Can you hear a forest disappear?

你能听见森林消逝吗?

Science Quickly

2026-09-18

19 分钟
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In this episode of Science Quickly, filmmaker and journalist Leah Varjacques takes us to a Bornean rainforest area, where centuries-old patterns of human and wildlife behavior are being disrupted by the construction of a new capital city. In the midst of all this change, Varjacques documents the work of Wendy Erb, a primatologist and bioacoustic scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Erb’s team, working with members of the local Balik population, placed audio recorders around the forest to capture the sounds of this diverse ecosystem before it changes forever. Recommended Reading: Can you hear a forest disappearing? Scientists are trying to find out E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. This episode was reported and narrated by Leah Varjacques, with additional voiceover work by Rizky Rahad. This story was made possible by a grant from the Pulitzer Center and published in partnership with Project Multatuli. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Feltman.

  • This week, we're diving into what we like to call a Friday fascination,

  • a story that uses sound to transport you into the heart of the narrative.

  • Today's episode takes us all the way to Indonesia,

  • where the capital of Jakarta is sinking, possibly faster than any other city in the world.

  • To adapt, the country has started building a new capital on the densely forested island of Borneo.

  • The hope is that this city, called Nisantara, will be green and walkable.

  • But even as a beacon of sustainability, it will still have a dramatic impact on the local habitat.

  • As construction is beginning to transform one of the world's most biodiverse rainforest areas, scientists

  • and their indigenous collaborators are racing to record the sounds of the forest

  • and preserve generations of ecological knowledge before it's lost forever.

  • Our guide for this story is Lea Varzhak, a two-time Emmy Award-winning video journalist, producer, and cinematographer.