Twenty-one years after NASA landed its first emissary on the red planet, Pathfinder touched down on July 4, 1997, and recorded images and data that astounded the world. By William R. Newcott. Images by NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Bonus: 3-D glasses for viewing photographs of Mars and Titanic.

Backbreaking fieldwork and meticulous attention to scientific detail bring a deeper understanding of the elusive red apes of the Borneo rain forest. By Cheryl Knott. Photographs by Tim Laman.

As immigration to New York surges, this vibrant Manhattan neighborhood provides Chinese newcomers a familiar setting in which to build their American dream. By Joel L. Swerdlow. Photographs by Chien-Chi Chang.

At home in pitch-dark depths lethal to most marine mammals, these cetaceans may be the deepest divers of all. By Douglas H. Chadwick. Photographs by Flip Nicklin.

South Africa yields fossil evidence that challenges old assumptions about humankind’s beginnings. By Lee Berger. Photographs by Kenneth Garrett; art by John Gurche.

Read the abstract of a scholarly report by Berger and Henry M. McHenry.

Unchecked fires smolder in the rain forests of Sumatra and Borneo, spawning respiratory illness, traffic accidents, and food shortages across Southeast Asia. By Lewis M. Simons. Photographs by Michael Yamashita.

Computer-aided editing transforms scenes from a diver’s video into extraordinary 3-D still lifes of the somber wreck lying 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) below the surface. By Joseph B. MacInnis. Photographs by Emory Kristof.

Share your thoughts about Titanic mania on our online forum.

In Next Month’s Issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC:

Valley of the Kings; A New Day for Romania; Greenland Sharks; Vermont: Suite of Seasons; Catherine the Great; Borneo’s White Mountain