A Rare, Isolated Script Invented From Scratch Holds Clues to The Evolution of Writing

A rare script from a language in Liberia has provided some new insights into how written languages evolve. “The Vai script of Liberia was created from scratch in about 1834 by eight completely illiterate men who wrote in ink made from crushed berries,” says linguistic anthropologist Piers Kelly, now at the University of New England, Australia. … Read more

Dogs Can Differentiate Between Familiar And Foreign Human Languages, Brain Scans Reveal

If you were to move to a new country with a different language and bring along the family dog, your pet would likely have a hard time understanding commands from the locals, according to a new study looking at how dogs’ brains react to different languages.    MRI scans revealed that dogs‘ brains can distinguish between familiar … Read more

How to watch NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launch online in several languages on Christmas Eve

NASA is counting down towards a Christmas Eve launch for its biggest space telescope ever and you can watch it all live online. The James Webb Space Telescope is the successor to NASA and Europe’s iconic Hubble Space Telescope. The next-generation capabilities of the upcoming observatory, paired with the laundry list of mission delays over … Read more

Languages: One tongue could be lost per month this century

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre Researchers Lindell Bromham and Xia Hua analyse data on the Gurindji language Jamie Kidston/ANU Denser road networks, higher levels of education and even climate change are just a few of the factors that could lead to the loss of more than 20 per cent of the world’s 7000 languages by the end … Read more