Humans and dogs have been birds of a feather for millennia. But how can such distant species understand each other? A recent study published in PLOS Biology by researchers from the University of Geneva and the Hearing Institute, reveals that the pair meets halfway between their differences to communicate together.
From September 9th to 12th in Geneva, the yearly "Science of Aphasia" conference gathered over a hundred researchers to talk about aphasia, with a special focus on language evolution.
The Swiss Science Olympiad inspires over 8000 talented teenagers from Switzerland and Liechtenstein with workshops, camps and challenges in biology, chemistry, geography, informatics, linguistics, mathematics, philosophy, physics, robotics and economics. Get involved as a volunteer in the way that suits you, your availability and your passions. Find more details in this article.
Exploring the past, present and future of language
The Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Evolving Language is a nationwide interdisciplinary research consortium bringing together research groups from the humanities, from language and computer science, the social sciences, and the natural sciences at an unprecedented level. Together, we aim at solving one of humanity’s great mysteries: What is language? How did our species develop the capacity for linguistic expression, for processing language in the brain, and for consistently passing down new variations to the next generation? How will our capacity for language change in the face of digital communication and neuroengineering?
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> All publicationsDriscoll, I., Briefer, E. F., & Manser, M. B. (2024). The role of neighbour proximity and context on meerkat close call acoustic structure. Animal Behaviour, 212, 113–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2024.03.021
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Evolving Language is led by Balthasar Bickel (Department of Comparative Language Science, UZH), Daphné Bavelier (Cognitive Neuroscience group, UNIGE) and Klaus Zuberbühler (Institute of Biology, UNINE). Over 40 research groups across Switzerland are taking part in this NCCR, from 9 different institutions as well as partners in industry (Google AI, Sonova) and public organisations. The project has 3 leading houses: the University of Zurich, the University of Geneva and the University of Neuchâtel.
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