The newspaper, along with “Good Morning America,” recently consulted six panelists, from an astrophysicist to travel writer Pico Iyer, to update the Seven Wonders of the World. The news organizations are now revealing the wonders—one each weekday—through Friday. Making the list are Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet ("they form a dramatic double act of spiritual power, architectural splendor and faith enduring against all odds"); Old City, Jerusalem ("for its central place in religious history and struggles for tolerance"); the Polar ice caps ("it is becoming increasingly clear that the mind-blowing expanses of frozen water at the top and bottom of Earth hold the key to the future of life as we know it"); and Hawaiian Marine Monument in the Pacific ("It is the largest protected area on the planet"). Today, the newspaper added the Internet to the list, and World Hum’s own Michael Yessis, who also happens to be an editor at USA Today, explained the unorthodox choice.

He wrote:

[T]he significance and wonder of the Internet is difficult to overstate. “Five hundred years from now, when people look back at the 20th century, they’re going to ask: ‘What is that century’s greatest achievement?’ “ says Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History and one of six experts on our selection panel. They’ll answer: “The birth of the Internet and the fact that man first left Earth.”

USA Today’s panelists are not the only ones who have been contemplating New Wonders. As we noted back in January, a panel led by former Director-General of UNESCO Federico Mayor Zaragoza announced its own nominees—it’s a very different list—and travelers around the world can vote for their favorites throughout 2006.* The winners will be announced in January.

* Update/correction: The public can vote until July 6, 2007 and the winners will be announced the next day.

Photo courtesy of freestockphotos.com.