SPONSORED BY  | | | | April 19, 2024: Human life was forged by fire, how language evolves, and AI is now outperforming humans in math and reading. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | Earth is a fire planet. And therefore human fate is entangled with fire, writes Stephen Pyne, emeritus professor of fire ecology. As long as Earth has had terrestrial vegetation, it has had "first fire," often ignited by lightning. During the Holocene, some 11,700 years ago, humans domesticated fire into a second stage and wielded it to manipulate the land, cook their food and lay the foundations of modern society. The last two centuries ushered in the third stage of fire, where humans rampantly burn fossil fuels.
Why this matters: The warming climate, fueled by the fire of burning fossil fuels, is driving off ice and remaking landscapes; it's causing continental shifts in biogeography, changes in sea level and a wave of extinctions. Massive wildfires ramped up in the age of industrialization, and their effects are breathed in by millions of people each year.
What the experts say: "Fire empowered humans to go everywhere and do far more than their primate ancestors could ever have imagined," writes Pyne. But the balance of fire in today's world needs to be restored–we burn too many fossil fuels and allow too few natural fires that benefit forests and ecosystems. "Good fire made us. Bad fire may break us. The choice is ours." | | | The Evolution of Language | Language gradually evolves over time. In a recent experiment thousands of participants read English-language stories and rewrote them to be read by other participants. Those latter participants then rewrote the stories for others to read. Researchers analyzed which words "survived" from the first version of the story to the last. They also examined two large collections of English historical texts from the past 200 years, containing more than 40 billion words, to see which words survived. Overall, they found, language tends to get simpler over time.
What they found: Words typically acquired at an early age (such as "hand," or "today") remain stable in the lexicon. Concrete words linger better than abstract ones: "dog" persists longer than "animal," which persists longer than "organism." And emotionally provocative words—either negative or positive—endure.
What the experts say: "Yes, we shift toward simple language, but then we also grab complex language that we need," says Fritz Breithaupt, cognitive scientist at Indiana University Bloomington and study co-author. New words that address the intricacies of modern life may somewhat balance out this shift. | | | • In the latest episode of Lost Women of Science: Melba Philips co-authored a paper with J. Robert Oppenheimer, detailing a crucial type of nuclear reaction. She later became a vocal critic of nuclear weapons. | 30 min listen | | | • A blistering heat wave in West Africa sent temperatures over 110 F earlier this month. | 4 min read | | | • AI matches or outperforms people at tasks such as competitive math and reading comprehension, a new report finds. | 4 min read | | | • SpaceX's Starship could help NASA bring precious samples from Mars back to Earth. | 5 min read | | | This photomontage shows a selection of sample tubes cached by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover at the "Three Forks" depot within the mission's landing site of Jezero Crater. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS | | | • Aeromedical and safety experts published a landmark report earlier this month which included 24 recommendations that would overhaul the FAA's current mental health policies for pilots and air traffic controllers--namely allowing them to seek therapy or medication without endangering their jobs. "These recommendations propose novel, innovative ways to address hidden risks currently existing within our national air space," writes William R. Hoffman, a physician and affiliated assistant professor of aviation at the University of North Dakota. | 4 min read | | | SPONSORED CONTENT BY ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY | The conversation starts here. | Our mandate is to keep the complex network of systems that make up our world in balance so that all life on Earth may thrive. This requires bringing all of our voices together to craft long-term, sustainable solutions. Join the conversation at globalfutures.asu.edu. | | | MOST POPULAR STORIES OF THE WEEK | | | • Space-Junk Strike in Florida Signals New Era of Orbital Debris | 8 min read | | | • Colon Cancer Linked to Mouth Bacteria | 4 min read | | | • Scientists Discover Extensive Brain-Wave Patterns | 2 min read | | | I took particular interest in the above experiment on language evolution. Science writers especially endeavor to translate complex ideas into straightforward language to explain scientific findings to non-scientists–a vital task in an informed society. This can be a hard balance to achieve. | Tell me what you think about the level of language in this newsletter by emailing: newsletters@sciam.com. And in the spirit of the Pyrocene era, check out the mesmerizing photo below of the fiery sun (and dark sunspot!) that reader Shailendra Saxena shot from a Chicago suburb on April 8. Have a great weekend! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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