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Your Weekly Escape

Extraordinary people, discoveries, and places

PHOTOGRAPH BY IRA BLOCK/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION

This prehistoric metropolis was one of America's first cities. Then it vanished.

Cahokia stands at the center of what was once the greatest civilization in North America. Its inhabitants built scores of burial mounds, public buildings, and even an astronomical observatory. Then, by 1400, it was abandoned—and no one knows why.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL NICHOLS, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

These animals were accused of being international spies. Maybe they were.

From lizards to vultures to dolphins, animals have been accused of espionage a surprising number of times. While biology can quickly debunk many of those claims, others might actually not be so far-fetched.

COMBAT DOLPHINS

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE AND DONNA O'MEARA, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

How volcanoes may have helped bring down Cleopatra

Recent research links records of violent uprisings during the Ptolomaic dynasty to the eruptions recorded in the ice cores—eruptions that disrupted climate and caused life-giving rains along the Nile to fail.

GEOLOGIC PROOF?

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN WARBURTON-LEE PHOTOGRAPHY, ALAMY

1 obsessed musician, 299 birds, and a very weird crime

This is the true story of how a man stole hundreds of exotic birds so that he could buy a golden flute.

THE FEATHER HEIST: Read more on this incredible story in Nat Geo's Wildlife Watch +

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK

When evolution runs in 'reverse'

A close look at a 300-million-year-old hagfish fossil revealed that the slimy, eel-shaped marine animal once had working eyes—and evolution took them away. It's not the only creature shaped by regressive evolution.

QUOTE

Abilities degrade when the cost becomes greater than the benefit, and eyes, it seems, are quite expensive.

Jenny Morber, writer

From: When evolution runs in 'reverse'

PHOTOGRAPH BY NASA, ESA, S. BECKWITH AND THE HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM

Scientists may have found the first known planet in the Whirlpool Galaxy

In 2012, x-ray telescopes orbiting Earth picked up a dip in a signal from a galaxy far, far away—28 million light-years away, to be exact. Some scientists believe that dip could have been a Saturn-sized planet—among the most distant and extreme ever found.

PHOTOGRAPH BY FRITZ HOFFMANN

In this remote corner of China, locals use zip lines to get around

When few bridges crossed the Nu River, locals found a creative way to transport themselves, their children, and their livestock over its rushing waters.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

MORE GREAT READS

As Earth warms, old mayhem and secrets emerge from the ice (NYT) ››

Scientists weighed all the mass in the Milky Way galaxy. It's mind-boggling. (Vox) ››

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