Friday, August 01, 2008

Talking fish

I'm very interested in theories of human language evolution. Here's a—uh—new one I just read about on LiveScience.com via the Utne Reader's blog: People learned to talk from talking fish. I'm oversimplifying in a silly way of course. It's more like this: Researchers at Cornell are now saying that (to quote the LiveScience article): "the chirp of a bird, the bark of a dog and all the other sounds that come out of animals' mouths are the products of the neural circuitry likely laid down hundreds of millions of years ago with the hums and grunts of fish." 

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:34 PM

    Let me tell you, Frank, we could learn something from the mutant frog at All Hallows' pond. He was equally good at swimming and jumping, thanks to the long tail to go with the muscular legs.

    I took a friend there today but we didn't see it. I believe my friend thinks I am nuts. But I'm not! It's an example of natural selection! Either that or some seriously bad chemicals in the pond....

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  2. As a member of ΤΏΔ, I can assure you that you are not nuts. I must get up to see this grand creature. I will give you a ring.

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