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
Episode 97 - Venom and Poison
Episode 96 - Marsupials
Episode 95 – The Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse
Episode 94 - Dogs
Episode 93 - Cats
Episode 92 - Eggs
Episode 91 - Frogs
Episode 90 - "Living Fossils"
Episode 89 - The Burgess Shale
Live Chat - Conservation Paleontology
Live Chat - Paleopathology
Episode 88 - Evolution of Teeth
Live Chat - Turtles
Episode 87 - Ceratopsians, the Horned Dinosaurs
Live Chat - Ancient DNA
Episode 86 - New Zealand
Episode 85 – The Ordovician Mass Extinction
Silver Screen Science - Animals of the James Bond Franchise
Silver Screen Science - Godzilla (1998)
Episode 84 - Paleopathology
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