Ghost Ship

The "ghost ship" of the Yukon is a specter no more. Recently photographed for the first time, the gold rush-era sternwheeler A.J. Goddard was discovered sitting upright and remarkably intact in a lake in the Yukon Territory, Canada (see map), in July 2008. (Watch an underwater video of the newly explored wreck.)Like an early 20th-century snapshot, "everything is just like it was when it went down in that late October storm in 1901," said project leader John Pollack, a nautical archaeologist and National Geographic Society Waitts grantee. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)The five crewmen's boots, kicked off in haste as they abandoned ship, were found on the deck. Fresh firewood was still in the boiler, and cooking pots and other utensils were scattered about. Axes lay on deck where the men, in a last-ditch effort, had tried to cut away the boat they'd been towing. (Related pictures: "Blackbeard Pirate Relics, Gold Found.")But once water started sloshing over the iron steamship's deck, "this thing went down like a submarine," Pollack said. Three of the men drowned.Finding such a well-preserved wreck is unprecedented in the Yukon, Pollack added. "This is about as good as it gets."

--Christine Dell'Amore
—Photograph courtesy Donnie Reid

Austfonna Ice Cap Melts During The Arctic Summer

In his 1997 book Ice: The Ultimate Disaster, author Richard Noone predicted that on May 5, 2000, the planets would perfectly align--and end life as we know it by sending melting ice (above, the Austfonna ice cap melts during the Arctic summer) barreling toward Earth's Equator.Noone argued in the book that Earth's previous axis shifts had coincided with tremendous climatic changes--such as ice ages--and that such "almost unimaginable results" would happen again.No such calamity occurred, and many scientists are now concerned about ice for another reason: Warming temperatures are gradually causing the world's frozen regions to melt away.

—Photograph by Paul Nicklen, National Geographic Stock

Plant Phallus

An image of the mustard plant's male reproductive organ, enlarged 20 times under a microscope, took top honors in the 2009 Small World Photomicrography Competition, announced October 8. (See last year's winners.)

Arabidopsis thaliana is the first plant to have its genome fully sequenced and is commonly used as a model in scientific research.

But it was the unusually artistic appearance of the winning shot that inspired photomicrographer and plant biologist Heiti Paves, of the Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia, to enter it into the 35-year-old competition, she said in a statement.

Sponsored by Nikon, the annual contest showcases "the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope."

--John Roach

—Photograph by Dr. Heiti Paves, courtesy Nikon Small World