ABOUT THIS PROJECT ABOUT THIS PROJECT USA TODAY and ABC News' Good Morning America teamed up to pick the seven New Wonders of the World. The new Seven Wonders of the World, chosen by our experts, are: Potala Palace/Jokhang Temple, Tibet; Jerusalem's Old City, Israel; polar ice caps; Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine Monument; the Internet; Maya pyramids, Central America; and Serengetti Plain, Tanzania An eighth wonder, voted on by readers and viewers at USATODAY.com is unveiled today. Meet the Panel: Profiles of the seven wonders panelists OTHER NEW WONDERS OTHER NEW WONDERS Mayan pyramids: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras The Internet: Web redefines reality Hawaiian Marine Monument: Hawaiian Islands Polar ice caps: Ends of the Earth Old City Jerusalem: Jerusalem, Israel Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple: Lhasa, Tibet The Web redefines reality If our experts had overlooked the Internet as one of the seven New Wonders of the World, it would have been understandable. The Internet doesn't strut like the original wonders. It isn't a towering edifice or a dusty artifact of an ancient time. It's something we need only to push a button to get to, something so integrated into our daily lives that it's easy to take for granted. Yet the 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." Our experts shared these points: • The Internet is a marvel of modern engineering, with its hyperlinks, routers and fiber-optic cables. • It reflects the enlightenment of the modern world. Says Tyson: "One of the hallmarks of the growth of knowledge is the extent to which you learn and discover the interconnectivity of things." And no human creation in history has connected the world like the Internet. • It has taken giant steps toward accomplishing one of the goals of the ancients: gathering all the knowledge in the world in one place. Our experts also agreed that the Internet can rightfully be called a place — somewhere people "go" to connect to anywhere in the world. Via webcam, they view Seattle from the top of the Space Needle just as easily as they watch rhinos and leopards roam South Africa. Perhaps the most wondrous thing, though, is how it is redefining the idea of place. In the Internet-based virtual world known as Second Life, for instance, more than 1 million citizens have created representations of themselves known as avatars and have built a place with its own original landscape and currency that can be spent at virtual representations of real world stores, attractions and activities. Want a pair of virtual Adidas shoes? Buy them. Want to see a virtual Duran Duran give a real concert? No problem. Want to crash at a hotel? Try the soon-to-be real-world Aloft Hotel. Small, head-spinning wonders like these pop up every day, and they're all harbingers of things to come. TOP TRAVEL STORIES Most read Most e-mailed TOP TRAVEL STORIES Most read Most e-mailed

