# List of National Geographic cover stories (2010s)

National Geographic is an American magazine that is noted for its cover stories and accompanying photography. Throughout the 2010s National Geographic's cover stories showcased global historical events such as the American Civil War and humanities treks to Mars. Cover stories included articles written by notable writers such as Tina Rosenberg, Charles C. Mann and Robert Draper. Cover photos were published by notable photographers such as Martin Schoeller, Aaron Huey and Stephanie Sinclair.
The 2010s saw articles written and photographed at locations around the globe featuring wildlife like the January 2018 issue titled "Why Birds Matter", written by Jonathan Franzen with a photo on the cover of a Secretarybird, photographed by Joel Sartore. Articles featured on the cover of the magazine also included human-interest stories such as "Last Tribes of the Amazon", written by Scott Wallace and Chris Fagon with photography by Charlie Hamilton James featuring a child of an Amazon tribe in the October 2018 issue. Many geographical locations were featured including western South America in the April 2011 article "The Genius of the Inca", written by Heather Pringle with photographs by Dylan Cole.

## 2010

2010 :
| Title | Date | Author | Photographer | Images |
| Merging Man and Machine | January 2010 | Josh Fischman | Mark Thiessen | Robotic hand |
| Polygamy in America | February 2010 | Scott Anderson | Stephanie Sinclair | Polygamist family |
| Wolf Wars | March 2010 | Douglas H. Chadwick | Jess Lee | Howling grey wolf |
| Water: Our Thirsty World | April 2010 | Barbara Kingsolver | Marc Thiessen | Water droplets |
| Mount St. Helens | May 2010 | Mckenzie Funk | Roger Werth | Eruption Mount St. Helens |
| Greenland: Ground Zero for Global Warming | June 2010 | Mark Jenkins | Photographer | Peter Essick |
| 400 Million Year Old Woman | July 2010 | Jamie Shreeve | Tim D. White | Ardipithecus ramidus skull |
| Bahamas Blue Holes | August 2010 | Andrew Todhunter | Wesley C. Skiles | Cave in The Bahamas |
| King Tut's DNA | September 2010 | Zahi Hawass | Kenneth Garrett | King Tut's burial mask |
| The Spill | October 2010 | Joel K. Bourne Jr. | Joel Sartore | Oiled brown pelican |
| Mysteries of Great Migrations | November 2010 | David Quammen | Chris Johns | Wildebeests |
| The Search for King David | December 2010 | Robert Draper | Norton Simon Foundation | David Slaying Goliath |

## 2011

2011 :
| Title | Date | Author | Photographer | Images |
| Population 7 Billion | January 2011 | Robert Kunzig | Peter Bialobrzeski | Urban landscape |
| Under Paris | February 2011 | Neil Shea | Fernand Ivaldi | Eiffel Tower |
| Designing the Perfect Pet | March 2011 | Evan Ratliff | Greg Schneider | Red fox |
| The Genius of the Inca | April 2011 | Heather Pringle | Dylan Cole | Inca Lost City |
| Above Yosemite | May 2011 | Mark Jenkins | Jimmy Chin | Half Dome |
| The Birth of Religion | June 2011 | Charles C. Mann | Vincent J. Musi | Göbekli Tepe |
| Cleopatra | July 2011 | Chip Brown | Sam Weber | Cleopatra stand-in |
| The Wildest Place in North America | August 2011 | Bruce Barcott | Paul Nicklen | Kermode bear |
| Can We Fly | September 2011 | Nancy Shute | Alain Emoult | Yves Rossy |
| The New Science of the Teenage Brain | October 2011 | David Dobbs | Sam Hundley | Watercolor Silhouette |
| England's Medieval Mystery | November 2011 | Caroline Alexander | Daniel Dociu | Medieval Warrior |
| The King James Bible | December 2011 | Adam Nicolson | Jim Richardson | King James Version |

## 2012

2012 :
| Title | Date | Author | Photographer | Images |
| Twins | January 2012 | Peter Miller | Martin Schoeller | Twin children |
| What Dogs Tell Us | February 2012 | Evan Ratliff | William Wegman | Weimaraner |
| The Journey of the Apostles | March 2012 | Andrew Todhunter | Leonardo da Vinci | The Last Supper |
| Titanic | April 2012 | Hampton Sides | Nick Kaloterakis | Titanic |
| Eyewitness to the Civil War | May 2012 | Harry Katz | Rebecca Hale | American Civil War portraits |
| Solar Super Storms | June 2012 | Timothy Ferris | NASA | Sun |
| Easter Island | July 2012 | Hannah Bloch | Fernando G. Baptista | Easter Island statue |
| In the Spirit of Crazy Horse | August 2012 | Alexandra Fuller | Aaron Huey | Oglala Lakota Horserace |
| What's Up with the Weather | September 2012 | Peter Miller | Mike Hollingshead | Tornado |
| Blood Ivory: 25,000 Elephants Were Killed Last Year | October 2012 | Bryan Christy | Brent Stirton Michael Nichols | Ivory tusks |
| Cuba | November 2012 | Cynthia Gorney | Jeremy Collins Ken Geiger | Map of CubaCheetah |
| The World's Largest Trees | December 2012 | David Quammen | Michael Nichols | California Redwoods |

## 2013

2013 :
| Title | Date | Author | Photographer | Images | Ref |
| Why We Explore Saving Ecuador's Forest Discovering Microbes Within Us Up on Earth's Roof As Low As You Can Go | January 2013 | Tim Folger Scott Wallace Nathan Wolfe Staff writer Staff writer | Dana Berry Tim Laman Martin Oeggerli Cory Richards Mark Theiessen | SpacecraftEarth Night monkeys Microorganism Ice climber Deepsea Challenger | [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] |
| Unseen Libya | February 2013 | Robert Draper | George Steinmetz | Temple of Zeus, Olympia | |
| America Strikes Oil | March 2013 | David Quammen | Eugene Richards | Oil rig fire | |
| Reviving Extinct Species | April 2013 | Carl Zimmer | Jon Foster | Woolly mammoth | |
| This Baby Will Live to Be 120* | May 2013 | Stephen S. Hall | Robert Clark | Infant | |
| The New Explorers | June 2013 | Peter Gwin | Marco Grob | James Cameron | |
| Our Wild Wild Solar System | July 2013 | Robert Irion | Dana Berry | Planets colliding | |
| Sugar: Why We Can't Resist It | August 2013 | David Quammen | Robert Clark | Cupcake | |
| Rising Seas | September 2013 | Tim Folger | Nick Kaloterakis | Statue of Liberty | |
| The Photography Issue | October 2013 | Robert Draper | Steve McCurry, et al. | Sharbat Gula. et al. | |
| The Monster Storm | November 2013 | Robert Draper | Carsten Peter | Tim SamarasTornado | |
| Our Greatest Journey | December 2013 | Paul Salopek | John Stanmeyer | Paul SalopekCamels | |

## 2014

2014 :
| Title | Date | Author | Photographer | Images |
| Defenders of the Amazon | January 2014 | Chip Brown | Martin Schoeller | Kayapo girl |
| The New Science of the Brain | February 2014 | Carl Zimmer | Van WedeenL.L. Wald | Fibers inside the brain |
| The Truth About Black Holes | March 2014 | Michael Finkel | Mark A. Garlick | Black hole |
| Wild Pets | April 2014 | Lauren Slater | Vincent J. Musi | Hedgehog |
| The New Food Revolution | May 2014 | Johnathan Foley | Nick Kaloterais | Earth |
| Hero Dogs | June 2014 | Michael Paterniti | Martin Schoeller | Belgian Malinois |
| Is Anybody Out There? | July 2014 | Michael Lemonick | Dana Berry | Europa (moon) |
| The First Stonehenge | August 2014 | Roff Smith | Jim Richardson | Stones of Stenness |
| Rome's Bad Boy | September 2014 | Robert Draper | Sam Weber | Nero |
| Move Over T.Rex! | October 2014 | Tom Mueller | Mike Hettwer | Spinosaurus |
| Real Zombies | November 2014 | Carl Zimmer | Anand Varma | LadybugWasp |
| The Joy of Food | December 2014 | Staff writer | Joel Sartore | Red apple |

## 2015

2015 :
| Title | Date | Author | Photographer | Images |
| The First American | January 2015 | Glen Hodges | Tomer Hanuka | 12,000 year old teenager |
| Healing Our Soldiers | February 2015 | Caroline Alexander | Lynn Johnson | USMC soldier |
| The War on Science | March 2015 | Joel Achenbach | Richard Barnes | Fake photo set of Moon landing |
| Lincoln | April 2015 | Adam Goodheart | Library of Congress | Abraham Lincoln |
| Thinking Like a Dolphin | May 2015 | Joshua Foer | Brian Skerry | Bottlenose dolphin |
| Weed: The New Science of Marijuana | June 2015 | Hampton Sides | Bill Marr | Marijuana plant |
| Destination Pluto | July 2015 | Nadia Drake | Dana Berry | Pluto |
| Pope Francis | August 2015 | Robert Draper | Dave Yoder | Pope Francis |
| Ivory | September 2015 | Bryan Christy | Rebecca Hale | Ivory tusk |
| Almost Human | October 2015 | Jamie Shreeve | Robert Clark | Homo naledi |
| Cool it. | November 2015 | Peter Miller | Robert Simmon | Earth |
| Mary | December 2015 | Maureen Orth | Diana Markosian | Madonna (art) |

## 2016

2016 :
| Title | Date | Author | Photographer | Images |
| The Power of Parks | January 2016 | David Quammen | Stephen Wilkes | Yosemite |
| Under London | February 2016 | Roff Smith | Imagery Forces | London artifacts |
| Eat Me | March 2016 | Elizabeth Royte | Hans Gissinger | Vegetables |
| The Photo Ark | April 2016 | Rachel Hartigan Shea | Joel Sartore | Giant panda |
| Yellowstone | May 2016 | David Quammen | Jordan Metcalfe | Yellowstone |
| Tomb Raiders | June 2016 | Tom Mueller | Kenneth Garrett | King Tut mask |
| The Real CSI | July 2016 | Veronique Greenwood | ar-chi (Getty Images) | Thumbprint |
| The DNA Revolution | August 2016 | Michael Specter | Bose Collins | DNA strand |
| The End of Blindness | September 2016 | David Dobbs | David Littsschwager | Human eye |
| Back to Nature | October 2016 | Timothy Egan | Corey Arnold | Photo |
| Race to the Red Planet | November 2016 | Joel Achenbach | ISRO | Mars |
| The Healing Power of Faith | December 2016 | Erik Vance | Leemage/Corbis (Getty Images) | 1526 Madonna (art) |

## 2017

2017 :
| Title | Date | Author | Photographer | Images |
| Gender Revolution | January 2017 | Tina Rosenberg | Robin Hammond | Transgender girl |
| Saving Our Oceans | February 2017 | Cynthia Barnett | Brian Skerry | California sea lion |
| Vikings | March 2017 | Heather Pringle | Fernando G.Baptista | Viking |
| The Next Human | April 2017 | T.D. Max | Owen Freeman | Past, present, future Humans |
| What is Genius | May 2017 | Claudia Clab | Tomer Hanuka | Albert Einstein |
| Why We Lie | June 2017 | Yudhijit Bhattacharjee | Staff Photographer | Polygraph readout |
| Secret Antarctica | July 2017 | Laurent Ballesta | Laurent Ballesta | Scuba diver under ice |
| The Space Issue | August 2017 | Multiple authors | NASA | Crab Nebula |
| The Science of Addiction | September 2017 | Fran Smith | Max Aguilera-Hellweg | Human brain |
| The Making of an Icon: Becoming Jane | October 2017 | Tony Gerber | Hugo van Lawick | Jane Goodall |
| The Search for Happiness | November 2017 | Dan Buettner | James Kaiser | Waterfall in Costa Rica |
| The Real Jesus | December 2017 | Kristin Romey | Bridgeman Images | Head of Christ (Rembrandt) |

## 2018

2018 :
| Title | Date | Author | Photographer | Images |
| Why Birds Matter | January 2018 | Jonathan Franzen | Joel Sartore | Secretarybird |
| The New Big Brother | February 2018 | Robert Draper | Nick Kaloterakis | Satellite |
| Through An Astronaut's Eyes | March 2018 | Nadia Drake | Dan Winters | Peggy Whitson |
| Black and White | April 2018 | Patricia Edmonds | Robin Hammond | Twins |
| Artist, Provocateur, Rouge, Genius, Picasso. | May 2018 | Leila Fadel | Pablo Picasso | Picasso Self-portrait |
| Planet or Plastic? | June 2018 | Laura Parker | Jorge Gamboa | Iceberg |
| Building a Better Athlete | July 2018 | Christine Brennan | John Huet | Katie Ledecky |
| The Science of Sleep | August 2018 | Michael Finkel | Magnus Wennman | Child sleeping |
| The Story of a Face | September 2018 | Joanna Connors | Maggie Steber | Face transplant recipient |
| Last Tribes of the Amazon | October 2018 | Scott Wallace Chris Fagon | Charlie Hamilton James | Child of an Amazon tribe |
| Battle for the American West | November 2018 | Hannah Nordhaus | Aaron Huey | Cowboy on horseback |
| The Search for Sacred Text | December 2018 | Robert Draper | Paolo Veronese | Torah scroll |

## 2019

2019 :
| Title | Date | Author | Photographer | Images |
| The Future of Medicine | January 2019 | Fran Smith | Craig Cutler | Hand with Microchip |
| The Ultimate Climb | February 2019 | Mark Synnott | Mickey Schaefer | Alex Honnold climbing El Capitan |
| Are We Alone | March 2019 | Jamie Shreeve | Sarel Van Staden Maryna Cotton | MeerKAT viewing Milky Way |
| Cities | April 2019 | Neil Shea | Vincent Laforet | Sydney Harbour Bridge |
| Leonardo | May 2019 | Claudia Kalb | Riccardo Vecchio | Leonardo da Vinci |
| The Hidden Cost of Wildlife Tourism | June 2019 | Natasha Daly | Kristen Luce | Caged sloth |
| Beyond the Moon: A New Era of Space Travel is Here | July 2019 | Multiple authors | William Anders | Earthrise |
| World on the Move | August 2019 | Paul Salopek | K M Asad | Rohingya Refugee |
| The Arctic is Heating Up | September 2019 | Shea | NSIDC | Earth |
| Last of Its Kind | October 2019 | Elizabeth Kolbert | Ami Vitale | Sudan (rhinoceros) |
| Women: A Century of Change | November 2019 | Multiple authors | Multiple | Photo |
| Under Jerusalem | December 2019 | Andrew Lawler | Bose Collins | Jerusalem |