Thank you!

We're beginning to see how disease shaped (pre)history. www.newscientist.com/article/2500...

Profile of Nick Evans, who just won the British Academy's Neil and Saras Smith medal for lifetime achievement in linguistics @theobserveruk.bsky.social @britishacademy.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/science...

Protactile is one of the most exciting languages in the world right now. It was born in #Seattle in 2007, and linguists are watching it grow and grow #linguistics #deafblind #asl

What came before English? @ColinGorrie.bsky.social of the Dead Language Society newsletter interviews @LauraInParis.bsky.social, author of the new book “Proto: How one ancient language went global” about the original language from which English descends: www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/what-came-...

Calling all New Yorkers, this Wednesday evening, come find out where your languages come from 🤗 shorturl.at/sWPtf

China bolsters controversial claim to Pacific languages with new museum | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

“This result changes everything. On the basis of these results it seems likely AMT-130 will be the first licensed treatment to slow Huntington’s disease, which is truly world-changing stuff.” www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/se...

My review of Peter Turchin's latest book. rdcu.be/eHxjD

Extremely proud and a bit jealous that my excellent colleagues @fieldmatt.bsky.social and Inge Kersbergen have won this year's Ig Nobel Peace prize for showing that being a bit tipsy makes you better at speaking Dutch. arstechnica.com/science/2025...

PROTO and Emma Spurgin Hussey won a prize 🤗 shorturl.at/e05Zm

My discovery of the weekend, thanks to film-maker Hana Vojáčková, the extraordinary Spartakiads - vast, synchronised sports events popular in eastern Europe in the Communist years. Her short film on the subject: vimeo.com/614731350

Our new magazine @equatormag.bsky.social is officially out in the world. Sign up for preview emails, donate, and get tickets to our launch event: www.equator.org.

Fun discussion on the power of language and the stories that shape humanity with Matt Abrahams on his podcast Think Fast Talk Smart. #Language #Storytelling #ThinkFastTalkSmart #WordsMatter #SharedHumanity shorturl.at/EHK8G

Hallo liebe Leser von DER URKNALL UNSERER SPRACHE! Die deutschsprachige Ausgabe von PROTO ist für das Wissensbuch des Jahres in der Kategorie "Überblick" nominiert. Noch bis zum 14. August könnt ihr hier abstimmen: www.konradin-service.de/umfrage/inde...

Did language evolve to organise childcare? shorturl.at/6Knvr

In prehistory, women ruled, fought, hunted and mediated with other worlds. www.newscientist.com/article/2488...

Talking inflection points in (pre)history with the insatiably curious @BlomPhilipp youtu.be/SfGd3EKaMMs

Love this. How to say 92 in different European languages. Note the outliers France and especially Denmark. With thanks to brilliantmaps.com and reddit. #linguistics

At moderate doses, it might have fuelled the spread of languages too. Could that have contributed to the complexification, I wonder? @vaclavhrncir.bsky.social and @kirrallina.bsky.social

With the suave John Maytham in Cape Town m.youtube.com/watch?v=qhJA...

Uralic languages illuminated #ancientdna shorturl.at/JCw4g

Coppola tried this to unearth new script-writing talent- he called it Zoetrope - all he got was regression to the mean. Should grant applicants judge competitors’ proposals? Unorthodox approach gets two real-world tests | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

🏺 Previously a preprint now a paper led by the Copenhagen group- ancient DA extracted from 1313 ancient humans shows the dynamics of different infectious diseases across Eurasia over the last 37,000 years. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New ALILI alert! 🚨 Episode 37 is a trip into prehistory, as @laurainparis.bsky.social, author of the super new book 'Proto', joins me to share her expertise and enthusiasm for Proto-Indo-European! Listen here: Acast: shows.acast.com/a-language-i... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/0xbQ...

Palaeogenetics: this time applied to Uraluc and Yenisean languages. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Should babies vote? www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

Sleepless on (nearly) the shortest night, thinking about the Amesbury Archer who could also have worshipped at Stonehenge - built by others before him - around 2,300BCE. His people may have brought the first #indoeuropean language to Britain.

Gandalf is a total prankster, so my headcanon is that when he brought a dragon firework to Bilbo's birthday, it was to prank Bilbo by triggering his traumatic memories of Smaug. Maybe he later brought similarly traumatic fireworks to Frodo, Sam, and Pippin's birthday parties. #lordoftherings

These two books go well together. @laurainparis.bsky.social

The 5 main tributaries of the great Indus River, which are at the origin of the name Punjab / Panjab - from Persian panj (five) and āb (water) - because named by the Mughals - and going further back to Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe and *h₂ep- #linguistics #protoindoeuropean

Dead Language Society www.deadlanguagesociety.com?utm_source=n...

See Derborence by Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz (translated into English most recently by me) for a fictional precedent, itself based on real events. One man went missing there too... shorturl.at/YeYZW

When Danish fishermen (two pictured) stepped ashore in Northumbrian ports in the 19th Century, I'm told, they and the locals could understand each other. Can any local historians confirm? #danelaw #linguistics #protoindoeuropean

Why might our ancient linguistic ancestors have had a word for “wasp” and “hornet” but not for “bee”—despite having a word for “honey”? This and other mysteries of Proto-Indo-European on the latest Smarty Pants with @laurainparis.bsky.social

This week on Smarty Pants, @laurainparis.bsky.social tells the story of the ancient speakers of Proto-Indo-European, the language that birthed English, Sanskrit, Latin, and dozens more offspring that constitute the world’s largest language family.

Just discovered Nardi's ingenious word evolution videos. PIE to English in a few seconds. shorturl.at/sf87Y

BBC Radio 4 today at 15h30 UK time, on my favourite hypothetical language #protoindoeuropean Repeated Sunday 20h shorturl.at/7UnAm

Tim sat down this month with author @laurainparis.bsky.social in order to discuss her new book, "Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global." Come read what she has to say about the book, and the history and evolution of Proto-Indo-European! 💙📚

🏺 Wide-ranging paper which includes analysis of trace ancestry related to Scandinavia in people with recent ancestry from Britain - legacy of the early medieval Danelaw and settlement of north-west England? t.co/6zHtkp9fEH

Galatasary means "palace of the Celts". The Galatians Paul wrote to were Celts too. Yes, there were once Celts in Turkey. Read PROTO for more... #linguistics #archaeology #genetics #protoindoeuropean

shorturl.at/nztI3 Could English ever die? @haspelmath.bsky.social

Le meilleur tweet du jour!

On the untold crisis in forensic science. undark.org/2025/05/08/o...

Drops today: this week's ARB @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social podcast features @nickrigordon in conversation with Laura Spinney, author of “Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global” @wmcollinsbooks.bsky.social @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social asianreviewofbooks.com/podcast-with...