Covert agencies–as well as corporations–are searching email files for words and phrases that may reveal incipient (or ongoing) criminal activity. The 911 terrorists knew this, which is why they emailed one another in code.
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We may not want to admit it (even to ourselves), but talking about ourselves gives us a "high." About 40% of everyday speech is devoted to telling others about what we feel or think, because it triggers the same parts of the brain as food and money. This is one of the secrets of being popular: Ask other people questions about themselves.
In the May 7th edition of the Wall Street Journal, Robert Lee Hotz quotes neuroscientist Diana Tamir as saying, "Self-disclosure is extra rewarding. People (are) even willing to forgo money in order to talk about themselves."
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If you speak two or more languages, it’s not just handy for traveling, it actually makes you smarter.
In the March 18th edition of the New York Times, Yudhijit Battacharjee writes: "There is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other. But this interference, researchers are finding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles."
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Where do languages come from? Many linguists think that all human languages came from a single one that was spoken in East Africa around 50,000 years ago. But how would it have sounded–would it have been mainly grunts? New research suggests that it sounded somewhat like the speech of Yoda in "Star Wars."
In LiveScience.com, Natalie Wolchover quotes linguist Merritt Ruhlen as saying, "This language would have been spoken by a small East African population who seemingly invented fully modern language and then spread around the world, replacing everyone else."
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