Language

RNA project to create language for scientists worldwide

Research into ribonucleic acids (RNA)--the building blocks of life--is exploding as scientists worldwide discover the roles of RNA in genetics, health, disease and the development of organisms. The rapidly growing body of knowledge has created the need for researchers to develop a shared vocabulary and system for describing, cataloging and comparing their findings. An international team of...

'Uniquely human' component of language found in gregarious birds

Although linguists have argued that certain patterns of language organization are the exclusive province of humans -- perhaps the only uniquely human component of language -- researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of California San Diego have discovered the same capacity to recognize such patterns and distinguish between them in Sturnus vulgaris, the common European starlin...

Warbling whales speak a language all their own

The songs of the humpback whale are among the most complex in the animal kingdom. Researchers have now mathematically confirmed that whales have their own syntax that uses sound units to build phrases that can be combined to form songs that last for hours. Until now, only humans have demonstrated the ability to use such a hierarchical structure of communication. The research, published onl...

Learning the language of DNA

An international consortium of scientists, including a team from The University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), is a step closer to the next generation of treatments to combat disease, after publishing a comprehensive analysis of the human and mouse transcriptomes. A senior member of the consortium and IMB researcher Professor David Hume said transcriptome descri...

Computer scientists unravel 'language of surgery'

Borrowing ideas from speech recognition research, Johns Hopkins computer scientists are building mathematical models to represent the safest and most effective ways to perform surgery, including tasks such as suturing, dissecting and joining tissue. The team's long-term goal is to develop an objective way of evaluating a surgeon's work and to help doctors improve their operating room skil...

Uniform language for describing genes of pathogenic and beneficial microbes

An international group of scientists has announced a major expansion of a lingua franca used to describe the activities of genes in living organisms. The expansion provides terms that scientists can use to describe the complex events that occur when a pathogenic or beneficial microbe encounters its host. Understanding these events is crucial for developing new interventions for preventing infect...