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The World in a Mailbag

I go on assignment for National Geographic every day. It’s not a journey in the physical sense. Rather, it involves the mountains of mail and other communications—50,000 a year—received by the National Geographic Society. Scaling those mountains reveals worlds of diverse interests and opinions. And buried there are gems of warmth, mirth, and poignancy.

Because of my work I already know what interests many of you. The environment looms large, as do the possible fates of endangered species. But some of you ponder issues more arcane—“Do penguins have knees?” (Yes, they do!) “If Mars is supposed to be the red planet, then why are Martians green?” (Good question!) Matters such as these receive attention too.

Still others contact us to express points of view. For instance, more than 40 people wrote to comment on the spelling of the word “Neandertal” on the January 1996 cover of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine. We pointed out that in German the word means Neander Valley—the place where the first recognized Neanderthal was discovered in 1856. This century the Germans dropped the “h” in their word for valley, thus shortening the “Neanderthal” of yesteryear.

In this weekly online feature we hope to give you a feel for the National Geographic Society. Feel free to e-mail us your comments, suggestions, and questions. Although I won’t be able to respond to all of them individually, I’ll answer three each week and also discuss any trends in the mail.

I work with a wonderful staff of researchers who stand ready to dig into issues large and small. Some of our past efforts are compiled here online in the Gold Mine. Click on the Gold Mine to see what we’ve covered in the past—the answers to many of your questions may lie buried there—and stay tuned for more riches as we continue to update.

And so—to your keyboards!