Language May Have Helped Early Humans Spread Out of Africa

Here is my latest contribution to science journalism. Click the link to read the whole thing, but here as usual is the first paragraph to get you started:

The story of humanity's prehistoric expansion across the planet is recorded in our genes. And, apparently, the story of the spread of language is hidden in the sounds of our words. That's the finding of a new study, which concludes that both people and languages spread out from an African homeland by a similar process—and that language may have been the cultural innovation that fueled our ancestors' momentous migrations.


Credit: Mark Dingemanse/Wikipedia

Goldstone report accurate say other members of investigating team. The coverage of this in the U.S. media has been very poor, but the UK's Guardian carries an important story regarding the original conclusions.