National Geographic Magazine March 2022

THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, Tara Roberts writes, is full of “souls who have never been acknowledged or mourned. Dreamers, poets, artists, thinkers, scientists, farmers.” And so begins a powerful essay of discovery: this issue’s cover story and a special six-part Nat Geo podcast called Into the Depths. Roberts, a National Geographic Explorer, has traveled coastal waters from the United States to South Africa to Costa Rica, searching for what remains of the ships that an estimated 12.5 million Africans were forced onto during four centuries of the transatlantic slave trade. Roberts seeks signs not just of those captives who arrived on the Americas’ shores—but also of the 1.8 million people who perished along the way from inhumane conditions in cargo holds or by drowning in shipwrecks. Roberts participates in these searches with a group…

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VOL. 241 NO. 3 LOOKING AT THE EARTH FROM EVERY POSSIBLE ANGLE…

AFTER YEARS OF making images outside of Japan, Ryotaro Horiuchi turned the camera toward his home country. As he questioned what constitutes Japanese identity—and his own identity as a Japanese person—he began looking into matsuri, the communal celebrations held in every region of Japan since ancient times. When Horiuchi attended Fukushima Prefecture’s Soma Nomaoi Festival, where samurai descendants and devotees dress in armor and compete on horseback each July, he was “overwhelmed and moved by the power and human aspect,” he says. The festival has been held for more than a thousand years; its origins lie in the military training of the lord of Soma’s samurai, who dedicated their lives to protecting his. Today’s participants take inspiration from the discipline, honor, and loyalty practiced by the samurai—values that have helped them persevere…

ILLUM INATING THE MYSTERIES—AND WONDERS—ALL AROUND US EVERY DAY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VOL. 241 NO. 3 “LOOK,” MY SON SAID. We were bobbing in the shadow of a pier on Isla Vieques in Puerto Rico. Wooden slats a few feet above our heads sheltered us from the tropical sun. Weather-beaten pilings disappeared beneath the water’s surface. It was cool there but barren—a human-made spot suitable only for a quick rest during our first foray into snorkeling. Will pointed down. His eyes were wide behind his mask. He dipped his head underwater. I followed. We entered another world. Above the water the pier was a dull structure of warped wood and chipped paint. Underwater it teemed with life—orange and yellow corals wrapping around the pilings, lush sea plants undulating in the current, darting schools of silvery fish. This…

DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINES OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION SNUG IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM’S thickest fur, sea otters can live their whole lives in the ocean, feeding heavily upon seafloor animals. In British Columbia they often dig clams out of fields of eelgrass (Zostera marina), leaving divots in otherwise dense mats of the aquatic vegetation. In meadows that otters inhabit compared with those they don’t, the eelgrasses are more genetically diverse and the plants more resilient, according to a study published in the journal Science. That’s because by foraging and disturbing the seabed, otters prompt the plants to flower and produce seeds, and their digging provides more space and sunlight for seeds to settle and germinate. Seagrasses such as eelgrass are imperiled as a result of warming and pollution; they’re vital…

CLICKING “ACCEPT” without reading the fine print is the norm for many of us when first accessing a digital app. But what exactly are we accepting? Clario, an internet-security software company based in the United Arab Emirates, compiled 2021 data from some of the world’s most used apps to assess which data they can collect and store once we tap that button. The information includes the basics such as name, date of birth, and email address. But it can quickly get more personal, from our pets and hobbies to height, weight, and sexual orientation. Many apps also can store bank information and connect to our social media accounts. Social media apps—increasingly under fire for privacy concerns—collect data from the broadest variety of sources. Top collectors Apps for social networking (Facebook and Instagram),…