Health Problems

‘Music of speech’ linked to brain area unique to humans

We humans are the only primates that can flexibly control the pitch of our voices. This melodic control is not just important for our singing abilities: Fluctuating pitch also conveys critical information during speech—including the speaker’s mood, words of emphasis, or whether a sentence is a statement or a question. Some tonal languages, like Mandarin […]

Health News

Tokyo passes strict anti-smoking laws ahead of Olympics

Tokyo’s city government Wednesday passed strict new anti-smoking rules ahead of the 2020 Olympics, leapfrogging national legislation on lighting up that has been watered down after opposition from pro-smoking MPs. Japan has long been an outlier in the developed world, considered a smoker’s paradise where lighting up is allowed in most restaurants and bars. The […]