What Is the Shape of This Word?

Trillions of potato-sized rocks scattered across the deep ocean floor are rich in metals such as cobalt and copper—making them a target for mining companies eager to fuel the clean-energy transition. But recent research suggests these rocks may also be supporting marine life in w ... Show More

Science doesn’t always get it right the first time—and that’s part of the journey. In this anniversary episode, we explore how ideas about nerve damage, sustainable materials and alien life have done a full 180. Recommended Reading Celebrating 180 Years of Scientific American 180 ... Show More

Peanut allergies have surged dramatically in recent decades, and scientists are still working to understand why. In this episode, journalist Maryn Mckenna, who recently authored an article on the subject, and host Rachel Feltman explore the latest research on causes, treatments a ... Show More

Are there really dozens of words for snow in northern cultures? What did the movie Arrival have to do with language and cognition? Why are Russians better than Americans at distinguishing certain shades of blue? And what does any of this have to do with space, time, gender, and h ... Show More

What are the different meanings of the phrase 'to bend over backwards'? 

Today we’re going to do a vocabulary with pictures lesson to help you learn 20 words for shapes in English, both two-dimensional and three-dimensional ones. You’ll learn both the noun form (the name of the shape itself) and the adjective form (how to describe something else with ... Show More

Heute erzähle ich dir etwas über die deutsche Sprache. Und zwar über Wörter, die genau gleich gesprochen und geschrieben werden, aber in verschiedenen Zusammenhängen etwas ganz Unterschiedliches bedeuten. Ich erkläre dir, was Teekesselchen und Homonyme sind. Diesen Text hat Matth ... Show More

Heute erzähle ich dir etwas über die deutsche Sprache. Und zwar über Wörter, die genau gleich gesprochen und geschrieben werden, aber in verschiedenen Zusammenhängen etwas ganz Unterschiedliches bedeuten. Ich erkläre dir, was Teekesselchen und Homonyme sind. Diesen Text hat Matth ... Show More

For decades, people have been fascinated by crop circles. What started out decades ago as simple shapes has evolved into complex geometric patterns. Crop circles appear overnight but to this day, nobody knows how they form. Are they a hoax? The result of natural phenomena? Or per ... Show More

What does 'enough' look like for you? 

When do we know a word? Who cares? Just keep pumping words into your brain. Keep on actively pursuing words. That’s what we measure at LingQ. How many words you have grabbed and thrown into your brain. How many stick or when they stick is largely out of our control.