The Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa, is home to seven Bonobos -- a close relative of the chimpanzee -- and three orangutans. But if you think Iowa might be a strange place for them to live, don't say it out loud … these apes understand English.

Really...

No kidding.... picked by drnothing 3 years ago

This female chimpanzee was said to be the first non-human to acquire human language. She died of natural causes at the research institute where she was kept. picked by Proverb 2 years ago

As the annual International Whaling Commission meeting stumbles to a close, unable to negotiate a compromise between whaling opponents and people who’ve killed more than 40,000 whales since 1985, scientists say these aquatic mammals are more than mere animals. They might even deserve to be considered people. picked by AutumnLotus 5 months ago

A lake "frozen in time" for hundreds of thousands of years beneath Antarctica could contain "unique forms of life" that give clues to life on Mars.

A team of scientists has been given the go-ahead to explore the lake described as "one of the planet’s last great frontiers". picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

Campaigners for the English language on Thursday attacked a growing tendency for "obvious" public information posters, such as a police sign urging people: "Don't Commit Crime." picked by spocksmyhomeboy 2 years ago

FOXP2, to date the only gene known to play a role in speech and language, has now been found by scientists to be identical in Neanderthals and Humans. picked by DrNothing 2 years ago

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have uncovered the first clues about the ancient origins of a mother's intricate lifeline to her unborn baby, the placenta, which delivers oxygen and nutrients critical to the baby's health. The evidence suggests the placenta of humans and other mammals evolved from the much simpler tissue that attached to the inside of eggshells. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

South Korean scientists said they have cloned a piglet whose organs were genetically modified to make them more suitable for human transplants. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

maybe its not dead, it says some people still speak it. in my opinion it's an unborn language
*it was intended as a world language, FAIL* picked by picklebob12 2 years ago

Norwegian (here I'm talking about bokmål, the most often-used variety of Norwegian) is a language spoken by about 5 million people in Norway, and is extremely similar to the languages Swedish and Danish. picked by bernardblack 1 year ago

NASA scientists analyzing the dust of meteorites have discovered new clues to a long-standing mystery about how life works on its most basic, molecular level and strengthens the idea of amino acids being delivered to Earth via meteorite. picked by 2manyusernames 9 months ago

Some cultures use a whistled language to communicate. This means that speech is emulated in whistling, which can cover much larger distances (typically 1 – 2 km but up to 5 km). Link points to examples and the wikipedia page is incredibly fascinating and points to even more examples of people speaking in whistles. picked by 2manyusernames 2 years ago

As a general rule, the most frequently used words in human languages tend to be the shortest.

The same law applies to dolphins slapping their tails, diving, flopping sideways, and performing other movements when surface swimming, according to Spanish and British researchers. picked by AutumnLotus 4 months ago

No wonder learning a new language can be more difficult the older you get. We were learning our individual languages before we were even born.
It seems that fetuses not only warm to the sound of mother’s voice as they gestate, they also are being programmed in the direct patterns inherent in certain languages. By the time we are born, our dialect is determined. picked by bingo 3 weeks ago

The all inclusive site about Cloverfield, one of the most anticipated movies of 2008, and in my opinion, ever. This guy is on top of the updates, clues, viral marketing, videos... everything really. picked by muppetmaker 2 years ago

Snowy was handed in to an animal charity because her owners could not cope with having a deaf dog. However, within just three weeks of training, the four-month-old Jack Russell can sit, stay and walk, by responding to hand gestures. picked by 2manyusernames 10 months ago

The famous sequence that shows the evolution of man from knuckle-dragging ape to an upright human may be flawed, a new study has revealed. Researchers who examined the wrist bones of several primate species believe our early human ancestors never used their knuckles to walk like gorillas. Instead they evolved from other apes who spent most of their time in trees and descended to the ground uprig... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 4 months ago

A deaf dalmatian which was trapped in a world of its own has been given a new lease of life after learning sign language.
The spotted dog called Zoe was born profoundly deaf and had failed to bond with its owner who was forced to give her up. But staff at an animal shelter began to teach the 18-month-old pooch basic sign language through a series of hand commands. picked by AutumnLotus 12 months ago

A Latin American language may die out due to lack of communication. picked by kissmenow 2 years ago

Ancient gibberish or ancient language? Turns out it probably was a language. There are literally hundreds of ancient scripts around the world that could be examined with this technique. picked by Timageous 7 months ago