This week, we learned …
… why high school students should learn Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Read of the week!

Illustration courtesy NASA
How much do you know about general relativity? Take our quick quiz to find out.
… glaciers can surge as fast as speeding trains—and be just as dangerous.

Image courtesy Canadian Space Agency/NASA/Ohio State University, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Alaska SAR facility
How fast is a speeding glacier?
… you’re descended from royalty, and so is everyone else.

Gorgeous map by Chakazul, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-SA-3.0
Let the Genographic Project clue you in on genetics, DNA, and the human journey.
… a scrap of 300-year old paper reveals pirate reading habits.

Painting by N.C. Wyeth, courtesy National Geographic
How do we identify pirates, anyway?
… the Silk Road may have included a “silk canal.”
… erosion may transform Arctic food webs.

Illustration by Doris Dialogu, National Geographic
… new maps have revealed some of the most isolated regions on the planet.

Map from “A global map of travel time to cities to assess inequalities in accessibility in 2015,” Nature doi:10.1038/nature25181
Where are the most populated regions of the planet?
… Chinese immigrants are adapting to Nigeria.

Photograph by Robin Hammond, National Geographic
Download your own map of Africa’s biggest economy here.
… Brexit has precipitated a chicken tikka masala crisis in Britain.

Photograph by Sarah Stierch, courtesy Wikimedia CC-BY-4.0
… climate change is triggering a migration crisis in Vietnam.

Photograph by Mattias Klum, National Geographic
What are push and pull factors that impact Vietnam’s rural population?
… what it’s like to spend a year on Mars.

Artwork by Stephan Martiniere, National Geographic.