A scientific collaboration is vulnerable to derailment unless members learn to trust each other at the outset.

Marine biologist Benjamin Halpern was part of an 11-person team that met up in 2012 at an eco-resort on the southern tip of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The group's mission was to develop a scientific method able to identify species-conservation solutions that could minimize costs without unduly affecting any specific group of people. Each morning for a week, the team debated and discussed data, modelling and statistics.