National Geographic UK - 03 2019

РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.
COM/WSNWS
03.2019
WE ARE NOT ALONE
“Something great is
around those stars.”
SA RA S E AG E R ,
ASTROPHYSICIST
Scientists say there must be other life in the universe.

Here’s how they’re searching for it.
РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
oƜɡŵőȂEɱɱƜ žƜɱŵǠɡƜ ƜʸǠɱǗƜ˛ɡɱǅȂŵőȂǗőǠɡžőɡƜŵɡő Ɖ

ʴƜƜƉő ƉőʗǗƜ ǠžőƜƉŵˁãˁőȂ&ő ǠždőɡƉƜ ɱƜʸ
HEALTHY HAIR
by HERBAL ESSENCES
N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C MARCH 2019
C O N T E N T S On the Cover
The Milky Way glows
above one of the 64
antennas of MeerKAT,
a supersensitive telescope
that scans the sky for
radio signals. It’s located
in South Africa’s Northern
Cape Province.
SAREL VAN STADEN AND
MARYNA COTTON; PANORAMA
COMPOSED OF THREE IMAGES
17
P R O O F E M B A R K E X P L O R E
THE BIG IDEA
A Wake-Up Call
on Water Quality
One-quarter of Amer-
icans drink water from
systems that aren’t safe.
BY R H E A S U H
34
8
GENIUS
Safer. Cheaper.
Greener. DECODER
Engineer Leslie Dewan Evolved to Crack

wants to reinvent Scientists are learning
nuclear energy. more about how ele-
BY RACHEL HARTIGAN SHEA
phants get the creases
in their skin and why
those crevices are so
important to them.
BY MO N I C A S E R R A N O
THROUGH THE LENS
Conjuring Clouds Strange Reflections

With water vapor, During the annual flood
smoke, lights, and season in Venice, build-
imagination, a Dutch ings appear as distorted
artist makes clouds in images on the water.
unexpected places— Within those reflections,
and coaxes them to a photographer finds
pose for the camera. ALSO
bizarre creatures—and
P H OTO P ROJ E C T BY Transparent Butterflies also solace.
BERNDNAUT SMILDE A Mighty New Dinosaur BY J O D I C O B B
M A R C H | CONTENTS
F E AT U R E S Who’s Out There? No Way Out Treehoppers

The big existential Criminal gangs have These mini-monsters
question is no longer, fractured El Salvador. are masters of disguise.
Is there life beyond BY JA S O N MOT L AG H BY DOUGLAS MAIN
Earth? It’s a pretty P H OTO G RA P H S BY P H OTO G RA P H S BY
sure bet there is. MOISES SAMAN AND J AV I E R A Z N A R
The question now is, A DA M F E RG U S O N G O N Z Á L E Z D E RU E DA
How do we find who— . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 76 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 120
or what—is alive out
there? And we are Borneo’s Vast Rituals of Rebellion
getting really close Underworld The Americas’
to answering it. Malaysia’s Mulu caves carnivals honor
BY JA M I E S H R E E V E boast chambers that revelers’ roots.
P H OTO G RA P H S BY are millions of years old. BY JAC Q U E L I N E C H A R L E S
S P E N C E R LOW E L L BY NEIL SHEA P H OTO G RA P H S BY
A RT B Y DA N A B E R RY P H OTO G RA P H S BY CHARLES FRÉGER
...................................... P. 42 C A R S T E N P E T E R . . . . . . P. 100 ..................................... P. 132
NEVER MISS A MOMENT

O F A N I N C R E D I B L E STO RY
* For compatibility with the optional Mount Adapter FTZ, please visit nikonusa.com/mirrorless
Nikon is a registered trademark of Nikon Corporation. ©2019 Nikon Inc.
M I R R O R L E S S
R E I N V E N T E D
Inspired by your creativity, the Nikon Z 6 is a versatile, compact full-frame

camera that brings legendary Nikon optical excellence to both photography
and videography. The revolutionary Z mount unlocks the potential of
NIKKOR Z lenses, while an innovative adapter allows you to shoot with
approximately 360 F-Mount NIKKOR® lenses.* All of which lets you capture
spectacular photos and full-frame 4K UHD video with full pixel readout.
Mirrorless, reinvented by Nikon, means a future full of creative possibility.
24 . 5 M P | U P TO 12 FP S | 4K U H D (FU L L- FR A M E + FU L L PI X EL R E A D O U T) |
I N - C A M ER A 5-A X IS V R | 10 - B I T O U T PU T + N - LO G
L E A R N M O R E AT N I KO N US A .CO M /M I R R O R L E S S
M A R C H | W H AT ’ S C OM I N G
BOOKS
Chronicling The
Impossible Climb
Author Mark Synnott
shadowed rock climber
Alex Honnold during
his secret preparations
to free solo Yosemite’s
El Capitan. The result:
a riveting account
of Honnold’s ropeless
climb up the 3,000-foot
rock face. The Impos-
sible Climb arrives in
bookstores March 5.
TELEVISION
More Story of God

Morgan Freeman
continues his global
exploration of the
power of religion. New
episodes look at the
nature of divine visions
and at beliefs about the
devil. The Story of God
airs Tuesdays at 9/8c
starting March 5 on
National Geographic.
NAT
GEO
Join the Search for BOOKS
TV
Lost Treasures of Egypt Look Up! It’s Our
Night Sky Guide
Follow international teams of Egyptologists National Geographic’s
as they mine the world’s richest seam of ancient Backyard Guide to
archaeology: Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. See the Night Sky is out
in a second edition
highlights of a full season of excavations as the packed with even
dig teams use innovative technology to pursue more astronomy pho-
finds such as this wall painting of King Tut. Lost tos and facts. Available
March 19 wherever
Treasures of Egypt’s six episodes air Tuesdays at books are sold and at
10/9c starting March 5 on National Geographic. shopng.com/books.
Subscriptions For subscriptions or changes of address, contact Customer Service at ngmservice.com Contributions to the National Geographic Society are tax de-
or call 1-800-647-5463. Outside the U.S. or Canada call +1-515-237-3674. We occasionally make ductible under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. | Copyright
our subscriber names available to companies whose products or services might be of interest to © 2019 National Geographic Partners, LLC | All rights reserved.
you. If you prefer not to be included, you may request that your name be removed from promotion lists National Geographic and Yellow Border: Registered Trademarks
by calling 1-800-647-5463. To opt out of future direct mail from other organizations, visit DMAchoice.org,
or mail a request to: DMA Choice, c/o Data & Marketing Association, PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512.
® Marcas Registradas. National Geographic assumes no respon-
sibility for unsolicited materials. Printed in U.S.A.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (ISSN 0027-9358) PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS, LLC, 1145 17TH ST. NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036. $39 PER YEAR FOR U.S. DELIVERY, $44.00
TO CANADA, $51.00 TO INTERNATIONAL ADDRESSES. SINGLE ISSUE: $7.00 U.S. DELIVERY, $10.00 CANADA, $15.00 INTERNATIONAL. (ALL PRICES IN U.S. FUNDS; INCLUDES SHIPPING AND HANDLING.) PE-
RIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT WASHINGTON, DC, AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, PO BOX 37545, BOONE, IA 50037. IN
CANADA, AGREEMENT NUMBER 1000010298, RETURN UNDELIVERABLE ADDRESSES TO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, PO BOX 819 STN MAIN, MARKHAM, ONTARIO L3P 9Z9. UNITED KINGDOM NEWSSTAND
PRICE £5.99. REPR. EN FRANCE: EMD FRANCE SA, BP 1029, 59011 LILLE CEDEX; TEL. 320.300.302; CPPAP 0720U89037; DIRECTEUR PUBLICATION: D. TASSINARI. DIR. RESP. ITALY: RAPP IMD SRL, VIA G. DA VE-
LATE 11, 20162 MILANO; AUT. TRIB. MI 258 26/5/84 POSTE ITALIANE SPA; SPED. ABB. POST. DL 353/2003 (CONV L.27/02/2004 N.46) ART 1 C. 1 DCB MILANO STAMPA. QUAD/GRAPHICS, MARTINSBURG, WV
25401. SUBSCRIBERS: IF THE POSTAL SERVICE ALERTS US THAT YOUR MAGAZINE IS UNDELIVERABLE, WE HAVE NO FURTHER OBLIGATION UNLESS WE RECEIVE A CORRECTED ADDRESS WITHIN TWO YEARS.
PHOTO: WINDFALL FILMS

GOING HIGHER
TO DIG DEEPER
In 2019 NASA Earth Science will launch five

new science campaigns to investigate some of
Earth’s most pressing research questions, such
as the cause of intense East Coast snow storms
and the impact of ocean currents on global
climate. For one of these projects, they’re
calling on the expertise of the researchers
at Texas A&M University.
Texas A&M and Harvard University are teaming

up to collect important atmospheric data from a
high-altitude NASA aircraft to study the impact
of strong storms on the stratosphere. “Dynamics
and Chemistry of the Summer Stratosphere”
will investigate how storms can carry chemical
pollutants into the lower atmospheric layer,
potentially affecting the ozone. As storms
become stronger and more destructive, this
kind of information is invaluable for keeping FE A R LES S FRO NT.C O M
the earth and its inhabitants safe. It’s another
way that the Aggies at Texas A&M are
ENVISIONING ON EVERY FRONT.

M A R C H | FROM THE EDITOR
SALVADORANS
Uncertain Future
BY SUSAN GOLDBERG P H OTO G R A P H BY ADAM FERGUSON
in the United States. She has a busi-

ness cleaning homes and construction
sites on Long Island, New York. And
she has two children, ages 17 and 12,
who are U.S. citizens.
Today her life feels as uncertain as
when she first arrived. In early 2018
the Trump administration declared
that Salvadorans would lose TPS and
should leave the country by September
2019. A court temporarily blocked the
order, but there’s no final decision on
Salvadorans’ fate, and it’s uncertain
when one will be made.
To Martínez and many Salvadorans
who have long made the United States
their home, returning to El Salvador is
unthinkable. She has become an activ-
ist, journeying to Washington, D.C.,
to tell lawmakers what will happen
to families like hers if TPS is revoked.
Cecilia Martínez (seated), in 1998 when
C E C I L I A M A RT Í N E Z WA S 1 5 “When you have been living in the
a native of El Salvador, she slipped into Arizona from Mexico. U.S.A. for so many years, they think
lives in the United States
She came with no family and arrived to you are rich, and the gangs come after
under the immigration
classification known as
none, striking out on her own, scraping you,” she says. “They ask for ‘rent’—
temporary protected by on babysitting and bagging groceries. that’s what they call it. They will go
status. She poses in front It was hard but preferable to her native after my son, who is 17. They will hurt
of her Long Island, New El Salvador: “I came to work. Everyone us if we don’t give them what they
York, home with her son, said you could make a better life here.” ask for.” In the coming year “our son
Andrew, and her daughter,
Indeed she has. Three years after she planned to go to college,” Martínez
Gracie, who were born
in the United States and
arrived, Martínez received temporary says. “But now our life has stopped.”
are U.S. citizens. protected status (TPS), an immigra- We asked writer Jason Motlagh
tion classification given to people from and photographers Moises Saman
countries where conditions—such as and Adam Ferguson to document the
armed conflict or natural disaster— lives of Salvadorans in their homeland
would make returning unsafe. El and in the United States. What plagues
Salvador qualifies: In 2001 two cata- El Salvador—poverty, violence, lack
strophic earthquakes struck, and since of opportunity—exists also in Guate-
then escalating warfare among gangs, mala and Honduras. It explains why so
police, and the military has made the many people are making a treacherous
nation one of the world’s deadliest out- and probably fruitless walk north: They
side of war zones. are looking, as Martínez did, to build a
Martínez is among the 200,000 life with safety, dignity, and a future.
Salvadorans who currently have TPS, Thank you for reading National
meaning they can legally live and work Geographic. j
CREATE A LEGACY
OF YOUR OWN
“ I included National Geographic in my will because big cats are

endangered and I want to do everything I can to protect them.
My bequest will support the Society’s Big Cats Initiative. ”
— D R . S U SA N B A E R , N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C A L E X A N D E R G R A H A M B E L L L E G AC Y S O C I E T Y M E M B E R
C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 1 8 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C S O C I E T Y / M I C H A E L N I C H O L S / N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C C R E AT I V E D O N O R P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F S U S A N B A E R
CREATE YOUR LEGACY TODAY

By including the National Geographic Society in your will, trust, or by beneficiary designation, you can pass on
your love of exploration, science, and conservation to future generations. Your gift costs you nothing now and
allows you to change your beneficiaries at any time.
Yes! Please send me information on leaving a gift to the Mail to: National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society. Office of Planned Giving
1145 17th Street, N.W.
The National Geographic Society has already been Washington, D.C. 20036-4688
included in my estate plans.
Contact: legacy@ngs.org
I would like to speak to someone about making a gift.
(800) 226-4438
Please call me.
natgeo.org/give/future-gifts
NAME
ADDRESS
PHONE EMAIL
The National Geographic Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Our federal tax ID number is 53-0193519 19PGAD03
P R O O F
With water misters and smoke machines, Dutch artist

N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C LO O K I N G AT T H E E A RT H F ROM E V E RY P O S S I B L E A N G L E
Berndnaut Smilde
creates clouds to
photograph in odd
places—here, in China’s
Shanghai Himalayas
Museum—using smoke
and mist machines. (He
retouches the images so
the tools aren’t seen.)
PHOTO: NINA CHEN

CONJURING CLOUDS
Berndnaut Smilde creates the vaporous puffs—and poses them.
VO L . 2 3 5 N O. 3
MARCH 2019 9
P R O O F
The artist’s creations in gallery spaces include a sky-grazing cloud at the De Groen Fine Art Collection
in Arnhem, the Netherlands (top), and a low-hanging cloud in the Visual arts center in Carlow, Ireland.
10 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C PHOTOS, FROM TOP: CASSANDER EEFTINCK SCHATTENKERK; MICHAEL HOLLY

Smilde’s settings range from the ornate—the Green Room in the San Francisco War Memorial & Perform-
ing Arts Center (top)—to the spare: the Hotel Maria Kapel exhibition space in Hoorn, the Netherlands.
PHOTOS, FROM TOP: R.J. MUNA; CASSANDER EEFTINCK SCHATTENKERK MARCH 2019 11
P R O O F
In Cologne, Germany,
a cloud hovers in the
Sankt Peter Köln, a late
Gothic church that’s also
used as a center for spiri-
tuality, art, and music.
PHOTO: CASSANDER EEFTINCK SCHATTENKERK

MARCH 2019 13
P R O O F
THE BACKSTORY
C L O U D S A R E A N O R D I N A R Y S I G H T. B U T T H I S A R T I S T M A K E S H I S
O W N — S P A R K I N G A P P R E C I A T I O N O F T H E I R F L E E T I N G B E A U T Y.
fluffy
B E R N D N A U T S M I L D E C R E AT E S cloud, coaxing it into a shape about
clouds in locations where nature 10 feet across and six feet tall. Then he
never would place them. The Dutch steps back long enough for a photog-
artist’s sculptures last five seconds—10 rapher to snap several images. Once
seconds tops—before they disappear. the air clears, he’ll start over, repeat-
Smilde’s ongoing project, called ing the process dozens of times until
“Nimbus,” explores the visual effects he’s happy with the results. Later, he’ll
of clouds. A church or museum inte- retouch the photos to remove his tools.
rior looks different behind a cloud, The artist regularly fields invita-
and an everyday cloud is peculiar in a tions to create clouds on command,
castle or a canyon. Each scene is made like a tropospheric party trick. Often
more intense by lasting only moments. he declines. He says he only attempts
The ingredients for Smilde’s clouds: new images when the setting offers
just smoke and water vapor. He requires him something fresh as an artist. To
a cold and damp space with no air cir- him, the crucial takeaway is not the
culation, lest the clouds never form or wonder of a fabricated cloud but its
fall straight to the ground. He mists an transience—that it exists for a moment
area with a spray bottle to put water and then is gone forever.
vapor into the air. Then he turns on Each creation is “about being at the
fog machines that spout tiny particles, right place at the right time,” Smilde
and the vapor condenses around them. says. “If you’re seeing a photo, you
Smilde runs around the forming already missed it.” — DA N I E L S TO N E
Photographer Cassander Eeftinck Schattenkerk captures an image of a cloud that Smilde created in
the Baths of Diocletian, part of the National Roman Museum.
14 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C PHOTO: ANNEGRET KELLNER

IN THIS SECTION
Roaches vs. Wasps
E M B A R K Opium Poppy DNA

Plasticized Plankton
On Wings of Glass
T H E D I S C O V E R I E S O F T O D AY T H AT W I L L D E F I N E T H E W O R L D O F T O M O R R O W
N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C VO L . 2 3 5 N O. 3
A Wake-Up Call
on Water Quality
O N E - F O U R T H O F A M E R I C A N S D R I N K WAT E R F R O M S Y S T E M S T H AT
D O N ’ T M E E T S A F E T Y L AW S . A L L O F U S , T O G E T H E R , C A N C H A N G E T H AT.
W
BY RHEA SUH
says she’s thirsty, I take

W H E N M Y YO U N G DAU G H T E R
for granted that the water from our kitchen tap is
clean and safe. In fact, that’s what most Americans
assume. But should we?
As we mark World Water Day on March 22, the
disturbing truth is that roughly a quarter of Ameri-
cans drink from water systems that violate the Safe
Drinking Water Act. Violations range from failing to
properly test water to allowing dangerous levels of
lead or arsenic—and occur everywhere: in rural com-
munities and big cities, in red states and blue ones.
The lead contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan,
was extreme—and shocking because of the role that
race played. However, it was not an isolated case,
and we need to consider it a national wake-up call.
Across the country, water systems are old, badly
maintained, and in dire need of modernizing—from
lead service lines in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and
Newark, New Jersey, to silt and debris in drinking
MARCH 2019 17
E M B A R K | THE BIG IDEA
EVERYONE HAS A RIGHT TO CLEAN

WAT E R , N O M AT T E R W H AT YO U
LOOK LIKE, HOW MUCH MONEY
YOU MAKE, OR WHICH POLITICAL
PA R T Y Y O U FAV O R . I N A M E R I C A ,
T H A T R I G H T I S E N S H R I N E D I N L AW.
water after heavy rain in Austin, Texas, to fecal con-

tamination in Penn Township, Pennsylvania. Worse,
some are managed by dysfunctional agencies where
incompetence and socioeconomic and racial bias
may determine whether a community is made sick
by its drinking water. The reality is that we can no
longer assume that our water is safe to drink.
How unsafe is it? Depending on the source of con-
tamination and the exposure, health effects include
neurological problems and developmental disabil-
ities in children (lead), interference with hormones
(perchlorates), and increased risk of cancers of the
PFAS: Chemicals
skin, bladder, and kidney (arsenic). The Environ- Most of Us Carry
mental Protection Agency regulates more than 90
contaminants—but a hundred more that are tracked What are perfluoroalkyl sub-
are so far unregulated. stances? Generally known as PFAS,
they’re a class of human-made
to clean water, no matter
E V E RYO N E H A S A R I G H T chemicals found in everything from
what you look like, how much money you make, nonstick pans to raincoats and fire-
or which political party you favor. In America, that fighting foam. They’re also known
right is enshrined in the Clean Water Act of 1972, to harm human health.
which defines how the EPA regulates pollutants Two of these chemicals, PFOS
in U.S. waters, and the Safe Drinking Water Act and PFOA, are present at unsafe
of 1974, which establishes maximum amounts of levels in the drinking water of six
pollutants in all public water systems. Those fed- million Americans and found in the
eral laws were passed at the peak of environmental bodies of 98 percent of Americans.
degradation in our country—a time when smog They enter water supplies when
choked our cities and rivers were so contaminated manufacturers dispose of PFAS
they regularly caught fire. or, in the case of firefighting foam,
Those laws and many other regulations at state when used at places such as air-
and city levels have made great progress toward ports and naval bases.
reducing pollution and addressing public health. The world around us is full of
Some of us now don’t worry about the toxicity of the PFOS and PFOA. They don’t break
air for our children’s afternoon soccer games or the down in the environment or
flammability of the local river, primarily because degrade easily when they enter
our environmental protections have worked. But in the human body. Even at low levels,
far too many places around the country, those basic PFAS are linked to a range of seri-
laws are not being upheld or enforced, and people ous illnesses, including cancer of
are suffering the consequences. the kidneys and testicles, thyroid
Look at Puerto Rico. The water situation there and liver disease, lower fertility in
was unacceptable—the worst in the nation—even women, and birth defects.
before Hurricane Maria in 2017. An analysis by my Ask your local representatives
organization, the Natural Resources Defense Coun- what they’re doing about PFAS
cil (NRDC), showed that almost all of Puerto Rico’s and safe drinking water. — R S
residents in 2015 got their water from systems that
violated the Safe Drinking Water Act and nearly 70
percent of them got their tap water from sources
contaminated with coliform bacteria, disinfection
by-products, and more.
18 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
ILLUSTRATION: DADU SHIN

E M B A R K | THE BIG IDEA
Maria created a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

People had no choice but to get their drinking water LEAD MAKES HEADLINES,
from toxic sources, and scores ended up in emer-
BUT IT’S NOT THE HALF
gency rooms with gastrointestinal illnesses. Even
now, more than a year after the storm, Puerto Ricans O F I T. T H E M O R E W E L O O K
are still warned to boil water before drinking it. FOR P OLLUTION, THE MORE
As climate change increases the intensity and WE ’LL FIND, AND THE LIST
duration of hurricane season, Puerto Rico will likely OF CONTAMINANTS IS LONG.
find itself in even more dire circumstances. That
means we need to invest significant resources now
in the island’s water and power infrastructure, which
remains fragile at best. The problem may feel overwhelming, but together
So far, U.S. leaders have approved only a small we can solve it. We need to start with the basics,
fraction of what Puerto Rico needs to protect itself. like replacing lead pipes and fixing deteriorating
By shortchanging this American island, we are con- mains. Then we can modernize our aging water
demning it to more climate-related destruction and infrastructure with more filtration or treatment
an ongoing water crisis. And many other vulnerable processes to better purify wastewater before it enters
communities are in the same fix. the drinking water system. We need to better regu-
late pollutants, strengthen protections for drinking
the first step in securing clean
AC RO S S A M E R I C A , water, and improve testing. A bonus: We can do all
drinking water is better information. In 2016, New of these things and create good-paying new jobs in
York became the first state in the country to require communities throughout the country.
school districts to test drinking water sources for lead,
something the Safe Drinking Water Act fails to do. insisting that clean water not be
I T A L L B E G I N S BY
NRDC looked at the data on drinking water from treated as a partisan issue. No matter how you voted
New York State’s public schools. Our analysis showed in the past two elections, you didn’t vote for con-
that 82 percent of public schools in New York had one taminated drinking water. So, together we need to
or more taps that exceeded the state’s lead action hold government officials to account at all levels.
level—and as you might expect, the problem was We can start with leaders in Washington who, in my
worse in lower-income schools. estimation, are trying to shrink government’s role
New York already is one of 10 states (along with in protecting public health.
the District of Columbia) that require universal blood In 1970 millions of Americans rose up and
tests for lead before age three. Now, newly armed with demanded stronger environmental and public health
data on lead sources, the state has an opportunity protections—and won them. Nearly 50 years later we
to protect the 2.7 million children in public schools need to rise up again.
(including my daughter) and to become an example This is where you come in. You can join the many
for other states. people taking to the streets to march for a clean envi-
Lead makes headlines, but it’s not the half of it. ronment. You can read up on water issues in your
The more we look for pollution, the more we’ll find, community, then attend town hall or water depart-
and the list of contaminants is long: Coliform bacteria ment hearings. You can call your representatives and
near dairy farms in Wisconsin. Nitrates from fertiliz- tell them that water quality matters to you and your
ers in Iowa’s rivers. Lead, mercury, and uranium in family. Your voice is exactly what’s required now to
fracking fluid in places like Ohio, Oklahoma, Penn- defend and make real our right to clean water. j
sylvania, and North Dakota. Toxic chemicals such as
those in Teflon that are so ubiquitous they’re found in Rhea Suh is president of the Natural Resources Defense
the blood of 98 percent of people in the United States Council, an environmental action organization with some two
and nearly every country in the world. (For more on million members. Before joining NRDC in 2015, she was an
assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of the Interior, where
this topic, see “PFAS: Chemicals Most of Us Carry” she led initiatives on land conservation, climate change, and
on the previous page, and visit thedevilweknow.com.) other environmental issues.
2.1 billion
people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water systems,
according to the United Nations organization UN-Water.
T H E WO R L D I S
A N A DV E N T U R E .
T R AV E L I T
WITH US.
H U N D R E D S O F T R I P S . E V E RY C O N T I N E N T. OV E R E I G H T Y C O U N T R I E S .
P R I VAT E J E T T R I P S . E X P E D I T I O N C R U I S E S . FA M I LY A DV E N T U R E S . S A FA R I S . A N D M O R E .
Every National Geographic Expedition is grounded in a legacy of exploration, the promise of an

authentic travel experience and a commitment to giving back. With special trips for photographers,
students, families, outdoor enthusiasts and independent travelers, and access to scientists and
storytellers, our travelers deepen their knowledge of the world.
For more information or to request a FREE catalog

NATGEOEXPEDITIONS.COM/ADVENTURE 1-888-249-7237
© 2019 National Geographic Partners, LLC. National Geographic EXPEDITIONS and the Yellow Border Design are trademarks of the National Geographic Society, used under license.
E M B A R K | O U T O F E D E N WA L K
MANY PEOPLE,
SCARCE WATER
STO RY A N D P H OTO G RA P H
B Y PAU L S A L O P E K
embraces a sprawling
N O RT H E R N I N D I A
network of waters, from the muddy
tributaries of the Indus in the west to
the banks of the sacred Ganges coiling
along its central plains and the miles-
wide currents of the Brahmaputra in
the east. Creeks, canals, wetlands,
dams, and swollen torrents help irri-
gate the most populous democracy on
Earth. Yet this river-etched heartland
is the scene of one of the most dire
water crises today.
Last year, a government study
revealed that nearly half India’s pop-
ulation—some 600 million people—
ekes by on scarce or polluted supplies
of water. As many as 200,000 Indians
die annually from the effects of water
contamination. And it’s been projected
that more than 20 major cities—Delhi,
Bangalore, and Hyderabad among
them—will zero out their groundwater
stores in less than two years.
I witnessed this slow-motion envi-
ronmental calamity while walking
Completed
NORTH
ASIA AMERICA
Planned
route
AFRICA
INDIA SOUTH
AMERICA
The Out of
Eden Walk
In 2013 Paul Salopek
began what he calls
“an experiment in slow
journalism,” a 21,000-
mile storytelling walk
along the pathways of
the humans who first
explored Earth in the
Stone Age. As he trav-
els, he’s covering the
major stories of our
time by giving voice to
the people who inhabit
them every day. Look
for the account of his
foot traverse across
water-stressed north-
ern India in an upcom-
ing issue of National
Geographic, and follow
his odyssey online at
outofedenwalk.org.
hundreds of miles across rural land-

scapes visited by few outsiders. In the
state of Madhya Pradesh, for exam-
ple, I met a 12-year-old shepherd,
Shailendra (above), watering his goats
on the Chambal, one of several rivers
the government hopes to “interlink”
with other waterways in a drastic water
redistribution plan.
In the lush Punjab, the pumps and
pesticides of the green revolution
have depleted precious reserves of
groundwater and spawned hot spots
of infertility and cancer. In the states
of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh,
villagers complained that fluoride—a
mineral tainting new wells drilled for
growing human populations—was
discoloring their teeth and causing
bone deformities.
“It’s hard not to feel overwhelmed,”
said Arati Kumar-Rao, a renowned
Indian nature photographer and one
of my walking partners. “Our denial is
a form of mass blindness.”
NGM MAPS
E M B A R K | CAPTURED
CLEAR
AND
STRONG
Glasswing butterflies
are called espejitos—
little mirrors—in their
native South America.
Wings that are trans-
parent (because they
have no colored scales)
give them both cam-
ouflage and a delicate
look. But that’s deceiv-
ing: Some glasswings
can carry nearly 40
times their own weight.
— PAT R I C I A E D M O N D S
PHOTO: MICHAEL AND PATRICIA FOGDEN, MINDEN PICTURES

PA RT N E R C O N T E N T
HOW C AN WE
of impurities. Though well-intentioned,
processing grain removed essential B
M AKE OU R vitamins while sterilizing milk destroyed

vitamin C. People got worse, not better. As
BODIE S B ET TER? the early 1900s progressed and revealed

the existence and role of vitamins and
minerals, supplements quickly became
a popular way to compensate for a
As you sit down to breakfast, your cereal
poor diet. The United States first issued
declares itself “fortified with vitamins and
nutrient intake recommendations to
iron,” your milk is “rich in calcium,” and your
the public in 1941, and later introduced
orange juice is “packed with vitamin C.”
the Recommended Daily Allowance
Such labeling is the result of a century of
(RDA), also known as the Recommended
worry that we are not getting the vitamins
Dietary Allowance. Today, we know that a
and minerals we need—and as many as 90
balanced diet will usually provide all the
percent of Americans are not. Unchecked,
vitamins and minerals we need.
these deficiencies can be dangerous.
Vitamins and minerals facilitate vital D EFI CI ENCI E S C O N TI N U E ,

functions in our bodies. For example, HOWEVER, BECAUSE FOR
B vitamins help convert nutrients into MANY REASONS PEOPLE
energy, while minerals support functions ACRO S S THE D EV ELO PE D
ranging from muscle contraction to AN D D EVELOP I N G
maintaining blood pressure. Although WO R LD ARE U N A BL E
TO ACCE S S TH E R I G H T
Q UANTI TY, Q UA L IT Y,
AND VARIETY OF FOODS.
Similarly, modern life sees us spend less

time outdoors in the sun, making it difficult
to get enough vitamin D. This is where the
judicious use of supplements can help.
Most deficiencies can be remedied

simply by bringing our intake of vitamins
and minerals up to their RDA, and one
easy way to do this is through taking
supplements. As the global population
grows and it becomes even harder to
vitamin D can be synthesized from ensure that everyone has the foods they
sunlight, almost all our vitamins and need, supplements could play a crucial
minerals come exclusively from what we role in maintaining world health. So long
eat. And that can be a problem. as supplements remain a supplement and

not a substitute for the goal of a healthy,
At the start of the 20th century, scientists balanced diet, they can be a welcome
suggested cleansing foods to rid them addition to the breakfast table.
E M B A R K | BREAKTHROUGHS
Roaches Kick Away Zombie Stings

“How Not to Be Turned Into a Zombie”—
that’s what biologist Kenneth Catania titled
D I S PAT C H E S his report on the parasitism of American
cockroaches by emerald jewel wasps. If stung
FROM THE FRONT LINES in the brain, the roach will follow the wasp
OF SCIENCE into a hole where the wasp lays an egg, then
A N D I N N O VA T I O N seals the hole, leaving the roach to be food
for the larva. But in Catania’s study, roaches
that vigorously kicked and parried with their
legs evaded the stings 63 percent of the time.
GENETICS
How Poppies
Got Power
Humans have long
derived morphine
and codeine from
opium poppies.
But how did the
flowers evolve to
have pain-killing
powers? Messily.
The poppy’s DNA
shows that over
more than 110 mil-
lion years, most of
its genome dupli-
cated twice and
two extra genes
fused into one
that’s crucial for
narcotic formation.
The find may con- PLASTICS
tribute to advances
in opiates, which
remain vital despite
POLLUTION COMES IN
their addictiveness.
—M I C H A E L G R E S H KO
TINY, TOXIC PACKAGES
T H E O C E A N I S G E T T I N G OV E RW H E L M E D BY P L A S T I C
M I C R O F I B E R S — A N D P L A N K T O N A R E E AT I N G T H E M .
The knot of microfibers above is less than four millimeters across,

roughly the size of tiny aquatic organisms known as plankton. Every
week scientist Richard Kirby sets sail from the coast of Plymouth,
England, trailing a net behind his yellow boat to gather plankton—
but lately he finds nearly as much plastic in his catch. More than
600,000 tons of plastic microfibers are estimated to enter the ocean
each year, shed from fleece, polyester, and other synthetic fabrics
during washing. Plankton may eat them or get tangled in them,
and the ecological impacts are under study. “Our pollution has
extended right down to the bottom of the marine food chain,” Kirby
says. “We’ve changed the plankton for the foreseeable future, for
hundreds of years or possibly thousands.” —A L E JA N D R A B O R U N DA
PHOTOS (FROM TOP): ANTAGAIN, GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO; RICHARD KIRBY; JOE PETERSBURGER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
Some things are

bigger than banking (Like sharing your love of the game.)
We all like that feeling of small, everyday

victories. Your son feels it when he hits
his first drive out on the range, and you
feel it when you pay your bills quickly
and easily using Regions Mobile Banking.
So convenience is par for the course.
regions.com/BiggerThanBanking
© 2019 Regions Bank. Mobile Banking requires a compatible device and enrollment in Online Banking and is subject to terms and conditions. Your mobile carrier’s
messaging and data fees may apply. | Regions and the Regions logo are registered trademarks of Regions Bank. The LifeGreen color is a trademark of Regions Bank.
A NEW DINO REVEALED

Meet the mighty
Zuul crurivastator,
a recently discovered
Cretaceous dinosaur
with a sledgehammer
tail that could topple
tyrannosaurs.
BY MICHAEL GRESHKO
IN THE 1984 FILM GHOSTBUSTERS, a

ragtag crew of parapsychologists does
battle with Zuul, a hellhound with a
gargoyle’s face. Minions possessed by
the fictional beast proclaim, “There is
only Zuul!” But in real life, scientists
have discovered a doppelgänger: Zuul
crurivastator, a new genus and species
of dinosaur with movie-monster looks.
The creature is the most complete
ankylosaurid—a type of club-tailed
armored dinosaur—ever found in North
America. It’s also amazingly preserved.
Zuul’s armor fossilized in place, down
to the furrowed soft tissues sheathing it.
Preserved damage on Zuul’s flank may
even chronicle its battles with other
ankylosaurids. “It’s beyond our wildest
dreams,” says David Evans, the Royal
Ontario Museum paleontologist who
is leading the study of Zuul.
The tanklike herbivore died 76 mil-
lion years ago in what’s now northern
Montana, near an estuary fringing an
ancient sea. Its bloated carcass some-
how ended up in a river, where it got
caught in a logjam and was quickly
buried in sand. The animal stayed P E R F E C T LY
entombed until 2014, when private P R E S E RV E D
fossil excavators stumbled across the A team of technicians
remains. The Royal Ontario Museum has labored for years
to remove excess rock
acquired the fossil in 2016, and in May
from Zuul. Among
2017, museum researchers declared it them: Amelia Madill,
a new type of dinosaur. While research a fossil preparator
on the fossil continues, Zuul has made with the exhibits
its red-carpet premiere—as the focus firm Research Casting
of a new museum exhibit. International.
LENGTH: 20 feet
W E I G H T: 1.4 to 4 tons
L O C AT I O N : Montana
A G E : 76 million years old
MILD MANNERED
As seen in the artist’s
rendering (top) and
fossil (above), large
horns jut from around
Zuul’s eyes, inspiring
its demonic name. But
Zuul thirsted for buds,
not blood: It used its
shovel-like jaw to eat
soft plants.
W E L L P ROT E C T E D
Osteoderms—bony
armor plates—cover
Zuul’s skin. Their thorny
shapes are exagger-
ated by brownish
sheaths once made of
keratin, the same type
of protein in human
hair and fingernails.
PHOTOS: MARK THIESSEN. ILLUSTRATION: DANIELLE DUFAULT © ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM MARCH 2019 29
‘ D E ST ROY E R O F S H I N S ’
Ankylosaurids such as seven feet long and ‘IT ’S OU T STANDINGLY
Zuul are best known may have helped it PRESERVED … IT ’S
for their tails, which fend off tyrannosaurs
by 100 million to 90 such as Gorgosaurus or JAW- D RO P P I N G.
million years ago had other members of its IT ’S HARD TO FATHOM
evolved into stiff own species. To honor JUST HOW LONG
sledgehammers each Zuul’s weaponized
capped with a bony posterior, Evans and THE TAIL IS OR JUST
knob that in some later his colleague Victoria HOW SHARP THOSE
species grew to two Arbour gave the dino- S P I K E S A R E .’
feet wide. Zuul’s formi- saur the species name
dably spiky tail, seen crurivastator—Latin for V I C T O R I A A R B O U R , C U R AT O R O F
here, stretched nearly “destroyer of shins.” P A L E O N T O L O G Y, R O YA L B C M U S E U M
1 FOOT
Photo
A N A R MO R E D C L A N above
Zuul was the heir of 125 Zuul
million years of dinosaur
Bony eyelids
evolution. Its ancestors
gained armor at the An kyl osau rus
Jurassic’s dawn and later Clubbed tails
ANKYLO-
wielded tail clubs, as S A UR I N I
well as protective plates A N KY L OS A U R IDA E
AN KY L O-
of bone embedded in S AU RI A
E uop locep hal us
their eyelids.
Sai chan ia
Bony armor G ar g oy le os au r u s
B or eal op el t a
T H YREOPH O R A
ST EG O S A U R IA
S t e g osa ur u s
S celidos aur u s
JURASSIC C R E TA C E O U S
201 million years ago 14 5 66
TAYLOR MAGGIACOMO AND DAISY CHUNG, NGM STAFF. SOURCES: VICTORIA ARBOUR, ROYAL BC MUSEUM; DAVID EVANS, ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM
#MEMBERDISCOUNT
in its natural habitat
The world is fascinating. Saving with GEICO … now, that’s

just plain spectacular. Get a quote, mention that you’re a
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SUBSCRIBER, and you could save
more with a special discount on GEICO auto insurance.
geico.com/natgeo | 1-866-496-3576
Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states, in all GEICO companies, or in all situations. GEICO contracts with various membership entities and other organizations, but these entities do not
underwrite the offered insurance products. Discount amount varies in some states. One group discount applicable per policy. Coverage is individual. In New York a premium reduction may be available. GEICO may not be involved
in a formal relationship with each organization; however, you still may qualify for a special discount based on your membership, employment or affiliation with those organizations. GEICO is a registered service mark of Government
Employees Insurance Company, Washington, D.C. 20076; a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary. © 2018 GEICO
E M B A R K
GENIUS
LESLIE DEWAN
BY RACHEL HARTIGAN SHEA PHOTOGRAPH BY REBECCA HALE
Safer. Cheaper. Greener.

That’s her vision for
nuclear energy.
Leslie Dewan, 34, is looking to the

early days of nuclear power to com-
bat climate change today. A National
Geographic emerging explorer with a
Ph.D. in nuclear engineering, she wants
to resurrect the molten-salt reactor, a
1960s-era design that she hopes will
revive nuclear energy as a powerful
environmental tool— generating
electricity that’s both carbon free and
cheaper than coal. “There’s this driving
sense of urgency,” she says.
Before the accidents at Three Mile
Island and Chernobyl, molten-salt
reactors seemed too expensive and
safer than necessary. Dewan, with
fellow MIT graduate Mark Massie,
updated the design with modern
technologies and materials that keep
the safety features and lower the cost.
Unlike today’s models, a molten-salt
reactor uses a liquid uranium salt as
fuel, allowing for easier extraction
of fission by-products. It has a con-
tainment system that kicks in when
the plant loses electricity, so it’s less
vulnerable to an accident. If one
does occur, it’s less likely to blast out
radiation, because the reactor operates
at atmospheric pressure. It also uses
half the fuel and produces less than
half the waste.
Dewan and Massie hoped to build the
reactor themselves but recently realized
that the small company they founded
didn’t have the capacity. Instead they’ve
open-sourced the design. “We wanted
to bring it out into the world,” she says,
“so that everyone could use it.”
ADVERTISING
The hidden gems helping a remote

African community to shine
National Geographic photographer, Shannon Wild, travels to Mozambique and discovers
how sustainably mined gemstones have helped transform a remote rural community
All images: Shannon Wild

“I feel a real connection with Mozambique,” says Committed to building lasting, sustainable livelihoods
Shannon. “It reminds me of home - there’s a lot of for the communities around their mines, Gemfields
similarities to the Australian Outback, with its beautiful has been helping local women to develop their skills
red dirt and dust, highlighted against the blue sky.” and generate income since the Montepuez operation
opened in 2012.
Northeastern Mozambique’s sanguine earth has
concealed a precious secret for millennia: the world’s “MRM’s farming facility offers local women the
biggest deposit of rubies; natural gemstones that opportunity to grow and sell their crops which is
formed here over five hundred million years ago. incredibly empowering, especially in rural villages
where there can be very limited options for women,”
Today, Gemfields’ Montepuez Ruby Mine (MRM)
says Shannon.
produces over half of the global ruby supply, employs
1,110 local people, and funds health, education and Gemfields has also improved the region’s infrastructure,
agricultural projects that are helping to transform lives including roads, electricity and communication
in this rural community. networks, while new schools have ensured that 2,000
children now have a primary education.
“Here, like so many remote regions across Africa, access
to schooling, healthcare and basic facilities have been “There’s a real pride in the school facilities and a
very limited,” explains Shannon. “The new MRM mobile determination to do well from both teachers and
health clinic has made high-quality care accessible pupils,” says Shannon. “It’s been a real eye-opener for
to 20,000 people from ten surrounding villages - it’s me to see how Gemfields is trying to give back to the
literally a life-saver.” local community: it’s making a world of difference.”
Gemfields is the world’s leading supplier of responsibly sourced coloured gemstones. The company works with
community partners to improve infrastructure, build schools, develop agricultural projects and provide healthcare for
people living in the remote rural region surrounding the Montepuez Ruby Mine in Mozambique. gemfields.com
You can’t wish the flu away.
Indication Before you take XOFLUZA, tell your

XOFLUZA is a prescription medicine used to healthcare provider about all of your medical
treat the flu (influenza) in people 12 years of conditions, including if you:
age and older who have had flu symptoms for • are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.
no more than 48 hours. It is not known if XOFLUZA can harm your
It is not known if XOFLUZA is safe and unborn baby
effective in children younger than 12 years of • are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. It
age or weighing less than 88 pounds (40 kg). is not known if XOFLUZA passes into your
breast milk
Important Safety Information
Do not take XOFLUZA if you are allergic to Tell your healthcare provider about all the
baloxavir marboxil or any of the ingredients in medicines you take, including prescription
XOFLUZA. and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and
herbal supplements.
Brief Summary Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines
XOFLUZA™ (zoh-FLEW-zuh) you take, including prescription and over-the-counter
(baloxavir marboxil) tablets medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.
What is XOFLUZA? Talk to your healthcare provider before you receive a live
XOFLUZA is a prescription medicine used to treat the flu flu vaccine after taking XOFLUZA.
(influenza) in people 12 years of age and older who have
How should I take XOFLUZA?
had flu symptoms for no more than 48 hours.
• Take XOFLUZA exactly as your healthcare provider tells
It is not known if XOFLUZA is safe and effective in children you to.
less than 12 years of age or weighing less than 88 pounds • Your healthcare provider will prescribe a single dose of
(40 kg). XOFLUZA (which may be more than one tablet).
• Take XOFLUZA with or without food.
Do not take XOFLUZA if you are allergic to baloxavir
• Do not take XOFLUZA with dairy products, calcium-
marboxil or any of the ingredients in XOFLUZA. See the
fortified beverages, laxatives, antacids or oral
end of this leaflet for a complete list of ingredients in
supplements containing iron, zinc, selenium, calcium or
XOFLUZA.
magnesium.
Before you take XOFLUZA, tell your healthcare provider • If you take too much XOFLUZA, go to the nearest
about all of your medical conditions, including if you: emergency room right away.
• are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known
if XOFLUZA can harm your unborn baby.
• are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. It is not known if
XOFLUZA passes into your breast milk.
But now you can attack it with

new, one-dose XOFLUZA.
The flu is serious. And it needs to be treated that way. Over-the-counter
remedies treat flu symptoms. One-dose XOFLUZA attacks the flu virus at its
source and helps you feel better in just over two days.*
Why wait? Prescription XOFLUZA is most effective

within the first 48 hours of symptoms. Talk to your doctor
as soon as you feel signs of the flu.
Visit XOFLUZA.com/save to see if you’re eligible to pay as little as $30

for your XOFLUZA prescription.**
*On average patients recovered from flu symptoms in 2.3 days (54 hours versus 80 hours with placebo).
**Terms and conditions apply (see XOFLUZA.com/save for full list of terms and conditions).
Talk to your healthcare provider before XOFLUZA is not effective in treating infections
you receive a live flu vaccine after taking other than influenza. Other kinds of infections
XOFLUZA. can have symptoms like those of the flu or
occur along with flu and may need different
Take XOFLUZA with or without food. Do not
kinds of treatment.
take XOFLUZA with dairy products, calcium-
Tell your healthcare provider if you feel
fortified beverages, laxatives, antacids, or oral
worse or develop new symptoms during or
supplements containing iron, zinc, selenium,
after treatment with XOFLUZA or if your flu
calcium, or magnesium.
symptoms do not start to get better.
The most common side effects are diarrhea,
Please see brief summary on this page.
bronchitis, nausea, common cold symptoms
(nasopharyngitis), and headache. You are encouraged to report side effects to
Genentech by calling 1-888-835-2555 or to
the FDA by visiting www.fda.gov/medwatch
or calling 1-800-FDA-1088.
What are the possible side effects of XOFLUZA? Keep XOFLUZA and all medicines out of the reach of
The most common side effects of XOFLUZA in adults and children.
adolescents include: General information about the safe and effective use of
• diarrhea • headache XOFLUZA.
• bronchitis • nausea Medicines are sometimes prescribed for purposes other
• common cold symptoms (nasopharyngitis) than those listed in a Patient Information leaflet. Do not use
XOFLUZA for a condition for which it was not prescribed.
XOFLUZA is not effective in treating infections other than
Do not give XOFLUZA to other people, even if they have
influenza. Other kinds of infections can appear like flu
the same symptoms that you have. It may harm them. You
or occur along with flu and may need different kinds of
can ask for information about XOFLUZA that is written for
treatment. Tell your healthcare provider if you feel worse
health professionals.
or develop new symptoms during or after treatment with
XOFLUZA or if your flu symptoms do not start to get What are the ingredients in XOFLUZA?
better. Active ingredient: baloxavir marboxil
These are not all the possible side effects of XOFLUZA. Inactive ingredients: croscarmellose sodium, hypromellose,
lactose monohydrate, microcrystalline cellulose, povidone,
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You
sodium stearyl fumarate, talc, and titanium dioxide.
may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
XOFLUZA™ is a trademark of Genentech, Inc.
How should I store XOFLUZA?
© 2018 Genentech USA, Inc.
• Store XOFLUZA at room temperature between 68°F to
For more information, go to www.XOFLUZA.com or
77°F
call 1-855-XOFLUZA (1-855-963-5892).
(20°C to 25°C).
• Store XOFLUZA in the blister package that it comes in.
©2018 Genentech USA, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, CA 94080-4990 XOF/091818/0044
E X P L O R E
I L L U M I N AT I N G T H E M Y S T E R I E S — A N D W O N D E R S — A L L A R O U N D U S E V E R Y D AY
N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C VO L . 2 3 5 N O. 3
EVOLVED
Finding water
With five times as many
olfactory receptor genes as
humans, elephants can find
TO CRACK
water miles away, even inside
a tree or belowground.
BA O BA B T R EE
and
T H E I N T R I C AT E W E B O F C R A C K S
crevices that gives African elephants
their distinctive look is, in fact, an
essential adaptation. The millions
of micrometer-wide fractures in ele-
phants’ skin retain mud and water
after mud baths, helping the ani-
AFR ICAN B U S H
mals stay hydrated between trips to ELE P H AN T
the water hole. Evaporation from the
mud and water also aids temperature
regulation—vital because elephants,
unlike many mammals, don’t sweat. 2 in
How the crevices develop has long been 50 mm
a mystery, but Michel Milinkovitch and
his colleagues may have solved it. Their
research suggests that fractures form
AREA
when the growth of new skin puts stress ENLARGED
on the brittle, outermost skin layer.
The findings offer fresh insights into
how elephants beat the heat.
Digging
for water
NEWBORN SKIN ADULT SKIN

Epidermis
Stratum corneum
1
1 mm
Papilla
Dermis AGING
Crack
A smoother start Building up layers Bowing to pressure

Elephants are born with an uncracked As elephants age, the Bending of the accu- Skin
skin surface and an uneven sublayer layers of accumulated mulated layers causes layers
(dermis) with protrusions known as skin cells (stratum cor- cracks to form in the
neum) over the dermis troughs between the
papillae. When skin cells die, instead
become thicker. protruding papillae.
of sloughing off, they accumulate.
S P E C I E S The African elephant genus

includes two species: the bush ele-
A F R IC A phant Loxodonta africana and the
forest elephant Loxodonta cyclotis.
African RANGE African bush elephants pri-
elephant
range marily inhabit the dry, grassy plains
of East Africa, where temperatures
often exceed 85° Fahrenheit.
DECODER BY MONICA SERRANO
Bathing Dusting
To coat their bodies in An elephant can hold When water is scarce, an
water and mud, elephants up to three gallons elephant will cover itself
collect liquid in their of water in its trunk. in dust, which, like mud,
trunks and spray it onto can shield its skin from
their heads and backs. parasites and sunburn.
Because an ele-
phant doesn’t shed
skin, its epidermis
is about 50 times as
thick as a human’s.
DU ST
Young elephants develop

their bathing skills by S T R A T UM C O R N E U M T HI CK NE SS
playing in the mud. Human 0.018 mm
Elephant 0.9 mm
Evaporation Sun
Stratum
corneum
S K I N S U RF A C E
Papillae Cracks
2
Supersoaked
The buildup of cracked layers creates
Water
flow
3
Mud shield against parasites
The pattern of cracks helps keep
a network of channels in which water mud and water from sliding off
moves by capillary action. Skin like the elephants’ skin, affording more
this can retain up to 10 times as lasting protection against para-
much water as a smooth surface. sites, sunburn, and heat.
ART: MONICA SERRANO AND CLARE TRAINOR, NGM STAFF. ANNIE ROTH; ALEXANDER STEGMAIER. SOURCES: MICHEL C. MILINKOVITCH AND OTHERS, NATURE, 2018;
PAUL MANGER, UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG; IUCN/SSC AFRICAN ELEPHANT SPECIALIST GROUP
E X P L O R E | THROUGH THE LENS
Strange
Reflections
W
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY JODI COBB
of the known
W H E N C O N F RO N T E D W I T H T H E L I M I T S
world, a 16th-century European cartographer
inscribed the warning “Here Be Dragons” on a
small copper globe. Beware: What lies beyond is
unexplored—and perilous.
I have spent my life photographing unknown
worlds: the secret life of the geisha in Japan, the tragic
landscape of human trafficking. Danger often lurked
nearby. My assignment on Venice for National Geo-
graphic was the exception. Nothing about Venice is
unexplored. Every brick, every doorway, and every one
of its 400 bridges has been mapped and painted. Every
photographer since the invention of the camera has
lingered on those bridges and photographed gondolas
and reflections on the canal water underneath. Venice
posed no danger to me beyond the curse of the cliché.
My mission was to document the city’s vulnera-
bility to water—the threat of flooding and how the
Venetians were trying to prevent it. I made a few
photographs of the reflections, but I was there to
investigate the only unknown: Would Venice vanish
underwater? Those reflections held no clues.
Late one night the phone rang in my hotel room. It
was my brother: My mother had been hospitalized,
and I should return home immediately. I caught the
IN VENICE next flight out but didn’t make it in time. My mother
A PHOTOGRAPHER was a pioneer of her generation of women, escaping
her small coal-mining hometown in Wyoming to
DISCOVERS BIZARRE
travel the world with my dad, my two brothers, and
C R E AT U R E S —A N D S O L A C E
me. Fearless and restless, she thought it only natural
FOR HER GRIEF—IN that I would want to become a pioneer in my own
DISTORTED IMAGE S OF way, and stoked those flames through my entire life.
T H E C I T Y I N T H E WAT E R . Mom created and supported my wanderlust. “No
great chasm was ever leaped in two small jumps,”
she would say. “Go for it. Don’t look down.”
MARCH 2019 37
E X P L O R E | THROUGH THE LENS
During Venice’s seasonal floods, facades in Piazza San Marco appear as shifting reflections—some more clear than others.
The mirror image above ran in the magazine. Until recently, Cobb kept abstractions like the one on the previous page to herself.
I returned to Venice, but waves of grief would unex- vanished as I lost myself in the shifting movement
pectedly overtake me at the sight of lighted candles of the dark water that, stirred by a breeze or passing
in a church or a funeral boat moving through the boat, suddenly shattered into colors and patterns.
canals. The sound of a choir would bring me to tears. When the assignment was over, I didn’t show those
The reflections in the canals inexplicably enticed reflection pictures to anyone. They had nothing to do
me. I often stopped to photograph them, confound- with the kind of photographs I loved to make, ones
ing my young Italian assistant who knew the maga- that tried to explore hidden worlds, social issues, and
zine did not publish abstract images and thought I the human condition. I forgot about them.
was just wasting time. But the more he questioned, Five years later I found them deep in my com-
the more I resisted. I was often shooting through puter files. As I began to edit, strange creatures
tears and wanted to avoid his eyes. emerged from the depths of the images: bizarre
When I went back to Washington, D.C., to show the mythical beasts, cartoon characters, carnival masks,
work in progress to the editors, several other events snakes, and gargoyles. They had been there all
happened in my personal and professional lives that along, waiting for my imagination to bring them
left me awash in confusion and dislocation. I had to life. And maybe daring me to find the courage
reached the limits of my known world. to chart my own course in photography and life,
And yet I still had one last trip to make in the to take time away from searching out what lies in
fall—to photograph the acqua alta, the seasonal the hearts of others to explore the depths of what
floods when water periodically spills into the streets, lies in my own.
squares, and shops of Venice. Reflections would But beware: Here be dragons. j
appear where there hadn’t been any, and once again Jodi Cobb has photographed stories for National Geographic for
I strangely found solace in them. Everything else more than three decades and has worked in more than 65 countries.
I lost myself in the shifting movement

of the dark water that, stirred
by a breeze or passing boat, suddenly
shattered into colors and patterns.
N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C MARCH 2019
Search for Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 42

El Salvador in Crisis . . . . . P. 76
Borneo’s Caves. . . . . . . . . . P. 100
Tiny Treehoppers . . . . . . P. 120
Carnival Pageantry. . . . P. 132
F EAT U R E S
132
‘WITH THEIR
IDENTITIES
DISGUISED
BEHIND
ORNATE MA SKS,
REVELERS
TELL STORIES,
RELEASE
FRUSTRATIONS,
AND AGITATE
FOR POLITICAL
AND SOCIAL
C H A N G E .’
PHOTO: CHARLES FRÉGER

WHO’S
OUT THERE?
NEW DISCOVERIES REVEAL

I T ’ S A L M O S T C E RTA I N
WE’RE NOT ALONE
IN THE UNIVERSE.
HERE’S HOW WE’RE

SEARCHING FOR LIFE—AND
T R Y I N G T O M A K E C O N TA C T.
BY JAMIE SHREEVE
P H OTO G R A P H S BY SPENCER LOWELL
A R T B Y DA N A B E R RY
42
ART DIRECTION: JASON TREAT, NGM STAFF; SEAN M CNAUGHTON

SOURCES: BREAKTHROUGH INITIATIVES; ZAC MANCHESTER, STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Laser beams streak P R E V I O U S PA G E S

from the European Propelled to a fifth the
Southern Observatory’s speed of light by a laser
Very Large Telescope beam more powerful
array in Chile’s Atacama than a million suns, tiny
Desert. The lasers cre- spacecraft envisioned
ate artificial guide stars by the Breakthrough
that help astronomers Starshot initiative are
correct for distortions depicted around Prox-
caused by atmospheric ima Centauri b, four
turbulence. The tele- light-years from Earth.
scope is one of only (See graphic, pages
a few able to directly 60-61.) “It’s not science
capture images of fiction,” says Stanford’s
giant exoplanets. Zac Manchester. “It’s
GERHARD HÜDEPOHL, ESO just engineering.”
In her office on the 17th

floor of MIT’s Building
54, Sara Seager is about
as close to space as you
can get in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. From
her window, she can
see across the Charles
River to downtown
Boston in one direc-
tion and past Fenway Park in the other. Inside,
her view extends to the Milky Way and beyond.
Seager, 47, is an astrophysicist. Her specialty is
exoplanets, namely all the planets in the universe
except the ones you already know about revolv-
ing around our sun. On a blackboard, she has
sketched an equation she thought up to estimate
the chances of detecting life on such a planet.
about planet-ness have turned out to be wrong.
The very first exoplanet found—51 Pegasi b, dis-
covered in 1995—was itself a surprise: A giant
planet crammed up against its star, winging
around it in just four days.
“51 Peg should have let everyone know it was
going to be a crazy ride,” Seager says. “That
planet shouldn’t be there.”
Today we have confirmed about 4,000 exo-
planets. The majority were discovered by the
Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009.
Kepler’s mission was to see how many planets it
could find orbiting some 150,000 stars in one tiny
patch of sky—about as much as you can cover
with your hand with your arm outstretched. But
its ultimate purpose was to resolve a much more
freighted question: Are places where life might
evolve common in the universe or vanishingly
Beneath another blackboard filled with more rare, leaving us effectively without hope of ever
equations is a clutter of memorabilia, including knowing whether another living world exists?
a vial containing some glossy black shards. Kepler’s answer was unequivocal. There are
“It’s a rock that we melted.” more planets than there are stars, and at least
Seager speaks in brisk, uninflected phrases, a quarter are Earth-size planets in their star’s
and she has penetrating hazel eyes that hold so-called habitable zone, where conditions are
on to whomever she is talking to. She explains neither too hot nor too cold for life. With a min-
that there are planets known as hot super-Earths imum of 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, that
whizzing about so close to their stars that a year means there are at least 25 billion places where
lasts less than a day. “These planets are so hot, life could conceivably take hold in our galaxy
they probably have giant lava lakes,” she says. alone—and our galaxy is one among trillions.
Hence, the melted rock. It’s no wonder that Kepler, which ran out of fuel
“We wanted to test the brightness of lava.” last October, is regarded almost with reverence
When Seager entered graduate school in the
mid-1990s, we didn’t know about planets that
circle their stars in hours or others that take Using a model, MIT feet in diameter, would
almost a million years. We didn’t know about astrophysicist Sara block the light from a
Seager demonstrates star. A space telescope
planets that revolve around two stars, or rogue Starshade, under would capture an
planets that don’t orbit any star but just wander development at NASA’s image of a planet when
about in space. In fact, we didn’t know for sure Jet Propulsion Lab in it’s between Starshade’s
Pasadena, California. petals, seeking evi-
that any planets at all existed beyond our solar Deployed in space, the dence that life may
system, and a lot of the assumptions we made device, more than 100 exist on the planet.
by astronomers. (“Kepler was the greatest step

forward in the Copernican revolution since
Copernicus,” University of California, Berkeley
astrophysicist Andrew Siemion told me.) It’s
changed the way we approach one of the great
mysteries of existence. The question is no longer,
is there life beyond Earth? It’s a pretty sure bet
there is. The question now is, how do we find it?
The revelation that the galaxy is teeming with
planets has reenergized the search for life. A surge
in private funding has created a much more nim-
ble, risk-friendly research agenda. NASA too is
intensifying its efforts in astrobiology. Most of the
research is focused on finding signs of any sort
of life on other worlds. But the prospect of new
targets, new money, and ever increasing compu-
tational power has also galvanized the decades-
long search for intelligent aliens.
T
a MacArthur “genius
O S E AG E R ,
award” winner, participating on
the Kepler team was one more step
toward a lifelong goal: to find an
Earth-like planet orbiting a sun-
like star. Her current focus is the
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satel-
lite (TESS), an MIT-led NASA space telescope
launched last year. Like Kepler, TESS looks for a
slight dimming in the luminosity of a star when
a planet passes—transits—in front of it. TESS
is scanning nearly the whole sky, with the goal
of identifying about 50 exoplanets with rocky
surfaces like Earth’s that could be investigated
by more powerful telescopes coming on line,
beginning with the James Webb Space Tele-
scope, which NASA hopes to launch in 2021.
On her “vision table,” which runs along one
wall of her office, Seager has collected some
objects that express “where I am now and where
I’m going, so I can remind myself why I’m work-
ing so hard.” Among them are some polished
stone orbs representing a red dwarf star and its
covey of planets, and a model of ASTERIA, a low-
cost planet-finding satellite she developed.
“I haven’t gotten around to putting this up,”
NASA’s James Webb Far more powerful

Space Telescope is than the Hubble
tested in a giant cryo- Space Telescope, it
genic chamber at will probe the forma-
Johnson Space Center tion of stars, galaxies,
in Houston, Texas, that and solar systems
simulates the frigid that could support life.
conditions of space. CHRIS GUNN, NASA
WHO’S OUT THERE? 49

N E W WAY S O F S E E I N G TERRESTRIAL INSTRUMENTS
THE NEXT WAVE OF

Ground-based scopes can hold heavy, powerful optics
that are comparatively easy to maintain. But Earth’s
atmosphere filters and distorts starlight, limiting what
PLANET HUNTERS
these telescopes can see in outer space.
The Kepler telescope, which

detected thousands of exoplanets,
was retired last year when it ran
out of fuel, but new telescopes
promise dramatic improvements
in the hunt. The telescopes shown
here are expected to significantly
advance our ability to detect signs
of habitability thousands of light- SUBARU TELESCOPE ELT
years away. In addition to a planet’s Subaru Coronagraphic Extremely Large
size and distance from its star, they Extreme Adaptive Optics Telescope
might be able to study its terrain Removes distant starlight Captures visible and near-
and check for cloud cover. reaching the Subaru tele- infrared spectrum images
scope, allowing astronomers 16 times as sharp as those of
to directly image exoplanets. the Hubble Space Telescope.
Aperture 8.2 meters 39.3 meters
Start date 2014 Expected start: 2024
Seager says, unrolling a poster that’s a fitting micro-thin black plastic shaped like the petal
expression of where her career began. It’s a chart of a giant flower. It’s a reminder of where she’s
showing the spectral signatures of the elements, going: a space mission, still in development, that
like colored bar codes. Every chemical compound she believes can lead her to another living Earth.
F
absorbs a unique set of wavelengths of light. (We
see leaves as green, for instance, because chlo- ROM AN EARLY AGE , Olivier Guyon has
rophyll is a light-hungry molecule that absorbs had a problem with sleep: namely,
red and blue, so the only light reflected is green.) that it’s supposed to happen at night,
While still in her 20s, Seager came up with the when it’s so much better to be awake.
idea that compounds in a transiting planet’s Guyon grew up in France, in the
upper atmosphere might leave their spectral fin- countryside of Champagne. When
gerprints in starlight passing through. Theoreti- he was 11, his parents bought him a
cally, if there are gases in a planet’s atmosphere small telescope, which he says they later regret-
from living creatures, we could see the evidence ted. He spent many nights peering into it, only to
in the light that reaches us. fall asleep the next day in class. When he outgrew
“It’s going to be really hard,” she tells me. that telescope, he built a bigger one. But while
“Think of a rocky planet’s atmosphere as the he could magnify his view of heavenly objects,
skin of an onion, and the whole thing is in front Guyon could do nothing to enlarge the number
of, like, an IMAX screen.” of hours in the night. Something had to give, so
There’s an outside chance a rocky planet one day when he was a teenager, he decided to
orbits a star close enough for the Webb tele- do away with sleep almost entirely. At first he felt
scope to capture sufficient light to investigate great, but after a week or so, he became seriously
it for signs of life. But most scientists, includ- ill. Recalling it now, he still shudders.
ing Seager, think we’ll need to wait for the next At 43 years old, Guyon today has a very big
generation of space telescopes. Covering most telescope to work with. The Subaru observatory,
of the wall over her vision table is a panel of along with 12 others, sits atop the summit of
O R B I TA L I N S T R U M E N T S
Away from Earth’s atmosphere, telescopes can detect
frequencies and wavelengths across the electromagnetic
spectrum. But they must be small enough to launch,
and they fly too far away to be repaired.
TESS JWST WFIRST STARSHADE

Transiting Exoplanet James Webb Wide Field Infrared A flower-shaped light
Survey Satellite Space Telescope Survey Telescope shield more than a hun-
Detects small planets orbit- Studies distant stars and Finds exoplanets using light dred feet in diameter,
ing bright stars, which could exoplanets using four instru- warped by the gravity of the Starshade will work
be good candidates for more ments, including infrared distant stars; it could also be in tandem with a tele-
in-depth habitability studies. cameras and spectrographs. paired with Starshade. scope such as WFIRST.
It will block a host star’s
light, allowing astrono-
4 cameras, 10.5 cm each 6.5 meters 2.4 meters mers a direct view of its
exoplanets. This mission
2018 Expected start: 2021 Expected start: 2025 is still in development.
Mauna Kea, on Hawaii’s Big Island. The Subaru’s would be blind to without Guyon’s legerdemain.
8.2-meter (27 feet) reflector is among the larg- “The big question is whether there is biolog-
est single-piece mirrors in the world. (Operated ical activity up there,” he says, pointing at the
by the National Astronomical Observatory of sky. “If yes, what is it like? Are there continents?
Japan, the telescope has no affiliation with the Oceans and clouds? All these questions can be
car company—Subaru is the Japanese name for answered, if you can extract the light of a planet
the Pleiades star cluster.) At 13,796 feet above from the light of its star.”
sea level, Mauna Kea affords one of the high- In other words, if you can see the planet. Try-
est, clearest views of the universe, yet it’s only ing to separate the light of a rocky, Earth-size
an hour and a half drive from Guyon’s home in planet from that of its star is like squinting hard
Hilo. The proximity allows him to make frequent enough to make out a fruit fly hovering inches
trips to test and improve the instrument he built in front of a floodlight. It doesn’t seem possible,
and attached to the telescope, often working and with today’s telescopes, it isn’t. But Guyon
through the night. He carries around a thermos has his sights set on what the next generation of
of espresso, and for a while he took to spiking ground-based telescopes might be able to do, if
it with shots of liquid caffeine, until a friend they can be fashioned to squint very, very hard.
pointed out that his daily intake was more than That is precisely what his instrument is
half the lethal dose. designed to do. The apparatus is called—brace
“We can spend a couple weeks up here, and we yourself—the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme
start to forget about life on Earth,” he tells me. Adaptive Optics (SCExAO, pronounced “SKEX-
“First you forget the day of the week. Then you a-o”). Guyon wanted me to see it in action, but a
start forgetting to call your family.” power outage had shut down the Subaru. Instead
Like Seager, Guyon is a MacArthur winner. His he offers to give me a tour of the 141-foot dome
particular genius is in the mastery of light: how enclosing the telescope. There is 40 percent less
to massage and manipulate it to catch a glimpse oxygen here than at sea level. Visitors have the
of things that even the Subaru’s huge mirror option of strapping on (Continued on page 60)
SOURCES: NATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY OF JAPAN; NASA;

EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY
H OW TO F I N D L I F E
SEEKING THE LIGHT

In this illustration, an exoplanet orbits in front
of a star much like the sun. One way to find out
if a planet might contain life is to look for telltale
signs called biosignatures. As starlight reflects off
a planet or passes through its atmosphere, shown
here in blue, gases absorb specific wavelengths.
The spectrum observed through a telescope could
show whether gases associated with life, such as
oxygen, carbon dioxide, or methane, are present.
Earth’s gaseous signs of life

Electromagnetic energy (light) passing through the
atmosphere would create a spectrum like this one,
which shows the presence of compounds linked to life.
Spectral radiance
Ozone
Water Carbon Water
Methane dioxide
Wavelength
SOURCE: EDWARD W. SCHWIETERMAN, UC RIVERSIDE

SEEING THE COLORS

On Earth, chlorophyll in photosynthesizing
plants absorbs red and blue light, so vegetation
appears green. On other living worlds, though,
photosynthesis might use a different pigment.
The lavender hue of this hypothetical exoplanet,
viewed from its icy moon, derives from a pig-
ment called retinal, which is also able to convert
light to metabolic energy and may have preceded
chlorophyll in Earth’s early history.
Earth’s chromatic signs of life

A sharp contrast in a spectrum between the absorption
of red light and reflection of near-infrared light, known as
the vegetation red edge, indicates the presence of plants.
Vegetation
red edge
Reflectivity
Lichen
Lodgepole
Red pine
algae
Wavelength
SOURCE: EDWARD W. SCHWIETERMAN, UC RIVERSIDE

INTELLIGENT ALIENS
Until now, the search for extraterrestrial intel-
ligence has focused on detecting an incoming
radio signal. With increasing computational
power and more sensitive telescopes, researchers
are expanding the search to optical and infrared
emissions, targeting the “technosignatures” of
advanced civilizations. These could include laser
pulses, polluting gases, or megastructures built
around a nearby star to harness its energy.
Transmission spikes from space

This power spectrum from a survey of 14 planetary
systems included a signal that looked promising, but no
evidence was found that it was created by intelligent life.
Radio power
-500 0 500
Frequency offset (Hz)
SOURCES: EDWARD W. SCHWIETERMAN, UC RIVERSIDE; BREAKTHROUGH INITIATIVES; SETI INSTITUTE

M A P P I N G E XO P L A N E TS
HUNTING FOR HABITABILITY

Earth supports life in part because its terrain is
rocky, it doesn’t receive too much solar radiation,
and its distance from the sun allows water to be
in a liquid state. So far, 47 exoplanets have been
found that fit this profile. But that number will
grow as new telescopes search for planets in
broader swaths of the galaxy than ever before.
Twice the
radiation
received by Earth
6,600 Kelvin
Hot
Venus
Radiation from
host star received
by exoplanet
EARTH
No
radiation
Temperature
received
of host star
Mars
Conditions
when water
last existed
on Mars
Conditions
when water
2,200 Kelvin last existed
Cool on Venus
H
Planets in the A
B Proxima b
habitable zone I
T 4.2 light-years
A
Planets in the habitable B from Earth
DEFINING L
zone more likely to have E
HABITABILITY
liquid surface water Z
Scientists use our solar O
system to help determine N
Planet size E
1/2 Earth the habitable zone around a star.
To support life, planets must receive
Earth’s diameter
(7,926 miles) no more energy from their stars than Venus
did when it had liquid surface water and no
2X Earth less energy than Mars did when it had water.
Kepler-1638 b
2,867 light-years
from Earth
Kepler-1606 b
2,870 light-years
from Earth
3,000
light-years
from Earth
2,000
light-years
from Earth
Distance
from Earth
One light-year is
approximately Potentially habitable
5.88 trillion miles. exoplanets
47
1,000
light-years
from Earth
Known exoplanets
more than 3,800
IMPROVING THE HUNT

Launched last year, the TESS
space telescope is now fully Additional exoplanets TESS
is expected to discover
operational. It is able to survey
85 percent of the night sky, an area approximately 4,400
400 times as large as that covered
by its predecessor, Kepler.
SOURCES: PLANETARY HABITABILITY LABORATORY; ABEL MÉNDEZ,

UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO AT ARECIBO; TOM BARCLAY, NASA
1 2
The mother ship Phased lasers
Situated in low Earth On Earth, nearly a billion
orbit, a satellite houses laser beams are directed
thousands of probes. at a probe to create a
When the individual pulse with the power of
probes are released, their 100 gigawatts, lasting
sails automatically unfurl. several minutes.
N E W WAY S O F S E E I N G
PROPELLED BY LIGHT
Breakthrough Starshot is an ambitious plan in
development to send tiny probes on a 20-year
journey to the exoplanet Proxima Centauri b. But
even a featherweight spacecraft needs fuel. The
farther it goes, the more it needs. The proposed
solution? Forget fuel: Launch it from an orbiting
satellite and propel it with Earth-based lasers.
some bottled oxygen, but he decides that I don’t is as close as possible to what it was before our
need any, and off we go. atmosphere messed it up. Next comes the squint-
“I was giving a tour the other day to some sci- ing part. To Guyon, a star’s luminosity is “a boil-
entists, and all of a sudden, one of them fainted!” ing blob of light that we’re trying to get rid of.”
he says, with a mixture of surprise and regret. “I His instrument includes an intricate system of
should have known she was not doing well. She apertures, mirrors, and masks called a corona-
had gotten very quiet.” I clutch the railings and graph, which allows only the light reflected off
make sure to keep asking questions. the planet to slip through.
Ground telescopes like the Subaru are much There’s a great deal more to the apparatus;
more powerful light-gatherers than space tele- staring at a schematic of the device is enough to
scopes like the Hubble, chiefly because nobody cause vertigo, even at sea level. But the eventual
has yet figured out how to squeeze a 27-foot result, once the next-gen telescopes are built, will
mirror into a rocket and blast it into space. But be a visible dot of light that is actually a rocky
ground telescopes have a serious drawback: planet. Shunt this image to a spectrometer, a
They sit under miles of our atmosphere. Fluctua- device that can parse light into its wavelengths,
tions in the air’s temperature cause light to bend and you can start dusting it for those fingerprints
erratically—think of a twinkling star, or the wavy of life, called biosignatures.
air above an asphalt road in the summertime. There’s one biosignature that Seager, Guyon,
The first task of the SCExAO is to iron out those and just about everyone else agree would be as
wrinkles. This is accomplished by directing the near a slam dunk for life as scientific caution
light from a star onto a shape-shifting mirror, allows. We already have a planet to prove it. On
smaller than a quarter, activated by 2,000 tiny Earth, plants and certain bacteria produce oxygen
motors. Using information from a camera, the as a by-product of photosynthesis. Oxygen is a
motors deform the mirror 3,000 times a second flagrantly promiscuous molecule—it’ll react and
to precisely counter the atmospheric aberrations, bond with just about everything on a planet’s sur-
and voilà, a beam of starlight can be viewed that face. So if we can find evidence of it accumulating
3 4
Going interstellar First contact
Those few minutes are The probe reaches
just enough to acceler- Proxima b after a voyage Proxima b
ate the probe to one-fifth of more than 20 years. 4.2 light-years away
the speed of light and During its high-speed
into the vacuum of space, flyby, it takes images and
where it is able to glide. records a range of data.
Images and data

are beamed to
Earth via laser.
5
Phoning home
The probe beams the
information back using
a laser embedded in its
chip. Each transmission
takes about four years
to reach the Earth.
Each probe has one chip

weighing five grams or less
that performs the roles of Actual size
a camera, computers, and of chip
navigational equipment.
in an atmosphere, it will raise some eyebrows. on other planets might absorb different wave-
Even more telling would be a biosignature com- lengths of light—there could be planets with
posed of oxygen and other compounds related Black Forests that are truly black, or planets
to life on Earth. Most convincing of all would where roses are red, and so is everything else.
be to find oxygen along with methane, because And why stick to plants? Lisa Kaltenegger, who
those two gases from living organisms destroy directs the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell Uni-
each other. Finding them both would mean there versity, and her colleagues have published the
must be constant replenishment. spectral characteristics of 137 microorganisms,
It would be grossly geocentric, however, to including ones in extreme Earth environments
limit the search for extraterrestrial life to oxy- that, on another planet, might be the norm. It’s
gen and methane. Life could take forms other no wonder the next generation of telescopes is
than photosynthesizing plants, and indeed even so eagerly anticipated.
here on Earth, anaerobic life existed for billions “For the first time, we’ll be able to collect
of years before oxygen began to accumulate in enough light,” says Kaltenegger. “We’ll be able
the atmosphere. As long as some basic require- to figure things out.”
ments are met—energy, nutrients, and a liquid The first and most powerful of the next-gen
medium—life could evolve in ways that would ground telescopes, the European Southern
produce any number of different gases. The key Observatory’s eponymous Extremely Large
is finding gases in excess of what should be there. Telescope (ELT) in the Atacama Desert of Chile,
There are other sorts of biosignatures we is scheduled to start operation in 2024. The
can look for too. The chlorophyll in vegetation light-gathering capacity of its 39-meter (128 feet)
reflects near-infrared light—the so-called red mirror will exceed all existing Subaru-size tele-
edge, invisible to human eyes but easily observ- scopes combined. Outfitted with a souped-up
able with infrared telescopes. Find it in a plan- version of Guyon’s instrument, the ELT will be
et’s biosignature, and you may well have found fully capable of imaging rocky planets in the hab-
an extraterrestrial forest. But the vegetation itable zone of red dwarf stars, the most common
SOURCES: ZAC MANCHESTER, STANFORD UNIVERSITY; BREAKTHROUGH INITIATIVES

The partially furled

solar sail for NASA’s
Near-Earth Asteroid
(NEA) Scout gets a final
check before a deploy-
ment test at a facility
in Huntsville, Alabama.
Much as conventional
sails catch the wind,
solar sails are propelled
by pressure from sun-
light, minimizing the
need for fuel.
A laser transmitter, like

this one developed by
II-VI, Inc. and the Univer-
sity of Dayton, presages
the technology that
Breakthrough Starshot
needs to propel space-
craft to the nearest star.
Laser beams from the
device’s 21 lenses con-
verge on a remote tar-
get. Starshot’s laser array
will combine close to
a billion similar beams.
RIGHT
NEA Scout solar sail
expert Les Johnson
floats a scrap of the
aluminized plastic sail
material, much thinner
than a human hair. A sail
pushed by lasers could
be made of graphene,
which weighs far less.
“Today’s solar sails,” he
says, “are the grand-
parents of the beamed
energy sails that will
one day take our chil-
dren to the stars.”
Not much bigger

than a postage stamp,
a Sprite spacecraft
developed at NASA
Ames in Mountain
View, California, shows
that one day it may
be possible for the
Breakthrough Starshot
craft to carry sensors
to probe for life in the
nearest star system.
stars in the galaxy. They are smaller and dimmer Proxima Centauri b, orbiting in the habitable
than our sun, a yellow dwarf, so their habitable zone of Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf that’s the
zones are closer to the star. The nearer a planet nearest star to our own, about 4.2 light-years,
is to its star, the more light it reflects. or 25 trillion miles, away. “It’s a terribly exciting
Alas, the habitable zone of a red dwarf star is target,” Guyon says. But he agrees with Seager
not the coziest place in the galaxy. Red dwarfs that the best chance of finding life will be on an
are highly energetic, frequently hurtling flares Earth-like planet orbiting a sunlike star. The ELT
out into space as they progress through what and its ilk will be fantastic at gathering light, but
Seager calls a period of “very long, bad, teenage even those behemoth ground telescopes won’t
behavior.” There might be ways an atmosphere be able to separate the light of a planet from that
could evolve that would protect nascent life from of a star 10 billion times brighter.
being fried by these solar tantrums. But planets That’s going to take a little more time and even
around red dwarfs are also likely to be “tidally more exotic—one might even say dreamlike—
locked”—always presenting one side to the star, technology. Remember that flower petal–shaped
in the same way our moon shows only one face panel on Seager’s wall? It’s a piece of a space
to the Earth. This would render half the planet instrument called Starshade. Its design consists
too hot for life, the other half too cold. The mid- of 28 panels arranged around a center hub like a
line, though, might be temperate enough for life. giant sunflower, more than 100 feet across. The
As it happens, there’s a rocky planet, called petals are precisely shaped and rippled to deflect
the light from a star, leaving a super-dark shadow August, soon after a rash of wildfires in the
trailing behind. If a telescope is positioned far area. Smoke veils the view of the surrounding
back in that tunnel of darkness, it will be able to mountains, and in the haze the dishes seem pri-
capture the glimmer from an Earth-like planet mordially still, like Easter Island statues, each
visible just beyond the Starshade’s edge. one staring implacably at the same spot in a
Starshade’s earliest likely partner is called the featureless sky. Richards takes me to one of the
Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), dishes, opening the bay doors beneath it to reveal
scheduled to be finished by the mid-2020s. The its newly installed antenna feed: a crenellated
two spacecraft will work together in a sort of taper of shiny copper housed in a thick glass cone.
celestial pas de deux: Starshade will amble into “Looks kinda like a death ray,” he says.
position to block the light from a star so WFIRST Richards’s job is to manage the hardware and
can detect any planets around it and potentially software, including algorithms developed to sift
sample their spectra for signs of life. Then, while through the several hundred thousand radio sig-
WFIRST busies itself with other tasks, Starshade nals streaming into the telescopes every night,
will fly off into position to block the light of the in search of a “signal of interest.” Radio frequen-
next star on its list of targets. Though the danc- cies have been the favored hunting ground of
ers will be tens of thousands of miles apart, they SETI since the search for alien transmissions
must be aligned to within a single meter for the began 60 years ago, largely because they travel
choreography to work. most efficiently through space. SETI scientists
Starshade, under development at NASA’s Jet have focused in particular on a quiet zone in the
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, radio spectrum, free of background noise from
is still a decade or so away, and indeed there’s the galaxy. It made sense to search in this rela-
no guarantee that it will be funded. Seager, who tively undisturbed range of frequencies, since
hopes to lead the project, is confident. One can that would be where sensible aliens would be
only hope. There’s something uniquely uplift- most likely to transmit.
ing about the prospect of a giant flower in space Richards tells me that the ATA is working
unfurling its petals to parry the light from a dis- through a target list of 20,000 red dwarfs. In the
tant sun to see if its orbiting worlds are alive. evening, he makes sure everything is working
W
properly, and while he sleeps, the dishes point,
HEN JON RICHARDS answered the antennas rouse, photons scuttle through fiber
an ad in 2008 on Craigslist optic cables, and the radio music of the cosmos
for a software programmer, streams to enormous processors. If a signal
he couldn’t have imagined he passes tests that suggest it stems from neither
would spend much of the next a natural source nor some quotidian terrestrial
10 years in a remote valley in one—a satellite, a plane, somebody’s key fob—
Northern California, looking for the computer kicks out an email alert. This being
aliens. The search for extraterrestrial intelligence, an email he wouldn’t want to miss, Richards has
or SETI, refers to both a research endeavor and a set up his cell service to forward the message to
nonprofit organization, the SETI Institute, which his phone. Conceivably, then, our first contact
employs Richards to run the Allen Telescope from an alien civilization could come as a text
Array (ATA), a 340-mile drive from the insti- rattling Richards’s phone on his night table.
tute’s headquarters in Silicon Valley. The ATA So far, however, all the signals of interest have
is the only facility on the planet built expressly been false alarms. Unlike other experiments,
for detecting signals from alien civilizations. where progress can be made incrementally, SETI
Funded largely by the late Microsoft co-founder is binary: Either extraterrestrials make contact
Paul Allen, it was envisioned as an assembly of on your watch, or they don’t. Even if they’re out
350 radio telescopes, with dishes six meters (20 there, the chances that you’re looking in just the
feet) in diameter. But owing to funding difficul- right place at just the right time and at just the
ties—a regrettable leitmotif in SETI history—only right radio frequency are remote. Jill Tarter, the
42 have been built. At one time seven scientists retired head of research at SETI, likens the search
helped run the ATA, but due to attrition, Richards to dipping a cup in the ocean: The chance you’ll
is “the last man standing,” as he gamely puts it. find a fish is exceedingly small, but that doesn’t
I’ve come to see Richards on a hot day in mean the ocean isn’t full of fish. Unfortunately,

Research scientist
Jon Richards checks on
a unit of the SETI Insti-
tute’s Allen Telescope
Array in the Cascade
Mountains in North-
ern California. For 60
years radio telescopes
like these have been
the primary tools in the
search for extraterres-
trial intelligence.
Laurance Doyle of
Principia College and
the SETI Institute
communes with some
“extraterrestrial”
intelligence at Six Flags
Discovery Kingdom
in Vallejo, California.
Doyle’s studies of
the communication
systems of dolphins
and whales could
help scientists
decode patterns in
alien languages.
NEXT PHOTO
SETI Institute scien-

tists, funded by NASA,
gather data in the Chil-
ean desert that will
inform the search for
life on Mars. Domes
dotting the seemingly
lifeless landscape host
microbes that thrive in
the harsh climate. “It is
full of life, absolutely
everywhere,” says team
leader Nathalie Cabrol.
Congress long ago lost interest in dipping the for biosignatures with the European Southern
cup, abruptly terminating support in 1993. Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile.
T
Most far out of all—in both senses—is Mil-
H E G O O D N E W S is that SETI the ner’s Breakthrough Starshot, which is investing
research endeavor, if not SETI the $100 million to explore the feasibility of actually
institute, has recently received a going to the nearest star system, Alpha Cen-
remarkable boost in funding, send- tauri, which includes the rocky planet Proxima
ing ripples of excitement through b. Appreciating the magnitude of this challenge
the field. In 2015 Yuri Milner, a requires some perspective. The first Voyager
Russian-born venture capitalist, spacecraft, launched in 1977, took 35 years to
established the Breakthrough Initiatives, com- enter interstellar space. Traveling at that speed,
mitting at least $200 million to look for life in Voyager would need some 75,000 years to reach
the universe, including $100 million specifically Alpha Centauri. In the current vision for Starshot,
to search for alien civilizations. Milner was an a fleet of pebble-size spaceships hurtling through
early investor in Facebook, Twitter, and many space at one-fifth the speed of light could reach
other internet companies you wish you’d been Alpha Centauri in a mere 20 years. Working
an early investor in. Before that, he founded a from a road map originally proposed by physi-
highly successful internet company in Russia. cist Philip Lubin at UC Santa Barbara, these tiny
His philanthropic vision might be summed up Niñas, Pintas, and Santa Marías would be pro-
pelled by a ground-based
laser array, more powerful
W H AT W E S H O U L D B E LO O K I N G F O R I S than a million suns. It may
N OT A M E S SAG E F RO M ET, not be possible. But that’s
the advantage of private
B U T S I G N S O F ET J U ST G O I N G A B O U T money: Unlike a govern-
T H E B U S I N E S S O F B E I N G ET, ment program, you’re
allowed— expected— to
A L I E N A N D I N T E L L I G E N T I N WAYS T H AT take a big gamble.
W E M AY B E A B L E TO P E RC E I V E . “Let’s see in five or
10 years whether it will
work,” Milner says, with a
shrug. “I’m not an enthu-
as, if we agree that finding evidence for alien siast in the sense I believe for sure any of this
intelligence is worth $100 million, why shouldn’t will happen. I’m an enthusiast because it makes
it be his $100 million? “If you look at it that way, sense now to try.”
it makes sense,” he says, when I meet him in a The day after meeting with Milner, I went to
glitzy watering hole in Silicon Valley. “If it was the Berkeley campus to meet the beneficiaries
a billion a year—we should talk.” of his Breakthrough Listen largesse. Andrew Sie-
Milner is soft-spoken and unobtrusive; I mion, the director of the Berkeley SETI Research
hadn’t noticed him arrive until he was stand- Center, is ideally positioned to take the search
ing right next to my chair. He tells me about for intelligent aliens to a new level. In addition to
his background—a degree in physics, a lifelong his Berkeley appointment, he has been named to
passion for astronomy, and parents who named head up SETI investigations at the SETI Institute
him after the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who itself, including operations at the ATA.
became the first human in outer space seven Siemion, 38, looks the part of a next-gen SETI
months before Milner was born. That was in master; he has a shaved head, a compact build,
1961, which he points out is the same year SETI and a thin gold chain discreetly visible above
began. “Everything is interrelated,” he says. the buttons of his fitted shirt. While careful to
Through one of his initiatives, Breakthrough credit the decades of research by Tarter and
Listen, he intends to spend $100 million over 10 her colleagues at the SETI Institute, he’s keen
years, most of it through the SETI Research Cen- to distinguish where SETI is going from where
ter at UC Berkeley. Another project, Breakthrough it has been. The initial search was inspired by
Watch, is underwriting new technology to search the possibility of a connection—reaching out
in hope of finding someone reaching back. SETI What we should be looking for is not a mes-
2.0 is trying to determine whether technological sage from ET, but signs of ET just going about
civilization is part of the cosmic landscape, like the business of being ET, alien and intelligent in
black holes, gravitational waves, or any other ways that we may not yet comprehend but may
astronomical phenomenon. still be able to perceive, by looking for evidence
“We’re not looking for a signal,” Siemion says. of technology—so-called technosignatures.
“We’re looking for a property of the universe.” The most obvious technosignatures would be
Breakthrough Listen is by no means abandon- ones we’ve produced, or can imagine producing,
ing the conventional search for radio transmis- ourselves. Avi Loeb of Harvard University, who
sions, he tells me; on the contrary, it’s doubling chairs the Breakthrough Starshot advisory board,
down on it, dedicating to SETI roughly a quar- has noted that if another civilization were using
ter of the viewing time on two huge single-dish similar laser propulsion to sail through space, its
radio telescopes in West Virginia and Australia. Starshot-like beacons would be visible to the edge
Siemion is even more excited about a partner- of the universe. Loeb also has suggested looking
ship with the new MeerKAT telescope in South for the spectral signatures of chlorofluorocarbons
Africa, an array of 64 radio dishes, each more soiling the atmosphere of aliens who failed to live
than twice the size of the ATA’s. By piggybacking past the technological diaper stage.
on observations conducted by other scientists, “Based on our own behavior, there must be
Breakthrough Listen will conduct a 24/7 stakeout many civilizations that killed themselves by
of a million stars, dwarfing previous SETI radio harnessing technologies that led to their own
searches. Powerful as it is, MeerKAT is just a destruction,” he tells me when I visit him. “If
precursor to radio astronomy’s dream machine: we find them before we destroy our own planet,
the Square Kilometre Array, which sometime in that would be very informative, something we
the next decade will link hundreds of dishes in could learn from.”
South Africa with thousands of antennas in Aus- On a cheerier note, we could learn a great
tralia, creating the collecting area of a single dish deal more from civilizations that have solved
more than a square kilometer, or about 247 acres. their energy problem. At a NASA conference on
There are other SETI approaches Siemion tells technosignatures (yes, after a quarter century,
me about—Breakthrough Listen partnerships NASA too is getting back into the SETI game),
with telescopes in China, Australia, and the there was talk about looking for the waste heat
Netherlands, and new technologies in develop- from megastructures that we have imagined
ment at Berkeley, the SETI Institute, and else- creating in the future. A Dyson sphere—solar
where to look for optical and infrared signals. arrays surrounding a star and capturing all of
The gist, echoed by other scientists I talk with, its energy—around our own sun would generate
is that SETI is undergoing a transformation from enough power in a second to supply our current
cottage industry to global enterprise. demand for a million years. Learning that other
Most important, empowered and inspired by civilizations have already accomplished such
the accelerating rate of technological develop- feats might provide us some hope.
ment in our own civilization, we are coming to Still, space is vast, and so is time. Even with
see the target of the quest in a different light. our ever more powerful computers and tele-
For 60 years we’ve been waiting for ET to phone scopes, SETI’s expanded agenda, and the gravity
Earth. But the stark truth is that ET probably assist of a hundred Yuri Milners, we may never
has no compelling reason to try to communicate encounter an alien intelligence. On the other
with us, any more than we feel a heartfelt need hand, the first intimation of life from a distant
to extend a greeting to a colony of ants. We may planet feels thrillingly close.
feel technologically mature compared with our “You never know what’s going to happen,”
past, but compared with what may be out there Seager says. “But I know that something great
in the universe, we’re still in diapers. Any civiliza- is around those stars.” j
tion that we would be able to detect will likely be
millions, perhaps billions, of years ahead of us. Contributing writer Jamie Shreeve bets we’ll find
“We’re like trilobites, looking for more trilo- hints of extraterrestrial life before 2030. Spencer
Lowell has constellations tattooed on one arm.
bites,” says Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer Dana Berry has imagined unseen scenes in space
at the SETI Institute. for National Geographic and other publications.

BY JASON MOTLAGH
PHOTOGRAPHS BY MOISES SAMAN
NO
WAY
OUT G A N G WA R F A R E A N D
P OV E RT Y A R E D E C I M AT I N G
E L S A LVA D O R . M A N Y
M I G R A N T S H AV E F L E D
T O WA R D T H E U N I T E D S TAT E S ,
BUT CHANGES IN U.S. POLICY
COULD SEND THOUSANDS
BACK INTO THE CHAOS.
76
Onlookers gather at the

scene of a homicide in
downtown San Salvador,
El Salvador’s capital.
Violence has driven hun-
dreds of Salvadorans to
leave each day for the
United States, where they
make up the fourth larg-
est Latino community,
after Mexicans, Puerto
Ricans, and Cubans.
Criminal gangs
in El Salvador
command tens
of thousands of
members, and
their battle for
supremacy has
fractured this
tiny country.
Members of the MS-13

gang crowd into their
cramped cell inside
Chalatenango prison,
in northern El Salvador.
Authorities house rival
gangs in separate pris-
ons to avoid deadly
riots, but extreme
crowding has stretched
the prison system
beyond its limits.
N O WAY O U T 79
Generations of
migrants have
carved out lives
for their families
in the U.S., far
from the violence
that continues
to plague their
homelands.
Juan and Yesenia Valle

and their U.S.-born
daughters pose outside
their home in New York
State. Juan came to the
United States almost
20 years ago to help
support his mother
and brother, who were
already here. He is now
the co-owner of a thriv-
ing sign and awning
business. Juan hopes
he and his wife can stay
in the U.S. permanently:
“I consider the U.S. my
country. There is noth-
ing in El Salvador for
me now. If I go back,
I die over there.”
PHOTO: ADAM FERGUSON; LOCATION INFORMATION IN PHOTO HAS BEEN REMOVED. N O WAY O U T 81
The deportees from

the United States
file out of the buses
with their heads
down, stripped of
belts and shoelaces
like criminals.
Rounded up from immigration detention
centers around the country, they’d been
boarded onto an unmarked jet near the Texas-
Mexico border early in the morning and flown
more than 1,100 miles to an airport outside
El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador. In just four
hours a perilous journey north that had taken
many of the migrants years to prepare for and
weeks to complete was undone.
“Welcome,” a Salvadoran migration officer
greets them in a new reception center built with
help from the U.S. government. “You are family
here.” A hundred and nineteen blank faces stare
back. One by one, names are called out, and the
men and women come forward to receive their UNITED STATES
belongings, undergo health screenings, and
collect bus fare to get them home.
A 24-year-old man with a strong build and
easy smile sits in the back wearing a white EL SALVADOR
T-shirt hand-scrawled with the words “Faith
Hope Love.” Like many in El Salvador, he doesn’t Salvadoran migrants
cross the border from
want to reveal his name. As a teenager in rural Guatemala into Mexico
Usulután, one of the country’s 14 departments, in November 2018. From
he’d been pressured to join Mara Salvatrucha, the here they would trek
another 2,400 miles to
largest gang in El Salvador, also known as MS-13. reach the U.S. At that
He signed up for the police academy instead, and time, to deter migrants,
when the gang found out, death threats followed. President Donald Trump
ordered more than
He fled south to Colombia, where he found work 5,000 U.S. troops to
as a truck driver and fell in love. His girlfriend the border with Mexico.
82 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C NGM MAPS
got a visa to the U.S. and took a plane to join random police checkpoint and arrested for driv-
relatives. He paid a coyote, or people smuggler, ing without a license. Georgia police handed him
$8,000 and spent the next month running a seven- over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement
border gantlet up the Central American isthmus, authorities, who locked him up.
finally slipping into Texas and heading east to The man’s name is called out. He picks up
Atlanta. There, a relative who’s a permanent U.S. his wallet and Bible and laces up his boots. “I’m
resident gave him a job installing sprinklers that really scared,” he confides. News reports about
paid $3,000 a month, more than five times the El Salvador that he’s watched in the U.S. have
average monthly household income in El Sal- given him the impression that gangs have “taken
vador. He sent $500 back to El Salvador each over the whole country.” Of one thing he is sure:
month to help his mother and grandmother. “I will go back to the U.S.A. as soon as I can.”
For five years in Georgia he kept a low profile. His next ordeal starts the moment he steps
Work on weekdays, parks and malls on week- into the street in San Salvador. The reception
ends, church on Sundays. No traffic tickets or center is located in an MS-13 stronghold, as
run-ins with the law. Until an unlucky morning graffiti on the opposite corner attests. The near-
in September 2017, when he was stopped at a est cash machine is two blocks away on the turf
N O WAY O U T 83
By the time
El Salvador’s civil
war ended in a
stalemate in 1992,
75,000 people were
dead and more
than a million
were displaced.
Ana Machado, 53, and

her daughter, Kenia
Gaitan, 29, sit with
Gaitan’s three children,
Jakob, three, Bridget,
six, and Aviela, nine,
in their Virginia apart-
ment. Machado came
to the U.S. in 1991 as
a civil war refugee
and was only recently
granted political asy-
lum. She works as an
office cleaner. Gai-
tan, who arrived in
2006 after threats
from MS-13, is undoc-
umented, but her chil-
dren are U.S. citizens.
PHOTO: ADAM FERGUSON N O WAY O U T 85

of MS-13’s archenemy, the 18th Street gang. north to the U.S., where generations of migrants
El Salvador’s government says that criminal have carved out safe, dignified, and law-abiding
gangs command an estimated 60,000 active lives for their families. As the exodus continues,
members, and their battle for supremacy has frac- the U.S. is threatening to deport legions of Salva-
tured this tiny country of 6.4 million people along dorans back to the horrors they fled.
an expanding web of invisible fault lines that run Today some 200,000 Salvadorans in the U.S.
red. In 2017 the homicide rate was 61 per 100,000 have temporary protected status (TPS), a des-
people, making El Salvador the second deadliest ignation that allows undocumented migrants
of any country not at war, after Venezuela. deemed at risk because of armed conflict or
El Salvador is locked in the latest phase of a environmental disasters in their home countries
social conflict that exploded during the 1980- to stay in the U.S. People like Abel, in his 50s, a
1992 civil war, in which leftist guerrillas rose up soft-spoken maintenance worker in the Wash-
against a wealthy elite and the military state ington, D.C., area who sends money back home
that had long dispossessed the rural underclass every month. He says he came to the U.S. for “the
of land. With the stated aim of stopping com- dream”: honest work, security, a better life. The
munism in its backyard, the U.S. supported El reality is bittersweet. He’s seen his children just
Salvador’s right-wing dictatorships with billions once in 18 years, and his wife died in his absence.
of dollars of economic and military aid that “Life is cold here,” he says matter-of-factly. “But
prolonged the bloodshed. By the time the war there is opportunity, and so we must endure.”
ended, in a stalemate, 75,000 people were dead In January 2018, President Donald Trump’s
and more than a million were displaced, hun- administration ordered an end to TPS for Salva-
dreds of thousands of whom fled to the U.S. From dorans. It was set to expire in September 2019, but
Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., Salvadoran ref- a U.S. district court halted that plan, allowing Sal-
ugees found employment and community, and vadorans to continue to live and work in the U.S.
they sent money home. until a final decision is made. The about-face has
The children who came with them, displaced been accompanied by a surge of federal immi-
youths craving identity in a foreign land, created gration raids and the forced separation of newly
MS-13 on the streets of Los Angeles and swelled arriving migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico
the ranks of a rival, 18th Street—a Hispanic gang border. Like every TPS holder I spoke with, Abel
that formed around 18th Street in the Pico-Union plans to stay in the U.S. illegally if TPS ends,
neighborhood of Los Angeles and absorbed way- rather than return to El Salvador voluntarily. “I’ve
ward refugees from Central America. As gang sacrificed too much to give up,” he says.
wars, and the war on gangs, intensified, laws were Despite Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy that
enacted that made it easier to deport immigrants resulted in separation of families and increased
with criminal records. In the late 1990s the U.S. detentions at the southwest border of the U.S.,
began exporting thousands of convicts back to the seemingly endless cycle of revenge between
Central America each year. In the vacuum of weak rival gangs and between gangs and authorities—
governance and poverty in their home country, not only in El Salvador but also in Guatemala and
gang members reproduced their social structures Honduras—keeps pushing people north. Last fall
and tactics and multiplied exponentially. a caravan of more than 5,000 Central American
“We knew how to use weapons, make bombs,” migrants began walking toward the U.S., drawing
says Ricardo, a former barrio leader of 18th Street renewed global attention to the crisis.
who was deported after a conviction for stealing
cars. The returnees spawned “a social monster— in northeast-
H I G H I N M O R A Z Á N D E PA R T M E N T,
and we’re still dealing with that monster,” he ern El Salvador, the legacy of U.S. involvement
adds. In the teeming slums of San Salvador, a still smolders. Driving past lush farms and
metro area of a million people, competition for volcanoes that thrust into the clouds, I reach
turf and status bred a kill-or-be-killed strain of the village of El Mozote. It was here in 1981
nihilism far more extreme than anything he’d that Salvadoran soldiers armed and trained by
known on the streets of Los Angeles. the U.S. massacred more than 1,000 civilians,
A hell of hyperviolence and economic despair mostly children. According to a cable sent from
has since engulfed the country and its neighbors, the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador to the State
driving tens of thousands of Central Americans Department, the U.S. government went to great
lengths to bury the truth of the massacre. walls thanks to a cleanup effort led by my guide,
Morazán is one of the most economically Pastor Mario Hernández. But MS-13 has no
depressed regions of El Salvador, having never need to advertise its presence here—the gang’s
recovered from the war’s devastation. It is also control is total.
one of the least violent. Some ascribe this to the Gangs are known to help transport drugs
vigilance of the local people, many of whom are and guns and even shake down transnational
ex-rebel combatants. The simpler explanation is companies operating in El Salvador, but most of
economic. Gangs, though present in nearly all their money comes from what are called micro-
the country’s municipalities, gravitate toward extortions. Almost everyone with a business in
urban areas where commerce concentrates and Distrito Italia, from the bus driver to the pupusa
extortion opportunities are greater. vendor, pays something to MS-13—five dollars,
In a sunburned cornfield outside town, Ber- $10, $50 a month. An estimate by the digital
naldino Vigil, a farmer who says his father was newspaper El Faro, based on the government
executed by government troops during the war, operation investigating MS-13 finances, says
says droughts and fickle weather have wiped it all adds up to annual revenue of more than
out successive crops. Debts have mounted, pre- $30 million for the gang nationwide. Overall,
venting him from leaving and forcing his two violence costs the national economy four billion
daughters still at home to drop out of school and dollars a year.
work alongside him. “Sure, we have peace,” he Hernández introduces me to Aaron, a lean
says, “but it’s getting harder to survive.” 20-year-old in a sports jersey and gold hoop
José María Guevara, a convenience store earrings. He’s never been jumped into the
A truck full of police officers in

tactical fatigues and black ski masks slows down to
size us up, assault rifles at the ready.
owner in El Mozote, lost 30 relatives in the gang—beaten by a group for the symbolic
massacre but survived because he left during 13 seconds—but he is “associated,” which means
the war and returned later. He has sent two of his he’s ordered to run the odd package, collect
children to New York City. One cleans houses; money here and there, keep watch. Aaron tells
the other works as a gardener. His youngest the pastor that overnight a gang member was
daughter, Rosa, is eager to follow in their foot- gunned down by rivals, the 10th friend he’s lost,
steps because it’s too expensive to continue her he says, counting out with his fingers.
university studies in the city two hours away. We walk deeper into the barrio, and Aaron
“I’ll take any job in America,” she says. Most of nods to the “antennas” posted on every other
her friends have left for the U.S. or moved to corner. Lanky teens thumbing cell phones with
cities such as San Miguel and San Salvador, but seeming indifference, they’re poised at the push
Trump’s election put Rosa’s travel plans on hold. of a button to relay word of any intruder. Where
Guevara says he would have had to take out a the sidewalk peters into dirt, we find Julio, 30,
loan to pay a coyote’s $10,000 fee, a gamble that a veteran gang member dressed in all blue with
could have cost him his shop. “If she got caught a Los Angeles Dodgers cap—classic MS-13 dress
and sent back, we’d all be screwed,” he says. code. He scans over our shoulders, uneasy. A
Distrito Italia, a barrio north of San Salvador, text message says police are patrolling the area.
was built with Italian-government funding “They could be over there,” he says, pointing
through the World Bank after a magnitude 7.6 across a small field, “and just start shooting.”
earthquake in 1986 left 300,000 homeless. The After a state-brokered truce between MS-13
barrio boasts wide brick lanes and graffiti-free and 18th Street began to fall apart in 2013, the
N O WAY O U T 87
A
AL
EM
AS
AT
UR
GU
ND
HO
Land of gangs
El Salvador’s most notori-
Metapán
ous gangs are MS-13 and
18th Street, both spawned HO
in the United States. They EL
ND
SA
UR
took hold in El Salvador
LV
AS
after thousands of mem-
AD
bers were deported.
OR
A
AL OR
M S A N TA A N A
D
TE
LV
A C H A LAT ENAN GO
GUA
EL SA
Santa Ana
Aguilares pa
Chalchuapa Lem
Ahuachapán
CUSCATLÁN CABAÑA S
Sensuntepeque
Ilobasco
San Isidro
A H UAC HA PÁ N
Izalco SAN SALVADOR

Lourdes
Sonsonate San Salvador
SO NSO N ATE
LA LIBERTAD Lake
Ilopango SA N
Zaragoza
0 mi 10 VI CENTE
0 km 10 L A PA Z
La Libertad
Zacatecoluca
Counting the victims Homicides by municipality, 2017

El Salvador reported 3,962 homicides Each dot represents one homicide.
in 2017 throughout its 262 municipal-
pa
ities. The homicide rate varies widely Homicide rate by municipality, 2017 m
Le
across the country but is generally 292 Highest municipality rate per 100,000 P
higher in more densely populated A
municipalities where gang activity 122 Double El Salvador’s average C
concentrates. The exact location of 61 El Salvador’s average
I F
each homicide is unknown, so dots I C
8 Lowest rate with at least one homicide
(shown in red) are distributed based
on population density. Municipality with no homicides
Fleeing to the U.S.

The number of Salvadorans in the U.S. is equal 1,387,000 Uncertain future
to one-fifth of El Salvador’s current popula- total Salvadoran Temporary protected status
tion. Though some immigrants lack legal immigrants (TPS) legalizes U.S. residency
1 million in the U.S.
status, the safety and opportunities found for a limited time, until
in the U.S. outweigh the risk of deportation. it’s safe to return home.
If TPS is ended, many
Immigrants to the U.S. could face deportation.
from El Salvador
465,000 Cash flow at risk
500,000 estimated The five billion dollars
unauthorized
Salvadorans sent home in
2017 amounted to 18 per-
cent of their country’s GDP.
195,000 with
Civil war temporary That flow will diminish if
protected status deportations increase.
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2016
SOURCES: GOVERNMENT OF EL SALVADOR; INSIGHT CRIME; MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU; UN OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME; ASTER GDEM
(A PRODUCT OF METI AND NASA); ROAD DATA © OPENSTREETMAP CONTRIBUTORS, AVAILABLE UNDER OPEN DATABASE LICENSE: OPENSTREETMAP.ORG/COPYRIGHT
State of Fear
El Salvador may be Central America’s smallest Grim statistic
Venezuela
Highest rate
in the world*
89
country, but it’s also the most densely populated El Salvador has often
and one of the deadliest—long past the end of had the world’s highest
its 1980-1992 civil war. In August 2015 there was homicide rate.* But in
a homicide every hour. The following years have 2017 it was outstripped
offered little reprieve, with nearly 4,000 homi- by Venezuela, a country
cides in 2017. The high count has multiple causes, in economic crisis.
including gang activity, drug trafficking, and
extrajudicial killings by police and military forces.
Select homicide rates
in the Americas, 2017
Homicides per 100,000
El Salvador 61
Second highest
rate in the world*
Jamaica 56
HONDURAS
Site of 1981
El Mozote
massacre EL SALVADOR
Corinto
MO RA Z Á N
Ciudad Barrios
Honduras 43
Guatajiagua
Chapeltique L A UN I ÓN
Belize 37
Santa Rosa
de Lima
PA N-AME
RICAN
H WY
. Brazil 30
Chinameca
San Miguel
Santiago
de María San Alejo Guatemala 26
Colombia 24
S A N MI GU E L Mexico 23
Usulután El Tránsito La Unión
U SU L U T ÁN Dominican Republic 15
Costa Rica 12
G ulf o f Panama 10
Fo n se c a Nicaragua 7.0
O C E
A N United States 5.3
Chile 3.3
Canada 1.8
0
HONDURAS
NICARAGUA
A History of Violence
The U.S. supported the Salvadoran El Salvador’s homicide rate, 1995–2017
government in a civil war during which Homicides per 100,000
an estimated 75,000 people died, 8,000
139
disappeared, and more than a million
were displaced. Since the conflict ended, Red circles show years that
El Salvador’s homicide rate has consistently El Salvador had the highest
homicide rate in the world.*
ranked among the top three in the world.*
72
Average rate, 61
1995–2017
40
Lower rates in 2012 and 2013
No data occurred during a government–
Civil war before 1995 negotiated truce between gangs.
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2017

RILEY D. CHAMPINE, NGM STAFF; NAT CASE, INCASE, LLC
*EXCLUDES COUNTRIES IN AN ARMED CONFLICT
The homicide
rate in the capital,
San Salvador, is
almost four times
higher than in
the country as
a whole.
An alleged thief lies

dead in a bus after a
passenger, in self-
defense, shot him
and another assailant
(who lived) during an
attempted robbery
in downtown San
Salvador. The shooter
fled the scene.
N O WAY O U T 91
After a gang
truce began to
fall apart in 2013,
the homicide rate
in El Salvador
reached 104 per
100,000 people
in 2015, one of the
world’s highest.
The diaries of forensic

criminologist Israel
Ticas, with photos here
showing two mass
gravesites, document
his relentless efforts to
find the hidden victims
of gang violence. Ticas
has exhumed hundreds
of bodies from clan-
destine graves across
the country. Behead-
ings, dismemberments,
and signs of torture are
commonplace.
N O WAY O U T 93
national homicide rate reached 104 per 100,000 in the Dina neigh-
O N A H O T S U N D AY M O R N I N G
people in 2015. Authorities have responded borhood, an 18th Street stronghold in south San
with a campaign of “extraordinary measures.” Salvador, Pastor Nelson Moz stands before a
They include the creation of elite police units, packed house at the Eben-Ezer Baptist Mission-
use of the army troops in security efforts, and ary Church. He opens his sermon with a call for
near-free rein to conduct searches and seizures. divine protection in a time of darkness. The front
In January 2015 the government gave officers a line with MS-13 is less than 50 yards up the street,
green light to shoot at criminals “without fearing and tit-for-tat killings have spiked recently. Out
consequences for their actions,” heralding a shift front, latecomers stride past a derelict car with
toward shoot-to-kill tactics borne out by mount- a blown-out rear window.
ing reports of extrajudicial killings and torture The pastor’s words resonate with Sara, a life-
that hark back to 1980s-era brutality. long resident whose grandson Alex was gunned
Julio rocks back and forth. Another text comes down three years ago around the corner from her
through, and he takes off. family home. She says he was killed by police
On our way back to the pastor’s church, Aaron officers after he refused to talk to them and kept
tells me he’s several months from graduating walking. “He was a good boy,” she affirms. Afraid
from high school and wants to pursue a degree to pursue justice for fear of reprisals from the
in physical education to support his mother, who police, the family raised money to hire a coyote
sells secondhand clothes from the U.S. Trouble to guide one of her daughters and a granddaugh-
is, he can’t leave the barrio. A couple of months ter to Indio, California, where two of Sara’s other
back, he had to decline a spot with a soccer children lived. They send money home every
Gang markings carry a heavy

social stigma and make members an easier target
for rivals and police.
club because if he played on 18th Street turf, his month, but all are undocumented and the rise in
neighborhood affiliation could get him killed. immigration raids has her on edge. “Their fate,”
“I try to keep my distance from the homeboys Sara says, “is in God’s hands.”
and stay on the right path,” he says, “but it’s like The sermon segues into a parable about sin
prison.” Hernández says many young men like and redemption, a theme important to the
Aaron end up wasting away and getting girls dozen or so former gang members in the crowd
pregnant, adding to the socioeconomic pressure who have found their way to Moz’s rehabilita-
that fuels la delincuencia, or criminal activity. tion program. Some have covered their facial
The last time Aaron asked his older brother tattoos with makeup. Gang markings carry a
in Houston to send money so he could travel heavy social stigma in El Salvador and make
north, his brother urged him to stay put because members an easier target for rivals and police.
life in the U.S. was getting harder. “What’s left?” Eyes closed, palms raised to the sky, the men
Aaron sighs. “Join the gang? I don’t want to do shed tears and offer up pleas for forgiveness.
that because I know my fate—I’ll end up dead.” Moz’s charges live on the church premises,
At that moment a truck full of police officers under strict conditions. To stay, they must
in tactical fatigues and black ski masks whips
around the corner, then slows down to size us A net protects María Intipucá. Many there
up, assault rifles at the ready. Aaron throws them Agustina Márquez rely on remittances
a wary glance; the truck moves on. A couple of from mosquitoes in from those in the U.S.
the home she shares Both her sons are in the
blocks farther down the street, Julio pops out with her husband and U.S. but barely manage
from a back alley, sweating and short of breath. granddaughter near to send money home.
N O WAY O U T 95
Religion is one of
few pathways for
Salvadorans who
want to renounce
gang life and make
a fresh start.
Wilfredo Gómez,
a former 18th Street
gang member turned
preacher, speaks at a
memorial service in San
Salvador’s Dina neigh-
borhood. The service
honored a parishioner
and ex-gang member
killed by rivals after his
release from prison.
“You walk with God
or the devil, but you
can’t serve both,”
another former gang
member said.
N O WAY O U T 97
renounce the gang and study the Bible. They

sleep in cramped bunks, rise at dawn to bake
bread, which they sell to support themselves,
and pledge to get their ink removed.
It’s life on a razor’s edge. “The state knows
nothing but pressure and violence, which
creates more violence,” Moz explains. “And the
gang forgives nothing.” He shows me a picture
on his phone of a 19-year-old who strayed from
the program, lying facedown in a pool of blood,
one of five young men he’s lost.
A memorial service is held that afternoon for
another of his flock: an 18th Street member who
joined Moz’s church after seven years in prison,
only to be gunned down in front of a corner store
two blocks away. An evangelical rock band warms
up next to the spot, and Ricardo, the former barrio
gang leader, is rigging up the speakers.
In 1983 Ricardo, then 18, fled Dina for the U.S.
He arrived in Los Angeles as the gang culture
there was metastasizing from street brawls into Salvadoran fisherman
gun battles over the booming trade in crack Arnovis Guidos Portillo
watches his daughter
cocaine. He gravitated toward 18th Street, which and son in their home
was becoming one of the city’s largest and most in Usulután depart-
violent gangs. He rose to lead its notorious Shatto ment. After reaching
the U.S. together
Park Locos clique before landing in prison in in May 2018, father
Southern California and signing his own depor- and daughter were
tation papers back to El Salvador. Ricardo has detained by immigra-
tion authorities and
been shot five times. “I know I have to pay for kept in different facili-
the things I’ve done,” he says. ties for more than
In 2007, Ricardo says, he heard God’s call and a month before being
deported separately
told the gang he was walking away. As an exam- to El Salvador, where
ple for his sons and grandsons, he lasered off the they reunited.
giant 18th Street tattoo that covered his chest
and stomach. Now in his 50s, he drives a delivery
truck to pay the rent, goes home early, and tries Salvador, Ticas is searching for his 66th body
to keep his distance from the active members, of the year, accompanied by a squad of armed
who are always watching. “You walk with God police and a slight young man in baggy jeans
or the devil,” he says, “but you can’t serve both.” and balaclava: the informant, a defector from
18th Street. The victim he’s helping Ticas locate
on the devil’s work.
I S R A E L T I C A S I S A N E X P E RT was a fellow 18th Street member whose arrest
One of the few forensic criminologists working for and swift release brought suspicion that he was
El Salvador’s attorney general, he’s tasked with a rat. According to Ticas, the gang lured him
digging up the casualties of gang mayhem and to the plantation on the pretext that they’d be
calls himself “lawyer for the dead.” Prosecutors killing an MS-13 rival, then strangled him with a
need bodies to convict the killers they catch, so wire, chopped up the corpse with a machete, and
gangs have gone to great lengths to dispose of buried the remains at the base of a tree.
victims—and anyone who would dare unearth Three years have passed since then, and the
them. Ticas, who has survived attempts on his informant’s guidance yields nothing. “This dirt
life, says he carries a pistol wherever he goes and here is too dark and uniform,” Ticas explains.
expects that one day he too will be killed. “If this were the right spot, the colors would be
At the end of a long, tree-shaded dirt road mixed”—a sign the ground had been disturbed.
that runs into a coffee plantation outside San “Like this,” Ticas says. He starts a series of fresh
holes and tells the informant to keep digging. group that works to stop violence against women.
The last time I followed Ticas to a crime scene, The state is “failing” to address an epidemic of
he smashed through the floor of an abandoned femicide and sexual violence, she says, “and this
house to exhume a man who’d been hog-tied and is what’s causing so many women to flee.”
stabbed. In a country where murder has become At a safe house in the capital, a transgender
mundane, Ticas keeps exhaustive records and woman who says she was gang-raped and then
chilling mementos in his office “museum”: threatened by police after reporting the crime
skulls, homemade weapons tainted with blood, says it’s too dangerous for her to try to leave. Her
snapshots of beheadings, flayed bodies, and only option is to lie low and hope her asylum
other torture killings too obscene to describe. request is granted by a European country. In
Most victims Ticas unearths are women and the past the destination of choice was reliably
girls—used, abused, and targeted in revenge kill- the United States, a haven for the oppressed.
ings. In 2017, 468 women were killed, one every 19 These days it’s looking more like a dead end. j
hours. Countless others are missing. One survey
found that only six out of every hundred women Jason Motlagh has reported on migration issues
would even report a rape, reflecting an over- from Bangladesh to the Darién Gap. He lives in
Mexico. Documentary photographer Moises
whelming fear of gangs and the systemic betrayal Saman’s work has focused on the wars in Iraq and
by authorities, says Silvia Juárez of Ormusa, a Afghanistan and the Arab Spring and its aftermath.
N O WAY O U T 99
E X P L O R E R S A R E
R e v e a l i n G t H E S e c r e t s
O F S O M E O F T H E B I G G E S T, M O S T
M y s t e r i o u S C A V E S
O N E A R T H .
B O R N E O’S
VAST
UNDERWORLD
BY NEIL SHEA
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CARSTEN PETER
101
Limestone pinnacles
pierce dense vegeta-
tion near the center
of Malaysia’s Gunung
Mulu National Park.
Eroded from the thick
limestone bedrock over
hundreds of thousands
of years, these karst
features hint at the
otherworldly caverns
belowground.
PREVIOUS PHOTO
At dusk, a swarm
of bats disperses to
hunt in the rainforest
surrounding Deer
Cave. One of the
planet’s largest under-
ground passages,
it holds more than
two million bats.
Sarawak Chamber,
briefly illuminated by
dozens of flashbulbs,
is the largest cave
chamber yet discov-
ered on Earth—more
than twice the size
of Britain’s Wembley
Stadium—and home
to thousands of small
birds called swiftlets.
PANORAMA COMPOSED
OF FIVE IMAGES
Waterfalls roughly 400

feet high pour through
the roof of Deer Cave
after a rainstorm. A
few of Gunung Mulu’s
caves contain large
rivers, which swell into
wild torrents during
heavy rains.
Late on a sweltering morning

in April, two slim British
cavers named Frank and
Cookie lowered themselves
into a slick, humid pit deep
below Borneo’s rainforest.
of bird
C L I M B I N G D O W N PA S T A N A N C I E N T H E A P to find more wet, hot darkness, Borneo is a
guano and pushing through a gallery of gleam- dreamland, a Disneyland, and a Neverland,
ing pillars the color of old bone, the pair were all in one.
hoping to make history. They had crawled into Now imagine them down there, Frank and
Cave of the Winds, deep inside a cave system Cookie, mud smeared and grinning, on the
known as Clearwater, where they would search verge of joining two cave systems into a single,
for a passage to Racer Cave, part of the Racer- immense whole. Not your thing? Well, for cavers,
Easter system. it’s the thing. And it’s rare that such superlative
Connecting the two would create a “super connections are made. In the often obscure
system,” one of the longest subterranean laby- world of underground exploration, which is gov-
rinths on the planet. As the men wormed down, erned by international bodies with names such
drilling and hammering bolts into the slick rock as the “Longest, Largest, and Deepest Commit-
to hold their climbing ropes, their odds of suc- tee,” such a feat would be a very big deal.
cess seemed good. Elsewhere far below the Earth’s surface, in
Already they knew Clearwater stretched for the entrails of Racer Cave, another team was
140 miles and that some of the caverns were slithering into place. They too carried hammers
lined with turbulent rivers, while the Racer- and a drill, and soon the two teams would begin
Easter system contained chambers so enormous banging on the cave walls and drilling into the
that a jetliner could fit easily within its walls with rock, listening for each other, hoping noise
plenty of room to spare. In other words, the lime- would lead them to a connection and a spot in
stone underlying this region, beneath Malay- the record books.
sia’s Gunung Mulu National Park, is riddled with Not far above them, I sat in a large gallery, lis-
some of the biggest holes, widest tunnels, and tening for their drills. The gallery was pristine; it
most mind-blowing voids anywhere on Earth. had been discovered only days before, and I was
If you are the kind of explorer who enjoys one of the first ever to enter it. But where I sat,
crawling down into wet, hot darkness in order surrounded by towering stalagmites and colossal
B O R N E O ’ S C AV E S 109
mushrooms of stone, the cavern was alive with

other sounds. At my elbow, water tinkled into ASIA
limpid basins, while overhead, thousands of
PACIFIC
swiftlets—tiny black birds that spend much Borneo OCEAN
BRUNEI
of their lives in the pitch-black chambers—

INDIAN
twittered and clicked and echolocated toward OCEAN AUS. GUNUNG
MULU
nests made of saliva, moss, and mud. N.P.
Kuching
If Frank and Cookie were making history YS I A
MALA
somewhere below my feet, I wasn’t going to hear
NESIA
it. But that was fine. More than any other sport, INDO
caving is about secrets and the things we endure
B O RNE O
to find them out. Sometimes all you can do is
wait to see what the darkness reveals. So I lay
back, turned out my light, and listened as the 0 mi 150
swifts swooped low, coming so close I could feel 0 km 150
wingbeats on my cheeks. CLARE TRAINOR, NGM STAFF
Thick stands of
stalagmites rise from
moon-pale banks
of sediment in the
Drunken Forest—
a cave named for
formations that tilt
at unusual angles.
PANORAMA COMPOSED
OF FOUR IMAGES
Where else
“ T H I S I S A V E RY E XC I T I N G P L AC E . sport’s governing bodies, helping decide how
on Earth can you find so much unexplored caving records are kept and how titles such as
territory?” “biggest” and “deepest” are bestowed. Less
A huge grin lit Andy Eavis’s face. Then the formally, he’s spent years working to protect
expedition leader frowned. caves and ensure they remain open to the cav-
“Well, I suppose there are a few spots,” he ers who love them. Eavis is, by any measure, an
said, considering his own question. “Papua New ambassador of the underworld.
Guinea comes to mind. And of course, there’s It was morning in the rainforest, and Eavis
the bottom of the sea. But anyway, no. So far as stood on the porch of a research station near park
cave exploration is concerned, Borneo is singu- headquarters, preparing to go underground. A
lar. There’s no place like it under the earth.” sweltering breeze fell through the canopy, silenc-
Eavis, stout and hale at 70, felt comfortable ing the whir of innumerable insects.
staking the claim. He has spent more than Along the walking trails, snails and frogs
50 years exploring some of the world’s most scurried back into the shadows while birds
remote and fantastic subterranean systems shrieked and booed at the rising heat. Eavis
and has served on nearly every one of his pulled on black running tights—standard wear
A spelunker appears
as a small speck in Deer
Cave’s gaping mouth—
nearly 500 feet high.
Sunlight penetrates
deep inside, allowing
mosses, ferns, and
algae to flourish near
the entrance. On the
floor, crabs, insects,
and bacteria feed on
bird and bat guano.
Originally carved by
subterranean rivers,
Credence cave sys-
tem was slowly pushed
upward by tectonic
forces, which lifted it
away from water and
helped dry it out.
for explorers in “hot” caves like those in Borneo, These, usually at higher elevations, were older,
where temperatures can reach 80 degrees F. relatively dry caves that bored through the heart
“Of course, when I got started, we didn’t have of Mulu’s mountains.
kit like this,” Eavis said, waving at the tights. “Or Other caves, at lower elevations, were like
this.” He held up a battered red helmet to which giant storm drains—massive holes in the bed-
he’d fastened a lamp big as a teacup. rock that channeled rainfall into subterranean
“Back then, we were basically stumbling rivers. These river caves were younger, formed
around in the dark. We had no idea the immen- hundreds of thousands of years ago, lined with
sity of the things we’d discovered.” beautiful limestone formations, and home to
fish, birds, snakes, ghost-white crabs, and a gal-
in Borneo as part of
I N 1 9 7 9, E AV I S A R R I V E D axy of insects and spiders.
a British expedition designed to study the During their time belowground in 1979, Eavis
rainforest and help the recently independent and his fellow cavers explored some 30 miles of
Malaysia understand the newly established passages—an unprecedented feat. Nearly 40
Gunung Mulu National Park. Caving was still a years later, wearing black tights in the hot syrup
relatively young sport, and Eavis and a team of of morning, Eavis smiled at the memory.
four others were brought on only after expedi- “There’s no expedition that’s ever explored
tion leaders realized that there were huge caves that much at one time,” he said. “We did most
among the forest’s many treasures. of it standing up, you see.”
Eavis and his friends had honed their skills Eavis paused, stared down at his tights, and
back home, in Britain, where caves were com- bent at the waist. He picked a leech from his
monly small and cold. Borneo’s caves, opposite bootlace and flicked it into the jungle.
in almost every way, pushed Eavis and his com- “Up to that point we were all just simple
panions into another dimension. English cavers,” he said. “Mulu transformed us.”
With their first discovery they set their record
for size: It was called Deer Cave, or Gua Rusa, set the stage for explora-
T H E 1 9 7 9 A DV E N T U R E
and its entrance was so enormous—nearly 500 tion in Borneo. Several caving teams have since
feet high—that the sun reached deep inside and made the long journey to Mulu, and Eavis him-
fresh air followed, creating a strange and won- self has led many of them. For his 13th trip, in
derful habitat in the seam between daylight and 2017, he organized a team of 30 cavers, including
darkness. A mammoth colony of bats clung to his son Robert and many Mulu veterans. In late
the cavern’s roof, while on the floor thick piles of March I reached him by phone in Kuching, a
guano teemed with cockroaches, crabs, worms, city on Borneo’s west coast, as he traveled north
and hosts of specialized microbes. to meet them.
The British team found that Deer Cave “We will probably find somewhere near
stretched for nearly two miles, and for a decade 30 miles of new cave passage,” he said confi-
afterward it stood as the world’s largest known dently. “And nobody ever does that. Except for
cave passage. In 1991 a cave discovered in Viet- me, I suppose.”
nam, called Hang Son Doong, surpassed it, but Two weeks later, when I joined him in Mulu,
the drop in rank did not dull Deer Cave’s allure. that faith had been tempered. The expedition
Today it’s a major attraction for tourists, who was divided into three main teams. Two of them
wander its length on a boardwalk and gather at searched for new passages in a remote area of the
dusk at its mouth, drinks in hand, clapping and rainforest while the third, called the “connection
sighing as millions of bats stream like smoke team,” pored over maps, looking for spots where
into the sky. different cave systems might be linked.
Ostentatious, obvious, oversize—Deer Cave So far, Eavis said, the pace of discovery had
hinted at what more awaited underground. Over been slow and the holy grail of connections—the
three months in Mulu, with the help of guides one Frank and Cookie would later probe for—had
from the nearby Penan and Berawan tribes, the eluded them. Eavis acknowledged disappoint-
cavers came upon a score of entrances leading ment, but his teams still had found more than
deeper into the region’s ancient limestone. seven miles of fresh passage, and more lay ahead.
Some of the caves began as obscure cracks in The morning after my arrival I joined Eavis
rock faces, covered with brush and branches. and a small crew headed for a cave called Gua
Nasib Bagus—the Good Luck Cave—which holds down—natural caves are nonlinear and ex-
the otherworldly Sarawak Chamber. Eavis, with pand and contract according to the movement
other British explorers, had discovered the cave of rocks, the meandering of water, the work
and the chamber in 1981, by following a river into of chaos.
the side of a mountain. Concepts of “up” and “down” assume subtler
After climbing , pulling , and crawling meanings underground, where directions can
upstream for hours, the cavers arrived at a still, be utterly inverted over a few million years. If
calm place where the river vanished into the someone is exploring the down part of the cave,
earth. The men unfurled measuring tapes and another caver might try looking up. And up was
began surveying into the gloom, expecting to Mad Phil’s specialty.
reach the rear wall soon. His nickname apparently had come from a
But no wall appeared. So they tried a dif- canoeing stunt during his university years, but
ferent tactic, veering sharply, figuring they’d Mad Phil was known for climbing cave walls
bump into a side wall. They heard swiftlets that no one else would even attempt. He and
calling overhead, the river roaring somewhere Eavis planned to ascend into the roof of Sara-
beneath their feet. Still no wall. Their headlamp wak Chamber, searching for tunnels that ran
beams simply dissolved into the darkness. through it like hidden passages in the ceiling
After 17 hours of exploring, the men tumbled of a mansion.
out of Good Luck Cave, soaked and confused.
Either they’d just spent hours walking in circles, RAIN FELL as we wound through the forest. Grad-
or they’d made an astounding find. ually it came down harder and faster, the noise
T H E M E N E M E R G E D S O A K E D A N D C O N F U S E D . E I T H E R T H E Y ’ D
s p e n t 1 7 h o u r s w a l k i n g i n c i r c l e s ,
O R T H E Y ’ D M A D E A N A S T O U N D I N G F I N D .
Later teams proved that Sarawak Chamber drowning all sound and talk. Soon the forest itself
is the largest known enclosed space on Earth, blurred, fading in the deluge until all life seemed
at 2,000 feet long, 1,400 feet wide, and almost separated by only the sheerest of membranes.
500 feet tall. It’s more than twice as big as the An hour later we arrived at the mouth of Good
United Kingdom’s most celebrated sports arena, Luck Cave, where a river emerged from a tall
Wembley Stadium. cleft in a wall of limestone. We waded in and
pushed ahead, the clear warm water reaching
AS WE TREKKED toward Good Luck through thick first to our calves, then swelling over our hips,
rainforest, I asked a caver named Philip Rowsell, then shoving into our chests.
known as “Mad Phil,” why an ambitious explorer The passage widened and grew, opening like
would return to this storied terrain if so many a train tunnel above us. Bats and birds com-
records had been set here. He told me that caves muted through it, occasionally dipping into
never reveal everything during a first visit. our headlamp beams, and soon the river became
“You often find things earlier guys missed. whitewater, blasting through sharp channels of
Especially if it’s so frickin’ massive that they’re limestone, forcing us onto boulders slick with
sort of stunned.” spray and guano.
Sarawak Chamber was so big, Mad Phil The route was so treacherous that in certain
explained, that it almost certainly contained places previous cavers had bolted ropes to the
new passages—particularly in the roof, where walls so they could drag themselves forward
no one had ever searched. Although it’s tempt- against the current.
ing to think of caves as similar to mine shafts— After a wild and sodden mile, the river
tunnels that slope relatively straightforwardly disappeared into the earth, and Sarawak
Chamber swallowed us into its vastness. a dozen of them, passing from a pile of loose,
Even when every lamp focused upward, we muddy boulders into a maze of limestone with
could see only the dim suggestion of its massive walls sharp as the face of a cheese grater, to
dome. And if we turned our lamps toward the an eerily quiet niche carpeted with feathers
back of the cave, we saw nothing at all. It was and deep drifts of guano that seemed a place
easy to imagine Eavis and his friends lost, years where cave creatures—birds, spiders, crickets,
before, in the void. centipedes—went to die.
“If you look around, you might find our old Beyond that lay a hushed nursery where the
boot prints,” Eavis said, laughing. “Stumbling cave was so warm, so still, the swifts felt safe
around like blind mice we were.” laying their eggs on bare ground. We never
found another entrance, though surely there
THE WEIRD THING about caves is that you was one—the sound of water and swarms of
remember them brightly. Dim in certain cor- birds told us that. But we’d have to leave it to
ners, but otherwise the walls and rocks and spi- future cavers.
ders are pretty well illuminated. Photographs
only enhance this illusion. What’s true is that Eavis’s team did not rack up
I N T H E E N D,
except for the instant when a photographer’s more record-setting discoveries. Frank and
flash dumps light through a cavern, most every- Cookie—the mud-covered pair, drilling and
thing is invisible. banging at the bottom of a cave—never con-
With no sunlight to measure time, we marked nected the Clearwater cave system to its neigh-
it with meals, tea, and chocolate bars. bor that seemed so tantalizingly close. But the
B E YO N D T H E E D G E S O F C A M P A C O N S T E L L AT I O N O F
l i t t l e j e w e l s g l i n t e d i n t h e l a m p l i g h t —
T H E E Y E S O F S P I D E R S , S O M E A S B I G A S M Y H A N D .
Near the chamber’s entrance, Mad Phil expedition succeeded in finding and mapping
began drilling bolts into the wall, working his a respectable 14 miles of new passages.
way around an overhanging ledge to the roof. A few weeks after I left Borneo, I spoke with
The rest of us explored below, pressing for- Eavis, who had returned to Britain. He told me
ward, sounding the planet’s largest known he was already planning a return trip to Gunung
enclosed space. Mulu National Park to connect the caves himself.
Overhead the swifts chattered and bickered “We were extremely close,” he said.
and called without rest, occasionally dropping He assured me it was not the pursuit of
down to land on our chests, where they would records, or the odd celebrity his sport some-
sit and allow themselves to be petted. times bestows, that continued to drive him. He
At “night” we set our bedrolls on flat rock thought about the caves every day. His children
and strung up lines to air out our socks. The knew well his stories from under the jungle.
chamber was humid and warm, as though the “My guess is that only 50 percent of the pas-
darkness itself were wet, and beyond the edges sages have been discovered,” he said. “Wouldn’t
of camp a constellation of little jewels glinted you just want to know? Mulu is this incredible
in the lamplight—the eyes of countless spiders, place, and I want to know what’s down there and
some as big as my hand. see how all the pieces all fit together.”
One “day,” with Mad Phil and a young caver It was, he said, the labyrinth of a lifetime. j
named Ben, I explored along the left side of the
chamber, searching for another entrance. Sara- Neil Shea wrote about Kurdish forces battling
ISIS in northern Iraq for the February 2016 National
wak is so large that it contains many distinct Geographic. Carsten Peter’s images of China’s
precincts, and we climbed through at least half largest caves appeared in the July 2014 issue.
An expedition team
member climbing
toward the roof of Deer
Cave dangles above
a silhouette that looks
like Abraham Lincoln.
The sharp presidential
profile is a natural fea-
ture of the limestone
and one of the cave sys-
tem’s many curiosities.
TREE
THE MINI-MONSTERS
OF THE RAINFOREST
ARE MASTERS OF
DISGUISE—AND FULL
OF SURPRISES.
BY DOUGLAS MAIN
HOPPERS
PHOTOGRAPHS BY
J AV I E R A Z N A R G O N Z Á L E Z D E R U E D A
121
Known for their

devoted parental care,
treehopper mothers
of the species Alchisme
tridentata watch over
their progeny until
the young hoppers
are old enough to fly
away. The nymphs have
barbs and bright red
and yellow accents,
probably warning that
they’re unpalatable.
PREVIOUS PHOTO
A treehopper of the
genus Bocydium sports
overhead orbs that
may resemble a fungus
that’s deadly to insects.
As their common name suggests,

these tiny insects—none are longer
than a dime is wide—live on trees
ize and plants worldwide, with nearly
life s
5x half the 3,200 or so described spe-
cies inhabiting the New World
tropics. One leaf in the Ecuador-
ian rainforest where this story was
photographed could easily harbor
more treehopper species than
found in all of Europe.
Treehoppers are members of a
huge and varied order of insects
known as the Hemiptera, which
include leafhoppers and cicadas.
Like others of their kind, they’re
equipped with mouthparts for
piercing plant stems and slurping
the juices inside. A bit like mos-
quitoes, they have two interlock-
ing, needlelike feeding tubes, one
for siphoning fluids, the other for
secreting saliva that prevents the
juices from coagulating.
Because they’re often content to
feast on one plant’s bounty their
entire life, most treehoppers pose
little threat to economically impor-
I
f there were a competition for the world’s tant crops (though they may spread
at least one botanical disease).
weirdest insect, treehoppers would have
Partly for this reason, treehoppers
a clear shot at first place. See one for the haven’t been studied as extensively
first time and you’re sure to wonder, What as their close relatives. This lack of
are those strange protrusions sprouting scientific attention has left signifi-
cant gaps in our knowledge of these
from its body?
bugs, including the purpose of their
Many treehoppers flaunt outlandish out- mystifying body modifications.
croppings, such as the helicopter-like orbs It’s a good bet that those pro-
of Bocydium sp. (above). Others play it coy, nounced pronota help protect
treehoppers from predators. Spines
mimicking thorns, leaves, or insect droppings. Still
and barbs warn that they might be
others impersonate ants or wasps. Forty-plus named tough to swallow, and bright colors
species, as well as another 700 or so awaiting scientific advertise toxins within. Mimicry—
description, resemble drops of rainwater. the art of appearing to be some-
thing else—also plays a defensive
Those singular shapes, insect anatomists explain,
role. The strange globes crowning
stem from the treehopper’s specially modified Bocydium’s body resemble globs of
pronotum—a section of the thorax that in other Cordyceps, an insect-killing fungus
insects resembles a small, shield-like plate. But common in rainforests.
Though the pronota are large,
treehoppers are the creative kids in their class, with
they’re also hollow and lightweight,
their pronota arching into grotesque spires or globes, allowing the insects to fly with
veritable billboards of their individuality. surprising ease. Intriguingly, their
pronota are wired with nerves and treehopper mothers remain pres-
hairlike structures known as setae ent and vigilant, guarding their
that receive unknown stimuli and offspring until the nymphs grow
may help the bugs sense their envi- up and fly away. When predators
ronment, says Stuart McKamey, a such as stinkbugs approach, the
researcher with the U.S. Depart- nearest nymph sounds the alarm
ment of Agriculture’s Systematic Many by swinging its body and producing
Entomology Laboratory.
While it’s tantalizing to imagine
treehoppers a vibrational “chirp.” Siblings pick
up the vibe and join in, amplifying
what information treehoppers may flaunt the signal. Springing into action,
glean with these receptors, their the mother confronts the invader,
main mode of communication outlandish furiously buzzing her wings or
involves plant-borne vibrations. punching with her club-shaped
In contrast to their cicada cousins, outcroppings. back legs.
which communicate by rubbing
body parts together to produce
Others play Sometimes treehoppers get help
from ants and other insects that
shrill songs, treehoppers shake it coy, provide protection in exchange
and jerk their bodies to send signals for honeydew, a sweet liquid tree-
through plants, says Rex Cocroft, a mimicking hoppers secrete as a product of
researcher at the University of Mis- constantly drawing plant sap.
souri. Cocroft and other research- thorns, Collecting treehoppers that have
ers record these vibrations with
microphone-like devices that reveal
leaves, or ant allies can be painful: “You’ll get
dozens of stings on your hands,”
a chorus of calls, clicks, chirps, and insect says Chris Dietrich, curator of
songs—none of which are audible insects at the Illinois Natural His-
to the human ear. droppings. tory Survey. But the astonishing
This ability to communicate variety of these bizarre bugs makes
with each other helps treehoppers for endless surprises.
defend their young. Unlike most “When you work with insects,”
insect mothers, which desert their McKamey says, “it’s like Christmas
eggs soon after laying them, many every day.” j
National Geographic senior writer

Douglas Main reports on all creatures
great and small. Photographer Javier
Aznar González de Rueda reveals the
hidden world of animals that most
people never see.
Treehoppers take on many disguises, all with the

same purpose: to look like anything but a tasty
insect. Stegaspis fronditia resembles a thorny leaf.
Bocydium (upper left, five times its actual size)
reveals the minuscule size of many treehoppers.
TREEHOPPERS 125
1 2 3
6 7 8
11 12 13
16 17 18
21 22 23
4 5
Spiky, thorny,
tricky, sci-fi
weird:
Treehoppers
come in
countless
shapes and
colors.
9 10
1, 5, 14, 18: Tree -

hoppers of the genus
Heteronotus mimic
ants and/or wasps.
2. An Aetalion reticula-
tum female cares for a
14 15 mass of newly laid eggs.
3. Phormophora maura.
4. Membracis nymphs
have spikes to dis-
suade predators.
6. Membracis elevata.
7. Chelyoidea sp.
mimics the texture
and color of turtle ants.
8. A treehopper of the
Cladonota genus looks
like a bird dropping.
9. Gelastogonia sp.
10. A thornlike
Enchenopa sp.
19 20 11. Adippe histrio.
12. Hypsoprora sp.,
another poo mimic.
13. Membracis bucktoni.
15. Tropidolomia
auriculata, a species
attended by ants.
16. Ceresini sp.
17. The devil treehop-
per, Hemikyptha mar-
ginata, the world’s
largest known tree-
hopper species.
19. Stegaspis fronditia.
20. Stylocentrus rubri-
24 25
nigris, possibly mimick-
ing insect-killing fungi.
21. A stingless bee
eager to drink honey-
dew from two Aetalion
reticulatum females.
22. Anchistrotus sp.
can lose its “helmet”
and still survive.
23. Nassunia sp.
24. Bird-dropping
mimic Notocera sp.
25. Amastris subangulata.
A prickly Cladonota
biclavata patrols a tree A spiky mouthful,
near Ecuador’s Napo Alchisme grossa
River. Found from Mex- has thornlike barbs
ico to Argentina, some that may dissuade
treehoppers in this would-be predators.
genus have among the This perturbed bug
largest pronota (their perched on a red leaf
modified thoraxes).
“It’s pretty amazing
‘Nature after flying away from
photographer Javier
that these things can does nothing Aznar González de
even hop or fly with uselessly,’ Rueda. But members
this big thing they’re
lugging around with
wrote Aristotle. of this species are
more commonly found
them,” says Chris Yet it’s hard on foliage matching
Dietrich, curator of to glean the their own hue. They
insects at the Illinois
Natural History Survey.
purpose of may appear unappe-
tizing, but there’s no
And yet most seem such tiny need to tempt fate
to do both with ease. grandiosity. by sticking out.
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHARLES FRÉGER
RITUALS OF
SPIRITED
REBELLION
I N T H E A M E R I C A S , C A R N I VA L S A N D O T H E R M A S Q U E R A D E C E L E B R AT I O N S
U S E MY T H I C A L A N I M A L S A N D M I S C H I E VO U S D E V I L S TO H O N O R
T H E I R C U LT U R E S ’ A F R I C A N , I N D I G E N O U S , A N D E U R O P E A N R O O T S —
A N D TA K E A F E W JA B S AT T H E I R F O R M E R O P P R E S S O R S .
G U A D E L O U P E Seen as incarnations of spirits, Guadeloupean

Carnival participants beat drums called boulas before Ash Wednesday
in spontaneous marches meant to awaken the public. The painted
halves of these young men represent their indigenous ancestry on
one side and their Maroon ancestry on the other. They’re standing
in the sea near Baie-Mahault to symbolize the more than 12 million
Africans enslaved by Europeans and transported to the Americas
across the Atlantic from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
132
During a trip to Haiti a few

years ago, I traveled off the
beaten path and visited
the southeastern port city
of Jacmel, where Kanaval—
the Haitian Creole name for
Carnival—is celebrated the
week before the National
Carnival in Port-au-Prince.
Unlike festivities centered around méringues, as
Carnival tunes are called in the French-speaking
nation, Jacmel offers a more homespun experi-
ence. From boys caked in black soot to the sound
of rara—the Vodou rhythms that are a mainstay
of Carnival celebrations in Haiti—to musicians
beating drums or blowing trumpets made from
recycled metal and bamboo horns, each rhythm
tells its own story as it sends you dancing. I was
awestruck by the wild artistry that floods the
town’s narrow streets. There were frighteningly
beautiful interpretations of the devil, large myth-
ical animals, and grotesque-looking masks made
from papier-mâché.
For some, Carnival season, especially Mardi
Gras in New Orleans, means body-baring excess,
bead throwing, and a raucous free-for-all where
debauchery and excessive drinking are encouraged.
A N T I G UA A N D BA R B U DA
But in parts of the Caribbean, Carnival—known as At Fort James on the
Carnaval in Brazil—is more than the revelry that island of Antigua,
has turned such festivities into a glittery tourist the pink masks worn
by troupes of clowns
draw. It’s an artistic space, a public bullhorn, an during Carnival may
unapologetic expression of cultural identity and represent European
empowerment by descendants of enslaved Afri- colonizers. (During the
18th century, the British
cans. Forbidden from worshipping their deities Royal Navy maintained
or participating in the 18th-century pre-Lenten and sheltered its Carib-
masquerade balls of their French and British mas- bean fleet at a well-
protected dockyard
ters, slaves merged African traditions and folklore on the island.) Carnival
with colonial rituals to create their own fete. outfits worn through-
Today celebrations like Corpus Christi, Three out the Americas have
roots in African, Euro-
Kings’ Day, and Day of the Dead take different pean, and indigenous
forms across the African diaspora and may be traditions but con-
hosted at other times of the year, but the festivities stantly evolve
in response to contem-
have common elements. Colorfully and wildly porary culture.
dressed characters blend Christianity, folklore,
134 N A T I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
Carnival in St. Croix is celebrated as it is in much of the British-colonized Caribbean, with

S T. C R O I X
a character called John Bull, which symbolizes the prosperity and gluttony of the empire. Before some
of the Virgin Islands were sold to the United States, the representation often was made of natural fibers
such as raffia but now typically is made of shredded plastic bags. Other variations of bull portrayals
in the Caribbean include Red Bull in Saint Kitts and Nevis and Jonkonnu in Jamaica.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC The devil is a key character of the Dominican Carnival, and his portrayal varies
from village to village. The mask of this particular devil, Tifuá, can be made from an ox, horse, or cow
skull, among other things. Tifuás take to the streets of San Juan de la Maguana, scaring children for their
bad behavior. In the past, anything that did not reflect the Roman Catholic traditions of the time was
labeled as “devil,” forcing many African and indigenous traditions to be molded to Catholic beliefs.
RITUALS OF SPIRITED REBELLION 137

PA N A M A Commonly
celebrated in mid-June
in Chepo, the Corpus
Christi tradition—which
honors the body and
blood of Jesus Christ—
was used by the
Catholic Church in the
Americas to convert
native people and Afri-
can descendants to
Christianity through
street theater. Che-
po’s history includes
the legacy of Bayano,
a cimarron king who
led one of the biggest
slave uprisings in the
Americas in the 1550s.
These teenagers’
outfits include
papier-mâché masks—
and mirrors, something
also seen in West
African culture.

Mardi Gras Indians dress in ceremonial attire to honor the Native Americans who
U N I T E D S TAT E S
helped blacks in the United States escape slavery. In the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras, groups
parade throughout New Orleans, each with their own chiefs and flag bearers. Travis Carter, pictured
here, carries the “krewe” flag, an ornately decorated staff, for the Uptown Warriors. Each suit is
handmade, with intricate bead- and featherwork.
HAITI Jacmel is home to one of the most creative Carnivals in the region. Photographer Charles Fréger
says that some participants choose an elemental approach, using colorful body paint and other readily
available materials. Haiti’s first organized Carnival was in 1927, when the country was occupied by the
United States. During Carnival season, participants masquerade to highlight the historical and current
struggles of Haitian society.

and indigenous perspectives in a ritual of spirited

rebellion. With their identities disguised behind
ornate masks, revelers tell stories, release frustra-
tions, and in places like Haiti, agitate for political
and social change against a backdrop of pulsating
pageantry and parody. Costumes and songs pro-
vide social commentary and political critique.
“This is a rebellion that is a cultural resistance,”
says Henry Navarro Delgado, an associate professor
at Ryerson University who has explored the role
of fashion in Carnival. “This is an opportunity for
them to parade themselves as they really want to.”
Some cover their bodies in paint and mud.
Others dress in the vivid colors of African dei-
ties such as the fiery red and black of Ogun, the
African god of war and iron, or the blue and gold
of Erzulie Dantor, the goddess of jealousy and
passion in the Haitian Vodou paradigm.
A central figure in many Carnivals is the mis-
chievous diablo, the devil. In the Dominican
Republic he might be a limping trickster parading
around with a whip. In Trinidad he’s sometimes
a blue devil mocked and beaten by other devils
to symbolize the brutality of slavery. And in Pan-
ama he’s often the whip-wielding slave master
fighting with escaped slaves, the cimarrons, in a
traditional Congo dance that celebrates the slaves’
resistance to their Spanish masters. The devil, of
course, is bad in a Roman Catholic or European
context. But during Carnival, he’s usually the
impish spirit who’s needed to balance out the
world and shake things up.
No Carnival is complete without the masked
dances that capture the relationship between
slaves and their colonizers, or in some cases,
mock their oppressors.
Many of the dances require training, says Amy
Groleau, curator of Latin American and Caribbean
Collections at the Museum of International Folk
BRAZIL Across the
Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She notes common country and in Boa
themes, representing different social classes and Hora, a small sugar
ethnicities and even animals. “The characters town in Piauí, Three
Kings’ Day is celebrated
have a sacred element to them,” she says. during the first week of
Whether it’s the animal characters from the year. This masquer-
Colombia or the Qhapaq Negro dance depicting ader, representing
one of the three wise
Afro-Peruvians as enslaved laborers arriving with men who brought gifts
Spanish conquistadores, Carnival is more than after the birth of Jesus,
just a bacchanal. It’s a symbol of our history and is taking part in a
reisado, a tradition in
heritage that unites us as blacks, regardless of which groups of singers,
language or geography. j dancers, and musicians
serenade villagers and
Jacqueline Charles covers Haiti and the Caribbean are offered food and
for the Miami Herald. Charles Fréger’s Cimarron: drink in return.
Freedom and Masquerade will be out this spring.
YOUR SHOT
TRUNG PHAM HUY
PHOTOS FROM OUR COMMUNITY
WHO From his home in Ho Chi Minh City, Trung trav-

Trung, a telecom engineer eled to the eastern Vietnamese islet of Hon Yen to
and, since 2016, a recreational
photographer
photograph a village known for lobster fishing. One
WHERE
summer evening, with his drone several hundred
Hon Yen, a tiny island off
feet in the air, he noticed an anchovy fishing boat in
the east coast of Vietnam the corner of his monitor. As he watched, the boat
WHAT released its nets into the water. They unfurled and
A Phantom 4 Pro drone drifted in the waves, almost lifelike. He repositioned
the drone over the boat and snapped five images. “It
looked like a flower on the sea,” he says.
Join National Geographic’s Your Shot community and share your photos at YourShot.ngm.com.
Raise one
TO THOSE WHO NEVER
L E T Y O U D O W N.
Jim Beam Black® Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 43% Alc./Vol. ©2019 James B. Beam Distilling Co., Clermont, KY.

National Geographic UK - 03 2019

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

National Geographic UK - 03 2019

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

National Geographic UK - 03 2019

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What are some of the topics covered in the document?

What are some of the topics covered in the document?

What is Carnival and what role does it play culturally?

What is Carnival and what role does it play culturally?

РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.

WE ARE NOT ALONE

Scientists say there must be other life in the universe.

oƜɡŵőȂEɱɱƜ žƜɱŵǠ ɡƜ ƜʸǠɱǗƜ˛ɡɱǅȂ ŵőȂǗőǠɡžőɡƜŵɡő Ɖ

THE BIG IDEA

Engineer Leslie Dewan Evolved to Crack

THROUGH THE LENS

Conjuring Clouds Strange Reflections

F E AT U R E S Who’s Out There? No Way Out Treehoppers

NEVER MISS A MOMENT

Inspired by your creativity, the Nikon Z 6 is a versatile, compact full-frame

More Story of God

PHOTO: WINDFALL FILMS

In 2019 NASA Earth Science will launch five

Texas A&M and Harvard University are teaming

ENVISIONING ON EVERY FRONT.

M A R C H | FROM THE EDITOR

in the United States. She has a busi-

“ I included National Geographic in my will because big cats are

CREATE YOUR LEGACY TODAY

With water misters and smoke machines, Dutch artist

PHOTO: NINA CHEN

10 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C PHOTOS, FROM TOP: CASSANDER EEFTINCK SCHATTENKERK; MICHAEL HOLLY

PHOTO: CASSANDER EEFTINCK SCHATTENKERK

14 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C PHOTO: ANNEGRET KELLNER

Roaches vs. Wasps

E M B A R K Opium Poppy DNA

says she’s thirsty, I take

E M B A R K | THE BIG IDEA

EVERYONE HAS A RIGHT TO CLEAN

water after heavy rain in Austin, Texas, to fecal con-

ILLUSTRATION: DADU SHIN

E M B A R K | THE BIG IDEA

Maria created a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

Every National Geographic Expedition is grounded in a legacy of exploration, the promise of an

For more information or to request a FREE catalog

hundreds of miles across rural land-

PHOTO: MICHAEL AND PATRICIA FOGDEN, MINDEN PICTURES

M AKE OU R vitamins while sterilizing milk destroyed

BODIE S B ET TER? the early 1900s progressed and revealed

Vitamins and minerals facilitate vital D EFI CI ENCI E S C O N TI N U E ,

Similarly, modern life sees us spend less

Most deficiencies can be remedied

eat. And that can be a problem. as supplements remain a supplement and

Roaches Kick Away Zombie Stings

The knot of microﬁbers above is less than four millimeters across,

Some things are

We all like that feeling of small, everyday

A NEW DINO REVEALED

IN THE 1984 FILM GHOSTBUSTERS, a

in its natural habitat

The world is fascinating. Saving with GEICO … now, that’s

Safer. Cheaper. Greener.

Leslie Dewan, 34, is looking to the

The hidden gems helping a remote

oƜɡŵőȂEɱɱƜ žƜɱŵǠɡƜ ƜʸǠɱǗƜ˛ɡɱǅȂŵőȂǗőǠɡžőɡƜŵɡő Ɖ