National Geographic Magazine June 2019

NAT GEO TV See how heroism held back Ebola in The Hot Zone When the deadly Ebola virus was found in monkeys at a Virginia research lab in 1989, U.S. Army scientist Nancy Jaax put her life on the line to prevent its spread. Actress Julianna Margulies (above) plays Jaax in The Hot Zone, a television miniseries based on Richard Preston’s best-selling book that tracks the virus from its origins in central Africa. The six part series will air two episodes a night, starting at 9/8c, on May 27, 28, and 29 on National Geographic. BOOKS New Nat Geo Kids Almanac for 2020 To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the best-selling National Geographic Kids Almanac, the 2020 edition is packed with new content: photos, fun facts, activities, and more. Available wherever books are sold and…

PEOPLE LOVE ANIMALS. Nowhere is that more apparent than at National Geographic, where photos of animals are among the most “liked” by our Instagram followers, stories about animals drive traffic on our website, and animals are prominent in the pages of our magazine. But this love of animals can often lead people, unwittingly, to hurt them. This month we explore the thriving industry of wildlife tourism—a way for people to appreciate and support animals when it’s done appropriately but an exploitative business with terrible consequences when it’s not. We sent reporter Natasha Daly and photographer Kirsten Luce around the world to investigate the lives of captive animals once the selfie-taking tourists go home. What they found will break your heart. In some attractions with unscrupulous operators, tourists have no idea the animals…

LOOKING AT THE EARTH FROM EVERY POSSIBLE ANGLE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VOL. 235 NO. 6…

I FIRST WENT TO NORM ANDY in 1974. I was a 27-year-old news photographer shooting the French presidential election, and my visit happened to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the D-Day landings. I was amazed that the French still welcomed American veterans as their liberators—a warm feeling between the countries that still exists today. Since that trip, I’ve returned to the beaches nearly a dozen times in the past half century, with each visit observing those hallowed sands and bearing witness to how the past refuses to be erased. I’ve met countless veterans who at first seem perfectly ordinary, like the guys I grew up with who ran the hardware store or pharmacy. I’ve had to pull their extraordinary stories out of them—each one a remarkable memory of a pivotal…

THE DISCOVERIES OF TODAY THAT WILL DEFINE THE WORLD OF TOMORROW NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VOL. 235 NO. 6 I GREW UP BELIEVING that my auntie had almost died because she ate an apple in South America. According to the family stories, the fruit had been contaminated, or maybe an insect had been crawling on it and had bitten Tía Dora. However it had happened, my family understood this: A New York doctor had diagnosed my auntie with Chagas disease. It meant my auntie could die. We didn’t ask questions. English wasn’t our first language. My parents worked in factories. We took care of my auntie as she went in and out of hospitals for decades. When I reached my late 30s, Tía Dora was rushed to the hospital one night. A week later, she died.…

The World Health Organization lists Chagas, sleeping sickness, and Guinea worm disease among “neglected tropical diseases.” But there’s progress reining them in thanks to successful interventions: controlling for disease vectors, ensuring that people can filter their water, and getting infected people access to health care. Sleeping sickness Parasites enter the body through tsetse fly (left) bites. 1999: 27,862 chronic cases 2017: 1,420 chronic cases Guinea worm disease Guinea worm larvae enter the body via drinking water. 1989: 892,055 infected 2018: 28 infected Chagas disease 1990: 30 million infected 2010: 6 to 8 million infected…