A car drives through a flooded road following heavy rain in Gaza City on December 27, 2019. (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP Photo)

A female tourist wears a protective face mask on the street, following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Tokyo, Japan on March 10, 2020. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

Presidential candidate Javier Milei arrives at the Teatro Colón opera house with his girlfriend, Fatima Florez, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, November 17, 2023. Milei will face Economy Minister Sergio Massa in a runoff election on Nov. 19. (Photo by Ramiro Souto/AP Photo)

A supporter of South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a rally on a road near the Constitutional Court in Seoul on February 4, 2025, after Yoon arrived at the court for hearings that will decide whether to remove him from office. (Photo by Anthony Wallace/AFP Photo)

A woman eats an ice cream as people sunbathe on the beach in Barcelona, Spain, Friday, January 26, 2024. Spain's weather agency says recent abnormally high temperatures for this time of year are set to continue in many parts of Spain on Friday and over the weekend, with an almost summer-like feeling in many coastal areas as people take to the beaches to sunbathe and some to have a winter swim. (Photo by Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo)

A Palestinian woman pulls a stroller with children, next to piles of rubble, during a rainy day in Gaza City,on November 25, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud Issa/Reuters)

“Cassowaries are large, flightless birds related to emus and (more distantly) to ostriches, rheas, and kiwis”, writes Olivia Judson in the September issue of National Geographic magazine. How large? People-size: Adult males stand well over five foot five and top 110 pounds. Females are even taller, and can weigh more than 160 pounds. Dangerous when roused, they’re shy and peaceable when left alone. But even birds this big and tough are prey to habitat loss. The dense New Guinea and Australia rain forests where they live have dwindled. Today cassowaries might number 1,500 to 2,000. And because they help shape those same forests – by moving seeds from one place to another – “if they vanish”, Judson writes, “the structure of the forest would gradually change” too. (Photo by Christian Ziegler/National Geographic)

A stunning photographic collection featuring portraits of people from 30 countries and the food they eat in one day. In this fascinating study of people and their diets, 80 profiles are organized by the total number of calories each person puts away in a day. Featuring a Japanese sumo wrestler, a Massai herdswoman, world-renowned Spanish chef Ferran Adria, an American competitive eater, and more, these compulsively readable personal stories also include demographic particulars, including age, activity level, height, and weight. Essays from Harvard primatologist Richard Wrangham, journalist Michael Pollan, and others discuss the implications of our modern diets for our health and for the planet. This compelling blend of photography and investigative reportage expands our understanding of the complex relationships among individuals, culture, and food.