This week: Two new studies outline characteristics that help alien species become invasive. India rethinks its ambitious nuclear energy plans. A new study shows what we might have known all along — human language originated in Africa. Yet another study suggests that rules of grammar are far from universal. Also, our ongoing Science Forum discussion about how our physical environments influence human behavior goes until Thursday, April 21st. So, stop by and add your thoughts and questions to the conversation here. (Photo: The Burmese python has invaded parts of the U.S. Credit: U.S. National Park Service.)

India Rethinks its Nuclear Energy Plans: The disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear complex has led India to rethink its increasing reliance on nuclear power. New York Times correspondent Vikas Bajaj tells anchor Marco Werman the demands for power in India are huge and growing. Forty percent of India’s population currently has no access to electricity.
Read the transcript of the interview.
Listen to my story on India’s nuclear energy plans in Podcast no. 91.
Asia’s Push for Nuclear Power — a Wise Bet? An online Science Forum discussion.

Fukushima vs. Chernobyl — Comparison Less Useful Than Ever: Fukushima is nothing like Chernobyl — except, it’s sort of the same. Of course, it’s no nearly as bad — unless it’s worse! If your head’s hurting right now trying to keep track of official evaluations of the scale of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, well, get in line for the aspirin — if not yet the iodine pills. Read more in this blog post by guest blogger Peter Thomson, The World’s environment editor.

The Original Language: The world’s 7,000 languages appear to share a common ancestral tongue, which was spoken in Africa at least 50 thousand years ago. Linguists hadn’t been able to trace the roots of language that far back in time before. But by stripping speech down to its most basic components, such as vowels and consonants, a researcher was able to show how languages changed as humans migrated across the globe.
The study.
The author’s website.
ScienceNOW coverage.
Links to more news stories.

No Universal Grammar: Although all modern languages have common roots, they share few grammatical rules. Linguists had expected that certain rules of syntax would always occur together so that changing one rule would mean changing others in concert, perhaps because of the way the brain works. But a new study suggests that languages evolve in varied ways, governed more by culture than biology. Does this challenge linguist Noam Chomsky’s theory of a universal grammar ? My fellow podcaster, Patrick Cox (host of The World in Words podcast) helps us answer that question.
The study.
The authors’ user-friendly summary.
Wired Science coverage.

Invasive Species: As humans travel around the globe, we bring other animals and plants along. Biologists wish they could better predict which of these species will become invasive in their new habitats–as Burmese pythons have done in Florida. Two recent studies suggest that extra chromosomes (for plants) and big brains (for reptiles and amphibians) help species invade new habitats.
The studies: Plants and reptiles.
More on invasive plants in the U.S..
More on big brains.
Regulating trade could keep out alien invaders.

Bilingual Babies: Janet Werker is a language researcher at the University of British Columbia,and she has been studying bilingualism in babies. I caught up with her after a session on bilingualism at the recent annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in Washington D.C. She talks about what she and her colleagues are learning about how bilingual babies learn their native tongues. They’ve been studying babies in Catalan, French, Tagalog and English speaking households.
Guest: Janet Werker.
Watch these videos of Werker’s experiments with bilingual babies here, and here.
There are more videos here.
Read my blog post about the benefits of bilingualism.
More about the session on bilingualism at the AAAS annual conference.

Bringing Solar Power to Tanzania:Most of us take electric light for granted. For the most part, we flick a switch and the light comes on. That’s not the case in much of the world. The World’s Jeb Sharp reports on the promise and challenge of bringing solar power to rural Tanzania where most people still don’t have access to electricity.
Read a transcript of Jeb’s story here.
See a slide show of pictures from Jeb’s trip to Tanzania.

So I was thrilled to learn that the 2011 annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) had a session on bilingualism. It was titled ‘Crossing Borders in Language Science: What Bilinguals Are Telling Us About Mind and Brain.

Recent research by neuroscientists is starting to reveal some surprising facts about the basis of bilingualism in our brains. I’ll have more about these findings in upcoming episodes of my Science Podcast, which you can subscribe to from here. For now, here are the best bits from yesterday’s session.

“Bilinguals are mental jugglers,” says Judith Kroll, a psychologist at Penn State University and the organizer of the session.

Every time a bilingual person speaks or hears a language, they do more mental math than their monolingual friends. It turns out that a second language is always active in a bilingual’s brain. (more on that here) Even for simple tasks like naming an object, a bilingual’s brain has to choose between two options.  As several researchers described it, this leads to a “conflict” between the two languages in a bilingual’s brain.

That ‘conflict’ has become more apparent in my own life lately. Growing up in urban multilingual India, I switched back and forth between languages, and borrowing words from one language when speaking another. In other words, I often spoke Hinglish (Hindi+English), or Hindali, or Bengdi (Hindi + Bengali) or Benglish (Bengali + English). (Note: My father coined those terms out of frustration that my brother and I didn’t speak Bengali without mixing it up with Hindi and English) But once I moved to the U.S., I was stuck with one language – English. Even though I speak it fluently, I sometimes find myself at a loss for words. And when I do, my brain throws Bengali, or Hindi words at me. Unlike when I lived in India, I now have to ignore those words and continue to look for the right word in English.

So how does the brain of a bilingual or multilingual person resolve these conflicts? Well, that’s something that researchers are starting to figure out. (you can read more in this Science magazine article) But one thing that they do know now is that all this mental juggling comes with some advantages.

As York University’s Ellen Bialystok said during her presentation, bilinguals exercise parts of their brains involved in higher functions, like attention, multitasking and problem solving. As a result, bilinguals are often much better at problem solving than monolingual people. (Phew! At least there are some benefits to the battle of languages inside my brain.)

Bialystok’s more recent work also suggests that being bilingual can protect us against the cognitive decline that comes with ageing. It can even push the onset of dementia by 4-5 years. So, if you are considering learning a new language, remember doing so can come with a lifetime of benefits.

Blogger: Rhitu Chatterjee
More on language in The World’s Science Podcast:
Click Languages in Podcast 100
Clues to Bilingualism in Podcast 29.
Evolutionary Roots of Language in Podcast 88.

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This week: You’ll hear about the environmental costs of China’s growing pork consumption. Also, one scientist’s search for the evolutionary origins of human language. And a little audio treat from India — which is where I’m podcasting from this week.

China’s Pork Boom: China’s appetite for pork is growing fast, and so is the size of Chinese pig farms. The government says that’s good for food safety, but it may not be so good for the environment.
Reported by: Elise Potaka

Evolutionary Roots of Language: Scientists looking for the origins of language often study communication in animals. One such researcher in Klaus Zuberbühler. He’s at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and he’s been studying vocal communication in monkeys in Ivory Coast. Zuberbühler was part of a panel on animal intelligence at the World Science Festival back in June. I caught up with him after the panel and asked him about some of his findings.
Guest: Klaus Zuberbühler
More from the 2010 World Science Festival in Podcast no. 70.
Watch the All Creatures Great and Smart panel from the 2010 World Science Festival.

This week: Big storms are brewing on the Sun, and they’re sending flares of plasma towards the Earth. There’s a new book out about the science of life in space. It’s called Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. We talk to the book’s author, science journalist Mary Roach. Then, Elsa brings news about oceans, malaria and high-heeled shoes.

Packing for Mars: A trip to space isn’t as exciting as you may think. So says Mary Roach, science journalist and author of the new book, Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. The book paints an unromantic picture of life in space. Roach spoke with The World’s David Baron. This is a longer, podcast-exclusive version of the interview that aired on the radio program.
Guest: Mary Roach
Watch a video about space hygiene and the people who stopped bathing for science.
Follow Diego Urbina’s twitter feed from the Mars500 experiment.
More about the Mars500 simulation on Podcast 70.
Robonaut2 is tweeting. You can follow it here.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• Bearded Gobies Save an Ocean Ecosystem: This is a story about a marine ecosystem that seemed to be doomed by overfishing. But an unsuspecting species – the bearded goby – revived it. The ecosystem hasn’t recovered to its original state, but is evolving in a new direction.
  The Study.
• Cases of Malaria Misdiagnosis: A new study has found that a large number of malaria diagnoses are inaccurate. Many countries don’t have the tests to determine when someone is infected with malaria parasites, leading to misdiagnoses of ordinary fevers as malaria.
  The Study.
• High Heeled Shoes Impact Your Calves: Ladies, beware! Those fashionable high-heeled shoes may be scrunching up your calf muscles permanently. That’s according to a new study that compared the leg muscles of people wearing high-heeled and flat shoes. The study was limited to 13 heel wearers. So the findings may need further confirmation from a bigger group of subjects.
  The Study.

Solar Flares & Northern Lights: The Sun is experiencing some stormy weather, and scientists say the solar storms may affect us on Earth. The World’s David Baron spoke with the U.S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Doug Biesecker. He says the solar flares may cause a brilliant display of northern lights. The storms are expected to continue through August 5th.
Guest: Doug Biesecker.
See video and pictures of the sun on the shownotes for Podcast 64.
Check out the the location, intensity and extent of the northern lights here.

Language Influences How We Perceive People: We may think differently of people depending on our own and their linguistic background. That’s according to a recently published study by researchers in the U.K and Israel. I spoke about the study in this week’s Language Podcast. Don’t miss it – it’s a really fun listen!
Learn more about Patrick Cox’s language podcast.

This week: In last week’s podcast, you heard about the possibilities of world leaders agreeing on a new climate treaty at next month’s climate summit in Copenhagen. You’ll hear from Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister for Climate and Energy who will be chairing the summit in Copenhagen next month. You’ll also hear a story on efforts to get wildlife off restaurant menus in Vietnam. Then, a story on how Israel is trying to come up with Hebrew names for Uranus and Neptune. Some disturbing news about plastics in our oceans and new clues to the day-to-day existence of the ordinary Mayan.

Oh! And a big thanks to all our listeners who participated in our last week’s Science Forum. Your thoughtful comments and questions made the Forum a big success!

Danish Climate Minister: The climate summit in Copenhagen is barely a few weeks away. And scientists, environmental activists and law makers from around the world are preparing for that upcoming meeting. Connie Hedegaard is the Danish minister for Climate and Energy and she will chair the climate summit in December. She says that leaders must remain committed to forging a strong, new international treaty to reduce carbon emissions.
Guest: Connie Hedegaard.
Links:
Collection of BBC stories on the Copenhagen summit.
Denmark’s Ministry of Climate and Energy.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• More Plastic in Our Oceans: Scientists now think that the Pacific Garbage patch may not be the only collection of plastic waste in our oceans. There are similar plastic dumps in other oceans, like the Atlantic and Indian. It is only a matter of time before they find those too.
  New York Times article (including a slide show).
  The Plastic Ocean, the blog of researcher Bonnie Monteleone
  More on ocean garbage from the Algalita Foundation.
• Why Do Humans Talk and Chimps Don’t? Part of the answer may lie in our genes. A new study published this week shows that a genetic player in brain development does completely different things in humans and chimps. The results suggest that some of the answers to the mysteries behind humans’ highly developed language skills may lie in the gene called FoxP2.
  The study.
  BBC coverage.
  More on language evolution from NOVA ScienceNOW.
• The Musty Smell of Old Books: Scientists have identified the cocktail of volatile chemicals emitted by old books. The chemicals are released when the compounds in paper start to degrade. Different kinds of papers decay at different rates and emit different chemicals. The researchers want to use the findings to develop a non-destructive sniff-test to identify books and papers in need of better preservation and storage.
  The study.
  BBC coverage.
  All about preserving old papers, from the Cornell University Library.
• Picture of the Ordinary Mayan Life: Archaelogists exploring a “painted pyramid” in Mexico have uncovered murals depicting rare images of the daily life of ordinary Mayans. The pictures show what ordinary people in the Mayan civilzation wore, cooked and traded.
  The study.
  Information on Maya culture from the National Gallery of Art. (Note from Elsa: Find out some of the things I did not know about the Mayan elite!)

Naming Uranus and Neptune, in Hebrew: Did you know that 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy? Well, the Israelis did. And they decided to commemorate the occasion by coming up with Hebrew names for Uranus and Neptune. These planets were discovered after the ancient Hebrews named the other six planets in our solar system.
Report: By Daniel Estrin.
Links:
Jerusalem Post coverage.
The Academy of the Hebrew Language.

Getting Wildlife off the Menu: Wildlife delicacies such as snakes and monkeys have become increasingly popular in Vietnamese restaurants. But its hurting the country’s wildlife population. And that’s why two environmental groups are now trying to change attitudes and discourage the Vietnamese from indulging in wildlife cuisine.
Report: By The World’s Mary Kay Magistad.
Links:
Read a transcript of this story.
More about the WWF restaurant campaign in Hanoi.
Wildlife consumption is a problem in other parts of the world, too. Learn more from the Bushmeat Crisis Taskforce.

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This week: The World’s Technology Correspondent Clark Boyd is in the host chair. He brings you science news from four continents: In Africa, medical workers battle a common cause of blindness. In Asia, a small nation provides scholarships to attract science talent. In Europe, scientists study what happens when we get lost in the woods. And in Australia, a biologist tries a new strategy for battling malaria. Also: astronomers find an unlikely planet, and researchers gain insights into the brains of bilinguals.

Elsa is back with her favorite science stories. Her picks this week:

• Bilingualism: Learning a second language can influence how the brain processes a native language. That’s the finding of a Belgian study of people who speak both Dutch and English. (The study was published in the journal Psychological Science (volume 20, number 8,) but since you need a subscription to even see the abstract, here’s a press release too.)

• Odd Planet: An international team of scientists has detected a planet that shouldn’t exist. This “hot Jupiter” is so close to its sun that it completes each orbit in less than a single Earth day. (The study.)

• Malaria Vaccine: An international team of scientists has genetically modified the parasite that causes malaria. Could this lab-created organism be the basis for an effective vaccine? (The study.)

Fighting Blindness: Trachoma is a bacterial infection of the eye and a leading cause of blindness. Though largely eradicated from the industrialized world, trachoma remains a common affliction in developing countries. We visit the nation with the highest burden of disease and see how one American organization is trying to preserve sight for millions.
Report: By Odette Yousef in Ethiopia. (See photographs here.)

Singapore Science: Singapore considers science the key to its future economic growth. The Asian city-state  is building world-class laboratories, but it lacks trained personnel to staff those labs. So Singapore is reaching out to other countries for the science talent and science education it needs.
Report: By Ari Daniel Shapiro in Singapore.

Lost in the Woods: A new study by scientists in Germany has confirmed that when people get disoriented in the woods or other natural environments, they really do tend to walk in circles. The researchers sent volunteers into a German forest and the Sahara Desert and tracked their movements by GPS. (Click here to see a Google Earth image of the paths taken by some volunteers in the German forest.)
Report: By The World’s David Baron.

Music:

Walkin’ in Circles, by Charles Brown with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers

A Masai Mara giraffe.

[player] Download MP3

This week: We psychoanalyze a world leader from afar. We hear about big problems in a famed African wildlife reserve. And we talk to a linguist with a daring scientific vision.

The Dream: Linguist Derek Bickerton studies creole languages, which are hybrids of two or more languages.  For years, he dreamed of putting a bunch of people who spoke different tongues on an island to see what kind of language they would create. What happened?
Report: By The World’s Patrick Cox.

Wildlife Decline: In Kenya, the Masai Mara Reserve is famous for its charismatic megafauna, including wildebeest, zebras, impalas, giraffes, and lions. A new study says many of the animals are in trouble.
Guest: Robin Reid, Colorado State University.

The Head Case: Over his two years in office, French president Nicolas Sarkozy has made an impression on the public. “Sarko,” as he’s called, likes attention. We offer a psychological profile.
Report: By The BBC’s Emma Jane Kirby

Next week: We talk to Jonah Lehrer, author of “How We Decide,” a new book on the neuroscience behind decision-making.

Also next week: We roll out our interactive forum. You can talk about Jonah’s book and your own take on decisions. And best of all, Jonah will check in, comment, and respond to what you say.

Send us your questions for Jonah Lehrer.  And check back next week to join the forum.

Useful links:

Derek Bickerton’s site

The Center for Collaborative Conservation, where Robin Reid works.

Jonah Lehrer’s site

Songs:
Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band, Creole Two Step

Victor Green, Creole Girl