National Geographic (April 2021)

145 pages. Features: *The air in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, is polluted in part by burning fossil fuels, as from this coal-fires power plant near the edge of the city *Mathematicians and their chalkboards: With the rise of screens and whiteboards, are chalkboards obsolete? No, say the calculating souls who solve complex problems on them *The legacy of land: To Black American families, soul has never been simple. It represents dreams, loss, injustice, self-reliance *My Everest photo: I has a dim view of Everest ascents- until I made one. What I found surprised me *A perfumes history: In the 'perfume capital of India', an ancient alchemy distills petals into fragrance *Wild Alaska: America's least visited national park boasts nearly 8.5 million acres of rugged beauty * The deadly cost of dirty air: Pollution causes millions of premature deaths *Where there's fire, there's toxic smoke: The poisonous effects of wildfire smoke linger *Return of the Florida panther: Development imperils this cat's comeback *The bugs up high: A novel study looks at insect life far above the Amazon forest floor *Aretha's genius: From her start in a Detroit church choir, Aretha Franklin (below) rose to global fame. Cynthia Erivo (above) plays the singing star in the Nat Geo series that debuts March 21