Short Wave - Didn't Get A Valentine's Love Song? These Skywalker Gibbons Sing Love Duets

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

In the green tree canopies of forested areas in Myanmar, you might wake up to the sounds of gibbons singing love songs. Gibbons start their day with passionate duets and, though these love songs may sound a little different than the ones in your playlists, they just helped researchers figure out that Myanmar has the largest population of an endangered gibbon species on Earth. They're called skywalker gibbons, and until recently, scientists thought there were fewer than 200 of them – all living in southwestern China. Want to hear us cover more animal news? Email the show at [e-mail] to let us know!See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, Short Wavers, Regina Barber here. And this time I've got two of our favorites for a regular roundup of science news, Elsa Chang. Hello, thanks for letting me hang out and absorb some science knowledge. No problem. You're always welcome. And our producer, Rachel Carlson. Hey, Rachel. Hi, hi, guys.

As always, we're going to share three science stories in the news that have caught our attention recently. And I hear one has to do with the love songs of an endangered species. of Gibbon. That's right. And how women might not have to work out as long as men to get the same benefits. Plus a potentially powerful tool to lower your blood pressure, Tai Chi. All that on this episode of Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR. All right, Elsa, as our guest, which topic do you want to start with? What calls to you most? Well, I am into all of these stories, but let's start with the love songs, please. Okay, so this story starts in Myanmar, picture patches of green forest, full of fruits like figs.

And then, Elsa, close your eyes. Imagine you're being serenated by gibbons with bushy white eyebrows and brown or black beards. Open your heart and your ears for some love songs. I am slooning. Why doesn't a man ever sing to me like this? I know. I'm kind of jealous, which I feel like is sad, but, you know, we're getting over it.

The singers of these very passionate duets just helped researchers figure out that me and has the largest population of this endangered gibbon species on Earth. They're called Skywalker Gibbons, and until recently, scientists thought there were fewer than 200 of them, all in southwestern China. And scientists suspected they might extend to Myanmar, but they didn't know for sure because there hadn't been a lot of research on Gibbons in general. I mean, just too much singing, not enough research. Yeah, kind of.

I talked to a Gibbon researcher who wasn't involved in the study, Jackie Prime, from the nonprofit Prime Earth, and she says Gibbons are the fastest tree-dwelling mammals in the world so they can be kind of hard to track. I like to refer to them as like stealth ninjas when they're moving through the forest. So they're tiny, they're very quiet. Quiet except for these super-lovy duets, which all Gibbon sing. So, wait, how did researchers go from these super-levy duets to discovering this new population of Skywalker Gibbons?

Yeah, good question. So the team set up sound monitoring systems in a bunch of different forested areas in Myanmar to eavesdrop, and they heard them singing. And the researchers collected DNA samples using like chewed up plants and fruits to confirm the duets they heard were actually Skywalker's and not some other closely related species. This is all detailed in a recent study in the International Journal of primatology. And earlier you said these guys, they're endangered, right? Is that still the case if there's, what, more than scientists originally thought? Yeah, sadly, they are still endangered because Skywalker's still face big threats like forest loss and hunting.

But the senior author on the paper, Tierra Smiley Evans, says now that they've developed relationships with local communities in Myanmar, she's hopeful that the research may encourage further collaboration and conservation efforts for all kinds of species in the country. Okay. Super fascinating. Gina, for our next story, we have this scientific study that is telling me I do not have to work out as much as a man. I just joined a gin last week. No. Yes. I mean, you still should work out. Okay.

But a new study in the journal of the American College of Cardiology shows that, yes, women don't have to work out as much as men to get the same health benefits. Yeah. That's the only thing where women don't have to work as hard to get the same thing as a guy does. Exactly. That's exactly what the researcher said. So they looked at specifically moderate to vigorous exercise, so like brisk walking or running and strength training. So if a man exercised for 300 minutes, it had the same benefits as a woman who only worked out for 140 minutes. Wow, so only about half the time?

No way. Okay, but what are the specific health benefits that we're talking about here? So mostly we don't die or we don't die as soon as people who didn't work out. Nice. So these scientists studied health data on more than 400,000 U.S. adults, more than half of whom are female, who are part of this huge database called the National Health Interview Survey. It is over two decades of information on things like how much a person exercises. And then they cross-reference this data with National Health Interviews Survey.

death index records to see if these individuals were still alive. I spoke to a co-author of the study, Dr. Martha Galati. Ultimately, what we care about is who's more likely to be alive? It's the people that are more physically active. And again, we, as women, we don't have to do as much as men for once. For once. Okay. But what about other healthy habits that women tend to have more often than men do? I'm just thinking like, are there other explanations for the results of this study? Or what if people just lied about how much exercise they were getting? Right. So Martha did point out that there wasn't information about, like, other healthy habits like gardening or eating well. But they did still find that this protective effect of exercise happened across socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity.

And as for the lying, it is a known problem with questionnaires more widely. But funny enough, Martha says, people don't really lie about how much. exercise they do, which I think is kind of weird. Many of my patients, they will straight up tell me, I'm not going to lie to you, doctor, I don't do anything. She also said people tend to be honest about their exercise in surveys, too. And in the end, Martha hopes that this new research might remind women that any exercise will help them live longer. Okay, well, speaking of exercise, I love this last story we're about to get into. It's about Tai Chi and how Tai Chi could be better at reducing blood pressure than aerobic exercise. Who would have thought? Yeah, I mean, not me. But Tai Chi for people who aren't

familiar is a traditional slow-moving form of Chinese martial art. So slow. It is very, very slow. And it involves gentle movements, controlled breathing, mindfulness. And even better, it doesn't require a lot of space or equipment. And if you're lucky and you live in a big city, you might find some nice folks doing it in the park, and they might let you join in. I know. Like, I used to see these huge groups of old Chinese people in the park growing up. I used to think, how is that even a workout? You are moving so glacially. I mean, we all thought that. But guys, the jokes fully on us.

Scientists already know from earlier studies that practicing Tai Chi can help improve balance and walking speed in older adults, reduce anxiety and depression, protect against cognitive decline, and even boost memory. It solves all our problems. So why aren't we all doing Tai Chi, guys? I think I'm going to start soon. But, okay, so that's not all. Now we have this new study published in the journal JAMA Network. work open that suggests Tai Chi is better at lowering blood pressure than more vigorous aerobic

exercise like jogging, cycling, or brisk walking. Some of the exercises we mentioned earlier. That is so impressive. It makes me want to stop running now. Same. Our colleague Maria Godoy recently wrote about this new research. And one thing we should make clear is this study only looked at people with pre-hypertension, which is just blood pressure that's higher than normal, but doesn't quite reach the level of high blood pressure. So it's considered a warning sign that heart disease might be ahead. But wait, what do scientists think is so special about Tai Chi that allows it to help lower blood pressure? Well, Maria talked to a researcher not involved in the study who pointed to Tai Chi's ability to elicit more of a response from

the parasympathetic nervous system. Now, this is the network of nerves that relaxes your body after periods of stress or danger. So Tai Chi is this mind-body exercise that has the ability to help a person relax and calm down, which I know we all need. Oh, yes. And that works towards lowering blood pressure as long as you're doing it consistently. Consistently. As with everything in life, you've got to stick to it. Elsa, thank you so much for hanging out with us.

Oh, anytime. You can also catch Elsa on Consider This and PR's Afternoon News podcast. Before we head out, a quick shout out to our Shortwave Plus listeners. We appreciate you and thank you for being a subscriber. Shortwave Plus helps us support our. show, and if you're a regular listener, we'd love for you to join so you can enjoy the show without sponsor interruptions. Find out more at plus.npr.n.org slash shortwave.

This episode was produced by Vincent Acovino and me, Rachel Carlson. Britt Hansen checked the facts and the audio engineers were Stu Rushfield and Maggie Luthor. I'm Regina Barber. I'm Rachel Carlson. Thank you for listening to Shortwave from NPR.