National Geographic magazine, February 2025 Issue

Finding the other humans. National Geographic stories take you on a journey that's always enlightening, often surprising and unfailingly fascinating. This month–finding the other humans.

In this issue: Inside the hunt for the other humans — Stunning discoveries and fresh breakthroughs in DNA analysis are changing our understanding of our own evolution and offering a new picture of the Neanderthals and Denisovans that our ancestors met across Europe and Asia.; What drew these 1,300 perfect circles on the sea floor? We may finally know. — When hundreds of eerily perfect circles were discovered on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, theories abounded about what they could mean. Four years of underwater research revealed a lost world.; What this secret nuclear base in Greenland can tell us about climate change — It was a secret nuclear-powered city built deep within a glacier. Its true legacy is only now being revealed.; Explore Camp Century, an abandoned Cold War military base in Greenland — During the Cold War, the U.S. built a nuclear-powered underground military facility under the ice. Archival video shows us how it was pulled off—and why it could never last.; These ants are saving our forests—by spraying acid everywhere — The engineering and defensive skills of red wood ants help the endangered species transcend its small stature in the natural world.; Inside the ant colony: the survival of wood ants — Red wood ants will sunbathe, hibernate, and fight their way through a year of obstacles.; The famous bonsai forest that lives in Washington, D.C. — Goshin's creator died over 20 years ago but his remarkable work lives on with the precise directions he left behind.; Step inside the factory where the NFL’s footballs are made — Few have seen inside Wilson’s facility where dozens of expert craftspeople meticulously put together a product whose design hasn’t changed for about a century.; It's not your life span you need to worry about. It's your health span. — Unlocking the secrets for living more years disease-free is increasingly the target for longevity researchers.