National Geographic Magazine - UK June 2024

FOR ABOUT AS long as I can remember, “I’m so stressed” has been a common response to the question “How are you?” Back in my college days, we used to joke that, for some students, this answer was a kind of boast, implying that they were overloaded with very important things to do, which in turn made them important. In more recent years I’ve watched that morph into “hustle culture”—the notion that working as much and as hard as you can is the way to get ahead. This approach, of course, is practically synonymous with stress. And I think that’s one reason the hustle is now challenged as much as (or more than) it is celebrated. It’s increasingly clear chronic stress isn’t good for our physical and mental well-being. This…

ANIMALS “When I photograph animals in the lab, I sometimes have to sit for hours. They are CONSTANTLY MOVING, hiding their little heads or stretching over the edge of the bowl. But sometimes they twist themselves into surprisingly beautiful knots.”ALEXANDER SEMENOV, Photographer and National Geographic Explorer ENVIRONMENT “From this vantage point, you can see small pools of water that have collected in the sheep tracks above the tree, reflecting the blue of the sky. The overall effect is one of RENEWAL AND CONNECTION.”JULIE KENNY, Photographer ADVENTURE “Darby’s ponytail flying behind her lends the image a little extra vertigo. Her descent was one of THE BEST out of the three kayakers I worked with that day.”MICHAEL CLARK, Photographer…

With timeless precision, the chisel blade carves a delicate slither of curling wood, each cut helping to transform nature into art. "Here, in our area we carved house posts," explains Xwalacktun, an artist of the Squamish Nation. "They were for teaching and passing on knowledge to others who aren't here yet." It's an important part of the rich Indigenous heritage that Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Joseph Fiennes experience as they travel across Canada in the documentary Return to the Wild. "One of the most beautiful aspects of Indigenous culture is storytelling," enthuses Mackenzie Brown, a Cree woman, drummer, singer, and storyteller living in the enigmatic shadow of the Canadian Rockies. "We have beautiful creation stories, stories about the constellations, and stories about our spectacular nature." These form an essential Oral…

COLOMBIAN MARINE biologist Fernando Trujillo has been named the 2024 Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year. This award is given by the National Geographic Society to an intrepid Explorer who highlights vital issues facing our planet and inspires others to act. “His work in South America enhances protections for endangered wildlife and supports sustainable practices for the betterment of local communities,” says Jill Tiefenthaler, CEO of the Society. Trujillo has dedicated his life to saving the Amazon’s river dolphins, and he was given another name by the Tikuna Indigenous people who live along the Amazon River in Colombia: omacha. At first he didn’t understand why. But after Trujillo figured out the reason, he realized the moniker was so apt he adopted it for his conservation organization. Omacha, in Tikuna…

Brian Skerry, p.74 An Explorer since 2014, Skerry first dived in the Gulf of Maine more than 40 years ago. In this issue, he shares how the area has become a harbinger of climate change. Skerry has contributed more than 30 features to the magazine. His last story was “Secrets of the Whales” in 2021, which accompanied the Emmy Award–winning documentary series that he produced. It’s available to stream on Disney+. Nina Strochlic, p.104 One of Strochlic’s most recent features for National Geographic took readers on a journey along the Appian Way. To research this month’s story on at-risk archives, she was awarded a grant from the Alicia Patterson Foundation, which funds independent investigative reporting projects. Arturo Rodríguez, p. 5 6 “My hometown is nestled within a volcanic crater,” says…

‘OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, THE PERCEIVED LEVEL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS HAS RISEN DRAMATICALLY ACROSS THE GLOBE DUE TO A COMBINATION OF EVENTS INCLUDING THE LONG-LASTING COVID-19 PANDEMIC, CIVIL UNREST, ESCALATION OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY ACROSS THE GLOBE, AND CLIMATE CHANGE THAT HAS TRIGGERED MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC PERTURBATIONS. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS BROAD-SCALE INCREASE IN STRESS ARE ONLY BEGINNING TO BE APPRECIATED, BUT EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT WE ARE FACING A SECOND PANDEMIC OF MOOD AND ANXIETY DISORDERS, INCLUDING MAJOR DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, AND POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER.’— HUDA AKIL & ERIC J. NESTLER “The neurobiology of stress: Vulnerability, resilience, and major depression.” PNAS, November 2023 MORE THAN a half century ago, a long-term study—one of the first sizable studies of its kind—led to a surprising discovery. In 1967, researchers in the United Kingdom…