1、HEALINGOUR SOLDIERSUnlocking the Secrets of Traumatic Brain InjuryPRICE TAG FOR A WARMING PLANETFLORIDA Exploring the Hidden Culture in HawaiiThe Small Strange Lives of MitesFEBRUARY 2015OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIET Y30 The Invisible War on the BrainBlast-force brain injuries p
2、lague untold thousands of U.S.soldiers.By Caroline Alexander Photographs by Lynn Johnson78 Mighty MitesMites crawl and breed in the strangest places.Some set up shop on bodies.Like yours.By Rob Dunn Photographs by Martin Oeggerli90 Paradise FoundIn Gran Paradiso,Italys oldest national park,the aim i
3、s to balance culture and conservation.By Jeremy Berlin Photographs by Stefano UnterthinerTreading WaterRising seas around Florida foretell what climate change may eventually do to other coastlines and economies.By Laura Parker Photographs by George SteinmetzProof|Drowning World A photographer concer
4、ned about climate change depicts flooded-out lives across the globe.Story and Photographs by Gideon MendelIn the town of Khairpur Nathan Shah,Pakistan,a man stands in water from the 2010 floods that left about one-fifth of the country inundated.PHOTO:GIDEON MENDEL54 Pure HawaiianThe onetime sport of
5、 island chiefs,surfing binds Hawaiians to their cultural identity.By John Lancaster Photographs by Paul Nicklen 106 On the Cover Marine Gunnery Sgt.Aaron Tam(Ret.)holds the mask he made in an art therapy class for service members and veterans with traumatic brain injuries and psychological condition
6、s.Photograph by Lynn Johnson|Corrections and Clarifications Go to 2015 VOL.227 NO.2FROM THE EDITORHealing Our SoldiersSusan Goldberg,Editor in Chief PHOTO:LYNN JOHNSONThe Art of RecoveryA longtime Army flight medic,Perry Hopman suffered blast-force injuries while caring for other soldiers.Air Force
7、Staff Sgt.Robert“Bo”Wester(Ret.)was an explosive ordnance disposal technician in Iraq.He faced hundreds of IEDs without incident and a few with grievous consequences.“Most of my injuries are invisible,and the rest are hidden,”he says.Army Maj.Jeff Hall(Ret.)was 35 feet from a car bomb when it went o
8、ff in a crowded marketplace north of the city of Baghdad.He didn t lose his arms or his legs or suffer visible wounds.But“I am just not the same human being as I used to be,”he says.Brain injuries caused by the shock waves generated by explosions have become the signature injury of the Afghanistan a
9、nd Iraq wars,leaving hundreds of thousands of U.S.soldiers and veterans with a life-altering list of de-bilitating conditions,including headaches,seizures,sleep disorders,and memory and cognitive difficulties.The range of symptoms and their similarity to PTSD can complicate diagnosis and treatment.I
10、t s a mystery that has dogged soldiers and scientists since World War I,when exploding artillery shells left men“shell shocked.”Even today“there is no consensus within the medical community about the nature of blast-induced injury or by what mechanism blast force damages the brain,”Caroline Alexande
11、r writes in this issue.“As of now,the only wholly reliable method of directly examining the biological effects of blast force on the human brain is autopsy.”Which doesn t do much for vets like Wester and Hall,who struggle daily.If there isn t a cure,at least there are ways to cope.At Walter Reed Med
12、ical Center in Bethesda,Maryland,soldiers at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence paint masks that help them reveal their inner feelings.Some were initially dismissive:“Number one,I m a man,and I don t like holding a dainty little paintbrush.Number two,I m not an artist.And number three,I m no
13、t in kindergarten,”said Army Staff Sgt.Perry Hopman.Today he says,“I was wrong?I think this is what started me kind of opening up and talking about stuff and actu-ally trying to get better.”Major Hall agrees.He painted a gruesome,bloodstained maskpart of the skull missing,brain exposed.“I had seen a
14、 person who looked like this,”he explains.“I don t know why,but that s what needed to come out of me.”The artwork,he says,is a silent testimony to pain that speaks volumes yet has the capacity to heal.“You can t put it into words that people will believe,or if you do put it into words,they get tired
15、 of it.But the art just expresses itself.It relieves the soldier,because you get tired of trying to explain what is going on in there.The artwork is like a printed pageit is there if you want to read it.”We invite you to read our soldiers masks and the stories they tell.national geographic February
16、The National Geographic Society is a global nonprofit membership organization.We inspire through exploration,illuminate through stories,and,always,teach.CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Chris Johns EDITOR IN CHIEF Susan GoldbergMANAGING EDITOR:David Brindley.EXECUTIVE EDITOR ENVIRONMENT:Dennis R.Dimick.DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY:Sarah Leen.EXECUTIVE EDITOR NEWS AND FEATURES:David Lindsey.EXECUTIVE EDITOR SPECIAL PROJECTS:Bill Marr.EXECUTIVE EDITOR SCIENCE:Jamie Shreeve.EXECUTIVE EDITOR CARTOGRAPHY,ART AND GRA
