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What’s it like to visit conflict zones? A former war correspondent tells us

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Should there be a medal for the UK's coronavirus heroes?

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Kid Thomas Valentine

Photograph by James L Stanfield, National Geographic Image Collection

Where our water goes

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Water, water everywhere?

Could a famously rainy country like the UK really run low on water? Through a combination of climate change and population growth—it might.

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Making the most of our wet weather (while we can)

With predictions that we could face national water shortages within 25 years, what can we do to stop the UK from running out of water? 

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United Kingdom Water Crisis

Notorious for being a particularly rainy nation, the UK has no need to worry about its water supply. But is that actually the case?

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National Geographic Magazine

August 2020

by Richard Coniff

New York City's streets stand deserted under lockdown, April 2020. The Empire State Building is lit red and white to honour the sacrifice of doctors and nurses. Will we remember the lessons we have learned after the danger has passed?

Photograph by Stephen Wilkes

The rise of the coronavirus in 2020 has quickly created a frightening new world. Or, rather, a return to the old world of our disease-plagued ancestors. What can we learn from the pandemics of the past?

For as long as history records, societies have been ravaged by disease. Smallpox, bubonic plague, cholera, Ebola. Some science has banished; some are with us still. All offer lessons for how we can deal with COVID-19 – a modern pandemic unlike any other, yet in many ways no different.

This special edition of National Geographic examines what we've learned from history's deadliest outbreaks.

A history of pandemics From shadowy tropical maladies to the Black Death – a journey through disease, from 541AD to 2020.

Virtual life in quarantine many lived near-virtual lives pre-COVID-19 – but lockdown caused something else to be lost

Metropolis under lockdown as the world stayed home, surreal aerial views capture New York's empty streets

Also in the August 2020 edition of National Geographic:

Suffrage | Reimagining the dodo | India's water | Chimps and humans clash

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To get access immediately to the August Issue, buy a digital subscription , alternatively National Geographic can be found in all good retailers priced £6.99.

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