National Geographic

GEOGRAPHY QUIZ--Which Swiss city is home to the International Red Cross and a monument honoring leaders of the Protestant Reformation? (Answer below) Quiz answer (FROM ABOVE) Geneva. Questions from the National Geographic Bee, a program of the National Geographic Society.

Of the estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, linguists say, nearly half are in danger of extinction and likely to disappear in this century. Some endangered languages vanish in an instant, at the death of the sole surviving speaker. Others are lost gradually in bilingual cultures, as indigenous tongues are overwhelmed by the dominant language at school, in the marketplace and on television. New research, reported yesterday, has identified the five regions of the world where languages are disappearing most rapidly.

GADGETS: Foreign phone calls The new National Geographic Talk Abroad Travel Phone lets users receive incoming phone calls without charge in 65 countries, including all of Europe. Rates begin at 90 cents a minute for outgoing calls in Europe, according to Cellular Abroad, the company that is distributing and servicing the phone. The phone, which has the National Geographic name and logo on it, works on a pre paid plan, so users do not have to sign a contract. It can be rented starting at $49 a week and purchased for $199.

Japanese gardens Say konnichiwa (hello) to the new Japanese exhibit at the National Geographic Museum at Explorers Hall in Washington. Featuring more than 50 images snapped by National Geographic photographers over the past century, the exhibit Spirit of Japanese Gardens, opening Thursday and running through April 29, offers a look into the artistry of the gardens. Works by photographers Eliza Scidmore, Sam Abell, Cary Wolinsky, Michael Yamashita and Bob Krist will be on display. Also on view will be a newly designed garden by Yotaro Ono, president of the Zen Garden Society of Kyoto, Japan.

National Geographic has news for Baltimore: You're Nowheresville. The magazine with the yellow borders and voice of earthly authority has just tucked a pullout world map inside its pages, and in it, Baltimore gets a big, fat cartographic snub. Idaho Falls, Idaho (pop. 51,000), rates a little black dot. Yuma, Ariz. (pop. 89,000), gets a shout out, too. But Baltimore, pop. 635,815? Good ol' Natty Geo never heard of the place. Sure, Charm City sits in a crowded corridor, where it's hard to squeeze in much more than state capitals.

MIAMI -- A year after two bodies were discovered locked in gruesome embrace deep in the marsh, a television documentary attempts to solve a mystery since burned into Everglades lore. Did a giant python really explode after swallowing an alligator? And what ate the snake's head? The National Geographic Explorer show examines what happened last September when a 13-foot Burmese python ate a 6-foot gator in Everglades National Park. The extraordinary encounter was captured in a memorable macabre photo that captivated the public and experts alike, and - for a week, at least - made "alligator-python" among the most Googled phrases on the planet.