Word: speakes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Humans! They do like their words. Studies--by scientists who stuck recording devices on them and then counted--suggest that they speak some 16,000 words a day. Vervet monkeys, prairie dogs and European starlings have rudimentary language systems, but for serious verbiage, you have to hand it to Homo sapiens...
...biological trivia. She scours the extremes of the earth for anomalous and specially adapted humans, like the Tierra del Fuegians, who (before they died out) wore no more than a loose animal skin even in sleet and snow, and the Yana Indians of California, whose men and women speak different dialects. She has an engaging passion for rankings, as if all earthly fauna were competitors in an endless evolutionary Olympics. Our sense of taste, for example, outperforms a pigeon's and a tiger's (it turns out that tigers can't taste sweetness--sorry, Tony) but is crushed in turn...
...Lowdown: There are two groups of people who should read this fairly brief report - students in a current-events class, and everyone else. While fairly shallow in terms of details (it describes how a series of arrests in Jordan "brought citizens rights to speak freely into question" but neglects to mention what the arrests were about), the overall sketch of events across the world comprises a sort of "freedom 2008 yearbook." Did you know Bhutan had "largely successful national elections" in 2008? Did you know that "The Comoros' political rights rating improved from 4 to 3 due to the restoration...
...endings of course), the archeology official says that they will also help make the city's monuments live. "Less sacredness and more showmanship," says Broccoli, who has long hosted scientific and historical shows on radio and television. "We need to make our monuments and museums come alive. They must speak to the public...
...drove al-Qaeda out of their communities (even if their relations with the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government remain tense). A similar movement has begun to emerge in Mogadishu, reflecting the moderate, tolerant Islam that has traditionally prevailed in Somalia. But Somalia hasn't had a government to speak of for 18 years. There are no institutions that can be revived to institutionalize the new pro-law, anti-extremist movement. And the ICU is remembered, during its brief reign, for bringing the first semblance of law and order Somalia had seen in a generation...