Author | Lightnews

Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · 7h

Protactile is one of the most exciting languages in the world right now. It was born in #Seattle in 2007, and linguists are watching it grow and grow #linguistics #deafblind #asl

Robyn Morgan @robynfoxmorgan.bsky.social · Sep 5

I’ve made the mistake of going down a research rabbit hole about Protactile ASL, and now you all are going to pay for it~

PT is a language offshoot of ASL that is used by the Deafblind. Communication is expressed completely through touch.

It’s only a matter of time before it’s used by all of you.

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Reposted by Laura Spinney

Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 2d

What came before English?

@ColinGorrie.bsky.social of the Dead Language Society newsletter interviews @LauraInParis.bsky.social, author of the new book “Proto: How one ancient language went global” about the original language from which English descends:

www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/what-came-...

What came before English?

Watch now | The story of Proto-Indo-European

www.deadlanguagesociety.com

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · 11d

Calling all New Yorkers, this Wednesday evening, come find out where your languages come from 🤗 shorturl.at/sWPtf

Books at the Institute

shorturl.at

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · 11d

Mais l'histoire de ses origines et DE sa diffusion a été tout juste réécrite, grace à la paléogénétique. D'où mon livre PROTO.

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · 21d

China bolsters controversial claim to Pacific languages with new museum | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

China bolsters controversial claim to Pacific languages with new museum

Nationalist narrative holds that Austronesian language and culture originated in China, not Taiwan

www.science.org

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Reposted by Laura Spinney

Roger Highfield @rogerhighfield.bsky.social · 29d

“This result changes everything. On the basis of these results it seems likely AMT-130 will be the first licensed treatment to slow Huntington’s disease, which is truly world-changing stuff.”

www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/se...

Gene therapy appears to slow Huntington’s disease progression

A global clinical trial for a new Huntington’s disease treatment has posted positive results today, announced by trial sponsor uniQure and UCL scientists.

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Sep 23

My review of Peter Turchin's latest book.

rdcu.be/eHxjD

What drove the rise of civilizations? A decades-long quest points to warfare | Nature

An ambitious analysis of a vast trove of data from 800 societies around the world concludes that there’s safety in numbers. An ambitious analysis of a vast trove of data from 800 societies around the world concludes that there’s safety in numbers.

rdcu.be

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Reposted by Laura Spinney

Colin Angus @victimofmaths.bsky.social · Sep 19

Extremely proud and a bit jealous that my excellent colleagues @fieldmatt.bsky.social and Inge Kersbergen have won this year's Ig Nobel Peace prize for showing that being a bit tipsy makes you better at speaking Dutch.

arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Meet the 2025 Ig Nobel Prize winners

The annual award ceremony features miniature operas, scientific demos, and the 24/7 lectures.

arstechnica.com

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Sep 19

PROTO and Emma Spurgin Hussey won a prize 🤗
shorturl.at/e05Zm

PROTO by Laura Spinney Read by Emma Spurgin-Hussey | Audiobook Review | AudioFile Magazine

AudioFile Audiobook Review: The topic of this audiobook--the evolution of language--requires a wide range of skills. Actor Emma Spurgin-Hussey's rich, expressive voice demonstrat

shorturl.at

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Sep 15

My discovery of the weekend, thanks to film-maker Hana Vojáčková, the extraordinary Spartakiads - vast, synchronised sports events popular in eastern Europe in the Communist years.

Her short film on the subject: vimeo.com/614731350

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Reposted by Laura Spinney

Samanth Subramanian @samanthsubramanian.bsky.social · Sep 15

Our new magazine @equatormag.bsky.social is officially out in the world.

Sign up for preview emails, donate, and get tickets to our launch event: www.equator.org.

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Aug 29

lactualite.com/societe/les-...

Les aventuriers de la langue perdue

Le français, l'ukrainien, l'anglais, le grec et une multitude de langues parlées aujourd'hui auraient une racine commune. Archéologues, linguistes et généticiens recherchent les origines de cette lang...

lactualite.com

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Aug 22

Fun discussion on the power of language and the stories that shape humanity with Matt Abrahams on his podcast Think Fast Talk Smart.

#Language #Storytelling #ThinkFastTalkSmart #WordsMatter #SharedHumanity

shorturl.at/EHK8G

224. Make Your Messages Epic: The Evolution of Words and the Stories They Carry

Why modern communication still relies on ancient words and narratives.

shorturl.at

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Aug 21

www.theguardian.com/news/2025/au...

‘Pregnant, homeless, what now?’ The search for a safe place to abandon a baby

The long read: Each year, women make the desperate decision to abandon their babies. Specially designed ‘baby windows’ can help – but some argue they make matters worse

www.theguardian.com

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Aug 11

Hallo liebe Leser von DER URKNALL UNSERER SPRACHE! Die deutschsprachige Ausgabe von PROTO ist für das Wissensbuch des Jahres in der Kategorie "Überblick" nominiert. Noch bis zum 14. August könnt ihr hier abstimmen: www.konradin-service.de/umfrage/inde...

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Aug 6

Did language evolve to organise childcare?

shorturl.at/6Knvr

The Origin of Language by Madeleine Beekman review – the suprising history of speech

It takes a village to raise a child – and that’s why we started speaking, argues an evolutionary biologist

shorturl.at

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Aug 1

In prehistory, women ruled, fought, hunted and mediated with other worlds.

www.newscientist.com/article/2488...

Archaeologists are unearthing the most powerful women who ever lived

Astonishing new archaeological finds and ancient DNA analysis leave no doubt that throughout prehistory women were rulers, warriors, hunters and shamans

www.newscientist.com

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Jul 26

Talking inflection points in (pre)history with the insatiably curious @BlomPhilipp youtu.be/SfGd3EKaMMs

[45] Laura Spinney — The First Human Language and How We Think

YouTube video by BlomCast

youtu.be

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Jul 24

Love this. How to say 92 in different European languages. Note the outliers France and especially Denmark. With thanks to brilliantmaps.com and reddit. #linguistics

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Jul 20

At moderate doses, it might have fuelled the spread of languages too. Could that have contributed to the complexification, I wonder? @vaclavhrncir.bsky.social and @kirrallina.bsky.social

Simon J. Greenhill @simongreenhill.bsky.social · Jul 19

Did alcohol facilitate the evolution of complex societies?

dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05503-6

From @vaclavhrncir.bsky.social & @kirrallina.bsky.social at @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Jul 17

With the suave John Maytham in Cape Town m.youtube.com/watch?v=qhJA...

Proto: With Laura Spinney

YouTube video by CapeTalk

m.youtube.com

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Jul 17

Uralic languages illuminated #ancientdna

shorturl.at/JCw4g

Ancient DNA solves mystery of Hungarian, Finnish language origins — Harvard Gazette

Parent emerged over 4,000 years ago in Siberia, farther east than many thought, then rapidly spread west, study finds.

shorturl.at

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Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Jul 13

This research is fabulous, but I think you should be a bit wary when anyone says they have "finally" solved the problem.

Laura Spinney @laurainparis.bsky.social · Jul 10

Coppola tried this to unearth new script-writing talent- he called it Zoetrope - all he got was regression to the mean.

Should grant applicants judge competitors’ proposals? Unorthodox approach gets two real-world tests | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Should grant applicants judge competitors’ proposals? Unorthodox approach gets two real-world tests

Distributed peer review enlists more researchers in the process, but some may lack expertise

www.science.org

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Reposted by Laura Spinney

Tom Booth @boothicus.bsky.social · Jul 9

🏺

Previously a preprint now a paper led by the Copenhagen group- ancient DA extracted from 1313 ancient humans shows the dynamics of different infectious diseases across Eurasia over the last 37,000 years.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The spatiotemporal distribution of human pathogens in ancient Eurasia - Nature

Screening shotgun-sequencing data from ancient humans covering 37,000 years of Eurasian history uncovers the widespread presence of ancient bacterial, viral and parasite DNA and zoonotic pathogens coi...

www.nature.com

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