To report “Earth Without People,” page 60, ALAN WEISMAN traveled from the urban canyons of New York City to the Demilitarized Zone in Korea and on to a primeval forest in Eastern Europe. “It’s like walking into the forest you see in your mind when you read Grimms’ fairy tales,” he says. “There are unbelievable trees, dark and thick and strange. It literally feels magical.” Weisman is now turning his article into a book, The World Without Us, to be published next year by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press.

Photographer GLEN WEXLER, best known for his digitally enhanced images of altered realities, conjured up the “Earth Without People” visuals. “What drove the imagery is the notion of reclamation, that nature would come back and reclaim civilization,” he says. “Man hasn’t necessarily destroyed the planet.” Wexler’s photographs have also appeared in Time, Los Angeles Magazine, Omni, the Los Angeles Times, and on many CD covers.

For writer GEORGE DYSON, the story of Project Orion—“The Grandest Rocket Ever,” page 50—is also the story of his own family. His father, Freeman, a renowned physicist, was on the research team that drew up plans for the giant nuclear-powered vehicle. The younger Dyson’s current pursuits include writing a book for Pantheon and Penguin Books about blending biology and computing after World War II, as well as building traditional Aleut kayaks. “Both are attempts to bring the past to life and to give credit to the real pioneers,” he says.

The can-do attitude of the high school students in “The Super Bowl of Smart,” page 54, impressed photographer BETH PERKINS. “Instead of just regurgitating knowledge, these kids were learning for themselves—learning engineering by doing,” she says. “There were so many different types of people all working together as a team.” Born in Venezuela, Perkins grew up in Houston but moved to New York to pursue her career. Her photographs have appeared in Newsweek, Technology Review, and Entertainment Weekly.