A Long Life?

Scientists are racing to understand why the famously ugly cute rodent barely seems to age.



74__ Searching for Ghosts

Made wary by decades of human conflict, Angola's last highland elephants seem almost like a species apart. For the ecologists looking to understand the stealthy herds, the hard part is finding them.



104__ The Kaleidoscopic Beauty of Hidden Swamps

In the Russian back-country, a photographer seeks out prismatic wetland wonders.



112_ The Vikings who Vanished

During the Middle Ages, Norse colonies thrived in southern Greenland - until they disappeared. Now archaeologists are piecing together new clues about what might have happened.

14__ THE QUEST TO REENGINER BEER

Biologist in Belgium are modifying yeast to concoct a beverage-industry holy grail: a nonalcoholic brew for beer lovers who hate nonalcoholic brews.



38__ TEXAS HORNED LIZARDS ARE EVERYWHERE - EXCEPT WHERE THEY BELONG

The ugly-cute reptiles are Lone Star State icons but disappearing in the wild. A captive-breeding program hopes to change that.



44__ ON A MISSION TO KEEP THE BORDERLANDS WILD

As roads, ranches, and a 30-foot-high wall hem in animals near the U.S.-Mexico border, conservationists on both sides strive to protect dwindling wildlife passageways.



70__ MAKING THE PERFECT PHOTOGRAPH AT 10,000 FEET

To capture an unforgettable alpine shot, all it took was a grueling Patagonian trek.



72__ HOW BRAZIL WENT COUNTRY

With their nation's agricultural economy surging, Brazilians have fallen for the earnest twang of sertanejo music - and the cowboy lifestyle it evangelizes.



88__ CAN THE BASILICA THAT INSPIRED NOTRE DAME RETURN TO GLORY?

The world's oldest Gothic church is getting its long-lost spire back - although not everyone likes the idea.



96__ INTO THE KINGDOM OF SEAHORSES

Seahorses have long been among the ocean's more rarely glimpsed and little understood fish. Now researchers have found a curious Bahamian lagoon flush with them.



108__ THE POLES ARE TEEMING WITH MORE LIFE THAN WE CAN SEE

To predict the future of a warming planet, National Geographic Explorer Allison Fong seeks out legions of microbes on ice.



112__ THE WOLFKEEPERS

For nomadic Kazakh herders in Mongolia, hunting wolves is booth a livestock-protecting necessity and a sacred responsibility.

16 _ Alpha Females Reign Supreme In Meerkat World

As the Kalahari Desert warms, the matriarchs of meerkat clans are bolstering resilience by exercising firm control.



38 _ What To Do With An Ancient Maya Pot

An heirloom's sketchy provenance raises tough ethical questions.



42 _ Learning From Disasters: Reflections From Los Angeles

One year after wildfires ravaged swaths of L.A., those displaced consider what's been lost-and what work lies ahead.



60 _ Learning From Disasters: Building Back Better

Planners and architects around the world are making cities more resilient-and more livable-in the aftermath of calamity.



80 _ Elephants Talk With Their Trunks

New research suggest the massive mammals have creative ways of asking for what they want.



82 _ How To Engineer The Perfect Hike

In the field with the wilderness wizards making the trails of tomorrow more elegant, sustainable, and breathtaking



104 _ The Industrial Waste Site That Glitters Like A Glacier

In a hot, dry corner of India, tourists ad YouTubers and Bollywood stars are flocking to what looks like a snowfield.



110 _ Decoding The Lost Scripts of The Ancient World

Thanks to new technology and fresh discoveries, a band of modern code breakers is racing to crack the last undeciphered writing systems-and solve mysteries that have puzzled historians for ages.

Pictures of The Year

The most unforgettable photos of 2025



16 _ Rethinking How The Egyptian Built The Pyramids

The engineering behind moving two million stone blocks has long puzzled observers. Now a 4,600-year-old diary and a hidden waterway may be the keys to unraveling one of history's greatest mysteries.



32 _ Saving Stories Trapped in Ice

Core samples from the poles reveal prehistoric secrets-if we can extract them before the ise sheets melt.



40 _ Pictures of The Year

Antelope fill the plains during the planet's largest land migration. An otherworldly fusion device seems almost to thrum. A Sami herder butchers one of the reindeer that have fed his people for centuries. All year, our photographers captured these and other unforgettable moments.