Newsroom – Category: Humanities

Scientists explain social impairments across the autistic spectrum using computational modelling more

The central use of language is in conversation, where we take short turns in rapid alternation, a pattern found across unrelated cultures and languages. In the December issue of Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Stephen Levinson from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics reviews new research on turn-taking, focusing on its implications for how languages are structured and for how language and communication evolved. more

The TTIP Agreement is highly controversial in the public opinion in Europe and especially in Germany. First and foremost the opponents criticize the intended arbitration process for investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). By the supporters it is considered as a general practice. more

An opinion article from Jürgen Basedow more

New research presents evidence for innate understanding of language rules more

A new learning rule could help robots to acquire new movements and explain how people develop sensorimotor intelligence more

Scientists provide evidence of a link between genetic changes and the spread of farming in the Stone Age more

Migration isn’t a new phenomenon, but new insights suggest that modern-day Europeans actually have at least three ancestral populations. This finding was published by Johannes Krause and prominently featured on the cover of Nature. The paleogeneticist himself is currently travellingl through time as a Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena. For him, looking back millennia into the past is no problem. more

Newly published anthology provides an overview of ethnic inequalities in education and training more

'Broca's area' processes both language and music at the same time more