CURRENT ISSUE
February 2012
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Features
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Gold Fever
Rapacious mining to satisfy worldwide lust for the precious metal is destroying pristine rainforest in the Amazon
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Mystique of the Mother Road
Foreign tourists and local preservationists are bringing stretches of storied Route 66 back to life
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The Orchid Olympics
The exotic flowers seduce pollinators of every kind, from moths and birds to the extreme breeders at the 20th World Orchid Conference
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Mad for Dickens
In which our author revisits the haunts of the inimitable novelist on the 200th anniversary of his birth, revels in his astonishing life and work, and visits a theme park
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Dickens' Secret Affair
Claire Tomalin's literary sleuthing revealed the untold story
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Ancient Modernism
Two thousand years before Picasso, artists in Egypt painted some of the most arresting portraits in the history of art
Departments
The Other Man
A long-forgotten drawing suggests Leonardo da Vinci had a friend's help when he drew his iconic diagram
Wild Things: Yeti Crabs, Guppies and Ravens
Tree killers and the first beds ever round up this month in wildlife news
Stitches in Time
A scientist develops a powerful tool to determine the age of mysterious silks
Mr. Cox's Keepsake
An American diplomat's memento takes center stage after 125 years
Explaining Evil
A landmark work of history, now reissued, illuminates a recurrent threat