National Geographic Magazine - UK

What's inside the yellow box? Amazing discoveries and experiences await you in every issue of National Geographic magazine.

Take your mind out to play with new Brain Games

Our Aim: To Illuminate and Protect

MAKING EYE CONTACT • A damselfly—one of photographer Tiplea’s favorite summer subjects—obligingly pauses in front of a blue inflatable kiddie pool.

THE BACKSTORY • A SUMMERTIME GARDEN TURNED OUT TO BE THE PERFECT INSECT PORTRAIT STUDIO.

The Science of Annoyance • LOUD CHEWING, PESKY FLIES, FLIGHT DELAYS, ROBOCALLS, POP-UP ADS… ARE YOU FEELING ANNOYED YET?

GAYATRI DATAR

A lab the size and cost of a stamp

SNIFFING OUT POACHERS • TEXAS FREE- RUNNING PACK HOUNDS JOIN SOUTH AFRICA’S EFFORT TO STOP WILD LIFE PLUNDERING

LINE OF SIGHT

HEART AND SOLE

NINE PATHS TO MULTIPLE CITIZENSHIP • HALF A CENTURY AGO, most countries revoked the citizenship of a person who became a national of another country. Today some 75 percent let their people hold foreign passports, dramatically increasing citizenship options for children. There are more paths to citizenship in European countries, fewer in the Americas (although birthright citizenship is more common), and limited routes in nondemocratic countries, says Maarten Vink, of Maastricht University. Having nine passports is rare; here’s how it could happen.

SKY-HIGH SCIENCE • FOR ONE YEAR Konsta Punkka traveled throughout Europe photographing Integrated Carbon Observation System research stations, which measure greenhouse gases. The stations tend to be in remote areas of the continent, but no others are as high as Jungfraujoch in Switzerland—or as accessible to tourists.

JANUARY • From treasure hunting to penguin spotting, here’s how to see the world this month.

KICKING IT WITH FROGS

EPIC WALES • JUMP INTO COASTAL ADVENTURES, THEN HIKE TRAILS AT THE SPEED OF SHEEP.

A WORLD OF PAIN • Scientists are unraveling the mysteries of pain—and exploring new ways to treat it.

HOW THE BRAIN FIGHTS PAIN • Pain has a purpose: self-preservation. It signals to the brain that the body is in danger and needs to react. Pharmaceuticals can suppress those signals and ease pain, but new research offers the hope that the body’s own systems—made up of an ascending pathway and a descending one—can be amplified to reduce pain organically and with minimal side effects.

derailed by drugs • Seeking relief from pain, many Americans get addicted to prescribed opioids and then turn to heroin, fentanyl, or other drugs. It’s a crisis that touches every part of the country. On Philadelphia’s Kensington Avenue, the misery of lives is in plain sight.

HOW WOMEN’S HEALTH GETS SHORTCHANGED • Women’s health and wellness concerns are dismissed and politicized more than men’s and researched and prioritized less, says this female physician. Her Rx for changing that: Women must speak up.

THE MICROBIOME MENAGERIE • Trillions of microbes call our body home. Now we’re learning they’re crucial for our health.

GUT INSTINCTS • Our bodies host trillions of microbes, a collection of bacteria, fungi, and protozoa that starts developing at birth and is unique to each of us. These microorganisms can communicate with our brains to regulate bodily functions and even influence our mood, as well as chronic conditions such as anxiety, through chemical communication pathways known as the gut-brain axis.

FOODS TO LIVE BY • Traditional diets with whole grains, greens, nuts, and beans offer the promise of eluding disease and staying healthy.

PUTTING THE PLANET ON A DIET • Can we feed 10 billion people by 2050 and also protect the environment? A group of scientists from 16 countries say the answer is yes. They’ve devised targets for a nutritionally sound and sustainably...