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Your Weekly Escape

Extraordinary people, discoveries, and places

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK

The epic history of the humble goldfish

In a fairy-tale transformation engineered by man, the dull, gray carp was bred to a metallic sheen more than a millennium ago. Both common and exotic, hero and villain, this not-so-ho-hum fish has a story to tell.

COLLECTION OF THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The unlikely story of the map that helped create America

The map—created by a Virginia-born doctor and published for the first time in 1755—was supposed to help solidify British control of North America. Instead, it helped set in motion the events that led to the Revolutionary War. And that's not where its story ends.

ILLUSTRATION BY STOCKTREK IMAGES, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

How life bounced back after the dinosaur-killing asteroid strike

The extraterrestrial impact flung huge amounts of cooling gases and soot into the upper atmosphere, plunging the world into a catastrophic cold period known as an impact winter. A recent simulation shows how volcanic activity in what's now India could have helped life recover.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIDGEMAN/ACI

The rise and fall of the original 'Assassins'

High inside a secret mountain fortress, the Medieval Muslim sect dubbed "Assassins" by their enemies specialized in targeted killings and espionage. But while the Nizari Ismaili ruled for a relatively short time, their legend—some of it true, some of it myth—lives on.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

ILLUSTRATION BY NASA AMES/SETI INSTITUTE/JPL-CALTECH

If aliens are watching us, here's where they (probably) live

Astronomers have spotted thousands of alien worlds by observing them briefly blot out a bit of starlight as they slip across their home stars' faces. Now, scientists have calculated how many extraterrestrial worlds could use that same equation to spot us.

PHOTOGRAPH BY KARL-HEINZ RAACH, LAIF/REDUX

On the trail of Ireland's legendary pirate queen

She haggled with Queen Elizabeth I, rebelled against the English army, and for decades commanded ships that plundered the oceans near Ireland, even while heavily pregnant. Her name was Grace O'Malley.

LEARN HER STORY

QUOTE

[Her] English opponents labeled her a 'notable traitress' and a 'nursing mother of rebels.' But to many Irish people, she was a legend before she even died.

Ronan O'Connell

Writer

From: On the trail of Ireland's legendary pirate queen

PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID DOUBILET

Behind the scenes of a close encounter

A marine sanctuary teems with life, including a curious crocodile. A photographer has just seconds to decide: intervene or take a picture? Here's how it turned out.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

MORE GREAT READS

50 years ago, NASA put a car on the moon (New York Times) ››

What if Olympic athletes went back to competing naked? (BBC) ››

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