October 23, 2023: How language shapes neural processing, seals are helping correct ocean maps and Arctic cyclones are ramping up. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | All human brains are the same. But when people are putting thoughts into words, their mental processes may be different, depending on the language they are using. Speakers of different languages, for example, display different relational encoding styles and speeds–that is, determining the relationship between elements in order to plan a sentence or choose words. And a recent survey of a large set of studies on the effects of language on visual perception found compelling evidence that language influences our ability to discriminate colors.
Why this matters: Until recent groundbreaking studies on some Australian Aboriginal languages, modern linguists assumed that even if the fundamental structures of language differ—and even if languages specify things such as gender, number, direction and relative time in diverse ways—everyone must perceive the world in the same basic way. But new research shows a large flexibility in how people perceive the world, depending on the language they speak.
What the experts say: The vocabularies of languages are "systems of categories," says Gary Lupyan, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. "Language entrains us into these systems, one set of categories versus another." For speakers of different languages, he says, "many of these categories then become entrenched as basic units of thought." | | | Scientists have been placing trackers on Elephant Seals and Weddell Seals around Antarctica for years, gathering data on ocean temperature and salinity. Using this data, researchers compared seal dives' location and depth data with some of the less detailed seafloor maps. They spotted places where the seals dove deeper than should have been possible according to the maps—meaning the existing depth estimates were inaccurate.
Why this is so cool: Only about a quarter of the seafloor has been mapped at high resolution. Maps of most regions display only approximate depths and often miss entire underwater mountains or canyons. In eastern Antarctica's Vincennes Bay, diving seals helped scientists find a large, hidden underwater canyon plunging down more than a mile. An Australian research ship called the RSV Nuyina later measured the canyon's exact depth using sonar, confirming the find.
What the experts say: The current seal-dive data provide valuable information for an important task, says Anna Wåhlin, an oceanographer at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. The deep ocean around Antarctica is warmer than the frigid waters at the surface, and seafloor canyons can allow that warmer water to flow to the ice along the continent's coast, Wåhlin explains. To predict how Antarctica's ice will melt, scientists will need to know where those canyons are and how deep they go. | | | • New research finds that Arctic cyclones are growing stronger as the climate warms. In fact, they've been strengthening for decades. (And we thought the polar vortex was bad.) | 4 min read | | | • Tiny mice found mummified at the summits of Andean volcanoes suggest the animals are living in the harsh environment, which resembles Mars more than it does Earth. | 4 min read | | | A researcher holds a leaf-eared mouse caught high in the Andes. Credit: Marcial Quiroga-Carmona | | | • Since the 1970s the U.S. government has spearheaded an international collaboration to eliminate highly enriched uranium from research reactors by substituting low enriched uranium fuel, the type used in nuclear power plants that is unsuitable for nuclear weapons. Now, the Biden administration, to save costs, plans to supply more than 600 kilograms of weapons-grade uranium—enough for dozens of nuclear weapons—to a privately owned experimental research reactor, undermining decades of policy, writes Alan J. Kuperman, associate professor and coordinator of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin. | 5 min read | | | Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA; M. McCaughrean/S. Pearson (science leads and image processing) (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) | | | James Webb Space Telescope astronomers turned the instrument's infrared eye on the Orion nebula, an immense stellar nursery more than two dozen light-years across. In this stunning new image, they reveal hundreds of newborn stars. "Newborn" means these stars began fusing hydrogen in their core just a few hundred thousand years ago—which, to astronomers, is practically yesterday. Read more about this image in astronomer Phil Plait's latest column. | | | If you haven't seen it, the 2016 film "Arrival" is a compelling imagining of just how a different language (in the case of the film, a completely nonlinear one) might change human memory. It's one of my favorite science-fiction films, and is a nice first stop if you'd like to dive deeper into a language/brain function rabbit hole. | Welcome to a new week. As always, reach out and send me your feedback any time: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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