This week, we learned …
… owls are bringing peace—and pest-control—to the Middle East. Read of the week!

Photograph by David Pierce Johnson, National Geographic
How do owls get their birds-eye view of prey?
… elephants’ fear of bees (!) may help save their lives.

Photograph by Steve Winter, National Geographic
What is the natural history of the African elephant?
… climate change and deforestation are threatening the world’s largest peatland.

Photograph by Peter Essick, National Geographic
… archaeobotanists are on the hunt for the “lost crops” of the Americas.

Photograph by Sam Abell, National Geographic
What are modern food crops of the Americas?
… the mathematical way to make a better metro map.

Map courtesy the good folks at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
What is the geographic way to build a better metro map?
… we’re not really doomed by a geomagnetic apocalypse.

Illustration by Peter Reid, The University of Edinburgh, courtesy NASA
What is a magnetic field and how do magnetic fields affect planets?
… fish ladders might not actually work.

Photograph by Stuart Thornton
Learn about the fish ladder at the Bonneville Dam.
… Hurricane Harvey made strange bedfellows of Little Cambodia and Neo-Confederates.

Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Larry E. Reid Jr.
What made Harvey so dangerous?
… if a product says “Made in China”, it probably came from Yiwu.

Is anything in your closet made in Yiwu?
… New Zealanders are learning a new language.

Photograph by Gordon Gahan, National Geographic
New Zealanders briefly considered a new flag, too.
… where to find UNESCO’s newest World Heritage Sites.

Photograph by David Boyer, National Geographic