300. Why Don’t We All Speak the Same Lan...

It regulates 20 percent of the U.S. economy, and its commissioner has an aggressive agenda — faster drug approvals, healthier food, cures for diabetes and cancer. How much can he deliver? (Part two of “The Freakonomics Radio Guide to Getting Better.”) SOURCES:Marty Makary, commis ... Show More

We all want to stay sharp, and forestall the cognitive effects of aging. But do brain supplements actually work? Are they safe? And why doesn’t the F.D.A. even know what’s in them? (Part one of “The Freakonomics Radio Guide to Getting Better.”) SOURCES:Marty Makary, commissioner ... Show More

One Yale economist certainly thinks so. But even if he’s right, are economists any better? We find out, in this update of a 2022 episode. SOURCES:James Choi, professor of finance at the Yale School of Management.Morgan Housel, personal finance author and partner at the Collaborat ... Show More

<p>An ancient people build a tower to touch the heavens. A vengeful god disrupts the project through the splintering of human language. Everyone’s left to pick up the pieces. The Tower of Babel myth resonates out from the Mesopotamian cradle of civilization, but what does it mean ... Show More

7000 BCE onwards - Proto-Indo-Europeans are believed to have spoken a language ancestral to over four hundred languages of the modern world.  Why do we believe this when there is no firm evidence of a Proto-Indo-European language though? 

<p>Almost half the people in the world speak at least two languages. And, it turns out, that includes a lot of <em>But Why</em> listeners! In this episode we talk about what it’s like to speak multiple languages and kids from around the world share phrases in many different langu ... Show More

What's the link between language and culture? And how can we love one another better by understanding the two? Pastor Ray and Bart discuss the implications of Genesis 11 and the story of the Tower of Babel. 

<p>A Torre de Babel é um modelo clássico de orgulho humano e retribuição divina, arrogância escrita em pedra e depois um agente de divisão e incompreensão que vai muito além da mitologia. Ela enfatiza a crença de que Deus pode castigar a arrogância e a busca de poder. É uma das h ... Show More

<p>Where did language come from? Is it possible to know without traveling back in time? And how do babies learn to speak? Plus: We’ll hear how the word “silly” has evolved over the last several hundred years.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/list ... Show More

<p>There are about 7,000 languages spoken around the world -- and they all have different sounds, vocabularies and structures. But do they shape the way we think? Cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky shares examples of language -- from an Aboriginal community in Australia that use ... Show More

Today's digital world is a reverse tower of Babel. It takes all sorts of different languages to build it. It is this phenomenon that Aleks Krotoski explores in this final edition.