YOUR WEEKLY ESCAPE: A murder mystery 430,000 years in the making

Plus: The life of the Buddha, the streets of North Korea, and cowboys in Sweden [WHO WAS THE REAL BUDDHA?]( [VIEW ONLINE]( [WHO WAS THE REAL BUDDHA?]( [National Geographic]( Your Weekly Escape Extraordinary people, discoveries, and places in a time of turmoil JAVIER TRUEBA/MADRID SCIENTIFIC FILMS [The world's first known murder is a 430,000-year-old cold case]( The attacker smashed the victim twice in the head, then dropped the body down a 43-foot shaft into a cave—where it lay for nearly half a million years. [UNCOVER THE CLUES]( SHARE [F]( [T]( IRA BLOCK/NGS [Who was the real Buddha? Religious scholars turn to archaeology for answers]( Facts about the life and times of Siddhartha Gautama, the man who would become the Buddha, are elusive, but scholars are finding answers in Lumbini, Nepal. [SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE]( SHARE [F]( [T]( PHOTOGRAPH BY STÉPHAN GLADIEU [This is what daily life in North Korea looks like]( In a country where behavior is tightly controlled, a photographer captures individuality on the streets and in the businesses of Pyongyang. [SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE]( SHARE [F]( [T]( [QUOTE] We love the things we love for what they are. Robert Frost American poet, from [Hyla Brook]( PHOTOGRAPH BY KARINE AIGNER [A rare look at a family of bobcats]( Learn how a wildlife photographer formed an unusual connection with a bobcat family in Texas. [GET A PEEK]( SHARE [F]( [T]( PHOTOGRAPH BY IAN TEH [The tree at the bottom of the world—and the wind-blasted trek to find it]( Where on this warming planet, you ask, is the southernmost tree? Look no further: National Geographic sent a team to hunt it down. [READ ON]( SHARE [F]( [T]( PHOTOGRAPH BY NAOMI HARRIS [Cowboys in Sweden? Quirky photos of U.S. culture in Europe]( From a Wild West theme park in Sweden to Oktoberfest in the United States, see how these countries celebrate one another’s culture. [SEE THE IMAGES]( SHARE [F]( [T]( Need a distraction? [The rise and fall of North Carolina's National Hollerin' Contest (Atlas Obscura)]( ›› [Why we turned to PBS: 50 reasons over 50 years (New York Times)]( ›› [Sign up here]( ) to receive Your Weekly Escape and/or our daily newsletters—covering History, Travel, Science, Animals, and Photography news. See you next week. Blue skies, green lights! [NGM]( [NGM]( [SHOP]( [DONATE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( [TRAVEL]( [READ OUR LATEST STORIES]( [SHOP]( [DONATE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( [TRAVEL]( [FB]( [Twitter]( [IG]( Clicking on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and National Geographic Channel links will take you away from our National Geographic Partners site where different terms of use and privacy policy apply. This email was sent to: {EMAIL}. Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored. This email contains an advertisement from: National Geographic | 1145 17th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036 You are receiving this email because you elected to receive marketing communications from National Geographic under the terms of our [Privacy Policy]( [Manage all types of email preferences]( with National Geographic Partners. [Unsubscribe]( this type of email. © 2020 National Geographic Partners, LLC, All rights reserved.