The town Lego built; a new mummy mystery
|  | Friday, April 29, 2022 | | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY ELIZA R. SCIDMORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE | | How important has the fate of trees been to National Geographic? The office wall of its first full-time editor featured a photo he took of 20 men with arms around the mammoth trunk of the 2,200-year-old California sequoia known as General Sherman. “It’s like they were protecting it,” editor Gilbert H. Grosvenor once said.
The commitment was deeper than words and images. A century ago, the Nat Geo Society donated $100,000 to save General Sherman and what is now the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park from loggers. Our coverage of the threats to—and hopes for—the world’s forests dominates the latest issue of National Geographic.
To celebrate Arbor Day today, writer Cathy Newman recounts some of the trees that Nat Geo has traveled the world to photograph over the years, from a 900-year-old boab in Australia to the apple tree that supposedly inspired Isaac Newton’s thoughts on gravity. (Pictured above, blossoming cherry trees in Kanazawa, Japan, taken by pioneering Nat Geo writer and photographer Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore.)
See more photos and read the full story here. And Happy Arbor Day!
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 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY GILBERT H. GROSVENOR, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE | | | Here is that image of the General Sherman tree in California. | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES A. SUGAR, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE | | | Where did that apple that supposedly fell on Newton’s head come from? Tradition says it is from this tree outside Newton’s birthplace in Woolsthorpe Manor, England. The falling apple tale was written by William Stukeley, Newton’s friend and first biographer. However, Keith Moore, librarian for the Royal Society in London, doubts the apple story. Why? “It would have concussed him,” Moore says. | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY DIANE COOK AND LEN JENSHEL, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE | | | In northern India, the neem tree is known as a healing tree and an embodiment of the Hindu goddess Shitala, a mother figure. To neighborhood residents who worship this tree at the Nanghan Bir Baba Temple, in Varanasi, it has saved lives. The tree, dressed in colorful cloth, wears a face mask of the goddess to strengthen the connection between her and worshippers. | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL CHESLEY, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE | | Bristlecone pines like this one in California are among the oldest living trees. Convinced their rings could reveal the earth’s climate history, dendrologist Edmund Schulman spent summers hunting them. In 1953, he found Methuselah, a bristlecone with 4,676 rings, in California’s White Mountains. For fear of it being cut, the location of Methuselah, which still stands, remains a secret.
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| | Whose tomb is it anyway? Along the ancient Roman Appian Way, at kilometer 139 in Formia, is a sepulcher from the Augustan age commonly known as Cicero’s Tomb. However, the attribution of the site to the great philosopher, writer, and orator remains uncertain today. The site, with a central plan and cement cylinder once covered in marble, is a frequent stop on the Roman roadway. “If you have a garden and a library,” Cicero was quoted as saying, “you have everything you need.” | | | |
| EARTH MONTH: ARTICLE OF THE DAY | |
| PHOTOGRAPH BY JENNIFER HAYES AND DAVID DOUBILET | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY BRYAN HANSEL | | Purple haze: Minnesota’s Border Route, a 250-mile journey along the waters that separate the U.S. and Canada, is becoming an increasingly coveted passage among adventure travelers. There are gorgeous lakes to paddle, thriving Indigenous communities, wildlife to see, and almost-complete solitude, Nat Geo reports. “It’s literally the one place I’ve been where there’s no hustle and bustle. The only thing to do is move, make it to your next camping spot, and realize the beauty around you,” says Emily Ford, who chose to ski it. (Sunrise brings a colorful mist to Saganaga Lake, pictured above, one of many threading the Border Route.)
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 | PHOTOGRAPH BY FERNANDO VELASCO MORA, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, MADRID
| | | A new mummy mystery: How did the Canary Islands come to be inhabited? How did its inhabitants bury their dead? Mummies may have some clues. Scientists are using high-tech tools to trace the origins of Spain’s early islanders. The mummy pictured above once rested in a fabled Tenerife cave whose location was later lost to history, though experts may have pinpointed its coordinates. | | | |
| This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Monica Williams, and Jen Tse. We’re eager for your feedback and ideas. Email us here—and have a good weekend! | | | |
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