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how they do it. Over a hundred million fans will be tuning in to watch opposing quarterbacks sling perfectly spiraling passes downfield during Super Bowl fifty nine this February. The Big Game has become an annual tradition, one that hinges on a design that has changed little since it originated back in the late nineteenth century. The size, shape, and texture of NFL footballs have stayed the same for more

than one hundred years, with only one exception. They're technically not pig skins because manufacturers have shifted from using pig bladders to cowhide leather. Fans may not know that bit of trivia, but it still a mazes physicists. It's a historical accident that the original design still perfectly suits the modern needs of the sport, says Robindra Nata, former chief of the Experimental Aerophysics Division at nassau's Aims Research Center in California. Compared to a baseball, a football is a

more aerodynamic shape by design. That's probably because the football is not actually a ball, but a prolate spheroid oblong with pointed ends that make it easier to grip. The manner in which air flows around that spheroid also helps

it travel great distances. But no one knows the details of what makes each football so aero dynamic and so durable, better than those in charge of manufacturing the NFL's footballs that the Wilson's Sporting Goods Companies factory in Ada, Ohio, roughly one hundred twenty craftspeople hand make that time tested design. Here's what happens behind the scenes inside the facility. Large leather sheets from Chicago's Hoarween Leather Company are stamped to

create a pebbly feel. They are also embossed with tiny ws at intervals to ensure the authenticity of the material. To achieve an oblong shape, the leather is cut into four individual panels that are leaf shaped and tapered at both ends. These are sewn together inside out, which makes the seam invisible and more durable. Then the leather is steamed so that it becomes soft enough to turn right

side out. To make the job easier, a craft's person called a turner, uses a pneumatic hammer to make the pointed ends more pliable before the football is reversed forcibly by hand on a metal pole. An experienced turner can do this in about thirty seconds. An air ladder is then inserted and the football is laced together by hand. Nearly completed balls are placed inside a pressurized chamber that casts them to the uniform shape. All of that works

in the quarterback's favor once a ball is thrown. Characteristics of the authorized football's surface, including pebbling stitching of the panels. The laces allow air floor flow to stay in contact longer. That thin layer of air skimming past the bowed surface, referred to as the boundary layer, is where its design shines. While the surrounding air may not directly hug a football's curves all the way around, it does continue over the apex of the ball, resulting in a minimal wake and

less drag. That's different from purely spherical baseballs, where the air makes a connection on only half the ball, creating more of a wake and drag. Drag can be challenging to predict, particularly in odd shaped objects like a football, said Annette Pico Ho Soi on the CA canical Engineering professor at MIT, But some of it comes down to

how the ball gets tossed. Drag depends on the shape of the wake, which with a football can vary depending on its orientation through the air, the velocity at which it's throne, and surface roughness density of the surrounding air. A function of air temperature also affects the boundary layer and in turn its aerodynamics. Possoy said, warm air is

less dense than cold air. If the air is less dense, there is less drag, so footballs may fly further on warmer days, she explained, adding that the phenomenon has been well documented in baseball, which clocks more home runs during hot, humid days than the contrary. For many football lovers and Wilson's experts, a long bomb is indeed a thing of beauty,

no matter the weather. The axis of the spin is aligned with the direction the ball will go, says Mata, likening a good pass to the way a bullet flies. That's what the quarterbacks are really good at doing. It's a perfect spiral by design. Next, meet the hidden keepers of the forest. The redwood ant is the unsung hero of the woods and perhaps its greatest social director too.

By Eric Alt. Wildlife photographer Ingo Arnt discovered his first enormous ant mound as a child exploring the forest with his father near their home in Germany almost fifty years ago. They were bird watching and came around a bed in a densely wooded area. When there it was a five foot tall mound jutting upward like a large stalagmite. The mound was covered with a thick layer of spruce needles

and throngs of tiny red ants. Aren't wanted to investigate more closely, but a very particular smell suggested he rethink that impulse. The air felt thick and pungent, stinging his nostrils like vinegar. All my life, he says, I could remember that smell as an adult. Aren't has spent much of his career traveling to photograph animals like the pools of Patagonia and kangaroos in Australia. Several years ago, he

moved to the German countryside with his wife. While hiking through the region's pine forests, the surroundings rekindled his fascination with the mounds and their armies of ultra small engineers. How did insects roughly a quarter of an inch long build such huge structures and why did they emanate that astringent Odor Arn't now had the tools and experience to

seek answers to his questions. Outfitted with a high resolution camera and macro lenses that allow you to focus on small objects up close, he began photographing the bounds and sharing his midge imagery with researchers for a scientific perspective. It turned out the moundmakers were indeed special. They were red wood ants, scientifically classified as a group within the genus Formica, one of the smallest of all so called

keystone species. Among conservationists, Keystone species such as elephants and sharks are watched close because their behaviors affect so many aspects of their ecosystem that if they disappeared, it would

struggle to adapt. Red wood ants are typically found in Eurasia's temperate and boreal forests, but in recent decades more nests have been disappearing as the forests have fallen victim to logging, urbanization, and wildfires, as well as drought and higher temperatures that have become more frequent with climate change. This has led several countries across the ant's range, including Germany, to designate them as a protected species by law. Today,

Arnt's photo quest has taken on new meeting. His images, which he has been producing for the past two years, put on display these creatures fascinating ability to forge a multitude of symbiotic relationships across a variety of plant and animal species. In doing so, he's revealed the wonders of a hidden insect world. The massive nests consists of two parts, one above ground and one below, which red wood ants create by both growing into the earth and gathering needles, leaves, bark,

and twigs. As they rise, each mound gains new entrances and corridors, supporting anywhere from thirty thousand to upwards of sixteen million insects, the largest above ground nests of any ant species in the world. To learn more about this

concealed society aren't enlisted. The help of entomologist Bernard Seifert of the Secondburg Natural History Museums Research Institute in Frankfort and zoologist Jorgen Teuts, Professor emeritus at the Julius Maximilian University of Vortzberg, the researchers helped explain how arns images showed the ants directing life within the forest and surprising ways. For instance, the ants generate formic acid in a venom

gland at the rear of their abdomen. As they build a nest, the insects will gather tree resin, which has been shown to possess anti microbial properties, and spray it with their acid, which has its own antimicrobial properties. The result is a more potent agent that the ants place throughout the structure to fight against bacterial and fungal pathogens.

Formic acid also powers the species pest control roll. The fluid can be weaponized to take down other insects like wood boring beetles, one of the most destructive vermin in spruce forests. The fighting tactics Seiphered explains involves biting them and then spraying formic acid into the wounds. Reducing the number of beetles that weaken and destroy trees improves conditions for aphids living in them. The ant's milk the aphids

to excrete honeydew, which becomes their primary food source. Using camera traps aren't also captured larger animals lining up to get sprayed voluntarily. A rear image shows a Eurasian jay landing on top of a mountain and calmly flattening out its tails to allow the ants to crawl up and attack. The ants spray the jays as an enemy, says touts. While the birds appear unharmed, the toxin is powerful enough to disperse or kill parasites such as mites and lice

that they carry. For many bird species, this behavior helps them stay healthy too. Some uninvited guests that are willing to wreak alongside the community have gained more benefits. As social insects, ants organize colonies and form complex societies, but they also cohabitate with a wide variety of species, including mites, spiders,

and flies within their nests. One trick is that some of these interlopers may have grown up already doused in a familiar scent If a leaf beetle drops its eggs on or near the mound, the workers may inadvertently bring the eggs into the nest while collecting materials the larvae actually live inside. It aren't explodes. The eggs, then the larvae, and eventually the pulpie all smell like the nest. That's how they elude their host detection and exploit the shelter

to survive. In one study, researchers confirmed that on average, more than a dozen different species can be found within a single mound. Arnt's project highlights the strange and amazing ways these often overlooked creatures are influencing the action around them. While he did his best to avoid disrupting the protected species, the ants at times had other ideas, and they'd hitch a ride back with him. I'll be out at dinner and they show up and walk over my pants, he says,

laughing at the memory. But I always try and bring everybody back to the nest. The forest needs their collective power secrets to living. Super small bombadier beetle. When threatened, this insect has an explosive defense. It produces an internal chemical reaction that releases a scalding and irritating fluid that can reach two hundred twelve degrees fahrenheit. It sprays the

liquid from its rear end to repel predators. Diving bell spider, the only spider to live its whole life under water, collects air bubbles from the surface using its abdominal hairs and carries them to a woven silk diving bell. The bell doubles as a gild, transferring oxygen from the water to help provide a twenty four hour supply. Tiger beetle. This beetle's long, thin legs help it reach unbelievable speeds,

whether chasing prey or running from predators. In Australia, one less than an inch long species can run up to eight feet a second, among the fastest in the insect world. Peacock's spider. Instead of using a web, this jumping spiders stalks and pounces on its prey with incredible accuracy. Like most spiders, it has eight eyes that produce a nearly three hundred sixty degree view, but it is the two forward facing ones that create its high resolution color vision.

Heating the hill, the sprawling mounds of the red wood ant and for Mica pellacentina are the largest above ground ant nests in the world. They are also heat retaining wonders thanks to the thermoregulating press of millions of ants devoted to sustaining themselves and their young in Europe's Chile Forest. The next article from National Geographic History Magazine Atlantic Odyssey,

Life aboard the Spanish Galleons by Esteban Mira Caballos. Spanish migrants setting sail for the New World in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries faced a hazardous Atlantic crossing and an uncertain future. For the people of sixteenth century Spain, the world was expanding right before their eyes. After fourteen ninety two, Spanish voyages of discovery revealed the Americas and the Pacific, while new Eastern routes were rounding Africa to reach Asia.

To defend and expand Spain's new empire, galleons sailed on a growing network of sea routes and brought colonists to these lands. The crossings were grueling and long, testing the resolve of every passenger. In fall fourteen ninety two, Christopher Columbus was the first European to say site the Bahamas and Cuba. On December sixth, apparently believing he had landed in Chipango, Japan, he claimed for Spain the island he dubbed the East La Espanola location of modern Haiti and

the Dominican Republic. More voyages followed, and Spain's geographic knowledge of the America's expanded rapidly. The islands of the Caribbean became a logical staging post for Spain's transatlantic ambitions, setting out from his base in Cuba. In fifteen nineteen, Hernan Quotez completed the conquest of the Balley of Mexico. In fifteen twenty one. Footholds gained in North and South America led to more gains. Francisco Pizarro pushed farther west into

South America to topple the Inca Empire. In fifteen thirty three, span began seeking faster ways to reach Asian markets from Central America. In fifteen sixty four, a system of two annual trade fleets was consolidated. The New Spain Fleet would sail from the Spa Spanish port of Savigue for New Spain, docking in Veracruz in modern day Mexico. The galleons of the Tierra Fairmay Fleet would depart for Cartagena de Indias today in Columbia. An extension of the New Spain Fleet

was established in the Pacific port of Acapulco, Mexico. From there, the Manila Galleon sailed for the Philippines to facilitate trade with Asia. With China and other Asian markets passage to the Americas. The huge expansion into the American possessions was fueled in part by Spanish immigration. Clergymen were sent by the Catholic Church not only to evangelize but also to project Spain's political supremacy. The state needed soldiers, administrators, merchants, farmers,

and laborers. Many Spaniards saw passage on the galleons as an opportunity to gain wealth and prestige in the growing empire. Securing legal passage on a transatlantic galleon, however, meant a lengthy bureaucratic process. The first step was to obtain a license from the House of Commerce Casa de l Contrazion in Seville, a Spanish southern Spanish city that controlled maritime

trade with America. Spain's discriminatory laws against people of Jewish and Muslim descent were extended to prevent them from traveling to the Americas. Anyone wanting to go had to prove that they were a Christiano viejo or old Christian. Whence the legal hurdles had been cleared, Immigrants had to purchase a ticket from a shipowner and have it publicly notarized.

In the sixteenth century, the average price but ticket was around seventy five hundred maravedis equivalent to approximately three thousand, two hundred fifty dollars today, although the amount would vary depending on the final destination and the type of room and board would be. Migrants would need more funds than that if they were to have a chance of success

in their new life. First, there were the costs of the initial stay in sevivor to sailing, a period that could be prolonged if fleets were delayed, as often happened. Then they needed to support themselves during the first weeks in the colonies as they looked for work. Expenses could easily quadruple to the equivalent of fifteen thousand dollars or more. Travelers raised funds in different ways. Some sold their Spanish properties or used their wives dowries. Others asked family for

cash in exchange for renouncing a future inheritance. Some left their families indebted for years to come, with only the promise of future riches to sustain them. The total number of Spaniards who crossed the Atlantic in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is disputed among historians, but estimates rise as high as four hundred fifty thousand people. The profile evolved

over time. During the earliest phase of Spain's expansion in the Americas, between fourteen ninety two and fifteen nineteen, men outnumbered women, who accounted for slightly more than five percent of passenger lists. The percentage rises progressive over the following two centuries to as high as twenty five to thirty

percent in the seventeenth century. For the thousands of Spaniards who made this journey across the Atlantic, life on board a Galian or a smaller, even more cramped cara was difficult. In fifteen thirty nine, the Bishop Royal adviser and author Antonio de Guevera wrote in Arte de Morare The Art of Navigation, that all common hardships experienced on land, such as hunger, thirst, heat, and sickness, were twice as bad as sea threats of corsair attacks added to the danger.

Terrible storms loomed, but if the seas weren't raging, passengers had to endure being becalmed for long periods. Sharing the ship with live animals such as chickens, pigs, sheep, and mules, and the vermin that accompanied them further degraded the situation on board. Not even the wealthy could insulate themselves from

the dreary conditions. High ranking officials and their families could pay for private chambers in the stern, obtaining a certain degree of privacy, but most of the journey's discomforts were universal. Sewage arrangements were basic, with passengers sometimes having to climb overboard and cling tightly to the side of the ship as they relieved themselves in full view. Only later were Transatlantic ships fitted with latrines in the stern or bow.

To distract themselves from the hardships and monotony of the crossing. On board entertainments were devised. There would be singing under the stars, ballads accompanied by trumpet, flute, guitar or schalm and oboe like instrument. There were certain to be sham on board every ship, as they were used not only to transmit orders, but also to play battle anthems. Although most passengers were not literate, those who were might entertain

the others by reading aloud from books. Cockfights and games of chance also helped pass the long hours, as these diversions kept the long suffering crew entertained. Ship officials usually turned a blind eye to gla even though it was officially prohibited. Sometimes the captains even joined in. Other passengers opted for quieter pursuits, such as fishing over the side of the ship, a pastime that might yield the reward of an extra meal from time to time. Dining during

the months long Atlantic crossing was no picnic either. Nutrient rich fruits and vegetables were concerned, consumed within the first few days of the trip before spoiling. Much of the non perishable food was lacking in rich nutrition and flavor. The primary food were hardcakes made with wheat flour and no yeast. They were baked twice to make them durable, but this process made them very dry and almost too hard to chew. Every month, each passenger was allowed about

six pints of vinegar and two pints of civilian olive oil. Meat, typically pork, was usually served at least twice a week, and on the remaining days, the passengers and crew consumed beans, rice, and fish. Sometimes the pork was fresh if a pig had been recently slaughtered on board, but more often it was kichina, a pork preserved by salting and drying. Cheese was another essential component in the Gallean diet. Hard cheese traveled well without spoiling and was a calorie rich meal

for passengers. Occasionally, nuts and dried fruits such as almonds, chestnuts, and raisins were included. To drink, passengers received daily rations of ford liters of water in one liter of wine, but the water ration could be drastically reduced if the ship was becalmed for long periods of time. Water shortages struck the most fear into the hearts of passengers. Even under normal conditions, the water could be contaminated. Accounts from

several voyages described it churning green. The poor diet on the ship could have deadly consequences for passengers. A lack of fresh fruits and vegetables often caused scurving, a deadly disease caused by a deficiency and vitamin CEA symptoms including fatigue, bruised limbs, aching joints, and bleeding gums would set in any time after one to two months, whence the body's

store of the vitamin were depleted. During the Age of Exploration, historians estimate that scurvy was the leading cause of death at sea, surpassing deaths due to enemy attacks, storms, shipwrecks, and other illnesses. Although all ships were required to carry medicines and a surgeon or barber on board, if passengers fell seriously ill, it was very little that could be done. The chances were high they would die before reaching their destination, and if death did come, there was no choice but

to throw the body overboard. The body was first wrapped in coarse cloth and then weighted down with stones or small cannon balls so that it would sink. The clergyman, who was always on board, conducted a funeral surface. Passengers embarked on these voyages with high expectations of a better life, but the soaring mortality rates on these voyages, which barely dropped until the mid nineteenth century, ire a reminder that the dangers of transatlantic travel in the sixty in seventeenth

centuries were higher still. Lives and hopes dashed on the waves. Disease and starvation took the lives of many colonial Spaniards crossing the Atlantic Ocean, but pirate attacks were also a great danger in the Spanish Empire. The case of Miguel Vasquez is just one tragic story among many. Miguel was the only son of Haasito Vascaz and Maria Ramira's inhabitants of Zafra in southwest Spain. The family lived in extreme poverty, so in sixteen fifty four, fifteen year old Miguel decided

to travel to the America's to seek his fortune. He planned to return to Spain with money to help his family to poor. To pay for his passage, he enrolled as a cabin boy on the voyage. Over six years later, Miguel booked return passage on the El Soul de la Esperanza, The Son of Hope, But tragedy struck on the journey. After departing from Campese in present day Mexico and drawing nearer to Gibraltar, Miguel was killed in a clash with corsairs. The hope of a new life for him and his

desperate family was dashed. Round trips every year two fleets set sail from Spain to provision its colonies with agricultural products, food, and manufactured goods. The New Spain Fleet's ultimate destination was Vera Cruz, Mexico, and the Tierra Fiermey Fleets was Cartagena de Indias, Columbia. Another fleet applied the Pacific between Acapulco and the Philippines to stockop on Asian goods. Later, the New Spain and Tierra Fiermey fleets joined in Havana to

return to Spain laden with goods. They returned under convoy to protect them from corsairs. They carried back silver and cocoa from the Americas and silk from Asia. Live stock like chickens, pigs, goats, and sheep shared space with the human passengers on Spain's transatlantic galleons in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In addition to these invited animals were stowaways

rodents like rats and mice. Nineteenth century naval historian Cesario Fernandez Duro lauded ships rats as exemplary seafares because they adapted better than anyone else to life at sea, never got seasick and never abandoned their posts. Rats and mice contaminated food supply, nibbled on ropes and sails, and were hosts for other vermin, such as fleas and ticks that

could spread disease among the crew. To control these past, European explorers drew on a long tradition, going back to the Vikings and ancient Romans, of employing ship cats as mousers who earned their keep by protecting the passenger's food supply. Seville Port of the Indies. The wealth of the Americas in Asia flowed into the port on the guaial Uivere River. The bustle of each neighborhood is captured in a sixteenth

century oil painting attribute to Alonzo Sanjaz Corrello. Cookated more than sixty miles from the sea, the river port of Seville may seem like a strange place to establish. A port controls Spain's new found wealth from the Americas. Although maneuvering large ships along the Guadalcivere River required a great skill, Seville's inland location was more secure than Kadiz. The pirate Barbarossa attacked Spanish ships off Cadiz in fifteen twenty one.

The English raided Cadiz in fifteen eighty seven under Drake, and again in fifteen ninety six as part of an Anglo Dutch force. Seville's port was made up of a wide esplanade that extended south of the city between the city walls and the Guadalgivere River. This area buzzed with activity, a meeting place for water carriers, wheelwrights, merchants and soldiers. Sevil supplied crews for the Transatlantic fleets and channeled the goods needed in the colonies, as well as reserved received

the wealth brought back from overseas. In a work by the sixteenth century playwright Lope de Vega, a character Dona Laura discusses the goods being loaded on and off the ships in Seville and their origins from the America's come ombird breeze, pearls, gold, silver, and leather. Flowing to the colonies are iron and pine from northwest Spain, linden from Germany, knives from France and from Andalusia, wine, fruit, lime, wheat,

and even clay across the Atlantic. Fifteen o three, the House of com Commerce Casa Deila Contrazion is founded in Seville as a means of regulating trade with the Americas. Fifteen twenty two, Pirate attacks force Spain to organize a system of fleets for protection. Ships will travel to and from the Americas in convoys. Fifteen sixty four, Spain designates that the New Spain Fleet will serve North and Central America, while the Tierra Fairmay Fleet will serve South America sixteen fifty.

Since fifteen o four, a total of eighteen thousand Spanish ships across the Atlantic in both directions.