A female Macleay's specter stick insect pauses on a branch at the Cincinnati Zoo. Indigenous to Australia, these large, well-defended arthropods are covered in tiny spikes and can reach 6 inches (15 centimeters) in length.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "New Zoos—Taking Down the Bars," July 1983, National Geographic magazine)
July 12, 2008
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 2005
Photograph by Michael Nichols
A pool of rainwater in a Grand Canyon boulder reflects canyon and sky. A writhing giant with scores of limbs (some still unnamed), the Grand Canyon slices 277 miles (446 kilometers) through northern Arizona, extending 18 miles (29 kilometers) at its widest point and 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) at its deepest—one of Earth's largest canyon systems. Cut by the Colorado River in the past six million years, it exposes rock strata that detail nearly two billion years of North America's geologic history.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Unexpected Canyon," January 2006, National Geographic magazine)
July 13, 2008
Wet Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 1970
Photograph by George F. Mobley
Neon lights color puddles on a street corner in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In the mid-1970s, Fayetteville was home to Bill and Hillary Clinton, former president and first lady, who at the time where teaching at the University of Arkansas School of Law.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Through Ozark Hills and Hollows," November 1970, National Geographic magazine)
July 14, 2008
Rain Forest Mist, Borneo, Indonesia, 1997
Photograph by Tim Laman
A twilight mist floats through the rain forest canopy in Borneo’s Gunung Palung National Park. The future of this uninhabited ecological treasure, covering more than 220,000 acres (90,000 hectares), is threatened by ever increasing illegal logging.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Borneo’s Strangler Fig," April 1997, National Geographic magazine)
July 15, 2008
Prehistoric Human Skull, Qafzeh, Israel, 2001
Photograph by Robert Clark
This 100,000-year-old skull was found in a cave in Qafzeh, Israel, along with other fossils, including a horse tooth and burned flints. Cutting-edge techniques were used to date the fossils—revealing that modern humans left Africa much earlier than had been thought, even coexisting with Neanderthals, once believed to be our ancestors.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "How Old Is It?" September 2001, National Geographic magazine)
July 16, 2008
Jumbo Squid, Atlantic Ocean, 2004
Photograph by Brian J. Skerry
With an angry eye and a cloud of ink, a jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) flees from a diver. If camouflage fails, squid use ink as a backup defense. Mexican fishermen call the aggressive creatures "diablos rojos"—red devils. They often spew water from their funnels when hauled aboard.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Beautiful and Beastly Squid," August 2004, National Geographic magazine)
July 17, 2008
Calving Glacier, Matanuska Glacier, Alaska, 2007
Photograph by James Balog
It takes ice about 250 years to travel the 24 miles (39 kilometers) from the origin of Alaska's Matanuska Glacier to its terminus, where icebergs like this one calve into the Matanuska River.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Big Thaw," June 2007, National Geographic magazine)
July 18, 2008
Blue Hole and Diver, Ichetucknee Springs, Florida, 1999
Photograph by Wes C. Skiles
A column of sunlight illuminates a diver in the diamond-clear waters of Blue Hole in North Florida’s Ichetucknee Springs State Park. Conservationists worry that Ichetucknee, one of the crown jewels of Florida's parks system, could become polluted by runoff far from the park's center.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Unlocking the Labyrinth of North Florida's Springs," March 1999, National Geographic magazine)
A collared kingfisher preens in the Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh. A vast breakwater on the Bay of Bengal, the Sundarbans covers nearly 4,000 square miles (10,000 square kilometers) of Bangladesh and India, making it the largest mangrove wetland on Earth. Worldwide, these coastal forests thwart wave-driven erosion and capture riverborne sediments as they meet the sea, building new land.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Forests of the Tide," February 2007, National Geographic magazine)
July 20, 2008
Opium Smoke, Doi Sam Mun, Thailand, 1985
Photograph by Steve Raymer
A woman smoking opium on Chinese New Year fills her small, sunlit home in Thailand's Doi Sam Mun village with a bluish haze. Thailand was once a significant producer of opium and heroin, but government eradications efforts begun in the 1980s have significantly curtailed poppy cultivation.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Poppy," February 1985, National Geographic magazine)