Iran: Testing the Waters of Reform
By Fen Montaigne
Photographs by Alexandra Avakian

After two decades under the ayatollahs, many Iranians yearn for greater freedom and less state control. Their champion, President Mohammad Khatami, nudges the country toward more openness but faces a deepening power struggle.

*Read the complete NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC story.

Mars on Earth
By Michael E. Long
Photographs by Peter Essick

In the battered landscape of an impact crater, scientists in the Canadian Arctic find ideal ground for testing methods to explore the red planet.

Related Web site: Return to Mars with the Sojourner rover.

The Shrinking World of Hornbills
By Michael E. Long
Photographs by Tim Laman

From Africa to Melanesia, hunting and habitat loss threaten the survival of regal birds that nest in a way that is all their own.

Quest for Color
Article and photographs by Cary Wolinsky

Battles raged over it, fortunes flowed from it, and songs and legends sprang from it. Today humans still scour the Earth—and the laboratory—for dyes and pigments to interpret and enhance their world.

Celebrating Canyon Country
By T. H. Watkins
Photographs by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel

The creation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah adds nearly two million acres [810,000 hectares] of unsullied wilderness to the United States’ cache of protected land.

Listening to Humpbacks
By Douglas H. Chadwick
Photographs by Flip Nicklin

In every ocean on Earth humpbacks sing, socialize, and make journeys as long as the sea is wide. Scientists record the songs, chart the travels, and observe the family life of these endangered giants, whose numbers now seem to be increasing.

Related Web site: Hear humpbacks sing in a Radio Expedition.

Global Culture; A World Together; Tale of Three Cities; Vanishing Cultures; Italy’s Endangered Art; The Power of Writing.