Ginger Campbell, MD hosts and produces two podcasts: Books and Ideas and the Brain Science Podcast. On Books and Ideas she explores a wide range of topics with a special focus on science and medicine. This blog contains the detailed show notes for the Books and Ideas podcast.
Episode 30 of the Brain Science Podcast is a discussion of The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language by Christine Kenneally. We focus mostly on the first part of the book, which tells the story of how the study of language evolution has grown from almost a banned subject to a new field of inquiry called evolutionary linguistics. We also reflect on how recent findings in neuroscience like the importance of plasticity are influencing the field.
Listen to Episode 30 Scientists Discussed in the Episode: