Sunday Stills: Explore Scenes From the First Ascent of Mount Meru and More

Read: National Geographic’s Love Collection View in web browser. Sunday Stills ISSUE 33 Sunday, February 8, 2015 NEWS How Ebola Found Fertile Ground in Sierra Leone’s Chaotic Capital Photograph by Pete Muller, National Geographic Like many developing world cities, Freetown—population 941,000, the largest city in Sierra Leone—lacks the infrastructure to support its impoverished populace, making it prone to tragedy, whether through pestilence, violence, or natural disaster. Despite its congestion, Freetown continues to attract people who come in search of work, school, and the mere promise of electricity. It’s no coincidence that typhoid and cholera regularly plague Freetown and that Sierra Leone’s civil war climaxed in the city with horrific bloodshed. Freetown’s struggle against Ebola is unquestionably the result of its density and poverty. Further, inaction and ineptitude had allowed the situation to become dire. But an overlooked factor continues to complicate attempts to control the contagion: Freetown’s distinct social and cultural characteristics. READ ADVENTURE Photographer Jimmy Chin on Making His Film Meru In the new feature documentary Meru, which premiered recently at the Sundance Film Festival, climbers Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk share the story of making the coveted first ascent of Mount Meru. The 21,000-foot peak in northern India, considered the center of the universe in Hindu cosmology, had seen more failed attempts by elite climbing teams over the past 30 years than any other Himalayan peak. In this interview, photographer, climber, and Your Shot guest editor Jimmy Chin talks about finally finishing the film after seven years and the role his co-director wife, Chai Vasarhelyi, played in transforming the tale of elite alpinism into a deeply personal story of friendship, loyalty, and life on the edge. “We both brought some very different strengths and perspectives to the film,” Chin says about collaborating with his wife. “She had a very clear idea of where she wanted to take the story and the film, and I didn't have that clarity … In the end, I don’t know if we would have gotten through the hardships to make the film what it is if we hadn’t been married!” READ News Jumbo Squid Speak by ‘Flashing’ Each Other Giant Humboldt squid, which can grow as big as a man, speak to each other in flashes of color, their whole bodies quickly changing from red to white and back again. But just what they’re communicating has long been a mystery to scientists. Now, new video analysis is allowing marine biologists to begin cracking this jumbo squid’s code. Scientists mounted cameras on three of the animals—a first for squid research—and are using the footage to begin deciphering the chatter of flashes and flickers used by these five- to six-foot-long “red devils.” WATCH & READ PROOF Explosions in the Sky: Making Pictures of Pyrotechnics PHOTOGRAPH BY KEVIN KUNSTADT “There’s the aspect of the spectacle—obviously that’s what many people enjoy about fireworks,” says photographer Kevin Kunstadt, speaking of what motivated his personal project on the Iowa Thunderstorm, a small fireworks convention in Mason City, Iowa. “Beyond that, there are a lot of parallels between photography and pyrotechnics, and it seems natural to me to use one to document the other.” READ PROOF A Composer’s Passion, Ignited by Conflict “I can’t think of a more stark example of how threatening art can be.” —Julie Winokur, who helped produce a film about Malek Jandali called Notes for My Homeland. Malek Jandali is no ordinary musician. The Syrian-American composer and pianist has performed in leading concert halls around the world and has also written a song so powerful that his parents were beaten in punishment for its performance. Born in Germany and raised in Homs, Syria, Jandali is an American citizen who blends traditional Arab music with Western harmonies. His song “Watani Ana (I Am My Homeland)” was inspired by the killing of children in the Syrian city of Dara’a. WATCH & READ PHENOMENA The Sad Story of Peggy, Saturn’s Newest Moon PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY NASA/JPL/University of Colorado Often, the time frames on which celestial objects operate don’t conveniently fit into a human lifetime. So people were pretty excited last year when scientists announced they might have caught a new moon in the act of forming. Named Peggy, the newbie hiding in Saturn’s A ring had been spotted in images taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in April 2013. But after examining more photographs, astronomers and scientists aren’t so sure whether what they're seeing is an act of creation or destruction. READ Show Your Support: SHOP DONATE SUBSCRIBE TRAVEL BECOME A MEMBER You are receiving this email because ignoble.experiment@arconati.us is signed up to receive National Geographic communications. If you prefer not to receive emails from us, please unsubscribe. To ensure that you receive your National Geographic emails, please add ngs@e.nationalgeographic.com to your address book now. Learn how. Contact Us | Privacy Policy | About Us | Customer Service National Geographic | 1145 17th Street N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036 Copyright © 2015 National Geographic Society. All Rights Reserved.