WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:03.600 Welcome. This is Marsha for Radio I, and today I 2 00:00:03.640 --> 00:00:08.240 will be reading National Geographic Magazine dated February twenty twenty six, 3 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:12.279 which is donated by the publisher. As a reminder, RADIOI 4 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:15.039 is a reading service intended for people who are blind 5 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:18.480 or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read 6 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:22.480 printed material. Please join me now for the continuation of 7 00:00:22.519 --> 00:00:26.679 the article I began last time, entitled The Quest to 8 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:34.759 re Engineer Beer by Adam Rogers. Fir Streppen wants to 9 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:38.719 rescue non alcoholic wine too, And after that I tasted 10 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:42.240 a formula he's working on for non alcoholic gin. It 11 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:45.759 was close down to the warming sensation. The model gave 12 00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:48.960 us components that I wouldn't have thought about. He says, sure, 13 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:51.640 I say, but the warming thing, it's the pain and 14 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:57.000 heat sensors in the trigeminal nerve. I venture a guess 15 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:00.880 that he did it with. Cap says, in, which is 16 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:05.239 what makes chili peppers hot? Astreppin hesitates, there are millions 17 00:01:05.239 --> 00:01:07.920 of dollars at stake here. He says only that it's 18 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:11.280 not chili pepper, and then he clams up. He's at 19 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:16.439 the world's only yeast whisperer. After all, big commodity yeast companies, Yes, 20 00:01:16.439 --> 00:01:21.599 that's a thing, sell maltose negative strains. Similar to Smart Yeast, 21 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:25.640 a California start up offers genetically engineered versions that could 22 00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:29.200 add even more bespoke flavors to a beer or wine 23 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:32.920 while cutting out the alcohol. The non alcoholic beers that 24 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:36.239 emerge will be something wholly new, may be even something 25 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:40.159 delicious and wildly popular. But then is it really still beer. 26 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:45.319 That's something Debates hinted at Over Drink, said Brasserie de 27 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:48.840 les sene. I really believe that alcohol belongs to beer, 28 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:53.359 he said, there is no beer without alcohol. Obviously, Debates 29 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:58.040 acknowledged alcohol can be addictive and has all kinds of 30 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:02.239 potential societal costs. But for millennia, humans have enjoyed having 31 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:05.799 conversations with each other while their minds are slightly altered, 32 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:09.759 a little less suspicious, a little more relaxed. And we 33 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:12.240 need them now as much as ever. You see what 34 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:15.319 we're living in today, he said, The world is a catastrophe. 35 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:19.639 We need to rebuild those high quality connections. Of course, 36 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:23.159 the people eagerly downing na beers in bars and at 37 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:26.800 parties probably feel the quality of their connection is just fine, 38 00:02:27.319 --> 00:02:29.960 and people who don't drink alcohol for health or religious 39 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.199 reasons deserve a beer like product that actually tastes good. 40 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:36.840 The market wants what it wants. I left Belgium with 41 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:41.280 a souvenir a bottle of smart Yeast Negra Modella from 42 00:02:41.479 --> 00:02:46.080 the table in that ab Imbev tasting room. I carried 43 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:48.520 it home in my luggage, wrapped in t shirts on 44 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:50.919 a warm afternoon. A couple of weeks later, I cracked 45 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:53.759 it open and it was still good. I still liked it. 46 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:56.879 I wasn't trying to fix our dystopia. I was just 47 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:02.840 having a cold beer next. Texas horned lizards are everywhere 48 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:10.080 except where they belong by asher elbine, habitat loss and 49 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:14.879 invasive predators have decimated their population, but an unlikely coalition 50 00:03:14.919 --> 00:03:17.800 of scientists and ranchers is working to bring the grumpy 51 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:22.039 faced animals back from the brink. Out of state visitors 52 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:24.319 may not know what they're looking at, but fans of 53 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:29.520 Texas Christian University TCU get fired up when Superfrog runs 54 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:32.960 onto the football field. Human size and gray with pointy 55 00:03:33.080 --> 00:03:38.159 protrusions on its head and spiky popeye like forearms Superfrog 56 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:41.080 is the school's mascot, meant to induce fear in the 57 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:45.919 hearts of opposing teams. Superfrog's real life inspiration, though, isn't 58 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.560 nearly as intimidating. TCU's mascot is based on a creature 59 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:54.400 that's at most four inches long and almost comically sedate, 60 00:03:54.840 --> 00:03:59.000 with a pancake shaped body and grumpy face under thorny crowns. 61 00:03:59.479 --> 00:04:02.680 It's not even technically a frog, or, as many Texans 62 00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:06.919 refer to it, a horned toad. It's a Texas horned lizard, 63 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:09.280 and the rest of the state loves the real thing 64 00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:13.439 just as much as TCU loves Superfrog. While not a 65 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:19.319 keystone species, horned lizards might be considered charismatic microfauna so 66 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:23.800 culturally significant that losing them would be like losing a 67 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:28.519 crucial piece of what makes Texas Texas. These prehistoric looking 68 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:34.040 wildlife celebrities adorn airplane tails and license plates, murals, and postcards. 69 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:37.639 They've been the official state reptiles since nineteen ninety three. 70 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:42.319 In the town of Eastland, population three thousand, six hundred thirteen. 71 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:45.519 You can even visit the tiny tomb of Texas's most 72 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:49.680 famous horned lizard over rip as in rip van Winkle, 73 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:54.319 who inspired the Looney Tunes dancing Frog character and supposedly 74 00:04:54.360 --> 00:04:58.120 survived thirty one years in a time capsule. Despite their 75 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:02.439 cult status and cultural presence, horned lizards are increasingly rare 76 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:04.680 to come by in the wild. As a kid in 77 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:08.759 the nineteen seventies, Texan Wade Smith grew up playing with 78 00:05:08.839 --> 00:05:13.079 horned lizards and says children could find the baby dinosaurs 79 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:16.279 as he thought of them, all over the land. During 80 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:19.600 the past several decades, however, the lizards have largely vanished 81 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:23.560 from their territory across most of the state. Their habitats 82 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:27.920 have been devoured by urban expansion, in hospitable grasses, and 83 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:32.720 invasive fire ants, decimating their food supply. Smith is one 84 00:05:32.759 --> 00:05:36.680 of a number of nostalgic ranchers in Texas now volunteering 85 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:39.680 their properties to be part of the lizard's big return. 86 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:43.160 But before that can happen, researchers need to figure out 87 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:47.759 how to help Texas's reptilian icons survive in a rapidly 88 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:52.680 changing environment. On a bright fall day, Diane Barber drives 89 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:54.959 a truck deep into the heart of the Texas hill 90 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:58.680 Country in the bed two hundred twenty seven baby lizards 91 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:03.199 in massive coolers. She's coming from Fort Worth Zoo's Reptile Lab, 92 00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:07.680 a stone walled greenhouse tucked into the Zoo's Texas Wild 93 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:12.680 attraction that showcases animals from different echo regions across the state. 94 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:17.800 There rubber tubs filled with sand, cork, bark, and prickly 95 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:23.040 pear house curious horned lizards peeking out from under grass clumps. 96 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.040 Twenty five years ago, Fort Worth Zoo became the first 97 00:06:26.120 --> 00:06:30.000 in the country to determine the precise combination of temperature 98 00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:35.160 and humidity required to successfully breed Texas horned lizards, among 99 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:38.399 the largest of twenty one species of horned lizards native 100 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:43.600 to the United States. Since twenty seventeen, the zoo has 101 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:48.319 reintroduced around sixteen hundred fifty hatchlings into the wild, with 102 00:06:48.439 --> 00:06:52.120 support from other Texas zoos and state funding. Much of 103 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:55.720 that effort has been overseed by Barber fort Worth Zoo's 104 00:06:55.839 --> 00:07:00.439 senior Curator of Ectotherms, who moved from the ESCA in 105 00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:04.639 two thousand and one to supervise the institution's collection. At first, 106 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:07.759 she was caught off guard by the intense reverence from 107 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:11.240 locals for a creature so small and unassuming. It's a 108 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:14.079 rarity to see that kind of connection between a reptile 109 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:18.639 and people, Barber says, but they are definitely charismatic enough 110 00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:21.079 to where you start to almost feel like you have 111 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:24.600 a little bond with them. By keeping the lizards indoors 112 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:29.279 under ultraviolet light and matching individuals carefully based on genetics 113 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:34.720 to avoid inbreeding, Barber can now reliably hatch hundreds in 114 00:07:34.759 --> 00:07:37.519 a year. She's helped by the fact that females can 115 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:40.600 lay fifteen to forty five eggs at a time and 116 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:44.519 sometimes produce multiple clutches, which take about two months to 117 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:49.399 hatch in a year. Baby horned lizards, she's learned, are 118 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:53.279 a bit particular. They require temperatures in the mid eighties, 119 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:55.480 need to be fed four times a day, and are 120 00:07:55.519 --> 00:08:01.120 surprisingly prone to dehydration, so their tanks must be misted regularly. 121 00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:04.759 The hatched horned lizards, about as big as a penny, 122 00:08:05.079 --> 00:08:07.680 stay at the zoo for several weeks until the mature 123 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:11.879 enough to be released at the Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area, 124 00:08:12.439 --> 00:08:15.720 a stretch of government owned prairie land in central Texas. 125 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:19.519 The fifty five hundred acre property about a three and 126 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:22.560 a half hour drive southwest from Fort Worth is a 127 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:26.240 postcard come to life, with ancient oak groves and giant 128 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:30.560 pink granite outcrops. The horned lizards are less interested in 129 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:33.960 the view and more appreciative that the area is filled 130 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:38.200 with their favorite food. Red harvester ants also native to 131 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:41.559 the region. Harvester Ants help aerate the soil with their 132 00:08:41.639 --> 00:08:46.080 extensive tunnels and send to foraging caravans to collect and 133 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:49.519 in the process disperse the seeds of native grasses that 134 00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:54.360 become coveted horned lizard habitats. Over the years, the ant's 135 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:57.919 numbers have declined across the state, due in large part 136 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:01.960 to invasive fire ants, but May Mountain's control program aims 137 00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:06.799 to grow the population, which means happier horned blizzards. Barber's 138 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:11.279 exactingly bred and painstakingly nurtured lizards don't get sent out 139 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:16.000 into the wild completely naked. Researchers from TCU's biology program 140 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:20.879 glue harmonic tags onto the backs of the lizards, making 141 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:23.519 it easier to locate them in the wild and determine 142 00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:28.559 the most viable areas for reintroduction. When you're a small lizard, 143 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:30.759 you need to be put in the right spot early on, 144 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:38.080 explains Kira Gangpin, a pH d student studying horned lizard ecology. 145 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:42.679 Gangbin and her fellow researchers will wander the grounds of 146 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:46.080 Mason Mountain with radio receivers, playing a game of hot 147 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:49.519 and cold with the little lizards until they find finally 148 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:52.519 find one bearing witness to the release of two hundred 149 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:56.279 twenty seven baby horned lizards. I can see why Texans 150 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:02.799 have fallen head over heels for these frowny faced round blobs. Barber, 151 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:05.720 Gangbin and other researchers line up in a stretch of 152 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:09.960 Mason Mountain with Deli cups, gently placing hatchlings one by 153 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:13.200 one on the ground among tufts of wild flowers and 154 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:17.399 blooming cacti. Some sit frozen, while others take off immediately, 155 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:21.720 waddling determinedly into the cover of the grass. Despite the 156 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:24.320 months of hard work leading up to this moment, the 157 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:28.360 entire release takes only about fifteen minutes. In the ensuing 158 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:31.200 days and weeks, many of Barber's lizards will be hard 159 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:34.360 to track, some will be picked off by predators like 160 00:10:34.679 --> 00:10:38.639 coach whip snakes, road runners, and skunks, and others will 161 00:10:38.679 --> 00:10:42.200 shed their tags or otherwise become untraceable, but the ones 162 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:47.600 that survive will grow quickly. Gangbin plans to return daily 163 00:10:47.639 --> 00:10:49.720 over the next couple of months to track how many 164 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:53.879 remain before their first winter torpur. So far, the results 165 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:56.879 have been encouraging. At least twenty five new hatchlings have 166 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:01.320 been documented since releases began at Mason Mountain in twenty seventeen, 167 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:06.000 suggesting that reintroduced horned lizards are beginning to breed naturally. 168 00:11:06.360 --> 00:11:08.440 It's just amazing to be able to be part of that, 169 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:14.480 says Barber, her voice breaking. Rancher Smith understands the affectionate attachment. 170 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:17.919 They're sentimental, he says, speaking up for Texans across the 171 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:21.000 state who remember the lizards from real life, not just 172 00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:25.919 college games or souvenir mugs. Eventually, Barber hopes to expand 173 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:29.919 releases beyond Mason Mountain and onto private land, which makes 174 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.000 up the majority of the Texas horned lizard's original habitat. 175 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:38.039 Plenty of ranchers, like Smith want them reintroduced on their properties, 176 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:41.600 so many, Barber says that there's a waiting list, but 177 00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:44.360 there is still a lot to learn about habitat requirements 178 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:47.960 and management techniques. Before the fort Worth Zoo can take 179 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:51.200 them up on the offer. Until then, Smith has added 180 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:53.960 his name to the list, joining everyone else in the 181 00:11:53.960 --> 00:12:00.399 hope that Texas is living. Mascot makes its big comeback next, 182 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:04.200 the mission to keep the border Lands wild. In the 183 00:12:04.279 --> 00:12:07.000 rugged terrain where Mexico and the United States meet, a 184 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:10.919 border wall is just the latest obstacle fragmenting habitats and 185 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:15.080 disrupting migration paths. Here's how a cadre of conservationists is 186 00:12:15.080 --> 00:12:20.559 trying to get animals moving. To appreciate how the Mandarin 187 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:23.799 Sky Islands earn their nickname, it helps to imagine the 188 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:27.000 hawk's eye view looking down over the border lands that 189 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:30.320 stretch out across Arizona and New Mexico and the Mexican 190 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:33.759 states of Sonora and Chihuahua, you would see a wide 191 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:37.200 swath of desert scattered with more than fifty small rugged 192 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:40.759 mountain ranges an archipelago of green on either side of 193 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:45.120 the international border. These high country oases help make the 194 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:49.799 Sky Islands region one of the world's most spectacularly biodiverse, 195 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:53.639 a place where a fleet footed mammal might wander among 196 00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:57.279 five different biomes in the day. From dusty desert scrub 197 00:12:57.559 --> 00:13:01.440 to lush pine and fir forests. Millennia, wild creatures of 198 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:06.440 all sorts, javelinas and prong horn, coyotes and ocelots, black 199 00:13:06.440 --> 00:13:10.480 bears and jaguars have moved across this land by following 200 00:13:10.519 --> 00:13:13.879 the ridge lines and waterways, a network of cool, wet 201 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:18.600 corridors where vegetation thrives. From above, it's easy to trace 202 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:21.720 these time worn roots, green ribbons against the tawny earth. 203 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:26.879 He would also notice intrusions, roads and highways, irrigated farm fields, 204 00:13:27.240 --> 00:13:31.559 ranch fences stretched across rangelands where grazing and erosion have 205 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:35.360 stripped the soil, and along the international border, the patchy 206 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:38.159 black line of an immense wall, some two hundred and 207 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:40.559 fifty miles of which have been built through the heart 208 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:44.159 of the Sky Island since twenty seventeen. All of these 209 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:48.000 are potential interruptions to the ancient arteries that lead animals 210 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:51.639 through the border lands, routes that photographer and National Geographic 211 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:56.679 Explorer Jimmie Roho knows well. A former project director for 212 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:01.159 a Mexican conservation organization, Roho has spent the past two 213 00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:06.559 years documenting the myriad ways that human development fragments wildlife 214 00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:11.960 habitat in the Sky Islands, disrupting animals, annual animals annual 215 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:16.080 and seasonal movement, and hindering access to food, water, and mates. 216 00:14:16.679 --> 00:14:19.679 Along the way. He has also seen firsthand how a 217 00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:22.720 remarkable coalition is working on both sides of the border 218 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:26.919 to preserve and restore the region's ecological integrity. It's a 219 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:31.240 group that includes scientists monitoring the limited wildlife passages in 220 00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:36.080 the border wall, private ranchers reintroducing native plants and animals 221 00:14:36.120 --> 00:14:40.799 to their lands, and indigenous leaders reclaiming stewardship of sacred 222 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:46.200 and ancestral territory. Among the defenders are pioneers like Valor Clark, 223 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:50.799 eighty five year old founder of the nonprofit Kuencha vos 224 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:55.679 oschos Ohos, who has spent decades stacking rocks in dusty washes, 225 00:14:55.960 --> 00:15:01.440 repairing stream beds, and restoring vegetation on erosion scar ranch lands. 226 00:15:02.039 --> 00:15:06.360 Also researchers like National Geographic explorer Ganesh Marin, who has 227 00:15:06.440 --> 00:15:11.240 logged countless back country miles, installing motion sensing wildlife cameras 228 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:15.279 and gathering vital data about the movement patterns of animals 229 00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:19.879 like black bears, javelinas, and elusive jaguars. They are all 230 00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:24.159 pragmatic and realistic, rojosays, and their common thread is that 231 00:15:24.200 --> 00:15:27.919 they all are in love with the Sky Islands. Today, 232 00:15:27.960 --> 00:15:31.320 as construction continues on a border wall that already bisects 233 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:34.519 much of the region, many of these partners find themselves 234 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:37.840 more separated than ever and seeking new ways to collaborate 235 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:42.320 to ensure some of the continent's oldest animal migrations don't 236 00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:48.080 vanish completely. This article by Brian Kevin, can doggy doors 237 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:51.600 help animals cross the border? Smaller animals might pass through 238 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:54.320 the border wall using openings by the size of a 239 00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:57.840 standard sheet of paper that some have likened to doggy doors. 240 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:01.720 Border officials say over fifty such openings were installed across 241 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:06.440 Arizona between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty, with more added since. 242 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:11.480 Emon Heridy, who monitors wildlife crossings for the Sky Island Alliance, 243 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:15.240 says his organization counts thirty along some one hundred and 244 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:19.039 fifty miles of border in the Sky Islands region. How 245 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:23.559 obstacles hinder wildlife movement in the borderlands. For larger mammals 246 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:26.240 like black bears, which cover vast areas in search of 247 00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:29.000 food and mates. The border wall is simply the most 248 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:32.639 conspicuous of the barriers that might prevent travel along the 249 00:16:32.679 --> 00:16:35.960 streams and ridge lines of the Sky Islands. Other human 250 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:39.559 made obstructions, such as roads and ranch fences, can also 251 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:44.320 be restrictive, as shown by the movement of GPS collared 252 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:49.679 bears tracked by National Geographic explorer Ganesh Maran making the 253 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:54.200 perfect photograph at ten thousand feet. It took two years 254 00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:56.519 and a rare streak of good weather to document a 255 00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:03.000 historic winter climb of Serro. The Southern Patagonian ice field, 256 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:06.119 on the border of Argentina and Chile is remote, windy, 257 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:10.279 and bitterly cold. Last September I slept cameras and camping 258 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:13.759 gear by ski and sled across thirty miles of unforgiving 259 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:18.000 terrain to document climber Colin Hayley's attempt to make the 260 00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:21.720 first solo winter ascent of ten thousand, two hundred sixty 261 00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:26.400 two foot Sero Torre. We kept in constant radio contact, 262 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:29.000 and while Colin made his way over a crevice in 263 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:31.599 the glacier and up to a bivouac a couple of 264 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:35.279 rope lengths below the summit, I hauled nearly eighty pounds 265 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:37.599 of gear to the base of the mountain and set 266 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:40.720 up my own camp. As he approached the final rhyme 267 00:17:40.839 --> 00:17:44.279 formations that in case the peak, I launched my drone 268 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:47.480 to capture a series of images showing him alone on 269 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:52.519 the world's wildest tower of stone and ice. Photograph and 270 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:58.359 words by Tyler Lecky. Next How Brazil Went Country by 271 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:03.440 Mac Margolis. An agricultural boom sweeps the nation. A homegrown 272 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:07.000 musical style and a new kind of cowboy flare is 273 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:09.799 moving from its rural roots to the center of the 274 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:14.279 popular culture. The band was still tuning up when the 275 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:19.160 first screams peeled through the crowded fairgrounds in Cuiaba, a 276 00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:22.200 regional capital in Brazil's farm belt. A few feet from 277 00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:24.880 the stage, a ten year old girl in a spangled 278 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:29.240 black cowboy hat, sequin jeans and embroidered leather boots added 279 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:32.279 hers to the mix. Her cheeks wet with happy tears, 280 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:36.279 her eyes were locked on Anna Costella, the reigning star 281 00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:39.920 of Brazilian country music, as she owned the main stage 282 00:18:40.039 --> 00:18:44.720 at the ex Poagro. She is incredible, wonderful, the young 283 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:49.519 girl gushed afterwards. She's perfect. Castella, a twenty two year 284 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:53.200 old velvet voiced pop diva with a Latin Grammy in 285 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:57.400 her saddle bag and fifteen point four million monthly listeners 286 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:01.440 on Spotify. Is the latest idol from Brazil's homegrown style 287 00:19:01.480 --> 00:19:08.359 of music called sertinejo. The folk music began in the certaio, 288 00:19:08.759 --> 00:19:13.160 the country's hard scrabble backlands, but has since modernized, electrified, 289 00:19:13.559 --> 00:19:16.319 and taken over the charts, with everything from torch songs 290 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:21.480 to subgenres like agrono, and with its odes to big 291 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:25.079 agriculture as one hit song's lyrics go hey hey Hey, 292 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:29.880 sprang poison from the plane. Today, the most popular sound 293 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.079 in Brazilian music exalts as saddles and pickups, spirit buoyed 294 00:19:34.119 --> 00:19:38.759 by the conversion of forests, prairies and savannahs into commodity crops, 295 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:42.759 livestock ranches and a trade surplus. Half of the music 296 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:47.200 consumed in Brazil today is certeino. The other half is 297 00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:53.440 something else, said former president of Sony Music Brazil, Paolo Junquerraro, 298 00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:57.200 who helps oversee the explosion of country music. So we 299 00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:00.880 are talking about a genre that represents half the output 300 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:04.240 of all new artists. No rodeo or farm expo, and 301 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:08.400 there are hundreds across Brazil. Every year is complete without 302 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:12.480 a line up of Certa Neajo artists crooning to stadium 303 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:18.119 size crowds. Here in Cuyaba, capital of Mato Grosso State, 304 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:21.839 the epicenter of the country's richest farm land, the city's 305 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:26.400 annual expo Agro, is part trade fair and part Coachella, 306 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:30.920 where Certa Neejo fans sport fringe jackets and belt buckles. 307 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:34.640 The size of houp gaps, bull riding and heavy machinery 308 00:20:34.680 --> 00:20:40.440 showcases fill the schedule. Executive jets streak overhead, shuttling farm 309 00:20:40.519 --> 00:20:44.359 moguls from deal to deal, while all while Castella delivers 310 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:48.880 her twenty twenty five hit Oja hon de Euto Look 311 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:52.519 where I Am, with a defiant chorus that sinks he 312 00:20:52.680 --> 00:20:55.160 wanted me to move from the country. He told me 313 00:20:55.240 --> 00:21:00.359 to choose between rodeo and love. Behind this Certa Naho 314 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:05.599 boom is an economic and demographic upheaval that is turning 315 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:10.039 Latin America's largest country inside out. Agrabusiness, which drives about 316 00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:14.359 twenty nine percent of GDP, has shifted population, power and 317 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:19.559 wealth inland. Brazil is now the world's leading exporter of soybeans, coffee, beef, 318 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:24.000 sugar and more. Certain Nejo represents this part of Brazil 319 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:27.799 that works, which is led by Brazilian agribusiness, says Mato 320 00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:33.240 Grosso Governor Maro Mendays. But how did country music take 321 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:37.279 over one of Latin America's most urbanized nations, particularly one 322 00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:41.480 known for a stylish cool emanating from cultural epicenters like 323 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:45.279 Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. As Brazil's ranchers and 324 00:21:45.319 --> 00:21:49.039 planters prospered, their scions moved to the cities to study. 325 00:21:49.079 --> 00:21:52.559 Bringing their guitars, they blended rock and pop and cranked 326 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:58.480 the volume to eleven. The result university Sara certain Naho, 327 00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:04.000 an eclectic subject that's now ubiquitous on the airwaves. Certanejo 328 00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:09.240 is the Brazilian popular music nowadays, says Wander Oliviera, managing 329 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:13.480 partner of Work Show, the nation's leading producer of country music. 330 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:19.440 That explains why acclaimed three hundred thousand, three hundred thousand 331 00:22:19.480 --> 00:22:23.200 came to the Expo Agro in Cuyaba this past July, 332 00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:27.440 and why two million revelers gathered in downtown South Paulo, 333 00:22:27.799 --> 00:22:32.079 Latin America's financial center, to hear country duo Bruno and 334 00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:36.599 Morone ring in New Year twenty twenty five, and also 335 00:22:36.759 --> 00:22:42.759 why when fabled balladeer Marilia Mendonza was killed in a 336 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:44.799 plane crash in twenty twenty one at the age of 337 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:52.839 twenty six, her funeral Cortege in Guayana, was broadcast nationwide. Paradoxically, 338 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:57.119 the music is inspired by cherished pastoral traditions and pristine landscapes, 339 00:22:57.400 --> 00:23:01.039 both of which are receding with every harvest as cowboys 340 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:04.519 are increasingly replaced by machines. But that's not yet the 341 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:10.079 concern of Certinejo. When it's not full throated agro Neho, 342 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:14.839 Brazil's biggest pop music is all about jilted lovers, longing 343 00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:18.960 and heartbreak, composed to bring even country roughs to tears, 344 00:23:19.480 --> 00:23:23.480 and what was once a con conservative genre has loosened 345 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:30.200 with the times women Mendosa, Matella Simone Mendes dominate the charts. 346 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:36.160 Some of the star cowgirls runa Viola compoorste Rana Prado 347 00:23:36.680 --> 00:23:42.920 prefer other cowgirls. Twin sister act Mariya and Marisa helped 348 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:46.359 break the ceiling for the women of Certanejo, writing in 349 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:52.279 their words about kachaka and romanticism, infidelity and passion men's stuff. 350 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:56.319 Certainejo has come a long way since first being dismissed 351 00:23:56.319 --> 00:24:01.799 by urbanites as lullabies for kaipira's or yokels. Country music 352 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:05.720 headliners produced nine of the ten most popular albums on 353 00:24:05.799 --> 00:24:09.920 Brazilian Spotify from twenty fourteen to twenty twenty three. If 354 00:24:09.960 --> 00:24:13.359 there's one more accolade to earn its global recognition. For 355 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:18.119 all its stardom and radio dominance, Certinejo remains largely landlocked. 356 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:22.680 Sung exclusively in Portuguese, it has not swept the international 357 00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:26.640 stage for now. Its superstars are plenty busy in Brazil 358 00:24:26.839 --> 00:24:30.119 crooning for cowboys and ten year old girls and everyone 359 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:34.079 in between, oh while fueling the biggest pop music playlist 360 00:24:34.359 --> 00:24:38.319 the rest of the world has yet to hear. Next. 361 00:24:38.359 --> 00:24:41.759 Can the basilica that inspired a Notre Dame return to 362 00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:47.079 glory by Robert Kunzig inside a one hundred eighty year 363 00:24:47.319 --> 00:24:51.599 quest to restore the world's first Gothic church. The Basilica 364 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:55.319 of Sandini, just north of Paris, attracts few visitors considering 365 00:24:55.359 --> 00:24:58.599 its profound historical import. Not only is it the final 366 00:24:58.680 --> 00:25:01.160 resting place for dozens of Frons, French kings and queens, 367 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:04.920 it's often called the Royal Necropolis of France. Sandny is 368 00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:08.599 also the birthplace of Gothic architecture. The pointed arches, the 369 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:12.720 lofty ribbed ceiling vaults, the light pouring in through tall 370 00:25:12.759 --> 00:25:16.119 stained glass windows. All of those innovations first came together 371 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:19.319 here in the twelfth century. Soon they were imitated at 372 00:25:19.400 --> 00:25:22.920 churches across France and Europe, most famously at Notre Dame, 373 00:25:23.079 --> 00:25:26.000 six miles to the south. They still can be admired 374 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:28.640 to this day at San Denis, but the basilica's most 375 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:32.000 prominent Gothic feature cannot the bell tower at its north 376 00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:35.920 front corner, Topped by a stone spire that once soared 377 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:39.319 to nearly three hundred feet. It's a scalped monuments. As 378 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:45.279 eminent historian Jean Miquel Lenyaud, author of several books on 379 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:48.720 Saan Deny, for nearly one hundred eighty years, both the 380 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:51.400 church and the town of Saan Denis have been without 381 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:55.000 that landmark steeple. Damaged by storms. It was dismantled in 382 00:25:55.079 --> 00:25:58.279 eighteen forty seven, supposedly so that it could be built 383 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:02.839 back better. That never happen. The French government's Historic Monuments 384 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:06.440 Service also found it had more urgent demands on its funds. 385 00:26:06.759 --> 00:26:10.640 Even as a succession of Sandini mayor's pleaded for help. 386 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:13.640 The loss of that tower has remained in the town's 387 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:19.519 memory like an amputation, says historic monuments architect Jacques Mulain. Now, 388 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:22.559 thanks to a plan devised by Moulin, the wound is 389 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:25.599 being healed from a shed behind the basilica. The thump 390 00:26:25.640 --> 00:26:29.200 and clang of mallet on chisel and chisel on stone 391 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:34.960 echo off the ancient walls inside. Artisans carved building blocks 392 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:37.720 by hand. High up on the front facade, on the 393 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:41.079 stump of the vanished tower, masons lay the first blocks 394 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:44.400 of what is meant to be as authentic a replica 395 00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:48.640 as possible. By twenty thirty or so, Sandinis should have 396 00:26:48.839 --> 00:26:52.079 its spire back. The new tower will survey a vastly 397 00:26:52.200 --> 00:26:57.480 changed landscape. Sandinis, once a village centered on its namesake Abbey, 398 00:26:57.880 --> 00:27:00.480 is now a working class suburb with a large population 399 00:27:00.599 --> 00:27:04.599 of immigrants, many of them Muslim. But the basilica remains 400 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:08.680 the town's central attraction, a potential economic engine as well 401 00:27:08.759 --> 00:27:13.079