Dangerous Divide

As North Korea steps up its nuclear threat, it's business as usual along the DMZ—the narrow strip of land that has split the Korean peninsula for 50 years. There the two armies, the South's backed by 20,000 U.S. troops, wait for the other to blink.

MAP Download a printable, high-resolution map of Korea's Demilitarized Zone.

MULTIMEDIA VIDEO Black Hawk helicopter maneuvers? Combat golf? Life inside the DMZ is truly another world.

FORUM What options are available to the international community for forcing North Korea to disarm? Enter>>

ONLINE EXTRA Discover the strip of heavily armed land that may be the flashpoint of war between the two Koreas.

FLASHBACK to 1910 when Korea's political differences divided families.

Animal Attraction

Males will do whatever it takes to win the mating game: sing, dance, fight a rival, build a house, give a gift. But in the end, it's usually the females who do the choosing.

MULTIMEDIA VIDEO Watch a male bowerbird put fast moves on a female in a wing-flapping, chirping display.

WALLPAPER Snails armed with Cupid's arrows and salmon in the wild bring nature to your desktop this month.

FINAL EDIT Rescued from the cutting-room floor is this month's Final Edit, an image of a horned frog giving a blow-out performance to attract a mate.

China's Shang Culture

A trove of artifacts has shattered China's traditional story of its origins—but the new narrative, like the old one, still packs a political punch.

MAP Download a printable, high-resolution map highlighting some of China's Bronze Age cultural centers.

Three Peaks Challenge

How to be a Three Peaker: Run up the mountain. Run down the mountain. Do it three times in three different countries. And finish in under 24 hours.

MAP Download a printable, high-resolution map of the route of the Three Peaks Challenge.

Atlantic Salmon

Farm-raised salmon now outnumber wild fish nearly 85 to one. As wild stocks dwindle, this legendary sport fish has become the veritable chicken of the sea.

MAP Download a printable, high-resolution map of the dwindling world of wild Atlantic salmon.

FORUM Farmed salmon are displacing those in the wild. What responsibility do consumers have to protect wild salmon? Should we stop eating salmon altogether? Enter>>

SIGHTS & SOUNDS Learn why the future of these leaping silver beauties is so uncertain.

ZipUSA: 46970

Every July the kids in a Midwest town don frilly costumes and fly through the air (with the greatest of ease). Has Peru, Indiana, lost its mind?

NOMINATE your own wonderful, weird, or wacky choices for this magazine series. Enter>>

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