Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global, with Laura Spinney

Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global, with Laura Spinney

What if a single ancient language lay at the root of nearly half of the world’s spoken tongues? In today’s episode, acclaimed science writer and journalist Laura Spinney joins us to discuss her new book Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global. In Proto, Spinney takes us deep into the mystery of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) - a prehistoric language that no one alive has heard, yet whose echoes can still be found in words spoken from Ireland to India. From the English word star, to Icelandic stjarna, to the Iranic stare - Spinney reveals how echoes of a prehistoric language still ripple across continents and centuries. Along the way, she meets the archaeologists, linguists, and geneticists working to uncover the origins of this linguistic Big Bang - and what it tells us about human history, identity, and movement. Joining Spinney in discussion is global historian Caroline Dodds Pennock, to retrace the paths of nomads, monks, warriors, and kings across the Eurasian steppe, the Caucasus, the Silk Roads, and beyond. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episoder(1540)

America's Drone Campaign Is Both Moral And Effective

America's Drone Campaign Is Both Moral And Effective

Bug splats. That’s what the American operators of drones, sitting in safety thousands of miles away, call the casualties of a drone attack in Pakistan or Yemen. Why bug splats? Because that’s what a h...

24 Jul 20141h 58min

Sex, bugs & video tapes: the private lives of public figures deserve more protection from the press

Sex, bugs & video tapes: the private lives of public figures deserve more protection from the press

Would you like the details of your sex life, private conversations, and hidden passions splashed across the pages of a British tabloid or published online? Could you do anything to stop it? In Britain...

17 Jul 201448min

Art Schools Are Bad At Producing Good Artists

Art Schools Are Bad At Producing Good Artists

What makes a good artist? Can creativity can be taught? What kind of education ups the ante for success in today’s global culture? These are some of the questions that were explored in this Intellige...

10 Jul 20141h 33min

Jesus Would Have Voted Democrat

Jesus Would Have Voted Democrat

Remember the rich man and the eye of the needle? Blessed are the meek? The last shall be first? Jesus didn’t hold much truck for wealth or power, nor was he exactly a supporter of family values. He di...

3 Jul 20141h 43min

Shakespeare vs Milton: The Kings of English Literature Debate

Shakespeare vs Milton: The Kings of English Literature Debate

Nearly four centuries after his death, no writer has come close to matching Shakespeare’s understanding of the world – or his gift for dramatic poetry. It’s not just kings and queens that he captured ...

26 Jun 20142h 14min

A Journey Into Outer Space, With Brian Cox

A Journey Into Outer Space, With Brian Cox

Are they out there? Intelligent beings from another world. Will we ever make contact with them? Is it even sensible to make guesses about whether life exists in other galaxies billions of light years ...

19 Jun 20141h 56min

VS Naipaul in Conversation With Geordie Greig

VS Naipaul in Conversation With Geordie Greig

Nobel laureate and giant of Western letters, Trinidad-born V. S. Naipaul has excelled in both fiction and non-fiction. His latest book The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief is a travelogue ...

12 Jun 20141h 20min

Stop Poking the Bear: The West Needs to Engage with Putin Not Castigate Him

Stop Poking the Bear: The West Needs to Engage with Putin Not Castigate Him

You don’t have to like Vladimir Putin, or doubt that he’s a nasty piece of work, to recognise that the Russian president’s reaction to the crisis in Ukraine is largely justified. The promise that Russ...

5 Jun 201448min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

aftenpodden
giver-og-gjengen-vg
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
forklart
i-retten
aftenpodden-usa
stopp-verden
popradet
det-store-bildet
rss-gukild-johaug
fotballpodden-2
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-ness
nokon-ma-ga
hanna-de-heldige
e24-podden
aftenbla-bla
grasoner-den-nye-kalde-krigen
frokostshowet-pa-p5
bt-dokumentar-2