Language is possibly the most important and incredible ability that sets humans apart from other species. Whether spoken, written, or signed, language exists in thousands of varieties among modern human cultures, and there are some very language-like communication systems in other animals, too. This episode, we discuss what defines language, what makes it so special, and what we understand about its history and origins among our ancestors.
In the news: orangutan medicine, frog skin, giant sharks, and dinosaur eggs.
Time markers:
Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00
News: 00:05:15
Main discussion, Part 1: 00:34:35
Main discussion, Part 2: 01:14:25
Patron question: 01:58:00
Find Dr. Alex at https://www.bridgetalex.com/ or @bannelia
Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/
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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org
Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
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Episode 71 - The Western Interior Seaway
Spook-E - Harpies
Episode 70 - Convergent Evolution
Episode 69 - Ankylosaurs
Episode 68 - Evolution of Eyes
Voices of La Brea - Bonus Episode
Episode 67 - The La Brea Tar Pits
Episode 66 - Elephants
Episode 65 - The Late Devonian Extinction(s)
Episode 64 - Paleoart
Silver Screen Science – Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Silver Screen Science – King Kong (2005) and Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Episode 63 - Sexual Selection
Silver Screen Science – Kaiju Concepts
Silver Screen Science - Gojira (1954)
Episode 62 – Amber
Silver Screen Science - King Kong (1933)
Episode 61 - Behavior in the Fossil Record
Episode 60 - Turtles
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