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Listen to a Neanderthal
Auto insurance advertising to the contrary, no one living now has
ever heard a Neanderthal speak. It's widely believed that they were
capable of speech, but it would have sounded different from human
speech today. How different? Robert McCarthy of Florida Atlantic
University has the beginning of an answer to that question.
The anthropologist teamed up with linguist Phil Lieberman to coax
Neanderthal speech out of a computer synthesizer. The two based
the synthesis on reconstructions of Neanderthal vocal tracts taken
from three 50,000 year old skulls found in France. The researchers
were able to recreate the "e" vowel sound as a Neanderthal might
have said it.
It sounds quite different from a modern "e." McCarthy says that
the Neanderthal "e" lacks "quantal vowel" sounds. These sounds help
different speakers understand each other, and lead to greater subtlety
in language. While some researchers have criticized the finding,
the researchers plan to continue, and hope to eventually produce
an entire Neanderthal sentence. Interestingly, other researchers
have found genetic evidence that human hearing has evolved quickly
in the past 40,000 - perhaps to accommodate more complex languages
which Neanderthals were incapable of speaking.
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Yankee-Red Sox Rivalry Reaches New Heights
When the Yankees play the Red Sox this week at Yankee Stadium,
the ball from the ceremonial first pitch won't actually land in
the stadium. That's because it will be thrown from the International
Space Station by NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman. This marks a new
first in the history of the Yankee Stadium.
For the record, 40-year-old Reisman is doing it right. He brought
dirt from the Yankee Stadium pitcher's mound with him to the station,
along with a Yankees banner and hat autographed by George M. Steinbrenner.
Needless to say, Reisman, a New Jersey native, is a lifelong Yankees
fan.
Reisman views living aboard the ISS and throwing out the first
pitch at a Yankees-Red Sox game as once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
He started a planned four-month stay on the space station in the
middle of last month. Fans actually viewing the game in person will
be able to watch video of the pitch sent to the stadium's giant
TV screens. There was no mention of whether Reisman would be throwing
southpaw.
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Twitter Can Set You Free
Few things are quite as scary as being arrested in a foreign country
and held without being charged. But when this happened to UC Berkeley
graduate journalism student James Karl Buck in Egypt, where he was
photographing a noisy protest, he kept his cool. He used his cell
phone to send a single word - ARRESTED - to Twitter, a microblogging
service.
More than forty people subscribe to Buck's Twitter feed. They contacted
the U.S. embassy in Egypt, his college, the Associated Press and
other media organizations. Feeling the heat, the Egyptian authorities
released Buck the following day.
Buck is still worried about his friend and interpreter, Mohammed
Salah Ahmed Maree, who was arrested with him but is still being
held by the authorities in Egypt. "At this point, I've formally
called on the Egyptian government for his release. I believe he's
totally innocent," Buck said. Maree may not have Buck's resources,
but he does have friends. There's an online petition and a demonstration
planned, both aimed at gaining his release.
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