Where did language come from?

Explicit content warning

07/20/21 • 28 min

Matt and Brandon are back after a hiatus and are ready to discuss all the deepest questions science can answer. They’re starting things off this week with the origin of language: how did we evolve the ability to talk and how is our system for communicating different from the ones that animals use? Tune in to learn some possible answers to these questions and to hear Matt turn one of them into a pitch for an animated musical.

For more episodes of scHIGHence, visit our website at www.buzzsprout.com/1510018. Note that we do not guarantee that any of the facts we share on this podcast are 100% true... after all, we are high. For more on this topic from a source that you can trust, check out these YouTube videos:

SciShow video on animal communication systems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ2ebYNtFUA
Mocomi video on the evolution of language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VitFvNvRIIY
Crash Course video on how we can know more about past languages that don’t exist anymore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNkMC92kFLA

Theme song by Alexander Nakarada, who you can find on twitter (twitter.com/thenakarada) and Patreon (www.patreon.com/anakarada).

SciShow video on animal communication systems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ2ebYNtFUA
Mocomi video on the evolution of language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VitFvNvRIIY
Crash Course video on how we can know more about past languages that don’t exist anymore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNkMC92kFLA

Theme song by Alexander Nakarada, who you can find on twitter (twitter.com/thenakarada) and Patreon (www.patreon.com/anakarada).

Previous Episode

What’s consciousness? And why does weed make it so much better?

In our 4/20 special, Matt and Brandon discuss how weed affects your perception of the world around you—how does the brain work and how could a chemical alter that? We also get into a host of other topics, like what best rhymes with “New Year’s”, how to pronounce “Alzheimer’s”, and the different kinds of memory a computer uses. And you thought we were exaggerating when we said it was a special episode...

Crash Course video on synapses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VitFvNvRIIY
Crash Course video on cognition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-sVnmmw6WY
SciShow video on THC and the brain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsJzCdFlpyQ

Theme song by Alexander Nakarada, who you can find on twitter (twitter.com/thenakarada) and Patreon (www.patreon.com/anakarada).

Next Episode

If the universe is expanding, what’s it expanding into?

In this episode of scHIGHence, Matt and Brandon go skyward—and end up in some pretty dark places. If the universe is everything that exists how could it be getting bigger? When will the universe end? And what does all of this have to do with the hit 90’s scifi show Sliders?! Hit that download (or play, or whatever) button to find out.

PBS Space Time episode about the universe’s expansion and eventual end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZTb6sfHEX8
PBS Space Time about the edge of the universe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwwIFcdUFrE
PBS Space Time about the “many worlds” interpretation of Quantum Physics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNkMC92kFLA

Theme song by Alexander Nakarada, who you can find on twitter (twitter.com/thenakarada) and Patreon (www.patreon.com/anakarada).