Robert Siegel talks with John McWhorter, associate professor of linguistics at University of California, Berkeley, who has written a new book The Power of Babel. McWhorter discusses how languages have evolved and why some languages are complex and others simple. (7:45) The book is to be published this month by Henry Holt.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1136083
Tagged with npr linguistics language for:wordridden
Michael Pollan at TED 2007:
"What if human consciousness isn’t the end-all and be-all of Darwinism? What if we are all just pawns in corn’s clever strategy game to rule the Earth? Author Michael Pollan asks us to see the world from a plant’s-eye view."
Has food been replaced by nutrients; and common sense by confusion? Once upon a time we ate food. Now we eat nutrients, embedded in food-like substances, like yoghurt fortified with omega-3 or bread rolls infused with anti-oxidants. Are foods like carrots, broccoli and chicken better for you before or after they take a trip to the food processing plant? Do we need more nutrients in our diet or is it all getting out of hand? And are scientists to blame for all this confusion? ABC´s Paul Willis hosts this lively public forum with: Michael Pollan, a food writer and professor of journalism at the University of California Berkeley and author of In Defence of Food; Professor Mark Adams, dean of agriculture, University of Sydney, an expert in sustainable agriculture; Dr Ingrid Appelqvist, team leader for the CSIRO´s designed food research program.
Julia Child’s long-time editor, Judith Jones, discusses French cooking, the joys of eating, and the indefatigable Julia Child with Sheryl Julian, food editor of The Boston Globe. Her new memoir is The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food.
By Public Image Limited. From the soundtrack of the cult British indie sci-fi film Hardware.
The whole soundtrack is online here: http://www.everythingisundercontrol.org/soundtrack.html
The 4am is a selection composed entirely of music sent to Warren Ellis by the artists.