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

In the final episode of our whale series, we learn about fecal plumes, shipping noise, and why Moby-Dick is still worth reading. (Part 3 of "Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.") SOURCES:Michele Baggio, professor of economics at the University of Connecticut.Mary K. Bercaw-E ... Show More

For years, whale oil was used as lighting fuel, industrial lubricant, and the main ingredient in (yum!) margarine. Whale meat was also on a few menus. But today, demand for whale products is at a historic low. And yet some countries still have a whaling industry. We find out why. ... Show More

Whaling was, in the words of one scholar, “early capitalism unleashed on the high seas.” How did the U.S. come to dominate the whale market? Why did whale hunting die out here — and continue to grow elsewhere? And is that whale vomit in your perfume? (Part 1 of “Everything You Ne ... Show More

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? W ... Show More

Quelles sont les langues les plus parlées dans le monde ? Pourquoi des langues disparaissent ? Mais surtout, combien de langues sont parlées dans le monde ?Ne vous inquiétez pas, on vous explique tout. Hébergé par Audion. Visitez https://www.audion.fm/fr/privacy-policy pour plus ... 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? 

Almost half the people in the world speak at least two languages. And, it turns out, that includes a lot of But Why 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 languages so we c ... 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. 

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 hist ... Show More

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. 

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 uses c ... 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.