Search a title or topic

Over 20 million podcasts, powered by 

Player FM logo
Artwork

Content provided by Next Big Idea Club. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Next Big Idea Club or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.
Player FM - Podcast App
Go offline with the Player FM app!

Blame the Babies: How Infants Sparked Human Speech

13:24
 
Share
 

Manage episode 502714640 series 3527627
Content provided by Next Big Idea Club. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Next Big Idea Club or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Why are we so much chattier than other species? Madeleine Beekman has a surprising answer: blame the babies. Madeleine is professor emerita of evolutionary biology at the University of Sydney, and in her new book, The Origin of Language: How We Learned to Speak and Why, she explains that due to a series of evolutionary accidents, human infants were born so helpless that survival depended on coordinating care. Language, she argues, evolved as a kind of project-management system for baby-rearing. In other words, we didn’t start talking because we were geniuses; we started talking because we were exhausted parents.

📱 Follow The Next Big Idea Daily on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen

📩 Want more bite-sized insights from the best new nonfiction delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter

  continue reading

675 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 502714640 series 3527627
Content provided by Next Big Idea Club. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Next Big Idea Club or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Why are we so much chattier than other species? Madeleine Beekman has a surprising answer: blame the babies. Madeleine is professor emerita of evolutionary biology at the University of Sydney, and in her new book, The Origin of Language: How We Learned to Speak and Why, she explains that due to a series of evolutionary accidents, human infants were born so helpless that survival depended on coordinating care. Language, she argues, evolved as a kind of project-management system for baby-rearing. In other words, we didn’t start talking because we were geniuses; we started talking because we were exhausted parents.

📱 Follow The Next Big Idea Daily on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen

📩 Want more bite-sized insights from the best new nonfiction delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter

  continue reading

675 episodes

Semua episod

×
 
Loading …

Welcome to Player FM!

Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.

 

Copyright 2025 | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | | Copyright
Listen to this show while you explore
Play