{"podcast":{"title":"BRAINLAND","slug":"brainland-6744859","podcast_index_feed_id":6744859,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6452b6516dd22500113dc7ca","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/brainland","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6452b6516dd22500113dc7ca/1683142831630-6485c986c1518411e134acc7a157bc98.jpeg","author":"Ken Barrett","episode_count":93,"summary":"Brainland the podcast navigates the boundary between neuroscience, the arts and humanities with the occasional wander off piste. It began as a neuro-historical exploration of the background to the Brainland the opera but quickly spread its wings. A Brainland Collective production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-26T20:17:13.397969+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/brainland-6744859"},"episode":{"title":"PROTO: Uncovering the shared origin of the world's most spoken languages.","slug":"proto-uncovering-the-shared-origin-of-the-world-s-most-spoken-languages","published_at":"2026-04-21T18:48:32+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/brainland-6744859/proto-uncovering-the-shared-origin-of-the-world-s-most-spoken-languages","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/brainland-6744859","url":"https://shows.acast.com/brainland/episodes/proto","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6452b6516dd22500113dc7ca/e/69e78ea51e5fb1ae464ed646/media.mp3","summary":"In this episode Laura Spinney talks about the background to her book 'Proto', an extraordinarily wide ranging and engaging account of the origin and archeology of Indo-European languages. We discuss the source of ancient DNA that is uncovering the extraordinary migration west of nomads from the Ukranian and Russian steppe along with their language, the ancestor of the most spoken languages in the world. Early philology, copper smelting (5000 years ago), pottery decoration of lactose intolerance ( among those nomad herdsmen and women) all get a mention. We also discuss before we discuss the origins of celtic languages and the various forms of English. All the above just a sample fo the stories in Laura's very readable guide. Participants: Laura Spinney, science journalist and writer https://www.lauraspinney.com/ Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk Laura's book 'Proto': https://www.lauraspinney.com/ More on 'proto-indo-european': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language The other proto language groups: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-language Laura's book, very well read, on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/69CajLdpTI4HQZvuzs0LcB?si=2d84b5b6e3074875 Opening and closing music: Prelude to the opera Brainland , composed by Stephen Brown.  Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk Portrait sketch by KB Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"In this episode Laura Spinney talks about the background to her book 'Proto', an extraordinarily wide ranging and engaging account of the origin and arche…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2533,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/brainland-6744859/episodes/proto-uncovering-the-shared-origin-of-the-world-s-most-spoken-languages/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/brainland-6744859/proto-uncovering-the-shared-origin-of-the-world-s-most-spoken-languages.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}