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Your Weekly Escape

Extraordinary people, discoveries, and places

PHOTOGRAPH BY MINGMA DAVID SHERPA

How an all-Nepali team pulled off one of the most dangerous climbs in history

Driven by national pride, 10 elite mountaineers united to make it to the top of K2 in the dead of winter. "Few foreign clients acknowledge our help, describing us merely as nameless high-altitude porters or pretending that we don't exist. … It's like they think we don't read their articles."

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PHOTOGRAPH BY JOE ROSENTHAL, AP

Was this iconic World War II photo staged?

On February 23, 1945, photographer Joe Rosenthal captured the courage and camaraderie of fighting men while meeting virtually every time-honored standard of artistic composition. The image was so perfect, in fact, that for the rest of his life, Rosenthal had to rebut charges that he set up the whole thing. Was it really too good to be true?

THE HEROIC TRUTH

ERICH LESSING/ALBUM

Devil, liberator, national hero? The truth about the man who inspired Dracula

Vlad III of Walachia's reputation as a villain spread through 15th-century Europe thanks in part to the printing press, whose rise coincided with his reign. Today, he is remembered in some corners as a hero for defending his people from foreign invasion. As in most cases, the truth is complicated.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANS LANTING, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Racing to save the world's largest, stinkiest flower

One of the world's freakiest floral phenomena is a monstrous bloom called Rafflesia, a blood-red flower sporting polka dots and emanating a stench of rotting flesh. The specter of the flower is disturbing—and soon, its fate might be too.

QUOTE

It's a savage mountain that tries to kill you.

George Bell, American climber

From: How an all-Nepali team pulled off one of the most dangerous climbs in history

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALAMY

The heartbreak that may have inspired the telegraph

Before the age of the telegraph, people wrote letters. And it was a letter that gave Samuel Morse the bad news. It was a letter that changed his life.

NO TIME FOR GOODBYE

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK

This fierce fish grows 20 new teeth each day

The Pacific lingcod is an ill-tempered, omnivorous fish with a mouth like a messy silverware drawer, its 500-plus teeth arranged haphazardly on two sets of highly mobile jaws. Recent research shows it replaces teeth much faster than expected—and it might not be alone.

A DENTAL SURPRISE

MORE GREAT READS

The 'Reverend Mother' said she could perform miracles. The price was high. (Atavist) ››

Why playing games is good for you (BBC) ››

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