【推荐1】The Greek historian Herodotus reported over 2,000 years ago on a misguided experiment in which two children were prevented from hearing human speech so that a king could discover the true, unlearned language of human beings.

Scientists now know that human language requires social learning and interaction with other people, a property shared with multiple animal languages. But why should humans and other animals need to learn a language instead of being born with this knowledge?

Given that the ways honeybees communicate are quite complex, we decided to study how they learn to communicate to answer this language question.

Bees possess one of the most complicated examples of nonhuman communication. They can tell each other where to find resources such as food, water, or nest sites with a physical “waggle (摇摆) dance”, by circling around in a figure eight pattern centered around a waggle run. This dance conveys the direction, distance and quality of a resource to the bee’s nestmates.

Bees begin to dance only as they get older. Could they be learning from practiced teachers?

We thus created isolated experimental colonies of bees (蜂群) that could not observe other waggle dances before they themselves danced. Like the ancient experiment described by Herodotus, these bees could not observe the dance language because they were all the same age and had no older, experienced bees to follow. In contrast, our control colonies contained bees of all ages, so younger bees could follow the older, experienced dancers.

We recorded the first dances of the bees. The bees that could not follow the dances of experienced bees produced dances with significantly more directional, distance and disorder crrors than the dances of control bees.

We then tested the same bees later, when they were experienced dancers. Bees who had lacked teachers now produced significantly fewer errors, possibly because they had more practice or had learned by eventually following other dancers. The dances of the control bees remained just as good as their first dances.

Complex communication is often difficult to produce even when individuals are born with some knowledge of the correct signals. Bees are born with some knowledge of how to dance, but they have to learn how to dance even better by following experienced bees.

【推荐2】Researchers in Norway say they have found what they believe is the world’s oldest runestone (符文石)—a stone with ancient writing on it.

Runes are the characters in several Germanic letters. These characters were used in northern Europe from ancient times until the change to the Latin letters. The origin of runic writing is unclear. The Norwegian researchers say the writing on the runestone could be up to 2,000 years old.

The runestone is square and flat. The runes carved into it may show the earliest example of recorded words in Scandinavia, the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo said. It said it was “among the oldest runic writings ever found” and “the oldest runestone ever found in the world”.

Kristel Zilmer is a professor at University of Oslo, of which the museum is part. Zilmer said, “This find will give us a lot of knowledge about the use of runes in the early Iron Age. This may be one of the first attempts to use runes in Norway and Scandinavia on stone.”

Runes have been found on stones and on home goods. Older runes have been found on other objects, also, but not on stones. The oldest known runic writing is on a hair tool made from bone. Zilmer said that the ancient writer might have used a knife or needle to make the runes.

Measuring 31 centimeters by 32 centimeters, the stone has several kinds of writings. Not all of them make sense. Eight runes on the front of the stone read “idiberug”—which could be the name of a person or family but not sure.

There is still a lot of research to be done on the rock, named Svingerud stone after where it was found.

The Museum of Cultural History is going to hold a public showing of the runestone for a month. The museum holds Norway’s largest collection of historical objects, from ancient times to the modern day.

【推荐1】You’re in a crowd of people who are all asking for the same thing. How do you make your voice heard above the rest? Be different. Don’t shout. Lisa, 25, was waiting to board a plane flying from London to Austria for Christmas when the flight was cancelled.

“There were about a hundred of us unable to leave,” she says. “Everyone else was shouting at the airport staff. Instead of joining in, I walked up to the man behind the ticket desk very quietly and said, ‘This must be so awful for you! I don’t know how you deal with these situations—it’s not even your fault. I could never handle it as well as you are.’ Without my even asking, he found me a seat on another airline with an upgrade to first class. He was happy to do a favor for someone who was appreciative instead of unfriendliness.”

Flattery (恭维) is an essential element of the sweet-talk strategy. “It’s human psychology that stroking a person’s ego (自我) with a few well-directed praises makes them want to prove you right,” says a psychologist. “Tell someone they’re pretty and they’ll instantly fix their hair; praise their sense of humor and they’ll tell a joke.”

You need help and there’s absolutely no reason that the person will want to lend a hand. Allison, 26. a lawyer, realized she’d made a huge mistake on a batch of documents. “The only way I could fix the problem was to get the help of a colleague who I knew didn’t like me,” she said.

Allison then went to the woman’s office and explained her problem. “As I was saying to the boss the other day you’re the only person who would know how to handle a situation like this, what would you suggest I do?” “Feeling pumped up (鼓励), she set about helping me and we finished the job on time, and she was happy to help.” Allison said.

【推荐3】One of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Charles Duhigg published a new book, in which he concluded common characteristics of “supercommunicators”— people who are consistently able to create authentic connections with others just by listening and talking.     1     Here is a set of skills recommended by Duhigg that can help you.

    2     If you are having a practical conversation, be ready to give good advice. If you are engaging in emotional discussions seeking empathy, you may show your support by being a good listener. If you’re in a social dialogue reflecting how we see others and how other people see us, be mindful of the different perspectives each person brings to the table and seek common ground.

Prove we’re listening. There are plenty of ways to appear like you’re listening, like making eye contact or nodding intently. But proving to someone that you’re listening is the quickest road to making someone feel heard.     3     Next, repeat back in your own words what they just told you. Lastly, ask your conversation partner if you got what they said correct.

Ask the right questions. Ask follow-up questions that signal to the other person that you’re interested in the conversation, like “So did you make it on time?” or “What happened next?” Ask questions like people’s values, beliefs or experiences and spark an opportunity for emotional connection.     4     When in doubt, just ask “why.’ People love to talk about how they see the world.

Aim to understand. The goal of a discussion isn’t to impress someone, convince someone or wait for their turn to speak. It’s to genuinely comprehend someone else’s point of view and share your own views accordingly. If people know you want to understand them, they’re going to want to understand you.     5    

【推荐1】When Spanish meets English, new dialects emerge, giving us real-time insight into language evolution, linguists say.

For instance, “Vamos de punches punches punches”, Yamilet Munoz texted her friends in Austin, Texas. It means “let’s go and party”, but it’s not a phrase you’ll find in any dictionary. It’s a remix of Spanish and English words seasoned with an in-joke about punching the air as you dance.

“Our language has always been a very big indicator of our cultural pride,” says Munoz, whose parents migrated from Mexico to San Antonio, Texas, in the 1990s. Around 66% of the city's population identify as Hispanic or Latino/Latina. For Munoz and her friends there is pride in speaking Spanish, but also in mixing the languages into the hybrid known as Spanglish.

The evolution of Spanglish has been documented for decades, with each generation adding its unique twist. Now a growing body of research, as well as the experiences of bilingual(双语的) speakers like Munoz, shows just how deeply English and Spanish are influencing each other in the United States, resulting in hybrid dialects like Spanglish, but also, transforming the underlying languages.

For the past decade, Carter and his colleagues have studied language change in Miami, a city where some 72% identify as Latino or Hispanic and which is strongly shaped by historical migration from Cuba. Their research documents the emergence of a distinct “Miami English” dialect as a result of that Spanish-language heritage.

The Spanish influence has also shown up in ways people may not immediately notice, such as sounds like the “oo” in “boot” being pronounced in a more Spanish-style way in Miami, more like the Spanish “u” vowel, according to separate research by Carter, Lydda Lopez Valdez at the University of Miami and Nandi Sims at Ohio State University.

“This is the work of language change, this is the work of dialect formation, this is how it happens. It happens in things that are really noticeable, like the phrase ‘get down from the car’, but it also happens in really slight ways,” he says.