The freakish winter of 1709

Plus: Sun storms; the year in pictures; a frog with teeth [ ] [THE YEAR IN PICTURES]( [VIEW ONLINE]( [THE YEAR IN PICTURES]( [National Geographic]( Your Weekly Escape Extraordinary people, discoveries, and places IMAGE BY SOLAR ORBITER/EUI TEAM/ ESA & NASA; CSL, IAS, MPS, PMOD/WRC, ROB, UCL/MSSL [The sun is getting stormier—just in time for a stunning show]( The sun cycles between periods of storm and slumber over the course of 11 years or so. Now, the next solar cycle has ignited, with peak activity expected to happen under the watch of a fleet of sun-gazing spacecraft—and around the time of a total solar eclipse. [WHEN TO WATCH]( “Many people have called 2020 their most challenging year ever,” wrote National Geographic’s editor in chief, Susan Goldberg. “Yet well into 2021, [problems of all kinds persisted; the political rancor and climate crisis did not abate.]( On the other hand, vaccines and other medical advances, along with behavioral shifts, began to rein in the virus and raise spirits.” And Nat Geo photographers were there for much of it, making just shy of 2 million images this year—1,944,644 to be exact. We narrowed this staggering documentation down to fewer than 50 for [our annual Year in Pictures issue](. [VIEW OUR PICKS]( PHOTOGRAPH BY BRITISH MUSEUM/SCALA, FLORENCE [The brutal, bizarre winter of 1709]( People ice-skated on the canals of Venice. Travelers could cross the Baltic Sea on horseback. This freakish deep freeze caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and ultimately disrupted two major wars—but to this day, there is no conclusive theory for its cause. [SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE]( [QUOTE] Never in my life have I seen a winter such as this one, which freezes the wine in bottles. The Duchess of Orleans, 1709 From: [The brutal, bizarre winter of 1709]( PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBBIE SHONE [Was this created by a Neanderthal? And is it 'art'?]( A chess-sized piece of bone found in Germany’s Unicorn Cave was crafted before modern humans are believed to have arrived in the area, and is sparking questions about artistic expression beyond Homo sapiens. [THE DEBATE]( ILLUSTRATION BY GABRIEL UGUETO [The mysterious frog that re-evolved a full set of teeth]( More than 200 million years ago, the ancestors of modern frogs lost the teeth in their lower jaws. How did Guenther's marsupial frog regain them? [A TOOTHY MYSTERY]( [NGM]( [NGM]( [SHOP]( [DONATE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( [TRAVEL]( [READ OUR LATEST STORIES]( [SHOP]( [DONATE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( [TRAVEL]( [FB]( [Twitter]( [IG]( [View Online]( 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 [Stop all types of future commercial email]( from National Geographic regarding its products, services, or experiences. [Manage all email preferences]( with the Walt Disney Family of Companies. © 2021 National Geographic Partners, LLC, All rights reserved.