Insights from a language expert: master confident communication in 2024
Communication is more than simply the words you use; it is also about how you use them. Confident communication is more than a show of bravado. To come across as assertive without sounding arrogant is a delicate dance of words and tone. But how can you strike this balance? Here are a few smart tips Read More...
Study proves dogs can distinguish between familiar & unfamiliar languages
A new study published in NeuroImage confirms what many dog owners already know—their furry companions are really quite smart. The study focuses on dogs’ brains and their ability to distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar languages. The lead author of the study, neurobiologist Laura Read More...
This is your brain on music
Music does something to humans like no other animal. The rhythm gets inside our bodies and we can’t help but move along with the bass, or sing our heart out to that catchy chorus. Scientists from the University of Tokyo wanted to uncover exactly what is going on in our brain to cause this Read More...
The surprising benefits of swearing
Swearing is something that most people, at one point or another, have been told not to do. Swearing is something that we are taught is inherently “wrong”—so why does it sometimes feel so right? There are occasions when letting out a biting swear word seems like the only way to adequately Read More...
New study finds dogs can understand 89 unique words and phrases
A number of animals that have no ability to speak the English language still have the incredible insight to actually understand what we are saying. This includes our beloved household friend, the dog. We’ve all witnessed the furry animals react and respond with overwhelming excitement when we Read More...
Australian bird is the first documented case of mimicry in ducks
Parrots, songbirds, and even hummingbirds have famously been known to mimic human speech, but until now, no other avian species had been documented exhibiting the same behavior. That all changed when an Australian musk duck began yelling what appeared to be English words in the Tidbinbilla Nature Read More...
Babbling bats: Winged mammals could teach us about human language
You may not think humans have much in common with bats, but it turns out these nocturnal creatures may provide critical insights into human language development. Researchers from the Museum of Natural History Berlin spent many months studying bat colonies in Panama and Costa Rica and found that in Read More...
Activists are turning to Twitch to keep endangered languages alive
Roughly 7,000 languages are spoken in the world today. About half of these languages are considered endangered and expected to become extinct by the end of the century. In a bid to keep their traditions alive, activists speaking at-risk, Indigenous languages are now turning to the streaming site Read More...
Study: Learning a new language boosts our ability to pick up more
While learning another language can be an incredibly difficult undertaking, it's easier for some than others. In fact, a recent study shows that the more languages you can speak, the easier it is for you to pick up another one — with the results providing some of the first neurological evidence Read More...
Babbel makes its language-learning app free for all US students
As students find themselves cooped up in their homes due to the outbreak, an increasing number of educational services are taking down their paywalls to encourage learners to, well, learn more. Earlier this week, for example, Yale made its beloved online “happiness” class free for everyone. Read More...