Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2021 i National Geographic Magazine

GETTING THE SHOT This image of Andy Lewis silhouetted against a full moon took four months to make. “Even with every piece of technology we could get our hands on, it came down to going there, scouting, and seeing what lined up,” says photographer Renan Ozturk, who aimed his camera from more than a mile away to frame the shot of Lewis on a slackline (a length of woven fabric that’s suspended in the air). When the weather, people, and moon did eventually align, “we only had about a 30-second window to capture the moment.” NIGHT VISIONS With three designated International Dark Sky Parks less than an hour’s drive from Moab, those who can’t see the Milky Way from their homes (a majority of Americans) can get their star fix…

LAKES OF A BYGONE ERA Geologists are looking for telltale patterns that ancient bodies of water leave on rocks and minerals. Erosion at the edges of a lake leaves beach sands and wave-cut terraces, while certain clays and hydrated minerals can form or be deposited only in the presence of water. MOVING UP THE DELTA Perseverance will use its suite of scientific instruments to plumb the mysteries of how the delta formed at Jezero crater and to see whether fossilized microbes might be trapped in its layers of sediments. HEADED FOR THE PLAINS Slated to land on the flat surface of the crater floor, Perseverance eventually will climb up the channels of the delta into the river valley—then on to the plains beyond. COSMIC COLLISION A meteorite formed the 28-mile-wide…

Maj. Abdul Bilal of the Pakistan Army’s Special Service Group huddled with his team beneath a rock outcropping deep in the Karakoram Range. It was April 30, 1989, and a late afternoon snow squall gathered around the 11 men as they labored to breathe the thin air more than four miles above sea level. At first glance they might have appeared to be mountaineers, except for the white camouflage jackets they wore and the automatic weapons slung over their shoulders. In fact, mountaineers would have been jealous of this vantage point, which offered a panorama of some of the world’s most colossal mountains. The hulk of K2, the second highest point on Earth, loomed just over the horizon, 50 miles to the northwest. But the majority of the icy peaks…

Long bred for sport hunting, greyhounds more recently have been bred to race. Their anatomy and gait are ideal for bursts of speed up to 45 miles an hour, making them the world’s fastest breed. But those attributes also make them susceptible to fractures and spinal complications that rarely afflict other dogs. POWERFUL LEGS They’re propelled by very long foot bones (for leverage) and high muscle mass. Their rump and thigh muscles are larger than those of most other breeds. SPEED IS IN THEIR BLOOD Greyhounds’ large spleens store a high number of red blood cells, which are released into the bloodstream at the start of a race. This thickens the blood and prompts quick vessel dilation, oxygenating muscles for high performance. A RACER’S CAREER 12 months GROW Litters are…

AN AMBER-ENTOMBED FOSSIL with an exquisitely preserved skull (left)—even some muscles intact—is the oldest known example of a slingshot tongue, found in amphibians called albanerpetontids. Details about “albies” have been elusive; another albie fossil previously was misidentified as its distant cousin the chameleon. But new analysis by Sam Houston State University researcher Juan Daza and his colleagues identified this fossil, above,* from Myanmar, as a new albie species that lived 99 million years ago. Writing in Science, Daza’s team added to albies’ profile: Lizardlike, with scales and claws, likely living in or around trees, these sit-and-wait predators used their long, powerful tongues to nab small invertebrates. —DINA FINE MARON DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINES OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION Sniffing out the deadly virus Scientists are training working dogs to detect…

During the past five decades 182 former death-row prisoners, an average of four people a year, have been exonerated of all charges related to their death sentences. Advances such as the use of DNA testing have led to a small decrease in wrongful convictions but have not been sufficient to overcome official misconduct and human error. YEARS UNTIL EXONERATION The exonerees lost years—almost 12 on average—for crimes they didn’t commit. Here they’re grouped by time wrongfully convicted. REASON FOR EXONERATION Two out of three cases involved official misconduct, such as concealing evidence. In many cases a witness lied under oath, committing perjury. DATA AS OF DECEMBER 15, 2020. ONLY INDIVIDUALS SENTENCED TO DEATH AFTER 1972 ARE INCLUDED. MONICA SERRANO, NGM STAFF; KELSEY NOWAKOWSKI. SOURCE: DEATH PENALTY INFORMATION CENTER…

IT’S 8:30 ON A SATURDAY night in August. A gibbous moon hangs low in the sky, its glow no competition for the neon sign proclaiming GREYHOUND RACING and DERBY LANE. About 300 people are scattered in the grandstands here in St. Petersburg, Florida, that once held thousands, murmuring as loudspeakers play big band and rockabilly. They fall silent when Frederick Davis leads the parade of dogs. “TNT Sherlock,” says the announcer, calling for the first of the eight sleek animals as Davis halts them in front of the stands. Each dog wears a number attached to a snug vest known as a blanket. “Tailspin,” the announcer calls, “Charlotte York…” Next, Davis, 41, and the eight handlers he supervises put the dogs in the starting box. A mechanical rabbit named Hare-son…

FROM OUR PHOTO GRAPHERS WHO A conservation photographer, writer, and adventurer WHERE On the public breakwater promenade at Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos WHAT A Sony A7R3 camera and 100-400mm lens When in the Galápagos, keep your camera ready. After a day spent snorkeling with sea lions, Mittermeier sat down to have a cocktail when she spotted thousands of Sally Lightfoot crabs perched on volcanic rocks nearby. Wildlife abound on the famous islands—but increasingly are threatened. After photographing the crabs, Mittermeier took a short walk to a beach. There she saw countless strewn plastic bottles and bags, trash that is choking the islands’—and the planet’s—wild ecosystems. This page showcases images from National Geographic’s Instagram accounts—the most popular brand on Instagram. Join more than 215 million followers: @natgeo, @natgeotravel, @natgeointhefield,…

MANY OF SASHA MASLOV’S best childhood memories are connected to trains. Every vacation, every trip to another city, he’d stare out the window to see the texture of his country in the apartment buildings and shops and cars waiting for the train to pass. And every so often, he’d see a tiny house with a woman standing by it, holding a yellow flag. “Ukrainian railroad ladies,” as Maslov calls them in his portrait series, are a cultural tradition that feels as old as rail travel in Ukraine. The workers are tasked with sending flag-based signals to conductors of approaching trains. A folded yellow flag means all clear ahead. An unfolded flag means reduce speed and proceed with caution. A red flag—or a flare shot into the air—means to stop moving…

1 BEETLES SENSE HEAT Hours after fire Wood-boring fire beetles use heat sensors to find burned trees miles away, where they lay their eggs. 2 FEASTING Months after fire Woodpeckers hunt for wood-boring beetle larvae, their main food source. The birds have usually colonized an area by the first spring after a fire. 3 HOMESTEADING Annually They excavate cavities to make new nests every year; chicks hatch in spring. Old nests shelter many small mammals and other birds. 4 MOVING AWAY 4-8 years Black-backed woodpeckers leave for newly burned forests when fire-killed trees deteriorate and beetle populations diminish.…

FAR-FLUNG LAB Big daily temperature swings and rocky terrain make for tough working conditions. To survive, this rover’s body is based on past vehicles but with newly designed wheels, more brainpower, and a stronger arm. RETRIEVE AND RETURN Rolling along at a top speed of 0.1 miles an hour, the 2,260-pound rover will collect rocky samples from Jezero crater for eventual return to secure laboratories on Earth. SAMPLING ARM A heavy rotating turret on a flexible, seven-foot-long arm holds instruments to analyze rocks for traces of past life and a drill to collect samples.…

CHANGING FOCUS Since the 1960s NASA’s planetary science budget has reflected priorities beyond the moon. Mars’s share has grown, but total investment in the planet since then has been less than 2 percent of NASA’s total spending. $26.2 Billion IN MARS MISSIONS Getting to Mars is a challenge. The Soviets saw nearly all their missions fail; more recently, Russia’s, Japan’s, and China’s missions failed. But India and Europe have active Mars orbiters, and NASA’s success rate is more than 70 percent. COSTS INCLUDE LAUNCHES AND ARE ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION TO 2019 DOLLARS. Mission spacecraft ❌ Flyby ■ Lander ● Orbiter ♦ Rover Outlined symbols represent failed missions…

In 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Twenty-two states have abolished it; others have enacted new laws to conform to the court’s rulings. Today there are prisoners on death row in 28 states and in federal and U.S. military facilities. STATE DEATH PENALTY STATUS Each dot represents one person now on death row. NUMBER OF DEATH SENTENCES BY RACE/ETHNICITY Since 1972, the death sentence has been handed down more than 9,550 times. A single defendant can be sentenced to death multiple times for different crimes, sometimes in different states. * WYOMING HAS NOT ISSUED A DEATH SENTENCE SINCE 1982. THE GOVERNOR CONSIDERED A MORATORIUM IN 2020. **N EW HAMPSHIRE ABOLISHED THE DEATH PENALTY IN 2019. THE…