EM oee CE tek) FC Aa CC MU OPUS Ut ic Ce Boys of the North Are Back NSP Tey Bora RTOS Near Bees Gee et ae ee aaan es)Just one of the thousands of dis ies that.make SouthAffi¢a so. unique South Afriea is famous BIG 5 wildlife, busthere are | & i 2 Ae countless other experiences tomake your visit es Fi \ J pus even more memorable. a : ie andifind’Your BIG 5 experieng believable packages fromsT : i eee ve - Nisit us online and shate Your BIG 5 experiences Let us inspire you with all that South Africa has to offer www southafifcanet VisitSouthafrica GsouAfies WyeSmithsonian MARCH 2014 + Volume 44, Number Revenge of the Vikings Nomore Mr. Nice Guys. A major new exhibition the Norses by FRawz Loz Contributors From the Editor Discussion From the Castle Phenomenon raneated into emotioons Kasparov's Gambit 21 inking sveral moves ahead he onpinshis Reindeer Games 2 ists wth a unigue oppertunity SnAvctioungdates ‘Smithsonian ‘30 Fast Forward 100 v2 02 04 68 Kingdomof Buzzed Flight Club Star Power the Spirits Andtheanswer _ Forseveral The recently Ajoumeytothe is:Thisvirtually _weekseach released papers heartof New unchanged T spring hundreds | of thelate Carl Guinea’sAsmat game show is ofthe f | Saganoffera homeland | stillattracting _—sandhilleranes_—|_ fresh perspec sheds new li alightalongthe | tiveontheceleb onthe myst PlatteRiverin rity selentistas fom Asmat decorated with of Michael yours afterits Nebraskainone | hisearthshaking multicaloredbeads. Rockefellers Gebut. Question: | ofearth’sgreatest | “Cosmos" ser or lA ie disappearance Whats rmlgrations isaboutto be Vllingswordand reconstructed there in 1961 oy ace reincarnated lothing with fur, woolandsile By CARL HOFMAN SHOUMATORF fy 6 ACHENGACHrs Contributors Carl Hoffman Michael Rockefeller’ story has fascinat ‘Not only his disappearance, but his cu riosity and need to go in the first plac 2 Hoffman says, To research Rockefe = fateful 1961 trip to New Guinea @ Hoffman spentfour months in Asmatob. | Helen Fields ervingendreporting Tntheend, he says, | Aeoesonededenoe histale was no longer just about Rocke- | wrtar whence pont feller. It was also an in-depth ook into | ekweoks onanie analien realm thats difficult to pene- | breskerinthe ering trate for us Westerners.” His book about | Seareportingon of- the case, Savage Harvest, willereleased | mate change, Fields on Mareh 18. returned to frigid oimes forher story about ‘Svalbardreindeer (22) Thistime, she says her biggest sur- prise was the paradox thatwarmer weather could freeze animals \L.ustearions by Andrea Eberbach ‘outof their food supply. Alex Shoumatoff | MelissaGroo = |, Thedistinguisheden- | Groots an award-win- > { — Vironmentaljournalist | ning wildlife photog wei traveled with nature | raphor and oonserva- photographer Melissa | tionist who saye she GrootoNebraskato | “uitimately wantsto observe the migration | find away tomarry voelAchenbach —ClaudiaDreifus 0 600,000sandhill_ | thetwo,butfornowis Ken Jennings ‘AWashington Post “The author of Scien coranes,aspecieshe | justtryingto awaken Iwas insanely ner: taffwriter special» tiie Conversations: viows as existingon peopletothe marvels vous the first ime ap- inginscience and po | IntorviowsonScience "special plane of ‘ofnature. Beforeshe —_pearedontthe show itios,Achenbachhas | framtheNew York boing" (6.54)."We became aphotosra- recalls Jennings, a authoredsovenbooks, Timosrevsitsastron- __werethereforten pher,Grooresearched __74:time “Jeopardy! inotuding1999'sCap-_omerRobert Wilson's days, andwith the elophantcommunicay champion, “but now tured by Alions,which _co-discoveryoFeos: _oranesfromdawn tionattheGorneliLab —Igetarush when go featuredaninterview miomierowavaback- _toduskeexoeptfor of Ornithology. She (on Jennings reflects withCariSagan.For ground radiation— lunch he recalls. wasinitalydrawnto onthe program's "StarPower"(p.68), confirmationofthe Big ShoumatofTisasenior | large mammals, but cultural logacy on its hoporedoverSagan's | Bangtheoy(p.80)"A contributingeditorat | abirdwatchingolass Oth annwersary (p.623. newiyavailablopapers | lotofgreatdiscoveries Vanity Fair,the author | piqued anintorestin He will scon compete attheLibraryofGon- __aredeliberate” Drei foftenbooks andthe | avian photography— _ina“Battleof the De- gresswithhelpfrom ‘fussays,‘andothers __—editorofthewebsite | andthechallengeof __eades" tournament his daughter, Paris are these kinds of Dispatches Fromthe | “tryingtoportraythe pitting past champions ‘Achenbach. ‘astonishments” Vanishing Word, Inner fe of aire” ‘against each otherOn the Trail of Columbia & Snake Rivers Cruise Explorers Lewis & Clark followed an epic course along the Columbia and Snake Rivers, Discover these iconic rivers for yourself aboard the elegant paddlewheeler, Queen of the West. 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Sorat Nnrvonc ye cvrbul ters S| Begs semreasr Fen eros teunesen7 Moss vesroossnia/0 er een mon Neen Theanine ecTrerONEE ie Svees LC, tOFTAL SALERMUANAGER le Keres fiat AssOCIATEMAREFTINGHANAGRR ot ae! Moraes lgerAL nino, MUSEU ibersn sseocinrE noToanArAY ETOR Cans DIGEZAL DITOR SMHSONUANCOMD:sNi ‘omer nzponmins Ging Ee Hy ceesonbrentors READERSERVICES Cun Mme ‘consunuen arrive mazcron is hon PLaxonNaIcrOR Tiny Mt Sh ewrwats axDOrrroORBCTOR‘. Nene ‘rraKAa oan Gsin Asstsra¥r sw nesters ante rau ‘esnaten macro Shey prapnsaeneaxnctn' rei aton ‘CoLORANDQLALIFY MANAGERS hia ‘Bovion rmopeena os) Pronucremernorsir iS ‘area nopveuns sayy sta Car ray Coeyllektns Paden osc ranraen eM Ace .coonpinaronsi& Mors Gren ocnurren yh EER aegnomncen ke ESET sem eceomseat SatnaJudge Crater. Amelia Earhart. Jimmy Hoffa. DB Cooper. It seems impossible tojust vanish into thin air, but there is ‘a surprisingly long list of people who hhave done it, or had it done to them, from Spartacus, presumably killed in battle in 71 BC. but never found, to the nover-ending rogues’ gallery that stares sullenly out at the world from the FBI's most-wanted lst One of the most enigmatic disap: pearances in modern times was that of Michael Rockefeller, scion of that famous wealthy American family, Rockefeller, a bright young man de- termined to machete his own trail, chose to do it in an extremely remote place on the other side of the planet. ‘The treasures he found and shipped back, towering ceremonial totem poles carved by the Asmat tribe to commemorate their fallen family ‘members and all for vengeance for their deaths, still stand in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art "The romance of the rainforest, the contrast between the power and for- tune of his family and the tribal land hho was exploring, the rumors of can- nibalism, the fact that he left behind a grieving twin sister—all of these elements combined to make his un- explained disappearance one of the ‘most compelling mysteries of my life- time. So when I found out that Cael \ALuerearion y Andrea berbseh From the Editor Hoffman, an intrepid journalist who has written for Smithsonian in the past, was planning to travel to New Guinea and retrace Rockefellers last steps, I told him we wanted the story. contributed when Hoffman posted his mission on Kickstarter, a very modern way to fund an attempt to solve a cold case from half a century ‘ago, and in this issue we're publishing the result, an advance excerpt from his upcoming book, Savage Harvest (@.52). Init, Hoffman comes as close to explaining what happened to Mi chael Rockefeller as anyone ever has on given the circumstances and pas. sage of time, ever will Elsewhere in this issue you'll find fragments from the lost world of the Vikings, the (possibly) disappearing world of Arctic reindeer, and the re- discovered words and worlds of as. ‘tronomer Carl Sagan, “We're going to explore the cosmos in a ship of the imagination,” Sagan announced grandly in the first ep. isode of his 1980 series, “Cosmos.” ‘Drawn by the music of cosmic har- monies, it can take us anywhere in space and time. Perfect as a snow- flake, organic as a dandelion seed, it will carry us to worlds of dreams and ‘worlds of facts. Come with me.” Millions did, Sagan instantly be- ‘came America’s leading public sei centist, a peripatetic intellect whose spirit of curiosity and optimism went viral. After all, who could not thrill to the idea that, as he put it, “we are made of star stuff”? On the eve of a reboot of the “Cos- mos” show, science writer Joel Achenbach takes a deep dive into Sa- gan’s fascinating legacy and finds that itis still Carl Sagan's cosmos, we're just living in it ‘Michael Caruso, EDITOR IN CHIEF Michael@siedu The road less traveled ems Fee N3 a road. Over 1,000 distinctive small group adventures. So you'll be able to wander like a local, just about anywhere intrepidtravel.com/local 800 970 7299