National Geographic MagazineWallpapers 1° Trimestre 2013[44 foto]

National Geographic Magazine Gennaio 2013

Photograph by Cory Richards From "The New Age of Exploration," National Geographic, January 2013 Cory Richards and his two fellow climbers endured hurricane-force winds and temperatures of minus 50°F as they struggled to reach the summit of Gasherbrum II. “When you do succeed—well, you never conquer a mountain,” Richards reflects. “You are always its guest. In this case, we were its guest when it was in a bad mood.”

Photograph by Steve Winter From "Yasuní National Park," National Geographic, January 2013 A jaguar on the hunt trips a camera trap at a spot frequented by piglike peccaries, a favorite prey. To the Waorani, one of the native groups in this area, jaguars are ancestral spirits that visit shamans in dreams to tell them where game is plentiful in the forest.

Photograph by Frank Hurley, courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales From "Mawson's Antarctic Trek," National Geographic, January 2013 Adélie penguins provided a source of food for the expedition’s humans as well as its dogs. They also provided dubious amusement: The crew would sneak up on penguins standing near cliffs and knock them into the ocean.

Photograph by Trisha Ratledge From "Top Shots," National Geographic, January 2013 Seeing her 14-year-old daughter laughing and twirling in Tokyo's Mori Tower was the most poignant moment for Ratledge during a family trip. "It represented Emma literally dancing from one important stage in her life—middle school—to the next, high school," says the journalist mother.

Photograph by Tim Laman From "Yasuní National Park," National Geographic, January 2013 Cobalt-winged parakeets flock to a pool. Scientists have identified nearly 600 species of birds in the park.

Photograph by Martin Oeggerli, with support from School of Life Sciences, FHNW From "Microbes," National Geographic, January 2013 INTESTINAL BACTERIA The human gut teems with bacteria, many of their species still unknown. They help us digest food and absorb nutrients, and they play a part in protecting our intestinal walls. Gut bacteria may also help regulate weight and ward off autoimmune diseases.

Photograph by NASA From "The New Age of Exploration," National Geographic, January 2013 A quarter million miles from home, astronaut James Irwin salutes the flag and the achievement of the Apollo 15 mission of 1971, the fourth manned journey to the moon. David Scott, mission commander, radioed to Earth, “I realize there’s a fundamental truth to our nature—man must explore.”

Photograph by Martin Oeggerli, with support from School of Life Sciences, FHNW From "Microbes," National Geographic, January 2013 STREPTOCOCCUS A colorized electron microscope image captures delicate chains of streptococcus in a laboratory sample. Though some strep infections can be deadly, many strains are harmless—among the thousands of benign beings that make their home in our bodies.

Photograph by Steve Winter From "Yasuní National Park," National Geographic, January 2013 From the bromeliads, ferns, and orchids that cover a kapok tree 160 feet above the forest floor to the jaguars that prowl below, Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park is home to countless plant and animal species. All of them now face threats from oil development.

Photograph by Frank Hurley, courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales From "Mawson's Antarctic Trek," National Geographic, January 2013 Two men lean into a blizzard to chop ice for drinking water, an essential daily chore during a three-year Australian-sponsored scientific expedition to Antarctica from 1911 to 1914.

Photograph by Martin Oeggerli, with support from School of Life Sciences, FHNW From "Microbes," National Geographic, January 2013 MOUTH MICROBES The human mouth hosts a panoply of microbes, some taking up residence on the mouth lining (blue) within days after birth. Harmful species form biofilms, like the plaque that encourages tooth decay, or colonize the crevices between teeth and gums, causing periodontal disease. Oral probiotics designed to boost the population of species that outcompete pathogenic ones could help prevent or reverse dental disease.

Photography by Carsten Peter From "The New Age of Exploration," National Geographic, January 2013 A team of scientists pitches camp in a lethal environment of heat and toxic gases. Photographer Carsten Peter documents their efforts to fathom the fiery workings of Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Photograph by David Bowman From "Visions," National Geographic, January 2013 United States—Like a spaceship gearing up to lift off, a carnival ride throws off orbs of light in this panoramic time exposure. The whirling captures the revelry of a summer’s eve at the Minnesota State Fair.

Photograph by Tim Laman From "Yasuní National Park," National Geographic, January 2013 White-bellied spider monkey, Ateles belzebuth, avg. length, 20 inches

Photograph by Shelley Smart From "Top Shots," National Geographic, January 2013 This chunk of Antarctic ice, rising some 60 feet, greeted Smart and her mother when they toured the continent aboard a Russian icebreaker. The marine biologist and environmentalist says: "Antarctica is where you go when you want to discover what Earth used to be like."

Photograph by Tim Laman From "Yasuní National Park," National Geographic, January 2013 A fiery glow in the sky over Yasuní, revealed in a long exposure, comes from the flares of oil wells burning off gas. With oil operations creeping ever closer, the possibility of destruction hangs heavily over the last untouched corner of this primeval forest.

National Geographic Magazine Febbraio 2013

Photograph by Mattias Klum From "Venom," National Geographic, February 2013 The hollow fangs of the Jameson’s mamba deliver toxins that can lead to respiratory paralysis—and a person’s death within hours.

Photograph by Matthieu Paley From "Wakhan Corridor," National Geographic, February 2013 Blanket-draped yaks hunker down outside a young couple’s yurt on the eve of a summer trading journey. Made of interlaced poles covered with felt, these portable homes are packed up and reassembled for seasonal migration. Wooden doors are imported to the treeless plateau from lower altitudes.

Photograph by Charlie Hamilton James From "Britain's Otters," National Geographic, February 2013 A female searches for prey in a river in western England. An otter’s eyes become more convex underwater, the better to see fish.

Photograph by Matthieu Paley From "Wakhan Corridor," National Geographic, February 2013 High above the tree line, a winter caravan of traders relies on sure-footed yaks to traverse a treacherous path down to a lower valley. At altitudes above 14,000 feet, winters in the Little Pamir last eight months or more, and snow can fall even in summer.

Photograph by Mattias Klum From "Venom," National Geographic, February 2013 Snakes, snake eggs, and lizards infuse rice wine in bottles at a restaurant in Le Mat Village. Locals say that drinking these concoctions eases pain, keeps organs healthy, and boosts virility.

Photograph by Indranil Mukhopadhyay From "Top Shots," National Geographic, February 2013 Clouds added drama as the sun rose over Utah's Canyonlands National Park one morning last summer. Mukhopadhyay, a software engineer, saw how the rays would enrich the view. "Landscape art," he says, "is simply being in the right place with the right light."

Photograph by Charlie Hamilton James From "Britain's Otters," National Geographic, February 2013 In the Shetland Islands a mother and two male cubs listen intently to the clicking of the photographer's camera. The nose of the cub at right had a recent encounter with a crab. Adults don’t live as pairs, and males play no part in raising the young.

Photograph by Mattias Klum From "Venom," National Geographic, February 2013 Venom from snakes like the Jameson’s mamba, seen here in Cameroon, may soon combat heart disease.

Photograph by Matthieu Paley From "Wakhan Corridor," National Geographic, February 2013 Nomads by necessity, the Kyrgyz move their herds across the Wakhan—a panhandle of alpine valleys and high mountains in northeastern Afghanistan.

Photograph by Mattias Klum From "Venom," National Geographic, February 2013 Barefoot and bare-handed, 59-year-old Huang Van Tan searches for snakes—preferably cobras—in a rice field near his village. He uses a long pole to wrangle a snake into a bag tucked into the back of his pants. He keeps a few snakes for his family to eat and sells the rest to a local restaurant or an exporter. A cobra can bring a hundred dollars—a lot in rural Vietnam.

Photograph by Charlie Hamilton James From "Britain's Otters," National Geographic, February 2013 A mother swims above the ochre world of the Shetland kelp beds, checking out photographer Charlie Hamilton James. A bright air bubble, escaping from her fur, streams past her head, and she leaves a champagne trail of other bubbles in her wake. To find an otter in the water, look for the bubbles.

Photograph by Matthieu Paley From "Wakhan Corridor," National Geographic, February 2013 A girl carries a pair of lambs to be reunited with their mothers for the night. On especially cold days the vulnerable young animals are kept warm in cloth bags hung in the herders’ huts. The Kyrgyz complain that their winters are brutal. But would they want to call any other place home?

National Geographic Magazine Marzo 2013

Photograph by Christian Ziegler From "Bonobos," National Geographic, March 2013 The bonobo, once called the pygmy chimpanzee, is a unique species of ape, native only to forests on the left bank of the Congo River. Recent research casts new light on their sexual and other behavior.

Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel From "Night Gardens," National Geographic, March 2013 In Japan the nighttime viewing of cherry blossoms in spring, like these at Kyoto’s Hirano Shrine, is a special event. “The cherries’ only fault: the crowds that gather when they bloom,” wrote Saigyo, a 12th-century poet.

Photograph by Eugene Richards From "Fracking in North Dakota," National Geographic, March 2013 Natural gas flared as waste is a new sight on the Dakota prairie, where fracking—a way of extracting hard-to-reach oil—and directional drilling have sparked a boom.

Photograph by Christian Ziegler From "Bonobos," National Geographic, March 2013 The vast Congo River, comprising many large and small channels, has been an impassable barrier between bonobos and their ape kin. Chimps and gorillas live only on the right bank, bonobos only on the left.

Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel From "Night Gardens," National Geographic, March 2013 An Islamic garden, it is said, is a palace without a roof. Enthralled with the art of Islam, heiress Doris Duke created Shangri La, her estate in Honolulu. The central courtyard, with its antique Persian tiles, separates public and private space. With permission of Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art

Photograph by Harry Colquhoun From "Top Shots," National Geographic, March 2013 After taking macro photos of other edibles—nuts, berries, candy—Colquhoun, a software developer, was drawn to the colors of this moldy peach skin. "I'll have a pretty good catalog of moldy stuff in a year or two," he jokes. The photo is a composite of 30 highly focused images.

Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel From "Night Gardens," National Geographic, March 2013 The gardens of Kykuit, at the Rockefeller estate in Sleepy Hollow, New York, were planned for day or night display. A row of lindens leads to the perfection of the Temple of Aphrodite.

Photograph by Joe McNally From "Drones May Be Watching You," National Geographic, March 2013 With eight arms spanning less than a yard, a German MikroKopter provides a stable camera platform for under $5,000.

Photograph by Christian Ziegler From "Bonobos," National Geographic, March 2013 A young female bonobo relaxes in the forest at Lui Kotale in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her lips are orange from eating clay, probably to counter plant toxins in her diet.

Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel From "Night Gardens," National Geographic, March 2013 To know Kykuit, said William Welles Bosworth, who designed its gardens, “one must experience?...? late evening when all is peacefully eloquent.”

Photograph by Christian Ziegler From "Bonobos," National Geographic, March 2013 Bonobo youngsters such as Zizu, here playing with a sibling, are born black-faced, unlike chimps, which are born with pink faces that gradually darken. Bonobo limbs remain slender as they mature, not so thick and burly as chimps.

Photograph by Gerson de Oliveira From "Top Shots," National Geographic, March 2013 With only a round-trip train ticket and his camera, de Oliveira traveled to a nearby festival marking the anniversary of Brazil's 1835 Farroupilha Revolution. As part of the celebration, he says, "the rooster is a historical symbol and is considered a king."

Photograph by Eugene Richards From "Fracking in North Dakota," National Geographic, March 2013 A row of mobile homes alongside an abandoned farm building in Watford City signals a reversal of fortune in a state that had steadily been losing population. Since 2010 tens of thousands of people—most refugees from the great recession—have flooded into the oil patch hoping to find work. Those who don’t succeed risk ending up homeless and jobless.

Photograph by Joe McNally From "Drones May Be Watching You," National Geographic, March 2013 Northrop Grumman’s X-47B, an unmanned aircraft being tested for the U.S. Navy, is designed to take off from an aircraft carrier, unleash two tons of weapons, and land again—on its own, with a preset mission, but without even a remote pilot. By sparing human war fighters “dull, dirty, or dangerous duty” (an industry buzz phrase), drones make some acts of war easier.

Photograph by Christian Ziegler From "Bonobos," National Geographic, March 2013 The youngster Ulrich rides his mother, Uma, to the next foraging site. Bonobos spend much of their time on the ground, enjoying exclusive access to plant foods that on the right bank of the Congo are claimed by gorillas.

Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel From "Night Gardens," National Geographic, March 2013 A fete like this, in the sumptuous gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte, marked the beginning of the end for owner Nicolas Fouquet in 1661. Louis XIV came, saw, and coveted; he confiscated the property and imprisoned Fouquet.