From the earliest grunts and gestures to the complex sentences we use today to convey a multitude of concepts, language has evolved to become one of humanity’s most powerful tools. It allows us to connect, create, conspire, control, console, catch up, and so much more. How did we come to have this uniquely human trait? What anatomical changes or cultural developments were necessary for language to evolve? What differentiates language from communication? In this TPWKY book club episode, Professor Steven Mithen joins us to discuss his latest book The Language Puzzle: Piecing Together the Six-Million-Year Story of How Words Evolved. By combining scholarship across wide-ranging fields such as archaeology, genetics, anthropology, linguistics, neuroscience, and more, Professor Mithen presents a compelling story of the origins of language. If you’ve ever wondered how babies can go from babbling one day and talking in a torrent of words the next, or how an individual language changes with each generation, this is the episode and book for you.

Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu

<p>From the earliest grunts and gestures to the complex sentences we use today to convey a multitude of concepts, language has evolved to become one of humanity&rsquo;s most powerful tools. It allows us to connect, create, conspire, control, console, catch up, and so much more. How did we come to have this uniquely human trait? What anatomical changes or cultural developments were necessary for language to evolve? What differentiates language from communication? In this TPWKY book club episode,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reading.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/steven-mithen" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.reading.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/steven-mithen&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1749749407388000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3HeGn0E4WJwKRscm2Qk3yh">Professor Steven Mithen</a>&nbsp;joins us to discuss his latest book&nbsp;<a href="https://bookshop.org/a/3175/9781541605381" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bookshop.org/a/3175/9781541605381&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1749749407388000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2Snlchn3oulJmm8tFVJBR0">The Language Puzzle: Piecing Together the Six-Million-Year Story of How Words Evolved</a>. By combining scholarship across wide-ranging fields such as archaeology, genetics, anthropology, linguistics, neuroscience, and more, Professor Mithen presents a compelling story of the origins of language. If you&rsquo;ve ever wondered how babies can go from babbling one day and talking in a torrent of words the next, or how an individual language changes with each generation, this is the episode and book for you.</p>
<p>Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: <a href="https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu">https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu</a></p>

This podcast might not actually kill you, but Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke cover so many things that can. In each episode, they tackle a different topic, teaching listeners about the biology, history, and epidemiology of a different disease or medical mystery. They do the scientific research, so you don’t have to.
 
Since 2017, Erin and Erin have explored chronic and infectious diseases, medications, poisons, viruses, bacteria and scientific discoveries. They’ve researched public health subjects including plague, Zika, COVID-19, lupus, asbestos, endometriosis and more.

Each episode is accompanied by a creative quarantini cocktail recipe and a non-alcoholic placeborita.

Erin Welsh, Ph.D. is a co-host of the This Podcast Will Kill You. She is a disease ecologist and epidemiologist and works full-time as a science communicator through her work on the podcast. Erin Allmann Updyke, MD, Ph.D. is a co-host of This Podcast Will Kill You. She’s an epidemiologist and disease ecologist currently in the final stretch of her family medicine residency program.

This Podcast Will Kill You is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including science, true crime, comedic interviews, news, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, Buried Bones, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast and more.

This Podcast Will Kill You

This podcast might not actually kill you, but Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke cover so many things that can. In each episode, they tackle a different topic, teaching listeners about the biology, history, and epidemiology of a different disease or medical mystery. They do the scientific research, so you don’t have to.
 
Since 2017, Erin and Erin have explored chronic and infectious diseases, medications, poisons, viruses, bacteria and scientific discoveries. They’ve researched public health subjects including plague, Zika, COVID-19, lupus, asbestos, endometriosis and more.

Each episode is accompanied by a creative quarantini cocktail recipe and a non-alcoholic placeborita.

Erin Welsh, Ph.D. is a co-host of the This Podcast Will Kill You. She is a disease ecologist and epidemiologist and works full-time as a science communicator through her work on the podcast. Erin Allmann Updyke, MD, Ph.D. is a co-host of This Podcast Will Kill You. She’s an epidemiologist and disease ecologist currently in the final stretch of her family medicine residency program.

This Podcast Will Kill You is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including science, true crime, comedic interviews, news, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, Buried Bones, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast and more.

Special Episode: Professor Steven Mithen & The Language Puzzle

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/d7fffb5e-5767-422d-848c-b2f901214f59/transcript