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National Geographic

WHO RULES THE WORLD?
(OR AT LEAST THIS VILLAGE)

Saturday, May 20, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we visit a Brazilian village mostly run by powerful women, journey along with the First Lady of Physics, find alternatives to bushmeat ... and celebrate World Bee Day with Angelina Jolie.

a girl holds a chicken

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LUISA DÖRR

The village leader played it smart. She knew reporters were coming to her town with wild tales of beautiful “Amazon” women running it. If someone wanted to play up the beauty and strength of the villagers, so be it. It forced competition among those looking for spouses. And the world found a place where not only did women outnumber men, the residents took charge of day-to-day operations—and everyone worked collaboratively.

There’s a lot you can learn from Brazil’s Noiva do Cordeiro, including acceptance and tolerance.

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women harvest crops in a field

Anything you can do: Residents work together to harvest crops, such as kale (above). The village eats some of it; sells another part; and saves more to feed livestock. Shown at top, Bruna Oliveira Fernandes, one of the 350 or so residents.

women and their babies sit under a tree

Catching shade: Part of the village’s culture is to help each other raise the kids. “There are lots of arms to hold him,” Daiane Fernandes de Araújo (second from left) says of her son.

a family photo

Meet the boss: Since 1995, Delina Fernandes has led the village. Above, Fernandes, 78, sits for a portrait with some of her 15 children.

two young men in suits

Judge not: Wearing formal attire for a portrait, Alexsander Estéfano Moreira Morais helps his partner, Marco Antonio Fernandes Emediato, fix his bow tie. In a country with one of the highest rates of violence against LGBTQ+ people, Noiva is a refuge. Read more.

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

children in Africa eat a meal

PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENT STIRTON

Demand for wild meat is emptying forests. Some are looking to protein alternatives (Above, children in Africa eat a popular option)

While Rome was falling, these powers were on the rise

Why the northern lights are showing up in unexpected places

How the Holocaust happened in plain sight

Are there real ways to fight climate change? Yes. Here’s how.

7 herbs that may help fight off cold and flu

The intrigue behind the Bermuda Triangle

Brilliant magpie becomes 14,000th vulnerable species shown in pathbreaking Photo Ark

Has science solved one of history’s greatest adventure mysteries?

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Japanese passengers on a ship on their way to Angel Island

EVERETT COLLECTION HISTORICAL/ALAMY

Designed to keep Asian immigrants out: Angel Island immigration station, built in 1910 and often referred to as the “Ellis Island of the West,” was anything but a welcoming port of entry into the United States. Instead, during its 30 years in operation, the center processed around 500,000 immigrants from 80 countries—and about 175,000 Chinese and 60,000 Japanese were detained there. (Above, Japanese passengers are examined by U.S. officials.)

YES, IT’S WORLD BEE DAY

a gif of Angelina Jolie being photographed with bees on her

VIDEO BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

It’s World Bee Day: And what better way to celebrate protecting these organisms than to revisit the making of this famous 2021 Angelina Jolie photograph (above). Jolie didn’t wear bee protection, and she came came to the shoot unshowered because bees attack scents. “I told her, ‘You need to smell like an organism,’” photographer and beekeeper Dan Winters said.

SEE THE BEES AND ANGELINA

LAST GLIMPSE

Chien-Shiung Wu

SCIENCE SOURCE/AGE FOTOSTOCK

A Chinese-American pioneer: She immigrated to the U.S. from China in the mid-1900s. She became Princeton’s first female physics instructor—and then joined the top-secret research program now known as the Manhattan Project. Who was Chien-Shiung Wu (pictured above)?

FIRST LADY OF PHYSICS

Today’s soundtrack: Run the World (Girls), Beyoncé

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Hannah Farrow, and Jen Tse. Amanda Williams-Bryant, Alisher Egamov, Rita Spinks, and Jeremy Brandt-Vorel also contributed this week. Thanks for reading!

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