The world’s most critically endangered primate, the Hainan gibbon, is barely surviving. Only 30 remain on the planet, all restricted to a single patch of forest on China’s Hainan Island. Because the species is so precarious, each gibbon’s survival is vital, says Bosco Pui Lok Chan, who manages the Hainan Gibbon Conservation Project, run by the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, in Hong Kong.
At home in the canopy, these acrobats use their long arms to swing from tree to tree, enabling them to easily gather forest fruits. They’re fearful of moving on the ground, which is why decades of forest fragmentation from logging and agricultural activities has isolated groups from one another, causing them to slowly die out. (Read more about threats to Hainan gibbons.) So after Typhoon Rammasun caused a massive landslide in Hainan in May 2015, destroying more of the gibbons’ habitat and opening gaps that exacerbated previous tree losses, Chan and colleagues took emergency action.
They employed professional tree climbers to install one artificial rope bridge over the damaged section of forest—the first time such an intervention has been attempted with the species. The bridge consisted of two mountaineering-grade ropes strung over a 50-foot-wide gully between trees. They also installed motion-activated camera traps near the bridge.
NASA’S NEXT SPACE travelers are vying for the job—by the thousands. During a brief window in March, 12,040 hopefuls applied to be members of the space agency’s next class of astronauts. The first round of on-site interviews, originally scheduled for late September or early October, has been pushed back to next spring because of the pandemic, says Anne Roemer, NASA’s astronaut selection manager. “Now we just have more time to scrutinize the applications.” Even without a pandemic in play, choosing NASA’s professional space travelers is no simple process. Astronauts need to be disciplined yet flexible, adventurous yet safety-conscious, capable of leading and following. They must possess a certain je ne sais quoi—in other words, the “right stuff.”
To find the optimal candidates, Roemer and a panel of current astronauts are scrutinizing the thousands of applicants to identify a dozen or so with the right mix of characteristics and experiences to join what could be the most exclusive corps on Earth. One of the people they select could even be the first human to walk on Mars. Roemer spoke to National Geographic about how NASA chooses its astronauts, what she’s looking for in candidates, and what she thinks about being inside the current fleet of space capsules. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. (Find out how the “right stuff” has changed since the early years of the space program.) :
"How many people are you expecting to select for the next astronaut class?
« We always leave ourselves some wiggle room so we can keep track of attrition—who's left the astronaut office, who's retired, who’s told us they may not want to fly again, et cetera. I’d say we went in with a rough estimate of eight to 12, and the longer we push making a decision, that number may get closer to 12. »
« What is the selection process like? »
« We start by reviewing the written application materials, and that's our first window into each applicant. Then we do some reference checks as we narrow down the number. Ultimately, we get to the point where we invite around 120 to the first round of interviews. We start doing some skills analysis and some basic medical testing, and then we end up inviting between 40 and 60 folks back for the second round of interviews. During the second round, they spend about a week with us. We do some team reaction exercises, individual performance exercises, and a bunch of things to assess whether they have the competencies that we're looking for to be a good astronaut. »
During nearly 40 years at NASA, Jennings saw firsthand how outreach programs could give talented people the opportunity to work at the space agency—something he says has been de-emphasized as NASA’s education programs suffered budget cuts. In the future, efforts to expose young people to space science could be critical to the success of NASA and other space agencies. To expand beyond Earth in a meaningful way, the world will need all the talent it can get.
Ptolemy Caesar “Theos Philopator Philometor”—“Ptolemy Caesar, The God Who Loves His Father and Mother”—became king of Egypt at the tender age of three. His alleged father, Julius Caesar, had been assassinated several months earlier, and his mother, Queen Cleopatra VII, placed him on the throne to solidify her power as queen of Egypt. Better known to history by his Greek nickname “Caesarion,” or “little Caesar,” Cleopatra’s son reigned only a short time; his rule ended with his murder, shortly after the suicide of Cleopatra in 30 B.C. The deaths of mother and son brought an end to the Ptolemaic line of rulers who had controlled Egypt since the time of Alexander the Great.
Caesarion’s story began when his grandfather, Ptolemy XII, named his two oldest children, 18-year-old Cleopatra and 10-year-old Ptolemy XIII, as co-heirs. They would serve together under the guardianship of Rome. Because Egypt had become a Roman protectorate during the elder Ptolemy’s rule, Romans had a say in who would be ruling Egypt. (Watch how Cleopatra achieved immortality through her personal story of love and tragedy.)
After their father’s death in 51 B.C., Ptolemy and his sister were symbolically wed, but there was no love between them, familial or otherwise. The Ptolemaic kings and queens had a long family tradition of competing for the throne: sibling against sibling or parent against child. Two years later, Ptolemy’s advisers tried to move against Cleopatra to make the young boy the sole ruler.
As the two Egyptian siblings were squabbling over their throne, Rome was in the middle of its own power struggle. Two of its great military heroes, Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great, were engaged in a civil war and were looking for alliances. Pompey needed Egypt and decided to back Ptolemy XIII over his sister, who went into exile. Far from the capital, Cleopatra established her own base of operations where she raised an army and bided her time. In the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 B.C., Caesar defeated Pompey, who fled to Alexandria. In a reversal, the young Ptolemy had Pompey executed and presented his head to Julius Caesar when he swept into Egypt later that year. Caesar was saddened and disgusted: Ancient historian Plutarch wrote in the first century A.D. how Caesar had “turned away in horror [when] presented the head of Pompey, but he accepted Pompey’s seal-ring, and shed tears over it.”
