National Geographic Magazine

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FROM the EDITOR

IN FOCUS

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORERS • These contributors have received funding from the National Geographic Society, which is committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world. Learn more about the Society’s support of Explorers at natgeo.com/impact.

UNRAVELING the MYSTERIES of the CONGO • For decades, one of the world’s biggest rainforests was largely invisible to climate science. Now a new band of researchers raised in Central Africa is changing that. And what they’re discovering there is revolutionizing our understanding of how to protect the planet.

A Hidden Threat in the Congo • While all ecosystems hold carbon in their plants and soil, the Congo Basin is one of the most effective. Due to the dense canopy and vast peatlands, its tropical rainforest absorbs more carbon than it releases. But increased logging, agriculture, and wildfires could free tons of “irrecoverable carbon”—caches of carbon that can’t be restored by 2050—into the atmosphere and compound climate change.

Could This REALLY BE The HOLY GRAIL?

RACING TO SAVE Hawaii’s Precious SNAILS • Researchers are searching for radical solutions to protect these little-understood species.

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The SINGULAR BEAUTY of COLLECTIVE FLIGHT • New research reveals why starlings travel in those gorgeous shape-shifting clouds.

SURVIVORS FROM THE DINOSAUR AGE • For 162 million years, sturgeons have fended off everything they have ever faced—until humans pushed them to the brink of extinction. Inside the urgent fight to protect the last of these living fossils.

ANCIENT ADAPTATIONS • Sturgeons have survived for millions of years. What accounts for their staying power—and sudden steep decline?

NEW from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC