This article looks at the emerging technology of the neural radiance field (NeRF) and suggests that this means of digital image production, when used by a creative practitioner, produces an emergent aesthetic – a result of the affordances inherent in the digital materiality of the NeRF and its processes. The use of this machine-learning technology as a material for creating images can lead to an entirely new way of creating photographic representations that provide us with a way of seeing and recording how we phenomenologically experience seeing. The processes and the emergent aesthetic are explored with examples drawn from the author’s own practice.

This article presents an overview of three queer virtual reality projects, Virtual Drag (2016), Domestika (2017) and Untitled (2020). These are considered alongside other examples and design experiments by the authors that also take a critical, queer approach to representing bodily forms in virtual environments. This consideration includes looking at how bodies are represented in the environment that the participant explores, as well as the embodied experience of the participant visiting the environment either via a head-mounted display or via desktop. Through the discussion of queerly performed embodiment offered by these precedents, we propose a queer sensibility of disembodied presentness for virtual reality that embraces a position of immersion and presentness in multiple physical and virtual realities at once, as a theoretical and aesthetic grounding principle. Queering of presentness is a key concept that emerges through these works, in part due to the multiplicity of perspectives that VR affords. In Virtual Drag (2016) by Alison Bennett, Megan Beckwith and Mark Payne, we see the use of photogrammetry and glitch aesthetics to bring ideas of queer performativity and drag ‘realness’ to the fore when imaging bodies with permeable, porous boundaries in virtual reality. In Domestika (2017) by Jacolby Satterwhite, the virtual environment is populated with multiple avatars that repeat recordings of the artist’s dance performances; in this multiplicity of repeated traces, a viewer is unable to settle on a fixed representation of the artist’s self. This effect is amplified by the participant’s non-corporeal presence, demonstrating the creative potential of queer disorientation in virtual environments. In Untitled (2020) by Tarik Ahlip and Tactical Space Lab, we are immersed in a cinematic environment, filled with simulated light. There, we encounter the artist’s body, disembodied and forcing the viewer into the role of virtual voyeur and onlooker to actions out of time.

Baboons (genus Papio) are a morphologically and behaviorally diverse clade of catarrhine monkeys that have experienced hybridization between phenotypically and genetically distinct phylogenetic species. We used high-coverage whole-genome sequences from 225 wild baboons representing 19 geographic localities to investigate population genomics and interspecies gene flow. Our analyses provide an expanded picture of evolutionary reticulation among species and reveal patterns of population structure within and among species, including differential admixture among conspecific populations. We describe the first example of a baboon population with a genetic composition that is derived from three distinct lineages. The results reveal processes, both ancient and recent, that produced the observed mismatch between phylogenetic relationships based on matrilineal, patrilineal, and biparental inheritance. We also identified several candidate genes that may contribute to species-specific phenotypes.

This paper is an exploration of the design and material considerations for creating design-led digital humanities information visualizations using open and accessible web-based tools. It considers how we might approach or even re-approach the high-level material infrastructures of the web (network/code/browser) to facilitate these goals of openness and accessibility—what could perhaps be called a series of meta-considerations when developing visualization projects for the web. It emphasizes code as a material of design—a material that is argued should not always be the exclusive domain of software developers and engineers but can instead be an open and accessible material for, in this case, building dynamic immersive information visualizations. The aim of thinking of code as material in this way is to allow for the possibility of web-based projects being easily accessed and extended by others. It uses the Glossopticon VR visualization as an example throughout.Cet article est une exploration des considérations de conception et de matériel pour créer des visualisations d'information sur les humanités numériques dirigées par la conception en utilisant des outils Web ouverts et accessibles. Il examine comment nous pourrions aborder ou même réapprocher les infrastructures matérielles de haut niveau du web (réseau/code/navigateur) pour faciliter ces objectifs d'ouverture et d'accessibilité - ce que l'on pourrait peut-être appeler une série de méta-considérations lors de l'élaboration de projets de visualisation pour le web. Il met l'accent sur le code en tant que matériau de conception - un matériau qui, selon nous, ne devrait pas toujours être le domaine exclusif des développeurs de logiciels et des ingénieurs, mais qui peut au contraire être un matériau ouvert et accessible pour, dans ce cas, construire des visualisations d'informations dynamiques et immersives. L'objectif de considérer le code comme un matériau de cette manière est de permettre aux projets basés sur le web d'être facilement accessibles et étendus par d'autres. La visualisation Glossopticon VR est utilisée comme exemple tout au long de l'ouvrage.

Primates have adapted to numerous environments and lifestyles but very few species are native to high elevations. Here we investigated high-altitude adaptations in the gelada (Theropithecus gelada), a monkey endemic to the Ethiopian Plateau. We examined genome-wide variation in conjunction with measurements of haematological and morphological traits. Our new gelada reference genome is highly intact and assembled at chromosome-length levels. Unexpectedly, we identified a chromosomal polymorphism in geladas that could potentially contribute to reproductive barriers between populations. Compared with baboons at low altitude, we found that high-altitude geladas exhibit significantly expanded chest circumferences, potentially allowing for greater lung surface area for increased oxygen diffusion. We identified gelada-specific amino acid substitutions in the alpha-chain subunit of adult haemoglobin but found that gelada haemoglobin does not exhibit markedly altered oxygenation properties compared with lowland primates. We also found that geladas at high altitude do not exhibit elevated blood haemoglobin concentrations, in contrast to the normal acclimatization response to hypoxia in lowland primates. The absence of altitude-related polycythaemia suggests that geladas are able to sustain adequate tissue-oxygen delivery despite environmental hypoxia. Finally, we identified numerous genes and genomic regions exhibiting accelerated rates of evolution, as well as gene families exhibiting expansions in the gelada lineage, potentially reflecting altitude-related selection. Our findings lend insight into putative mechanisms of high-altitude adaptation while suggesting promising avenues for functional hypoxia research.

This article explores a way of thinking about virtual environments and how they might be used to create new spaces, not as an alternate reality, but as an integrated part of reality – regardless of this reality being physical and/or digital. Virtual environments can be seen as an extension of reality – the physical and the virtual sitting side by side with one, more often than not, bleeding into the other. The virtual is not separable from the physical and vice versa. This position will be formed by directly referring to traditions that stem from processes and ideas around materiality, poetics and philosophy rather than centring on technical or hardware specifics. At the centre of this exploration is an ongoing investigation into the role of memory and imagination in narrative spaces in immersive virtual environments, stemming from the author’s background in interactive Installation art and designing for virtual environments. The article’s subtitle refers to Robert Morris’s 1978 article, ‘The present tense of space’, which informs the article’s overall position.

Survival at high altitude requires adapting to extreme conditions such as environmental hypoxia. To understand high-altitude adaptations in a primate, we assembled the genome of the gelada ( Theropithecus gelada ), an endemic Ethiopian monkey, and complemented it with population resequencing, hematological, and morphometric data. Unexpectedly, we identified a novel karyotype that may contribute to reproductive isolation between gelada populations. We also identified genomic elements including protein-coding sequences and gene families that exhibit accelerated changes in geladas and may contribute to high-altitude adaptation. Our findings lend insight into mechanisms of speciation and adaptation while providing promising avenues for functional hypoxia research. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Hybridization in nature offers unique insights into the process of natural selection in incipient species and their hybrids. In order to evaluate the patterns and targets of selection, we examine a recently discovered ba-boon hybrid zone in the Kafue River valley of Zambia, where Kinda baboons ( Papio kindae ) and gray-footed chacma baboons ( P. ursinus griseipes ) coexist with hybridization. We genotyped baboons at 14,962 variable genome-wide autosomal markers using double-digest RADseq. We compare ancestry patterns from this genome-wide dataset to previously reported ancestry from mitochondrial-DNA and Y-chromosome sources. We also fit a Bayesian genomic cline model to scan for genes with extreme patterns of introgression. We show that the Kinda baboon Y chromosome has penetrated the species boundary to a greater extent than either mitochondrial DNA or the autosomal chromosomes. We also find evidence for overall restricted introgression in the JAK/STAT signaling pathway. Echoing results in other species including humans, we find evidence for enhanced and/or directional introgression of immune-related genes or pathways including the toll-like receptor pathway, the blood coagulation pathway, and the LY96 gene. Finally we show enhanced introgression and excess chacma baboon ancestry in the sperm tail gene ODF2 . Together, our results eluci-date the dynamics of introgressive hybridization in a primate system while highlighting genes and pathways under selection.

In this paper we outline a paradigm that has existed in interface and interaction design for Virtual Reality (VR) since the first wave of VR in the 1980s and 90s. Focussing in particular on VR as a research tool, we argue that the field has moved away from immediate, embodied interaction towards interface paradigms adopted from desktop software and computer gaming. We introduce a VR experience we have developed for use in a research project, Layered Horizons, and discuss how it fits within the alternative tradition of the ‘no interface’ interface, where interaction is triggered by body movement and natural gestures. We discuss what this means for our project. We argue that this kind of interaction design in VR takes full advantage of the media’s affordances, without relying on metaphors from other interactive media, yet being familiar enough as to engender intuitive and meaningful use.

In foregut-fermenting mammals (e.g., colobine monkeys, artiodactyl ruminants) the enzymes pancreatic ribonuclease (RNASE1) and lysozyme C (LYZ), originally involved in immune defense, have evolved new digestive functions. Howler monkeys are folivorous non-colobine primates that lack the multi-chambered stomachs of colobines and instead digest leaves using fermentation in the caeco-colic region. We present data on the RNASE1 and LYZ genes of four species of howler monkey (Alouatta spp.). We find that howler monkey LYZ is conserved and does not share the substitutions found in colobine and cow sequences, whereas RNASE1 was duplicated in the common ancestor of A. palliata, A. seniculus, A. sara, and A. pigra. While the parent gene (RNASE1) is conserved, the daughter gene (RNASE1B) has multiple amino acid substitutions that are parallel to those found in RNASE1B genes of colobines. The duplicated RNase in Alouatta has biochemical changes similar to those in colobines, suggesting a novel, possibly digestive function. These findings suggest that pancreatic ribonuclease has, in parallel, evolved a new role for digesting the products of microbial fermentation in both foregut- and hindgut-fermenting folivorous primates. This may be a vital digestive enzyme adaptation allowing howler monkeys to survive on leaves during periods of low fruit availability.

Recent studies suggest that closely related species can accumulate substantial genetic and phenotypic differences despite ongoing gene flow, thus challenging traditional ideas regarding the genetics of speciation. Baboons (genus Papio) are Old World monkeys consisting of six readily distinguishable species. Baboon species hybridize in the wild, and prior data imply a complex history of differentiation and introgression. We produced a reference genome assembly for the olive baboon (Papio anubis) and whole-genome sequence data for all six extant species. We document multiple episodes of admixture and introgression during the radiation of Papio baboons, thus demonstrating their value as a model of complex evolutionary divergence, hybridization, and reticulation. These results help inform our understanding of similar cases, including modern humans, Neanderthals, Denisovans, and other ancient hominins.

In this demo we showcase Layered Horizons, a Virtual Reality (VR) experience we have developed for use in an ARC-funded research project, Waves of Words: Mapping and Modelling Australia’s Pacific Past. This platform allows users to connect different geospatial datasets (for our purposes, from the humanities and social sciences) into layers that can then be explored by the use of natural gesture and body movement. This kind of interaction design in VR takes full advantage of the media’s affordances, without relying on metaphors from other interactive media, yet being familiar enough as to engender intuitive and meaningful use. We demonstrate how the platform is currently being used to connect linguistic data (word lists) with archaeological data (e.g. on the spread of bananas through the Asia-Pacific region, or canoe styles found in different locations) and anthropological data (e.g. shared cultural features like chieftainship systems or kinship systems). Taking into account what we also know about Pacific navigation and simulated canoe travel, we can therefore build a complex layered map of the region over time that allows us to better discover probable human migration and contact patterns.

Kinda and gray-footed chacma baboons occupy opposite extremes of the body size distribution in extant baboons (genus Papio). In order to detect signatures of natural selection in these two species, we genotyped 24,790 genome-wide autosomal SNPs from populations of Zambian baboons using double digest RADseq. We scanned the genome for evidence of selection by identifying regions with extreme differentiation between populations. We find evidence of selection on body size influencing multiple genes in one or both species, including FGF1, ATXN2, and PRKCE. We also find an enriched signal of selection associated with biological processes involved in multicellular organism growth and development, cell proliferation and cell growth, nutrient metabolism, and chondrocyte differentiation. Finally, we find that selection has impacted components of the CCKR signaling pathway, which regulates food intake and metabolism, and the JAK/STAT signaling pathway, which mediates the effect of cytokine signals on processes including epiphyseal chondrocyte proliferation essential for longitudinal bone growth. Our findings highlight promising avenues for future studies disentangling the genetic architecture of body size in primates including humans.

Glossopticon is a Virtual Reality (VR)-based information visualisation system that presents heritage audio recordings in the archival linguistic data of the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) collection. This paper will outline the project, the way it has used VR to visualise information and how it has been used on multiple levels from public exhibition piece, to research tool and in doing so provides an exemplar of the notion of the collaborative, interdisciplinary project as a basic unit of scholarly investigation within the digital humanities.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the possibility for the galleries, libraries, archives and museums sector to employ playful, immersive discovery interfaces for their collections and raise awareness of some of the considerations that go into the decision to use such technology and the creation of the interfaces. Design/methodology/approach This is a case study approach using the methodology of research through design. The paper introduces two examples of immersive interfaces to archival data created by the authors, using these as a springboard for discussing the different kinds of embodied experiences that users have with different kinds of immersion, for example, the exploration of the archive on a flat screen, a data "cave" or arena, or virtual reality. Findings The role of such interfaces in communicating with the audience of an archive is considered, for example, in allowing users to detect structure in data, particularly in understanding the role of geographic or other spatial elements in a collection, and in shifting the locus of knowledge production from individual to community. It is argued that these different experiences draw on different metaphors in terms of users' prior experience with more well-known technologies, for example, "a performance" vs "a tool" vs "a background to a conversation". Originality/value The two example interfaces discussed here are original creations by the authors of this paper. They are the first uses of mixed reality for interfacing with the archives in question. One is the first mixed reality interface to an audio archive. The discussion has implications for the future of interfaces to galleries, archives, libraries and museums more generally.