A new study analyzing spontaneous speech in 48 languages reveals that human beings across the globe structure their speech into rhythmic units at a remarkably consistent rate of one every 1.6 seconds. This low-frequency rhythm is stable across cultures, ages, and languages, suggesting a universal cognitive mechanism of human communication. The findings shed new light on how the human mind structures language in time. This may have implications for neuroscience, language learning, and speech technology.

There were tens of thousands of human victims of coerced medical research under the German National Socialist regime. An important approach to processing these crimes involves raising awareness of the individual fates of those affected and thus giving them back their names and histories. Professor Dr Patrick Cramer, President of the Max Planck Society, and Professor Dr Bettina Rockenbach, President of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, emphasised this point during a press conference to present the first online database that offers systematic access to the names and biographies of victims of unethical medical research under National Socialism. The database encourages remembrance, research, and historical reflection. It was developed as part of the joint research project “Brain Research at Institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in the Context of National Socialist Injustices”, which is funded by the Max Planck Society.  

Research shows that early childhood maltreatment is associated with significant delays in social and cognitive development. Unfortunately, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, children under age one face the highest risk of maltreatment, particularly neglect. The Child Protective Services (CPS) system is responsible for responding to maltreatment and preventing its recurrence. Most children with substantiated maltreatment reports remain with their parents, and CPS provides services to the parents (including substance use treatment or parenting classes) to rectify the conditions that led to maltreatment. Most foster care entries occur during early childhood, from the newborn period to five years old, but most research on foster care is focused on older children. Debate over the impacts of foster care has persisted for many years, yet little attention has been paid to the timing of children’s entry into foster care.

To remedy the gap in literature, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the Pennsylvania State University followed 8,795 Wisconsin children referred to CPS during their first year of life from birth until third grade. They examined the associations between the age of first foster care placement and school test scores, exposure to punitive discipline (suspension), and chronic absenteeism. The findings suggest that compared to no foster care intervention, foster care during early infancy is related to a higher likelihood of demonstrating basic or above reading skills and a lower likelihood of chronic absenteeism.