Brain Language, Ancient Hallucinogens, Unreliable Memory

Curiosity Weekly

Warner Bros. Discovery

Self-improvement, Science, Astronomy, Education

4.6 • 935 Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2023

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today you’ll learn how the language we speak leaves a unique pattern in our brain’s wiring, about proof that people 3,000 years ago on an island in the Mediterranean were using hallucinogens, and how bad our memories actually are, and why.

Find episode transcripts here:https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/brain-language-ancient-hallucinogens-unreliable-memory

Brain Language

“Your brain wires itself to match your native language.” by Elise Cutts. 2023.
- https://www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-wires-native-language-neurons
“Native language differences in the structural connectome of the human brain.” By Xuehu Wei, et al. 2023.
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811923001015
“Your brain wires itself to match your native language.” by Elise Cutts. 2023.
- https://www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-wires-native-language-neurons
“Native language differences in the structural connectome of the human brain.” By Xuehu Wei, et al. 2023.
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811923001015

Ancient Hallucinogens

“Hair analysis reveals Europe’s oldest physical evidence of drug use.” by Bruce Bower. 2023.
- https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hair-europe-oldest-evidence-drug-use
“Bronze-age people took hallucinogenic drugs in Menorca, study reveals.” n.a. 2023.
- https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/apr/07/bronze-age-people-hallucinogenic-drugs-menorca-study
“Direct evidence of the use of multiple drugs in Bronze Age Menorca (Western Mediterranean) from human hair analysis.” by E. Guerra-Doce, et al. 2023.
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-31064-2

Unreliable Memory

“Human memory may be unreliable after just a few seconds, scientists find.” by Nicola Davis. 2023.
- https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/apr/05/short-term-memory-illusions-study

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Discovery.
0:09.0	Time flies when you're learning super cool stuff. I'm Nate.
0:12.0	And I'm Callie. If you're dropping it for the
0:14.1	first time welcome to curiosity where we aim to blow your mind by helping you to grow your mind.
0:18.4	If you're a loyal listener, welcome back. Today you'll learn how the language we speak leaves a unique pattern in our
0:24.4	brain's wiring about proof that people 3,000 years ago on an island in the
0:29.2	Mediterranean were using hallucinogens and how bad our memories actually are, and why.
0:35.1	Without further ado, let's satisfy some curiosity.
0:38.7	A new study has found that the language we speak leaves a unique imprint on the wiring of our brains.
0:44.0	Okay, so you're saying that people who speak different languages actually think differently?
0:50.0	Well, actually, yeah. The study suggests that the brain speakers of, say, French are wired differently than the brains of, say, farcy speakers.
0:59.0	Okay, so it's like that movie Arrival. The scientist figures out the alien's language and learning that rewires her brain and it allows her to actually like see the future
1:09.7	So this is kind of great news because you know I've always wanted to time travel.
1:13.4	Yeah okay maybe don't start your delirion yet let me explain the study first.
1:17.8	I knew you're gonna say that.
1:19.6	Uh-huh. Neuroscientist Alfred Ann Wander and a team at the MacPleg Institute of Cognitive and
1:24.9	Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, wanted to know just how different language structures
1:29.6	affected the structures of our brains.
1:31.8	All right, stop for a second.
1:33.4	I thought all brains were essentially wired,
1:35.7	you know, the same in the big picture.
1:37.3	Like motor skills happen here,
	...

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