National Geographic | National Geographic

National Geographic

WHY DOES AMELIA EARHART STILL FASCINATE US?

Saturday, February 3, 2024

In today’s newsletter, we learn about another search for Amelia Earhart, see where Valentine’s Day is outlawed ... and detail the real Miami cocaine killer queen, Griselda Blanco.

Some of Amelia Earhart's belongings, including a photograph of her

PHOTOGRAPH BY SARAH LEEN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Some mysteries we can't just let go. The news this week that sonar may have found the submerged plane of Amelia Earhart in the South Pacific reverberated around the world. (Above, some of Earhart's belongings, including a picture of her.)

While this latest claim may just be another false alarm, the 1937 disappearance of the famed aviator has prompted a series of massive searches—and more than eight decades of speculation, including what may have happened to her body.

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

Nicknamed the Bloody Hundredth for the heavy casualties they suffered during WWII, the U.S. Air Force's 100th Bomb Group flies in formation in their B-17 airplanes toward Nazi Germany on February 28, 1945. Their stories are the subject of the miniseries Masters of the Air.

PHOTOGRAPH BY NATIONAL ARCHIVES

The incredible details ‘Masters of the Air’ gets right about WWII (Above, the U.S. Air Force's 100th Bomb Group flies in formation toward Nazi Germany.)

Groggy in the morning? Here are tips to glide through it.

Where Valentine’s Day is unloved and outlawed

Will psychedelics soon become legal?

More big rain ahead: The science behind California's ‘thousand year storm’

The secrets behind northern Europe's bog bodies

Should sleep aids be used for children? Here is what experts say.

How do some animals survive hibernation? These turtles resort to breathing out of their butts.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

American goldfinches eating from a bird feeder

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

The one wild animal you might feed … birds! (Pictured above, American goldfinches eating from a bird feeder.) On National Feed the Birds Day, it is important to remember not to feed wild animals. While putting out birdseed can be a way to draw wildlife to your yard, the offer of food can attract more trouble than it's worth. How does feeding wildlife affect animals and humans alike?

Related: Wild animals are adapting to city life in surprisingly savvy ways

AVOIDING UNWANTED VISITORS

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Griselda Blanco in a scene from Cocaine Cowboys, the true story of how Miami became the drug, murder and cash capital of the United States.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MAGNOLIA PICTURES/ZUMA PRESS

Who was the real Griselda Blanco? Netflix's popular miniseries on the notorious cocaine “Godmother,” starring Sofia Vergara, brings attention to a violent underworld that turned Miami into the drug, murder, and cash capital of the U.S. But what about the real woman (pictured above)? We dig into her life and story.

THE COCAINE GODMOTHER?

LAST GLIMPSE

Anatomy lessons required a cadaver, as shown here is an 18th-century oil painting of English surgeon William Cheselden.

STEVE VIDLER/AGE FOTOSTOCK

Practicing science for surgeons and their apprentices in 19th-century England was a difficult task. Anatomy lessons required a cadaver (as shown above, in an 18th-century oil painting of English surgeon William Cheselden). By law, medical students were only permitted to dissect the bodies of murders, but demand for cadavers was high and birthed an illicit industry that, more often than not, violated graves that had been laid to rest. What was it?

Today's soundtrack: Amelia, Herbie Hancock (feat. Luciana Souza)

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Nancy San Martín, Nishita Naga, and Jen Tse. Thanks for reading!

Clicking on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and National Geographic Channel links will take you away from our National Geographic Partners site where different terms of use and privacy policy apply.

This email was sent to: [email protected]. Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored.

This email contains an advertisement from:
National Geographic | 1145 17th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036

Stop all types of future commercial email from National Geographic regarding its products, services, or experiences.

Manage all email preferences with the Walt Disney Family of Companies.

© 2024 National Geographic Partners, LLC, All rights reserved.