Apr 2023 - NGM Single Copy

8 BILLION
Last November, the United Nations declared that the number of people on Earth had hit eight billion. Our population has doubled in less than 50 years, just since 1974. Now we again are hurtling toward a future with far more people—but, in some places, also far less. Will human ingenuity, and the billions more brains at our disposal, find ways to cope with this new reality? Explore how Nigeria and China may be our biggest tests. Also, learn about phenology, the study of climate-related biological rhythms, or nature’s calendar. It’s when flowers bloom, when birds migrate, when leaves change color. Our story is an explanatory feature with the photography taken at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado, one of the best places in the world to study phenology. Marvel at the photography of Eduard Florin Niga who brings us incredibly close to the most numerous animals on Earth, whose ability to organize colonies, communicate among themselves, and solve complex problems make them an object of endless fascination. Among his most memorable images are portraits—including queens, workers, soldiers, and rarely seen males—that bring the reader face-to-face with these creatures whose societies are eerily like our own. Can you guess who they might be?