Many readers worldwide have sent e-mails messages expressing their sorrow at the loss of two National Geographic staffers and three teachers and three students from Washington, D.C. who died in Tuesday's terrorist attacks. Traveling together to an educational field trip on the U.S. West coast, they were passengers in the plane that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentgon.

A year ago the National Geographic Society grieved at the loss of two employees who were among the thousands who died in the terrorist attacks in the United States. Almost immediately, a groundswell of interest led to the creation of a geography education fund to honor Joe Ferguson and Ann Judge and support the work that was important to them.

Druids, Pagans, Travelers, and other alternative groups in the United Kingdom are demanding a say in the management of ancient sacred monuments such as Stonehenge. Researchers who studied the issue agree that the groups should have a bigger role.

A museum in Guanajuato, Mexico, takes pride in one of its permanent exhibits: more than 100 former residents who were mummified unintentionally as a result of an overcrowded cemetery and the area's extremely dry environment. Mummy specialists Ron Beckett and Jerry Conlogue recently examined the diverse collection. What they found supported some colorful local legends about the fates of the town's ancestors.

Was Dudleytown in northwest Connecticut cursed from the start? Many people believe that's what explains the disproportionate number of horrors that befell residents of the tiny town before it was abandoned a century ago. Today, reports of ghosts and other strange experiences in the area's dark, owl-filled forest draw curiosity-seekers to the legendary site.

Experts have been studying a roll of papyrus found with a mummy from the second century B.C. It is, they say, the oldest surviving example of a Greek poetry book, making it the most significant discovery in Greek literature in several decades.

In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, three witches brew a potion of animal parts: toad "venom," snake fillets, newt eyes, and more. What is it about certain animals and their body parts that makes us think of witchcraft and Halloween? Full story, dramatic reading, and photo gallery:

Witchcraft is an ancient practice, rooted in the celebration of the natural world but long viewed by wary outsiders as an evil taboo. Practitioners of witchcraft exist today in many societies around the world, conjuring both good and ill. But does their magic have any real power?

Scientists have produced the first map that traces human influence on the natural world, and the numbers are big. Overall, 83 percent of total land surface and 98 percent of the areas where it is possible to grow the world's three main crops is directly affected by human activities.

Mother and daughter paleontologists Meave and Louise Leakey have been named the newest explorers-in-residence at the National Geographic Society. Carrying on the fossil-hunting work begun by Louis Leakey in 1924, they have made many important discoveries that are helping to answer the mysteries of human origins.

Birder Mel White muses on rediscovering a passion nurtured in childhood after he was introduced to birds by his mother in Arkansas. "Birds have enhanced my life in ways that I couldn't have imagined at 20," he writes.

On a cold, rainy day in January 2001 when George W. Bush took the oath of office as President, Diana Walker retired from more than 20 years of photographing inside the White House. Her book, Public & Private, captures memorable photos of Presidents, First Ladies, and others as they walked into history. Full story and photo gallery:

Researchers may have uncovered the first ancient artifact that refers to Jesus as an actual person and identifies James, the first leader of the Christian church, as his brother. The evidence comes from an inscription on a 2,000-year-old box that once held bones.

For years, Bali was a peaceful enclave in conflict-ridden Indonesia. The popular tourist destination attracted 1.5 million visitors just last year. But on October 12, the peace was shattered when a car bomb exploded outside a tourist-packed nightclub, killing over 180 people. Now, few visitors are likely to return anytime soon. Here Traveler Editor Keith Bellows talks about the future of Bali's travel industry, alternative island getaways, and more.

In a centuries-old ritual in northern Thailand known as the "training crush," young elephants are subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation, hunger, and thirst to break their spirit and make them submissive to their owners. This story airs on our U.S. cable television program National Geographic Today. Full story and photo gallery: