Episode

New idea for the origin of language

Podcast: The Science Show
Published: Mar 13, 2026
Duration seconds: 3276
Processing state: not_requested
Canonical source: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/scienceshow/new-idea-for-the-origin-of-language/106378862
Audio: https://mediacore-live-production.akamaized.net/audio/02/ij/Z/f3.mp3
JSON: /v1/public/podcasts/the-science-show-887135/episodes/new-idea-for-the-origin-of-language
Markdown: /podcast/the-science-show-887135/new-idea-for-the-origin-of-language.md

Actions

POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-science-show-887135/episodes/new-idea-for-the-origin-of-language/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-science-show-887135/new-idea-for-the-origin-of-language.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

Summary

Conventional explanations for how humans became ‘the language animal’ focus on our need to cooperate to hunt, fight or make tools. Now, evolutionary biologist Madeleine Beekman suggests a new idea for origin of language: the need to share childcare.