National Geographic

02.2023 THE FUTURE IS FOLDED HOW ORIGAMI IS RESHAPING OUR WORLD

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FURTHER FEBRUARY 2023 CONTENTS On the Cover Origami folds let the inner disk of NASA’s starshade prototype wrap into a cylinder for launch, then unfurl to block starlight reaching a space telescope. CRAIG CUTLER PROOF EXPLORE THE BIG IDEA 32 These Boots Were Made ... of What? Investigating whether an advertised item is made from protected wildlife isn’t as straight- forward as it sounds. BY DINA FINE MARON DECODER CAPTURED The Dawn of Jaws Moon Views in New fossil discoveries Rainbow Hues in China provide clues Orange, bronze, tan, to a key moment in even purple—Earth’s vertebrate evolution. atmosphere colors how we see the moon. BY MICHAEL GRESHKO BY LIZ KRUESI From Coop ALSO CLOSER LOOK to Catwalk In the Dutch country- Rock Climbing in Rio Monsters of Spring side, a portrait pho- Ocean Floor Exploration Fearsome creatures tographer turns his scare away winter in lens to poultry and a Slovenian tradition. finds the animals to be “walking pieces of art.” BY NOAH CHARNEY PHOTOGRAPHS BY PHOTOGRAPHS BY CIRIL JAZBEK ALEX TEN NAPEL ALSO Freaky Fish Face-Off Longest-Tongued Moth

F E AT U R E S The Future Is Folded A New Old Age Made From Mud Origami is delicate Having one of the In West Africa, a tradi- and decorative, yes, world’s oldest popula- tional building material but powerful and tions means having to is back, helping make practical? As art is change—everything. modern edifices cool. adapted to serve science, the intricate BY SARAH LUBMAN BY PETER SCHWARTZSTEIN patterns of origami PHOTOGRAPHS BY are being harnessed PHOTOGRAPHS BY to create items such M O I S E S S A M A N . . . . . . . . P. 108 as robotic arms, highly N O R I K O H AYA S H I . . . . . . . P. 58 effective face masks, ABOVE: Tsukimi Ayano, and solar arrays to What’s Not to Love? 72, crafts a new doll to unfurl in space. Sea otters seem to be commemorate the resi- doing swimmingly, but dents of her hometown BY MAYA WEI-HAAS it’s complicated. of Nagoro, Japan. The shrinking hamlet has PHOTOGRAPHS BY BY CYNTHIA GORNEY hundreds of dolls but just 25 inhabitants. C R A I G C U T L E R . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 34 PHOTOGRAPHS BY RALPH PACE AND K I L I I I Y Ü YA N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 84

F E B R U A R Y | FROM THE EDITOR Animal Adaptations, FROM OTTERS TO ORIGAMI Human Ingenuity B Y NATHAN LUMP P H OTO G R A P H B Y CRAIG CUTLER W H E N I WA S a young boy, my favorite how origami—which most of us think Inspired by origami’s magic stuffed toy was a floppy-necked bear of as an art form or a craft—is begin- ball pattern, this silicone named Bearby, crocheted for me by ning to power important advances in rubber figure looks like my aunt Lori. And my second favorite everything from space exploration to art—and works like an was a plush sea otter. robotics and medicine. Thanks to some artificial muscle as part of very creative thinkers, a centuries-old a multipurpose gripping As we all know, sea otters are deeply, approach to manipulating matter is device. Encasing the shape relentlessly cute. No doubt attracted now taking us to new heights. What a in a flexible membrane and first by their cuddly appearance, I soon triumph of human ingenuity. applying a vacuum causes became fascinated with their story. the gripper to contract These otters were hunted nearly to We hope you enjoy the issue. around an object placed in extinction for their fur in the 1700s and its center, gently but firmly 1800s, along the Pacific Ocean coasts grasping even delicate or of Japan, Russia, and North America. relatively heavy items. During my childhood, sea otters were protected, but their comeback was not assured, despite a variety of attempts to help them on their way. As Cynthia Gorney reports and Ralph Pace and Kiliii Yüyan document in stunning photographs for this issue (“What’s Not to Love?”), although sea otters have by no means rebounded to their pre-18th-century levels, their population is healthier today than it has been for 200 years. And while their undeniably adorable appearance and antics have made them, in our day and age, darlings of social media, these tough and adaptable creatures with enormous appetites are also a keystone species deemed critical to their ecosystems. As such, they present a perfect case study for the sometimes com- plicated ramifications of successful conservation: What is the impact on the environment, and all living things (including people) that depend on it, when a species nearly disappears—and then comes back? I was not one of those kids who played around with origami, but I have long appreciated the skill and beauty of it. If you do too, you won’t want to miss this month’s cover story, “The Future Is Folded.” It explores



PROOF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VOL. 243 NO. 2 FROM COOP TO CATWALK In the Netherlands, Alex ten Napel makes miniature runways in barns and backyards to capture the essence of chickens such as this Polish rooster. “I consider them walking pieces of art,” he says. PHOTOGRAPHS BY LOOKING ALEX TEN NAPEL AT THE EARTH When a portrait photographer FROM shifted his focus to poultry, he E V E RY found his subjects to be coy, funny, POSSIBLE and surprisingly similar to humans. ANGLE 6 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

FEBRUARY 2023 7

PROOF Compared with people, chickens like the Polish hens above and below right are quite patient models, ten Napel says. 8 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Polish roosters and other showy chickens are bred for competition, not consumption. Scientists think humans first domesticated chickens between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago. FEBRUARY 2023 9

PROOF Ten Napel first came face-to-face with a chicken while he was camping in the Pyrenees Mountains about 10 years ago. He felt an immediate connection to the species, which then became his main photographic muse. 10 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

The European Association of Poultry, Pigeon, Cage Bird, Rabbit, and Cavy Breeders recognizes more than a hundred breeds of chickens, from the Polish, at left and above, to the Brabanter and the Dutch bantam. F E B R U A RY 2 0 2 3 11

PROOF THE BACKSTORY WITH HIS PORTRAITS, PHOTOGRAPHER ALEX TEN NAPEL A I M S TO S H OW T H E P E R S O N A L I T I E S O F P O U LT RY. A C H I C K E N “ I S N OT J U S T an animal visually striking, and imposing, he that gives us eggs,” says Alex ten says. But it’s the females ten Napel Napel, who’s been roaming his home finds himself drawn toward. “I have a country of the Netherlands in search heart for the hens. They’re so vulnera- of farm fowl since 2014. Taking inspi- ble,” he says. “They move me in a way ration from Melchior d’Hondecoeter, that I want to protect them.” a 17th-century Dutch artist known for his work with birds, ten Napel uses A specialist in portrait photography, lighting, backdrops, and an elevated, ten Napel focused on people—usually catwalk-like stage to bring chickens children and older adults—for 25 years. out of the coop and into an entirely The chickens, he says, have reignited new context. his passion for this type of photogra- phy. “I can’t direct them. I have to be “What I hope you see in the photos patient and feel how they will show is that chickens can be proud beings or themselves,” he adds. “Everything they funny beings,” he says. “They can be give you is a gift.” like gymnasts or ballerinas. Not what most people think of when you talk Though ten Napel has occasionally about chickens.” tried to train his lens on other sub- jects since falling for fowl, nothing While each animal has different else seems to capture his interest so characteristics, ten Napel has noticed completely. “This year I went back to the emergence of some patterns the breeders,” he says, “and I’m shoot- throughout his travels. Roosters, ing the next series until, well, I can’t or male chickens, tend to be large, photograph anymore.” —JASON BITTEL On his bird-friendly runway, ten Napel coaxes a model to strut its stuff for the camera. PHOTO: WIM DIEPENBROEK

EXPLORE IN THIS SECTION Farewell, Fatbergs Jaws’ Evolution The Hikes of Rio Moons of Many Hues ILLUMINATING THE MYSTERIES—AND WONDERS—ALL AROUND US EVERY DAY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VOL. 243 NO. 2 These Boots Were Made...of What? SELLING ITEMS MADE FROM PROTECTED WILDLIFE MAY BE UNLAWFUL— BUT AS NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DISCOVERED, THAT’S HARD TO PROVE. BY DINA FINE MARON T H E S I X- P O U N D B OX arrived on a steamy June day, hot from its ride in the delivery van. The label said BOOT BARN in capital letters, and when I opened the package, the oaky scent of leather enveloped me. The lower half of the boots had a distinct wrinkly pattern that was rough to the touch. Stamped inside the boots’ shaft: “genuine elephant leather.” At a list price of $799.99, they’d been advertised online as El Dorado Men’s Brass Indian Elephant Exotic Boots. That is, boots purportedly made from an endangered Asian elephant. After four years as a reporter for Wildlife Watch, an investigative project funded by the National Geographic Society, I knew there was a market for just about any exotic species, from leeches to rare succulents. I’d become difficult to shock. But selling Asian (or “Indian”) elephant boots? That sounded unprecedented—and potentially unlawful under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered F E B R U A RY 2 0 2 3 15

E X P L O R E | THE BIG IDEA THE TRADE IN ELEPHANT SKINS lab testing HAS BECOME A PROBLEM, BUT At biologist Sam Wasser’s Univer- THERE HADN’T BEEN PREVIOUS sity of Washington lab, researchers REPORTS OF ASIAN ELEPHANT had successfully identified elephant BOOTS. SO NATIONAL ivory origins using DNA analysis. To GEOGRAPHIC BOUGHT A PAIR attempt the same with leather from TO SEND FOR DNA TESTING. Boot Barn’s boots, they cut small samples and ripped them into shreds Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), according with a razor blade—a low-tech way to to John Scanlon. From 2010 to 2018 Scanlon was get as much surface area as possible, secretary-general of CITES, which regulates the which increases the chances of find- global wildlife trade. Asian and African elephants ing DNA. They put the samples into are endangered animals. How could Boot Barn, a major U.S. retailer, be selling these boots? So began an inquiry that involved months of inter- views, research in trade and financial records, inno- vative materials analysis, and any number of dead ends. What we learned, finally, was a hard but valuable lesson: Efforts to monitor compliance with regulations that govern wildlife products can be stymied by the difficulties of proving the items’ provenance. O N LY 4 0 0,0 0 0 A F R I C A N elephants and 50,000 Asian elephants are left in the wild. Most Asian elephants are found in India and have what could be called a biological advantage over their African counterparts: More often than not, they are tuskless. That helps shield them from the ivory trade, which has driven the slaughter of African elephants. Among Asian elephants, only males can grow tusks, and relatively few develop them. The chief threat to Asian elephants still comes from people, by way of habitat loss and human-animal conflict on farms and other land. Increasingly, the trade in elephant skin has also become a problem; the skin is sometimes used to make beads worn for good luck in Myanmar and China. But there hadn’t been reports of Asian elephant boots—so National Geo- graphic set out to discover if Boot Barn’s boots actually contained elephant skin (and, if so, how they could be sold by a major U.S. retailer). I talked to wildlife and trade law experts, I scoured CITES records looking for legal elephant-skin shipments, and I identified which company made the boots—but beyond that, answers were hard to find. In the hope of determining the boots’ origin, National Geographic bought a pair to send for DNA testing. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before the pur- chase, I’d called and emailed Boot Barn for weeks, asking about the boots and their sourcing. I got no response to almost a dozen emails, phone calls, and LinkedIn messages addressed to the retailer’s chief financial officer, communications office, and people listed as press and investor relations contacts. I also called customer service and reached a representa- tive who said she’d look into it and call me back; I never heard from her. The last request for comment, 16 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

chemicals that break cell walls apart, Boot Barn advertises basically turning the shreds into a Brass Indian Elephant brown sludge that wildlife genet- Exotic Boots as made ics lab manager Zofia Kaliszewska from elephant leather. described as “gross and pulpy.” They Since global sales of spent about a week incubating the Asian elephant skins sample, adding chemicals, trying to would potentially be find any usable DNA. But eventually, unlawful, we tried to their computer spit out DNA results confirm the boots’ for only their control samples—none provenance through for the Boot Barn samples. — D F M DNA analysis. Strips cut from a boot were PHOTOS: REBECCA HALE, NGM STAFF tested at a University of Washington lab. F E B R U A RY 2 0 2 3 17

E X P L O R E | THE BIG IDEA addressed to Boot Barn’s president and chief execu- the trade in elephant hides from four African nations tive officer, was sent in the weeks before this article that have relatively stable elephant populations: went to press. That request received no response. Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Boot Barn’s advertisement said the boots were To explore the question Ashe raised—might Boot made by a company called El Dorado. By searching Barn’s “Indian” boots have been made from African for El Dorado’s patent records and then Boot Barn’s elephant?—I called Sam Wasser at the University of public financial disclosures to the U.S. Securities and Washington. He directs a lab that has successfully Exchange Commission, I discovered that El Dorado traced the origins of elephant ivory using DNA analy- is an “exclusive brand” of Boot Barn Holdings, Inc.; sis. If we provided the boots, could his team determine Boot Barn’s public website lists El Dorado as one of whether they’re elephant—and if so, which species? the boot brands the retailer has created. Wasser said they’d try but couldn’t guarantee that the leather-tanning process had left usable nuclear DNA. I A S K E D J O N AT H A N KO L BY, a National Geographic Explorer who used to work as a wildlife inspector, to After the boots arrived at my house on that hot examine the boot photograph in the advertisement. June day, I shipped them to Wasser’s lab. Samples of He said the material did look like real elephant leather the leather were prepared and tested (see pages 16-17), he’d seen. Teresa Telecky, a zoologist and the vice but no nuclear DNA was found. Wildlife genetics lab president of the wildlife department at Humane manager Zofia Kaliszewska said the DNA could be Society International, said the same. “I’ve never seen absent because “tannins had killed everything” during Asian elephant–skin boots for sale,” she told me. processing—or because it truly wasn’t elephant. In a last-ditch effort, Kaliszewska had the lab look for When I asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service— mitochondrial DNA, which might have survived even which polices U.S. companies’ trade in products from if the nuclear DNA they’d hoped to find had been protected species—about the rules for elephant skin, destroyed. That mtDNA couldn’t identify an elephant the response was a statement: “As a result of the Asian species, but it might at least tell us if elephant skin was elephant’s protection status, commercial import and present at all. The lab team then spent several days subsequent sale of skins could only be legal pursuant looking for mtDNA. It struck out there too. to the antique exception of the Endangered Species Act.” The antique exception says products from S O A F T E R A L L the time, money, and effort, we still protected species can be imported and sold—if they couldn’t determine the boots’ provenance. Was Boot are at least a hundred years old. A similar CITES excep- Barn making and selling boots legally or illegally from tion allows global trade of products that date to before Asian elephants? Or making boots legally or illegally the animal was placed on its banned list—in the Asian from African elephants and misrepresenting them? elephant’s case, that happened in 1975. Even then, Or were these boots not made from elephant at all? global sales of the product would have to be noted in CITES trade records, which are public. When I Here’s what we can say: Our investigation of the searched those records, no shipments of Asian ele- boots’ origin gives a glimpse of the obstacles that phant skins seemed to line up as a potential source. wildlife law enforcement, regulatory, and trade agencies face in monitoring online sellers of wildlife Another grim possibility: What if the skins had goods. As hard as these groups may work, they’re come from captive elephants in the U.S., perhaps sold likely outgunned on the internet, a global hub in the off by one of the country’s numerous roadside zoos? multimillion-dollar black market for exotic animals Telecky noted it would still be illegal to sell them and animal products—a key reason Wildlife Watch across state lines under the Endangered Species Act. was founded at National Geographic. Dan Ashe, president and CEO of the Association As months passed, I continued to watch Boot Barn’s of Zoos and Aquariums, had another theory about website. By the time this article went to press, the the boots’ origin. He suggested that if the boots were company seemed eager to move its elephant leather genuinely elephant skin, it might have come from a boots. They were advertised on sale, “34% off.” j recent U.S. import of African elephant–skin pieces from Zimbabwe. Though trade in Asian elephant parts Dina Fine Maron is a reporter for Wildlife Watch, our investigative is prohibited under CITES, there’s a legal carve-out for reporting project focused on wildlife crime and exploitation. It’s supported by the National Geographic Society. Know the Species Asian elephants (left) are about eight times as rare as their African cousins. They’re also smaller, have rounded ears and an extra toenail, and more often are tuskless. They employ their entire trunks to lift objects, while African elephants have two trunk tips for such tasks. — D F M PHOTO: BRENT STIRTON



E X P L O R E | BREAKTHROUGHS D I S PATC H E S A solid solution for disposal FROM THE FRONT LINES No more pouring used cooking OF SCIENCE oil down the drain, ultimately AND INNOVATION to form fatbergs in the sewer. For sale online, plant-based “oil solidifier” powders use the pro- cess of oleogelation to turn the sizzling contents of a skillet into a congealed disk you can toss out with the organic trash. — P E ANIMAL BEHAVIOR EVOLUTION LIP-SMACKING FACE-OFFS Bats foiled by moth Darwin THESE FREAKY FISH MAY OPEN WIDE TO FLAUNT COLORFUL MAWS, imagined? WARN OFF RIVALS, AND DETER MOUTH-TO-MOUTH COMBAT. In 1862, when Charles Special jawbones on sarcastic fringeheads (Neoclinus blanchardi) Darwin beheld a let the fish open their maws and flare their giant jaws in a wide gape, Madagascan orchid to show their mouths’ psychedelic colors. It hadn’t been clear why with a nectar tube the species developed such wild yaps: “They might have evolved to nearly a foot long, have some special function,” says Watcharapong Hongjamrassilp, he deduced that a biologist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and a National a compatible pol- Geographic Explorer. Because males sport bigger, more colorful linator must exist. mouths than females, Hongjamrassilp’s team wondered if males Four decades later, gape to dazzle females, or perhaps to compete or communicate with scientists found it— other males. So the team staged fish showdowns, as reported in the Xanthopan prae- journal Ecology. When two males were placed in a tank where only dicta, a hawk moth one could occupy a shell as shelter, the shell dweller went full-on gape with the longest at the other fish’s approach in some 70 percent of encounters. Then recorded tongue the interloper retreated or the males engaged in mouth-to-mouth of any insect. Now combat, which the bigger fish usually won. Big jaws may advertise a study by National body size to deter fights, researchers say. Gaping to seek mates wasn’t Geographic observed in the study; males appear to court with headshaking Explorer Juliette motions instead of with their flashy mouths. — C A RO LY N W I L K E Rubin has found another adaptation: PHOTOS (FROM TOP): REBECCA HALE, NGM STAFF; WATCHARAPONG HONGJAMRASSILP; JOËL MINET When Rubin played bat echolocation calls near captive male moths, they rubbed their gen- italia against their abdomen, creating ultrasonic noise that would likely jam bat sonar. — PATRICIA EDMONDS

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EXPLORE INNOVATOR VED CHIRAYATH B Y PRIYANK A RU NWAL PHOTOGRAPH BY REBECCA HALE This scientist is on a mission to map the world’s oceans, centimeter by centimeter. About a decade ago, when Ved Chirayath learned So the University of Miami professor and National that more than 90 percent of the planet’s seafloor Geographic Explorer created FluidCam, equipped remained unexplored, he was stunned. It was a stark with a specialized digital camera and software to “see” contrast to the detailed maps of Mars and the moon through water, and MiDAR, which adds high-intensity he’d seen as an engineering graduate student devel- light. These tools, often carried by a drone (pictured), oping devices to observe celestial bodies. Chirayath are helping his team map sea features to the centimeter decided to apply techniques from space exploration in places such as Guam. Since 2020, citizen scientists to begin imaging the ocean. Baseline maps are vital, have lent a hand by playing the NeMO-Net video game he says, because if we don’t know what’s there, we to spot coral reefs in a virtual ocean made from the won’t know how to protect it. images. The data will be used to train supercomputers that will one day map reefs around the globe. j There were big challenges: Sonar, commonly used to gather data from large swaths of the ocean, can’t pro- The National Geographic Society has funded the vide high resolution, while satellite images can’t work of Ved Chirayath since 2021. Learn more about penetrate ocean depths and are distorted by waves. its support of Explorers at natgeo.com/impact.



E X P L O R E | DECODER New fossil discoveries from China shine light on a pivotal moment of evolution: the arrival of the first vertebrates with honest-to-goodness jaws. BY MICHAEL GRESHKO Xiushanosteus mirabilis O N E O F T H E most critical steps in the The fish, whose head (inset) bore evolution of vertebrate life—even big- numerous armor plates, belonged ger than our aquatic forebears’ first to a group called the placoderms. waddles onto land—was the evolution of the jaw. From biting food to vocaliz- ing, the jaw is essential to the survival of 99.8 percent of living vertebrates, including us humans. Of the jawless fish that once abounded in Earth’s ancient seas, only lampreys and hagfish remain today. The rich story chronicling the rise of gnathostomes, also known as jawed vertebrates, has long been missing the first few pages. But now rocks in China have yielded the oldest known complete skeletons and teeth of gnathostomes ever found. In four studies recently published in the journal Nature, scientists led by Chinese paleontologist Min Zhu described fossil menageries from two rock formations—436 million and 439 million years old, respectively— in southern China, all within some 60 miles of the town of Yongdong. Though the fossils are tiny—inch- long skeletons and whorls of teeth only fractions of inches across—they’re packed with anatomical detail and begin to fill a gap in the fossil record. Living vertebrates’ DNA suggests that the earliest jawed vertebrates had arisen by no later than 450 million years ago, but their oldest skeletons had topped out at 425 million years old until the new fossils. Their discovery has given humans an impressive evo- lutionary legacy to chew on. j Qianodus duplicis Scientists had to dissolve 660 pounds of rock to find 23 tooth whorls (inset), the oldest of their kind yet discovered. 24 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

CHINA D I S C OV E RY Fish fossil fields Yongdong LO C AT I O N Guizhou Province and Fossil Chongqing municipality, within about sites 60 miles of Yongdong TAIWAN D I S T I N C T I O N Rock formations in the regions contain the oldest known complete skeletons and teeth of jawed vertebrates. Fanjingshania renovata Fin spines (inset) helped identify this inches-long fish; though carti- laginous, it shed its scales as bony fish did. Shenacanthus vermiformis The species is named in part after its armor plates’ distinctive surface ridges (inset), which resemble worms. NGM MAPS. PHOTOS: INSTITUTE OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY AND PALEOANTHROPOLOGY, F E B R U A RY 2 0 2 3 25 CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (FOSSILS); COURTESY PALEOVISLAB, IVPP NICE STUDIOS (RENDERINGS)

E X P L O R E | CLOSER LOOK During the Slovenian festival of Pust, costumed revelers chase out winter and usher in a season of renewal. MONSTERS OF SPRING AN ANCIENT TRADITION IN SLOVENIA HAS REVIVED SOME OF ITS FORGOTTEN MASKED CREATURES. BY NOAH CHARNEY PHOTOGRAPHS BY CIRIL JAZBEC I N W E S T E R N S LOV E N I A , two hours from Ljubljana, Today Pust is one of Slovenia’s biggest cultural the Soča River cuts through the hills around a cluster events. Festivalgoers dress up in elaborate, hand- of storybook villages, in a region where the Julian made costumes and masks, some wearing belts of Alps meet the Italian border. But on this late winter cowbells that clatter as they traipse through town— morning, a parade of monsters is gathering on the all the better to scare away any vestiges of winter and outskirts of the town of Ukanje (pictured above). clear the way for spring. It’s part of Pust (pronounced Poost), Slovenia’s “Pust is one of the oldest rituals,” says Janez Boga- version of Carnival, with roots in pre-Christian taj, a Slovenian ethnographer. “It goes back far before ritual. This traditional pre-Lenten celebration has the Christian era.” evolved and adapted through the centuries, at times in response to church leaders and, in later years, a Each hamlet and town fiercely champions its own socialist regime. But it has always retained its spirit version and name of the festival. Kurentovanje Pust, of seasonal rebirth. in Ptuj, is probably the country’s most famous, with monsters called kurenti attracting big crowds to the

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E X P L O R E | CLOSER LOOK eastern city. The details may differ regionally, but one metal supplies ran low. Then, in the 1950s, locals thing remains the same: The monsters are the stars. uncovered a 19th-century copper mask from a house In many celebrations, these fantastic creatures being renovated. with the power to summon spring are divided into The artifact—preserved by a painter named Pavel the “beautiful ones” and the “ugly ones” (ta lepi and Medvešček—inspired resident Branko Žnidarčič to ta grdi, respectively). The beautiful ones (depicted rekindle the maskmaking practice and the festival in as newlyweds, doctors, and other personages) visit the 1980s. He now runs a workshop and a museum homes, offering gifts and indulging in shots of home- displaying more than 200 of his creations. made schnapps. These house calls promise good luck “I began to make reconstructions of old, nearly for the rest of the year. forgotten characters, with the help of Pavel Med- The ugly ones (representing devils or souls vešček’s documents and sketches,” Žnidarčič of the dead) make mischief. Their job is to explains. “Before they were lost to oblivion, chase away winter and eventually “kill” he recorded many Carnival figures, which Pust (symbolic of winter, often depicted EUROPE he accurately described and drew.” as a straw doll). Pustje, the most iconic For many, Pust is also a rite of passage. of the ugly ones, don colorful suits SLOVENIA A big part of some festivals involves made of strips of fabric and horned the Pustje characters chasing boys helmets with demonic faces made of AFRICA through town. Once the boys are caught, wood or sheepskin. Their arms are cov- the monsters playfully “beat” them ered with soot. In some villages, they wield with ash-stuffed stockings, dramatically wooden pincers. launching clouds of smoke into the air. The The motley crew typically makes its way to the baptismal dusting hints at the bonfire that brings edge of town, where the straw Pust is set ablaze. Pust to an end. Villagers take particular pride in how they inter- With the coming of spring, the ash-covered boys pret these age-old Pust customs. In Kanal and the symbolize a shift into adulthood. That often means towns around Lig, the festival is called Liški Pust, taking on the roles of monsters at the next Pust, and its claim to fame is bakreni, gleaming masks starting the cycle all over again. j hammered out of sheet metal. Noah Charney is a professor and Pulitzer Prize finalist who has Once made of copper, the bakreni (and the fes- been living in Slovenia for more than a decade. Native Slovenian Ciril Jazbec is a National Geographic Explorer. tival) were abandoned after World War I, when Villagers in Drežniške Ravne dress up as Pustje (left), horned creatures whose roots can be traced to pre-Christian rituals. In Britof (right), a Pust procession heads out from the hamlet’s church. Traditions vary from village to village. NGM MAPS

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E X P L O R E | ADVENTURE B Y J O R DA N SA L A M A P H OTO G R A P H B Y WAY N E L AW R E N C E BEYOND THE BEACH RIO ROCKS CLASSIC CLIMB From a perch above Favela Across this sprawling Among the many peaks, Santa Marta, photographer city of nearly seven mil- Sugarloaf, at right, sticks Wayne Lawrence cap- lion people, mountains out like a soaring thumb. tured this image of Rio de punctuate the landscape; To reach its summit, most Janeiro, which stretches towering cliffs overlook visitors opt for an easy along the Atlantic Ocean cerulean waters and cable car ride, but oth- and Guanabara Bay. While sleek edifices. The rock ers dare to climb. Novices Brazil’s second largest around Rio, primarily take the Costão trail, while city is famed for its lively granite and gneiss, those with intermediate beaches—Ipanema, draws adventurers of to advanced skills can test Copacabana—it also has all experience levels their courage and stamina more than a thousand for adrenaline-fueled on the technical routes or rock-climbing routes, mak- ascents year-round. the via ferrata, which is ing it an excellent urban equipped with a perma- destination for the sport. nent steel cable. 30 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

BY THE NUMBERS 2 CABLE CAR LINES NEEDED TO SUMMIT SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN 100+ ROCK-CLIMBING ROUTES ON SUGARLOAF 1,299 HEIGHT OF SUGARLOAF, IN FEET SOUTH BRAZIL AMERICA Rio de Janeiro ATLANTIC OCEAN NGM MAPS F E B R U A RY 2 0 2 3 31

E X P L O R E | CAPTURED 1 3 2 1. The daytime sky’s scattered blue light 2. Light passing through varied atmospheric 3. During a total lunar eclipse, when the tints a just risen color-altered red moon densities is bent, changing how the moon’s moon is in Earth’s shadow, bent red light (March 12, 2017). shape appears (February 15, 2014). falls on its surface (July 27, 2018). MOON VIEWS IN RAINBOW HUES THE MOON’S ACTUAL COLOR isanoff-whitebrown-gray it rises and as it sits just above the horizon—this when its dusty surface is sunlit. But Earth’s atmosphere phenomenon is especially intense, glowing more red modifies our views of the moon, altering colors and or orange. Other materials in the atmosphere—water shape. Italian photographer Marcella Giulia Pace, droplets, dust, wildfire smoke—also influence the path who has captured lunar variations for 10 years, chose of light and affect the moon’s hue, and those colors 48 of her images to compare in this spiral montage. are specific to the suspended materials themselves. The varied colors appear when the moon is seen The moon’s apparent shape also is altered as the or photographed through stratified and irregular light it emits travels through the stratified air. Because gas layers of Earth’s atmospheric blanket. Tiny air the atmosphere nearest Earth’s surface is much molecules in the layers scatter light that hits them, denser than high above, the path of light traveling and their structure causes blue light to scatter more those varied densities will bend. The result: The readily than red or orange. When, for example, Pace light’s source appears as a squished ellipse instead photographs the moon through the densest air—as of a lunar disk. — L I Z K RU E S I 32 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C PHOTO: MARCELLA GIULIA PACE (COMPOSITE OF 48 IMAGES)

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC FEBRUARY 2023 F EAT U R E S Origami Inspiration.... P. 34 An Aging Japan. . . . . . . . . . . P. 58 Sea Otters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 84 Building With Mud ... P. 108 84 HUMANS ARE CAP TIVATED BY THEIR CUTENESS—AND HAVE HELPED WILD POPULATIONS REBOUND IN THEIR HOME WATERS. BUT SUCCESS FOR SEA OTTERS IS A MURKY MATTER. PHOTO: RALPH PACE. IMAGE TAKEN UNDER U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE PERMIT 37946D

Origami artist and a pioneer in the use physicist Robert J. of mathematics in Lang folded this crane origami, designed the out of a single uncut bird using geometric square of paper. The concepts at the core complexity of this of a program called form—from spindly TreeMaker, which limbs to feathered he developed in 1993 wings—was once to test whether com- thought to be nearly puters could help impossible. But Lang, design origami. 34

The Future Is folded ORIGAMI HAS LONG INSPIRED ARTISTS. NOW IT’S BLAZING NEW TRAILS I N S C I E N C E A N D T E C H N O LO GY. BY MAYA W EI-HA AS PHOTOGRAPHS BY CRAIG CUTLER



UNFURLING This series of moun- tains and valleys harbors an astonishing property: It can com- pact or flatten with a single motion. Lang folded this example of tessellated origami using a sheet of paper, but the pattern has also been used to pack the solar array on board Japan’s Space Flyer Unit, which deployed after the spacecraft’s launch in 1995. The repeating angled creases allow a folded sheet to lengthen and expand at the same time. Known as Miura-ori, the pat- tern was described by astrophysicist Koryo Miura in the 1970s and is similar to others found in nature, such as the unfurling leaves of a beech tree.

A C AC O P H O N Y O F barking alerts me to the cardboard box deliv- PROTECTING ered to my front door. Packed inside is a single sheet of white corrugated plastic folded into what looks like a large suitcase. The intricate fold My canine companions take a curious sniff as I unfurl the rigid pattern of Air99’s form, which spans nearly the width of my living room. Pushing Airgami face mask outward on the creases of one side, I hear a shockingly loud pop. helps improve both fit and function. The dogs sprint for cover, scrambling across wood floors, while Crafted from a flexible I frantically look for damage, heart pounding. But nothing’s bro- N95-grade filter that’s ken. Instead, the plastic suitcase has transformed, and suddenly fused to a more rigid a full-size kayak is sitting in my living room. and foldable layer, the mask’s edges The boat, created by the company Oru Kayak, is part of a scien- stay flush to the face tific and technological revolution inspired by the centuries-old art because of its particu- of origami. What began as efforts to understand the math behind lar pattern of creases. fold patterns has opened up surprising possibilities for manipu- When flattened, it’s lating the shape, movement, and properties of all kinds of mate- two to three times rials—filters of face masks, the plastic of kayaks, even living cells. the size of common N95 masks. Increasing “I just can’t keep up,” says Robert J. Lang, a preeminent ori- a mask’s surface area gami artist who previously worked as a laser physicist. “That’s allows more air to a wonderful place for the field to be.” pass through at once. “It’s like breathing The art of origami has existed in Japan since at least the 17th through a straw ver- century, but there are hints of paper folding from long before. sus a big pipe,” says Initially, models were simple and—because paper was expen- Richard Gordon, Air99 sive—used largely for ceremonial purposes, such as the male co-founder and CEO. and female paper butterflies known as Ocho and Mecho that 38 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C







EXPLORING front of a space telescope to block This expanding disk starlight, the starshade lies at the center of could help the scien- the NASA Jet Propul- tists get a clear look. sion Laboratory’s half- The starshade’s struc- scale prototype for a ture is based on a starshade, which could so-called flasher pat- become a vital part tern, which allows it to of the search for hab- coil into a cylinder for itable worlds. Our gal- launch. Deployed, the axy has about as many shade (shown partially planets as stars, but opened in the previous scientists, blinded by image) would unfurl the starry backdrop of into a flat disk with space, often can’t view petals like a flower. these orbiting worlds directly. By flying far in



SECTORS SPACE BIOMEDICAL USING EXPLORATION ENGINEERING ORIGAMI Space missions need structures that are One of the fields most advanced in de lightweight and versatile, compact during ing origami-based designs, the biomed THE FUTURE IS transport, and large once deployed. industry leverages the art to make proc FOLDED Origami-inspired space tools have grown as minimally invasive as possible. Appli to include antennas, photovoltaic arrays, include targeted drug delivery and imp HOW ORIGAMI IS RESHAPING OUR WORLD sun shields, and solar sails. surgical structures deep inside the bod Make your ORIGAMI- Starshade exoplanet Vertebral own starshade BASED exploration implants This month’s cover features DESIGN A starshade would fly “Deployable imp a starshade prototype between a telescope allow compact s that NASA is testing for and a distant star, to be placed in deployment in space. blocking the star’s light a fractured bon Origami makes packing so that orbiting exo- before they unf the shade on a rocket planets could be seen into larger, load possible. The exercise on and studied for signs bearing structu the next page allows you of life. The starshade, Manufacturing to test the basic principles folded to fit within a implants in a fla of the design yourself. 16-foot-wide launch also makes it po vehicle, would grow to to design surfa UNFOLDING THE SCIENCE about the size of half that can promo a football field once bone regenerat ORIGAMI, fully extended. and kill bacteri EVERYWHERE Stowed Deployed Compact E Engineers are increasingly turning to the centuries-old art U N D E R LY I N G The inner disk when deployed is much like a bicy- A flat shape made of six square panels is f of folding paper into three- ORIGAMI cle wheel: An outer truss is supported by spokes into a compact cube configuration and th dimensional forms to shape some tensioned against a center hub. A motor unfurls minimally invasive surgery, is placed inside of the modern world’s most STRUCTURE a folded optical shield 65 feet in diameter. fractured vertebra. ambitious designs. The models shown here, many of which are HOW IT Balloo still prototypes, demonstrate WORKS cathe the exciting potential of future technologies. Not only are Telescope Star designs less expensive and with folded faster to manufacture in two- starshade dimensional form, but folding also opens a new realm of Exoplanet As a minuscule balloon is inflated, the cub scale, materials, and mechanical expands to restore the height of the verte movement, with applications Flying in tandem with a space telescope, the The balloon is then removed. ranging from repairing our starshade would use thrusters to position itself bodies to exploring outer space. 31,000 miles in front of it, covering a star that can Airf blaze 10 billion times as bright as its exoplanets. ALBERTO LUCAS LÓPEZ, NGM STAFF; LAWSON PARKER ART: MATTHEW TWOMBLY Starshade SOURCES: ITAI COHEN, CORNELL UNIVERSITY; NASA unfolded EXOPLANET EXPLORATION PROGRAM; EDUCATIONAL MUSEUM OF ORIGAMI IN ZARAGOZA (EMOZ); MARCO Blocked MELONI AND OTHERS, ADVANCED SCIENCE, JULY 2021 light Not to scale

evelop- STRUCTURAL ROBOTICS MICROscopic dical ARCHITECTURE engineering cedures Compared with conventional robotics, cations Originally adopted by architects for origami designs, when manufactured in two Imagine a robot so small that thousands can planting aesthetic reasons, origami-based designs dimensions and then assembled into three, be injected through the tip of a needle—aiding dy. can also reduce energy demands and can be both easier to store and more microsurgery, cleaning bacteria from surfaces, improve structural performance. Some are cost-efficient—all while supporting complex or exploring worlds at a new scale. Invisible plants” responsive to their environment, changing computational and sensing mechanisms. to the naked eye, some can fold appendages, shapes shape in reaction to light or acoustics. becoming 3D forms that then walk or swim. side ne Al Bahar Towers’ Vacuum-driven Robot Mass-manufactured fold responsive facades gripper microscopic robots d- ures. Battling an environ- Rigid robotic hands More than one million the ment of intense heat lack dexterity, but robots—each less than t state and blowing sand, soft bots often lack 100 micrometers long— ossible two towers in the strength. An origami can be manufactured ces United Arab Emirates skeleton allows this onto eight-inch disks. ote built in 2012 are each gripper to mold around These microscopic tion composed of 1,049 fragile items without robots (see penny a. origami-like shading compromising brawn, size comparison) have elements. The screens lifting anything from detectors, power Expanded are responsive to sun a single broccoli floret sources, and circuits exposure, opening to a hammer. It could that will enable them in broad daylight to someday work on a to sense, interact provide shade and factory assembly line— with, and control their conserve energy. or around the house. local environment. Open Closed Released Gripped Flat Standing olded Each shading device is made of fiberglass mesh The bell-shaped gripper has a foldable, silicone Robotic limbs are built around a flat microchip en, with and weighs about 1.7 tons. Sun-tracking soft- rubber skeleton based on an origami pattern that acts as a brain. Powered by light, electrochem- e the ware controls the opening and closing sequence that can shift between a spherical and a cylindrical ical reactions create stress and bend the base according to the sun’s position. shape. It’s wrapped in an airtight rubber skin. layer of the legs. on ter Panels reduce Solar solar-heat panels absorption by over 50 percent Skin Deployed leg Microchip be Object Skeleton Sections of rigid material restrict bending to prede- ebra. Airflow termined origami-like folds to achieve the desired When a vacuum 3D position. The microchip brain coordinates limb low sucks air out of movements to form an autonomous walking robot. the skin, the ori- The system can gami skeleton Bending along folds be overridden to collapses along creates movement control individ- fold lines to grip ual panels. Wind the enclosed Schematic and solar sensors object. It can will automatically lift up to 25 open the pan- pounds—over els during high 120 times its winds—and close own weight. them during pro- longed overcast conditions.

MAKE YOUR OWN Use this classic origami method to craft a festoon sake bottles at Shinto weddings. As paper PUZZLING model of the optical shield that may some- prices fell, origami’s uses spread to gift wrap, ORIGAMI day help NASA capture images of planets playthings, and even geometry lessons for kids. Mathemat STARSHADE outside our solar system. Scan this QR code fully unde or visit natgeo.com/starshade to access and Then, in the mid-20th century, origami master math behi 1 Cut and crease print out a larger template for easier folding. Akira Yoshizawa helped elevate paper folding to ture’s eleg a fine art. He breathed life and personality into which form Cut along dotted lines and 2 Fold and gather 3 Furl and unfurl each creature he designed, from a stern-faced folds are a crease along fold lines. Blue gorilla glowering out of sunken eyes to a baby cular sheet lines are “mountain folds” Once all lines are creased, This folded model represents elephant joyfully swinging its trunk. With the these reall that rise up. Orange lines fold along all fold lines, a starshade’s inner-disk publication of his first origami book in 1954, 3D forms w are “valley folds” that point moving from the center optical shield when it’s Yoshizawa also made the art form more acces- ple creasin down. Gently run a pencil outward. Lines will fold 180 stowed before launch. Open sible, establishing an easily understandable lan- Demaine, a or fingernail along fold lines degrees. Hold the central, and close the starshade by guage of dotted lines, dashes, and arrows that MIT who d to help with creasing. base hexagon flat while pulling opposite edges of contributed to systems still used today. fold patte rotating and gathering the the sheets apart, then push- folds into a spiral shape. ing them back together. In the late 1950s, Yoshizawa’s delicate forms the small r inspired Tomoko Fuse, now one of the fore- ing the bo Mountain fold Valley fold Cut the starshade most origami artists in Japan. Her father gave top comp template along her Yoshizawa’s second origami book when she pattern; b the dotted lines. was recovering from diphtheria as a child. Fuse shoes, wh methodically crafted every model, and she’s been fasc been entranced with origami ever since. “It’s like unfolding magic,” she says. “Just one flat paper becomes at the ord something wonderful.” There a Among her many achievements, Fuse is he recalls famous for her advances in modular origami, decades w which uses interlocking units to create models governing with greater flexibility and potential complex- ity. But she thinks of her work as less about cre- As we c ation than about discovering something that’s that are fo already there, “like a treasure hunter,” she says. unexpect She describes her process as if she’s watching sheet fold from afar, following wherever the paper leads which cau her. “Suddenly, beautiful patterns come out.” known as sheet fold Indeed, origami taps into patterns that echo called the throughout the universe, seen in natural forms opens wit such as leaves emerging from a bud or insects physicist tucking their wings. For these exquisite folds to was used become scientifically useful, however, researchers Space Fly must not only discover the patterns but also under- stand how they work. And that requires math. In the y to many P U T T I N G N U M B E R S to ori- ing tiny s gami’s intriguing patterns coats the has long driven the work of Kuribayas Thomas Hull, a mathemati- When pro flat struct cian at Western New England says, that University in Springfield, Despite and techn Massachusetts. When I walk into his school’s math met resis sion he ha department, I know immediately which office is the Natio governme his. The door at the end of the hall is ajar, reveal- ing boldly colored paper folded in all manner of geometric shapes. The models fill every nook of ALBERTO LUCAS LÓPEZ, NGM STAFF; LAWSON PARKER; MATTHEW TWOMBLY SOURCE: NASA/JPL-CALTECH

ticians don’t father, Martin Demaine, rstand the also at MIT. Drawn nd this struc- to folding as a way to gant bends, develop new magic m as curving tricks, the duo fell in dded to cir- love with the geomet- ts. “You get rical problems that ly impressive origami presents. While with very sim- curved creases don’t yet ng,” says Erik have applications, Erik a professor at sees many possibilities designed the in their simplicity and rn with his potential strength. room—hanging from the ceiling, adorn- ookshelves, and surrounding the desk- puter. Hull himself is a riot of color and black and white spirals dance across his hich are tied with purple laces. He’s long inated by patterns and still remembers g a paper crane at age 10 and marveling ered creases in the flat sheet. are rules at play that allow this to work, s thinking. Hull and others have spent working to understand the mathematics g the world of origami. chat, Hull pulls out an array of models olded in intriguing shapes or move in ted ways. One is an impossible-looking ded with ridges of concentric squares, use the paper to twist in an elegant swoop s a hyperbolic paraboloid. Another is a ded in a series of mountains and valleys e Miura-ori pattern, which collapses or th a single tug. Dreamed up by astro- Koryo Miura in the 1970s, the pattern to compact the solar panels of Japan’s yer Unit, which launched in 1995. years since, origami has been applied different types of materials, includ- sheets of cells. This unusual medium self-folding structure created by Kaori shi-Shigetomi at Hokkaido University. obed, the cells contract, transforming tures into cellular “Lego blocks,” as she t could one day aid in growing organs. e origami’s current popularity in science nology, researchers’ early folding forays stance. Hull still remembers a discus- ad in 1997 with a program officer from onal Science Foundation (NSF), a U.S. ent agency that supports research and

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FLOATING the idea for a solution paper to see how it to his space problem: can fold in on itself, In 2007 Anton Willis, a kayak that folded. and then refining from who’d just completed He began crafting there,” says Willis, who a graduate degree in paper models, some- eventually founded architecture, moved times surreptitiously Oru Kayak. The com- into an apartment in at work, from one pany now has a full San Francisco that was continuous sheet to line of foldable boats so cramped he had to ensure the boat would that compact in min- put his beloved kayak be watertight. “For utes and are priced in storage. A maga- a while it was almost on a par with tradi- zine profile of Lang, like crumpling up the tional kayaks. the origami artist and physicist, gave him T H E F U T U R E I S F O L D E D 51