Size does matter: Group size and mating preferences drive deeper male voices

Deeper male voices in primates, including humans, offer more than sex appeal -- they may have evolved as another way for males to drive off competitors in large groups that favored polygyny, or mating systems where a male has multiple mates, according to researchers. The research is the most comprehensive investigation of differences in vocal pitch between sexes to date and has the potential to help to shed light on social behavior in humans and their closest living relatives.

The average speaking pitch of an adult male human is about half the average pitch, an octave lower, than that of an adult female human, said David Puts, professor of anthropology at Penn State and study co-author.

"It's a sex difference that emerges at sexual maturity across species and it probably influences mating success through attracting mates or by intimidating competitors," he said. "I thought it has to be a trait that's been subjected to sexual selection, in which mating opportunities influence which traits are passed down to offspring. Humans and many other primates are highly communicative, especially through vocal communication. So it seems like a really relevant trait for thinking about social behavior in humans and primates in general."

The researchers used specialized computer software to visualize vocalizations and measure voice pitch in recordings from 37 anthropoid primate species, or those most closely related to humans, including gorillas, chimpanzees and recordings of 60 humans evenly divided by sex. Samples for each species included at least two male and two female vocal recordings, for a total of 1,914 vocalizations. The team then calculated average male and female vocal fundamental frequency for each species to see how pronounced the difference was between sexes.

The scientists collected additional information for each species to help identify correlations between male versus female voice pitch and factors that could have contributed to the trait's evolution. Additional variables included body size and body mass differences between males and females, habitat type, adult sex ratios, mating competition intensity and testes size. They also categorized each species by mating system -- monogamous, in which males and females have one mate at a time; polygynandrous, in which males and females have multiple mating partners; and polygynous, in which some males have several mates.

The researchers used these data to test five hypotheses simultaneously to identify which factors may have played the strongest roles in driving sex differences in vocal pitch. The hypotheses were: intensity of mating competition, large group size, multilevel social organization, trade-off against the intensity of sperm competition, and poor acoustic habitats. Previous research has looked at one or two of these hypotheses at a time. The current study is the first to test multiple hypotheses simultaneously for vocal pitch differences using a robust dataset, ensuring data consistency and garnering convincing results, according to Puts.

The team found that fundamental frequency differences by sex increased in larger groups and those with polygynous mating systems, especially in groups with a higher female-to-male ratio. They reported their findings today (July 10) in Nature Communications.

"Our findings highlight the important role of sexual selection and offer possible evolutionary explanations for why males and females differ in voice pitch across primates," said Toe Aung, first author and assistant professor of psychology and counseling at Immaculata University, who worked on the study as part of his doctoral dissertation at Penn State. "This research also provides insight into sex differences in voice pitch in our common ancestors who lived millions of years ago."

Deeper male voices may act as an additional way to fend off mating competitors without having to engage in costly fighting by making males sound bigger, in addition to other physical traits like height and muscle size, according to the researchers. In adult humans, for instance, males vocalize at an average of 120 hertz whereas females vocalize at an average of about 220 hertz, putting humans right in the middle of polygynous societies, the researchers reported.

"Although social monogamy is really common in humans, mating and reproduction in our ancestors was substantially polygynous," Puts said. "Our findings help us to understand why male and female voices of our species differ so drastically. It may be a product of our evolutionary history, particularly our history of living in large groups in which some males reproduced with multiple females."

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Capturing the immense potential of microscopic DNA for data storage

In a world first, a 'biological camera' bypasses the constraints of current DNA storage methods, harnessing living cells and their inherent biological mechanisms to encode and store data. This represents a significant breakthrough in encoding and storing images directly within DNA, creating a new model for information storage reminiscent of a digital camera.

Led by Principal Investigator Associate Professor Chueh Loo Poh from the College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore, and the NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI), the team's findings, which could potentially shake up the data-storage industry, were published in Nature Communications on 3 July 2023.

A new paradigm to address global data overload

As the world continues to generate data at an unprecedented rate, data has come to be seen as the 'currency' of the 21st century. Estimated to be 33 ZB in 2018, it has been forecasted that the Global Datasphere will reach 175 ZB by 2025. That has sparked a quest for a storage alternative that can transcend the confines of conventional data storage and address the environmental impact of resource-intensive data centres.

It is only recently that the idea of using DNA to store other types of information, such as images and videos, has garnered attention. This is due to DNA's exceptional storage capacity, stability, and long-standing relevance as a medium for information storage.

"We are facing an impending data overload. DNA, the key biomaterial of every living thing on Earth, stores genetic information that encodes for an array of proteins responsible for various life functions. To put it into perspective, a single gram of DNA can hold over 215,000 terabytes of data -- equivalent to storing 45 million DVDs combined," said Assoc Prof Poh.

"DNA is also easy to manipulate with current molecular biology tools, can be stored in various forms at room temperature, and is so durable it can last centuries," says Cheng Kai Lim, a graduate student working with Assoc Prof Poh.

Despite its immense potential, current research in DNA storage focuses on synthesising DNA strands outside the cells. This process is expensive and relies on complex instruments, which are also prone to errors.

To overcome this bottleneck, Assoc Prof Poh and his team turned to live cells, which contain an abundance of DNA that can act as a 'data bank', circumventing the need to synthesise the genetic material externally.

Through sheer ingenuity and clever engineering, the team developed 'BacCam' -- a novel system that merges various biological and digital techniques to emulate a digital camera's functions using biological components.

"Imagine the DNA within a cell as an undeveloped photographic film," explained Assoc Prof Poh. "Using optogenetics -- a technique that controls the activity of cells with light akin to the shutter mechanism of a camera, we managed to capture 'images' by imprinting light signals onto the DNA 'film'."

Next, using barcoding techniques akin to photo labelling, the researchers marked the captured images for unique identification. Machine-learning algorithms were employed to organise, sort, and reconstruct the stored images. These constitute the 'biological camera', mirroring a digital camera's data capture, storage, and retrieval processes.

The study showcased the camera's ability to capture and store multiple images simultaneously using different light colours. More crucially, compared to earlier methods of DNA data storage, the team's innovative system is easily reproducible and scalable.

"As we push the boundaries of DNA data storage, there is an increasing interest in bridging the interface between biological and digital systems," said Assoc Prof Poh.

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Reinventing cosmology: New research puts age of universe at 26.7 -- not 13.7 -- billion years

Our universe could be twice as old as current estimates, according to a new study that challenges the dominant cosmological model and sheds new light on the so-called "impossible early galaxy problem."

"Our newly-devised model stretches the galaxy formation time by a several billion years, making the universe 26.7 billion years old, and not 13.7 as previously estimated," says author Rajendra Gupta, adjunct professor of physics in the Faculty of Science at the University of Ottawa.

For years, astronomers and physicists have calculated the age of our universe by measuring the time elapsed since the Big Bang and by studying the oldest stars based on the redshift of light coming from distant galaxies. In 2021, thanks to new techniques and advances in technology, the age of our universe was thus estimated at 13.797 billion years using the Lambda-CDM concordance model.

However, many scientists have been puzzled by the existence of stars like the Methuselah that appear to be older than the estimated age of our universe and by the discovery of early galaxies in an advanced state of evolution made possible by the James Webb Space Telescope. These galaxies, existing a mere 300 million years or so after the Big Bang, appear to have a level of maturity and mass typically associated with billions of years of cosmic evolution. Furthermore, they're surprisingly small in size, adding another layer of mystery to the equation.

Zwicky's tired light theory proposes that the redshift of light from distant galaxies is due to the gradual loss of energy by photons over vast cosmic distances. However, it was seen to conflict with observations. Yet Gupta found that "by allowing this theory to coexist with the expanding universe, it becomes possible to reinterpret the redshift as a hybrid phenomenon, rather than purely due to expansion."

In addition to Zwicky's tired light theory, Gupta introduces the idea of evolving "coupling constants," as hypothesized by Paul Dirac. Coupling constants are fundamental physical constants that govern the interactions between particles. According to Dirac, these constants might have varied over time. By allowing them to evolve, the timeframe for the formation of early galaxies observed by the Webb telescope at high redshifts can be extended from a few hundred million years to several billion years. This provides a more feasible explanation for the advanced level of development and mass observed in these ancient galaxies.

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Carbon taxes that focus on luxury consumption are fairer than those that tax all emissions equally

Not all carbon emissions are made for the same reason -- they range from more essential purposes like heating a home to nonessential "luxury" activities like leisure travel. However, proposals for the implementations of carbon taxes tend to apply to all emissions at an equal rate. This can give rise to and exacerbate inequalities. A new analysis published on July 11 in the journal One Earth suggests taxing luxury carbon emissions at a higher rate instead; if all 88 countries analyzed in this study adopted the luxury-focused policy, this would achieve 75% of the emissions reduction needed to reach the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting climate change to well below 2°C by 2050.

"There is an injustice in terms of who uses energy, or carbon, for basic or luxury purposes, but it hasn't been translated into explicit policy yet," says Yannick Oswald, an economist at the University of Leeds. "In this study, we test policies derived from this knowledge for the first time."

Several countries -- such as Canada and Mexico -- have active carbon pricing policies. These policies either price all emissions at an equal rate or target one type of emission, such as heat or fuel. However, past research has shown that, in high-income countries, these policies tend to affect low-income households the most while failing to have a large impact on emissions. This might be because resources such as heat or fuel make up a greater portion of low-income spending and are difficult to do without.

To test the impact of a tax program that distinguishes between carbon emissions from basic or luxury activities, the researchers built a model based on household carbon footprints from 88 different countries. For each country, they designed a tax rate for different types of purchases, ensuring activities that make up a greater proportion of low-income spending would be taxed less relative to activities that make up a greater proportion of high-income spending. In the US, for example, vacation travel would be taxed at a higher rate than heating.

They used this model to test the outcome of either their luxury carbon tax rates or a uniform carbon tax rate. Under a uniform tax rate, 37% of global carbon tax revenue would come from luxury purchases. This increases to 52% under a luxury-focused tax program.

Not only was the luxury tax "fairer" based on household income -- affecting low-income households less and high-income households more -- it also was slightly better at reducing yearly household emissions in the very short-term. The researchers note that this might be because it is more feasible to forgo luxury purchases than an essential purchase if the price increases.

While the luxury tax proved fairer in all countries studied, the researchers found that, in low-income countries, a uniform tax could also be fair. In South Africa, for example, low-income households already spend much less on fuel or heating than high-income households. Thus, a uniform carbon tax is already targeting high-income groups by design. In contrast, the luxury carbon tax is most beneficial in terms of fairness when applied to high-income countries. This tax can better account for flexible, nonessential purchases in countries like the United States, where it is difficult to avoid carbon-emitting activities like driving a car in a low-income lifestyle.

While this type of policy could make significant progress towards reducing global emissions, the researchers also note that this goal might be difficult to achieve in practice. Few countries have a carbon tax scheme that is currently this rigorous. Luxury-focused carbon taxation also targets high-income groups, which may be the most equipped to lobby against such a policy going into effect.

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Scientists discover 36-million-year geological cycle that drives biodiversity

Movement in the Earth's tectonic plates indirectly triggers bursts of biodiversity in 36-million-year cycles by forcing sea levels to rise and fall, new research has shown.

Researchers including geoscientists at the University of Sydney believe these geologically driven cycles of sea level changes have a significant impact on the diversity of marine species, going back at least 250 million years.

As water levels rise and fall, different habitats on the continental shelves and in shallow seas expand and contract, providing opportunities for organisms to thrive or die. By studying the fossil record, the scientists have shown that these shifts trigger bursts of new life to emerge.

The research has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, led by Associate Professor Slah Boulila from Sorbonne University in Paris.

Study co-author Professor Dietmar Müller, from the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney, said: "In terms of tectonics, the 36-million-year cycle marks alterations between faster and slower seafloor spreading, leading to cyclical depth changes in ocean basins and in the tectonic transfer of water into the deep Earth.

"These in turn have led to fluctuations in the flooding and drying up of continents, with periods of extensive shallow seas fostering biodiversity.

"This work was enabled by the GPlates plate tectonic software, developed by the EarthByte Group at the University of Sydney, supported by Australia's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) via AuScope."

The team based their findings on the discovery of strikingly similar cycles in sea-level variations, Earth's interior mechanisms and marine fossil records.

Scientists now have overwhelming evidence that tectonic cycles and global sea level change driven by Earth's dynamics have played a crucial role in shaping the biodiversity of marine life over millions of years.

"This research challenges previous ideas about why species have changed over long periods," Professor Müller said.

"The cycles are 36 million years long because of regular patterns in how tectonic plates are recycled into the convecting mantle, the mobile part of the deep Earth, similar to hot, thick soup in a pot, that moves slowly."

Professor Müller said the Cretaceous Winton Formation in Queensland serves as a prime example of how sea-level changes have shaped ecosystems and influenced biodiversity in Australia.

The formation, renowned for its collection of dinosaur fossils and precious opal, provides a valuable window into a time when much of the Australian continent was flooded.

As sea levels rose and fell, the flooding of the continent created expanding and contracting ecological recesses in shallow seas, providing unique habitats for a wide range of species.

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Revolutionary self-sensing electric artificial muscles

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London have made groundbreaking advancements in bionics with the development of a new electric variable-stiffness artificial muscle. Published in Advanced Intelligent Systems, this innovative technology possesses self-sensing capabilities and has the potential to revolutionize soft robotics and medical applications. The artificial muscle seamlessly transitions between soft and hard states, while also sensing forces and deformations. With flexibility and stretchability similar to natural muscle, it can be integrated into intricate soft robotic systems and adapt to various shapes. By adjusting voltages, the muscle rapidly changes its stiffness and can monitor its own deformation through resistance changes. The fabrication process is simple and reliable, making it ideal for a range of applications, including aiding individuals with disabilities or patients in rehabilitation training.

In a study published recently in Advanced Intelligent Systems, researchers from Queen Mary University of London have made significant advancements in the field of bionics with the development of a new type of electric variable-stiffness artificial muscle that possesses self-sensing capabilities. This innovative technology has the potential to revolutionize soft robotics and medical applications.

Muscle contraction hardening is not only essential for enhancing strength but also enables rapid reactions in living organisms. Taking inspiration from nature, the team of researchers at QMUL's School of Engineering and Materials Science has successfully created an artificial muscle that seamlessly transitions between soft and hard states while also possessing the remarkable ability to sense forces and deformations.

Dr. Ketao Zhang, a Lecturer at Queen Mary and the lead researcher, explains the importance of variable stiffness technology in artificial muscle-like actuators. "Empowering robots, especially those made from flexible materials, with self-sensing capabilities is a pivotal step towards true bionic intelligence," says Dr. Zhang.

The cutting-edge artificial muscle developed by the researchers exhibits flexibility and stretchability similar to natural muscle, making it ideal for integration into intricate soft robotic systems and adapting to various geometric shapes. With the ability to withstand over 200% stretch along the length direction, this flexible actuator with a striped structure demonstrates exceptional durability.

By applying different voltages, the artificial muscle can rapidly adjust its stiffness, achieving continuous modulation with a stiffness change exceeding 30 times. Its voltage-driven nature provides a significant advantage in terms of response speed over other types of artificial muscles. Additionally, this novel technology can monitor its deformation through resistance changes, eliminating the need for additional sensor arrangements and simplifying control mechanisms while reducing costs.

The fabrication process for this self-sensing artificial muscle is simple and reliable. Carbon nanotubes are mixed with liquid silicone using ultrasonic dispersion technology and coated uniformly using a film applicator to create the thin layered cathode, which also serves as the sensing part of the artificial muscle. The anode is made directly using a soft metal mesh cut, and the actuation layer is sandwiched between the cathode and the anode. After the liquid materials cure, a complete self-sensing variable-stiffness artificial muscle is formed.

The potential applications of this flexible variable stiffness technology are vast, ranging from soft robotics to medical applications. The seamless integration with the human body opens up possibilities for aiding individuals with disabilities or patients in performing essential daily tasks. By integrating the self-sensing artificial muscle, wearable robotic devices can monitor a patient's activities and provide resistance by adjusting stiffness levels, facilitating muscle function restoration during rehabilitation training.

"While there are still challenges to be addressed before these medical robots can be deployed in clinical settings, this research represents a crucial stride towards human-machine integration," highlights Dr. Zhang. "It provides a blueprint for the future development of soft and wearable robots."

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Earth formed from dry, rocky building blocks

Billions of years ago, in the giant disk of dust, gas, and rocky material that orbited our young sun, larger and larger bodies coalesced to eventually give rise to the planets, moons, and asteroids we see today. Scientists are still trying to understand the processes by which planets, including our home planet, were formed. One way researchers can study how Earth formed is to examine the magmas that flow up from deep within the planet's interior. The chemical signatures from these samples contain a record of the timing and the nature of the materials that came together to form Earth -- analogous to how fossils give us clues about Earth's biological past.

Now, a study from Caltech shows that the early Earth accreted from hot and dry materials, indicating that our planet's water -- the crucial component for the evolution of life -- must have arrived late in the history of Earth's formation.

The study, involving an international team of researchers, was conducted in the laboratories of Francois Tissot, assistant professor of geochemistry and Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator; and Yigang Zhang of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. A paper describing the research appears in the journal Science Advances. Caltech graduate student Weiyi Liu is the paper's first author.

Though humans do not have a way to journey into the interior of our planet, the rocks deep within the earth can naturally make their way to the surface in the form of lavas. The parental magmas of these lavas can originate from different depths within Earth, such as the upper mantle, which begins around 15 kilometers under the surface and extends for about 680 kilometers; or the lower mantle, which spans from a depth of 680 kilometers all the way to the core-mantle boundary at about 2,900 kilometers below our feet. Like sampling different layers of a cake -- the frosting, the filling, the sponge -- scientists can study magmas originating from different depths to understand the different "flavors" of Earth's layers: the chemicals found within and their ratios with respect to one another.

Because the formation of Earth was not instantaneous and instead involved materials accreting over time, samples from the lower mantle and upper mantle give different clues to what was happening over time during Earth's accretion. In the new study, the team found that the early Earth was primarily composed of dry, rocky materials: chemical signatures from deep within the planet showed a lack of so-called volatiles, which are easily evaporated materials like water and iodine. In contrast, samples of the upper mantle revealed a higher proportion of volatiles, three times of those found in the lower mantle. Based on these chemical ratios, Liu created a model that showed Earth formed from hot, dry, rocky materials, and that a major addition of life-essential volatiles, including water, only occurred during the last 15 percent (or less) of Earth's formation.

The study is a crucial contribution to theories of planet formation, a field which has undergone several paradigm shifts in recent decades and is still characterized by vigorous scientific debate. In this context, the new study makes important predictions for the nature of the building blocks of other terrestrial planets -- Mercury and Venus -- which would be expected to have formed from similarly dry materials.

"Space exploration to the outer planets is really important because a water world is probably the best place to look for extraterrestrial life," Tissot says. "But the inner solar system shouldn't be forgotten. There hasn't been a mission that's touched Venus's surface for nearly 40 years, and there has never been a mission to the surface of Mercury. We need to be able to study those worlds to better understand how terrestrial planets such as Earth formed."

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Roots are capable of measuring heat on their own

Plant roots have their own thermometer to measure the temperature of the soil around them and they adjust their growth accordingly. Through extensive experiments, a team led by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), was able to demonstrate that roots have their own temperature sensing and response system. In a new study in The EMBO Journal, the scientists also provide a new explanation for how roots themselves detect and react to higher temperatures. The results could help develop new approaches for plant breeding.

The researchers used climate chambers to investigate how the plant model organism thale cress and the two crops cabbage and tomatoes react to rising ambient temperatures. They increased the ambient temperature from 20 to 28°C (68 to 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit). "Until now, it was assumed that the plant shoot controlled the process for the entire plant and acted as a long-distance transmitter that signalled to the root that it should alter its growth," says Professor Marcel Quint from the Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences at MLU. His team has now been able to disprove this through extensive experiments in cooperation with researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB), ETH Zurich and the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne. In one experiment, scientists cut off the shoot of the plants but allowed the roots to continue to grow. "We found that the roots were not affected by this and grew at elevated temperatures in the same way as on plants with intact shoots. The higher temperature stimulated cell division and the roots became significantly longer," says Quint. The team also used mutant plants whose shoots could no longer detect and respond to higher temperatures. Those were grafted onto roots without this defect. Here, too, the roots were able to react to the heat in the soil, even though the shoot did nothing.

The researchers found in all of their experiments that root cells increased the production of the growth hormone auxin, which was then transported to the root tips. There, it stimulated cell division and enabled the roots to reach further down into the soil. "As heat and drought usually occur in tandem, it makes sense for the plants to tap into deeper and cooler soil layers that contain water," Quint explains.

Scientists have understood how plant shoots react to higher temperatures for some time. Their cells also produce more auxin, but the plant reacts differently than its roots. The cells in the shoot stretch, the stalk grows taller, and the leaves become narrower and grow farther apart.

The study also provides new insights for plant breeding. "In view of climate change, root growth is becoming more and more important for breeding. Understanding the molecular basis for temperature-dependent root growth might help to effectively equip plants against drought stress and achieve stable yields in the long term," says Quint. Quint's team will continue its work in this field of research in the coming years. A few weeks ago, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) granted him around 500,000 euros for a new research project on precisely this topic.

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Human-made materials in nests can bring both risks and benefit for birds

We all discard a huge amount of plastic and other human-made materials into the environment, and these are often picked up by birds. New research has shown that 176 bird species around the world are now known to include a wide range of anthropogenic materials in their nests. All over the world, birds are using our left-over or discarded materials. Seabirds in Australia incorporate fishing nets into their nests, ospreys in North America include baler twine, birds living in cities in South America add cigarette butts, and common blackbirds in Europe pick up plastic bags to add to their nests.

This material found in birds' nests can be beneficial say researchers. For example, cigarette butts retain nicotine and other compounds that repel ectoparasites that attach themselves to nestling bird's skin and suck blood from them. Meanwhile, there are suggestions that harder human-made materials may help to provide structural support for birds' nests, while plastic films could help provide insulation and keep offspring warm. Despite such potential benefits, it is important to remember that such anthropogenic material can also be harmful to birds.

This research was published in a special issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B on "The evolutionary ecology of nests: a cross-taxon approach." The special issue was jointly organised by Mark Mainwaring, a Lecturer in Global Change Biology in the School of Natural Sciences at Bangor University.

Mark Mainwaring said, "The special issue highlights that the nests of a wide range of taxa -- from birds to mammals to fish to reptiles -- allow them to adapt to human-induced pressures. Those pressures range from the inclusion of anthropogenic materials into their nests through to providing parents and offspring with a place to protect themselves from increasingly hot temperatures in a changing climate."

Anthropogenic materials sometimes harm birds. Parents and offspring sometimes become fatally entangled in baler twine. Meanwhile, offspring sometimes ingest anthropogenic material after mistaking it for natural prey items. Finally, the inclusion of colourful anthropogenic materials into nests attracts predators to those nests who then prey upon the eggs or nestlings. This means that we need to reduce the amount of plastic and other anthropogenic material that we discard.

The lead author of the study, Zuzanna Jagiełło who is based at the Poznań University of Life Sciences in Poland, added, "A wide variety of bird species included anthropogenic materials into their nests. This is worrying because it is becoming increasingly apparent that such materials can harm nestlings and even adult birds."

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Conservation in Indonesia is at risk, a team of researchers who study the region argues

Indonesia, home to the largest tropical rainforest in Southeast Asia and over 17,500 islands, is a country packed with biodiversity and endangered species. However, scientists studying the region's species and ecosystems are getting banned from Indonesia and conservation plans are being blocked. In a letter publishing in the journal Current Biology on July 10, a team of conservation researchers with long-term experience in Indonesia discuss scientific suppression and other research challenges they have witnessed while working in the region. They offer suggestions for how to promote nature conservation, protect data transparency, and share research with the public in this and other regions of the world.

"If you look at a heat map of the Earth, and where endangered species are located, Indonesia and that general region are just off the charts," says tropical environmental scientist William F. Laurance of James Cook University, who has been doing research on the environmental impacts of development in Southeast Asia for over a decade.

Laurance and his co-authors say they felt drawn to raise awareness about the issues facing conservation in Indonesia because during their time working in the region, they witnessed many instances when governments and corporations impeded research -- including their own.

For example, they write in the letter, in 2022, five leading conservation researchers were banned from working in Indonesia on the premise that they had "negative intentions" to "discredit the government." The researchers reference papers about forest conservation and wildlife management in Sumatra, for which the teams had multiple colleagues from Indonesia decline co-authorship "out of concerns that it might adversely impact their funding, research permits, or opportunities for commercial contracts in Indonesia."

"The researchers said, 'Well, no, you can't tell that story, even though it's true, and you can't identify me or include all the relevant details.' And this just kept happening over and over again. It's a climate of fear," says Laurance.

To protect environmental research in Indonesia and the contributors who work on it, Laurance and his team suggest that organizations funding research in the region require data transparency for studies that they support. They also recommend the implementation and usage of online "safe houses" (whistleblower websites designed to protect anonymity and information leakage) and anonymized journals (publications in which contributors are not named). They say these interventions could help researchers get information out to the public without worrying about the consequences of being personally tied to their findings.

The authors do note that several organizations are advocating for change, especially in Indonesia. Some examples of these groups include the Indonesian Caucus for Academic Freedom and the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation, which are organizing to support conservation and thwart efforts to silence researchers. They also note that "scientific suppression is by no means unique to Indonesia."

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