Tom PattersonThe Equal Earth map projection. An accurate world map is something that has evaded cartographers for centuries. But this new design just might make distorted maps a thing of the past.

A team of three mapmakers, led by J Richard Gott from Princeton University, have come up with a new kind of map that claims to be the most accurate, yet flat, depiction of the world yet.

and often accurate. It forms the basis for much of national and international law. The hidden globe is a kind of transfiguration of this map, an accretion of cracks and concessions, suspensions ...