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Disclosure Day and the science of alien language

Disclosure Day and the science of alien language

60-Second Science vor 3 Monaten

A linguist lays out what communicating with aliens could actually involve—and what that tells us about human language

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In the new movie Disclosure Day, aliens communicate through a
series of strange clicks and pops. But what could an alien language
actually be like? In this episode of Science Quickly, host Rachel
Feltman puts that question to linguist Jeffrey Punske. We explore
why fictional aliens in Hollywood and beyond tend to sound the way
they do, what real human languages can teach us about communication
and why math could be humanity’s best shot at first contact.
Recommended Reading: Steven Spielberg shares his favorite sci-fi
story ever What Disclosure Day gets wrong about the search for
aliens Join our Summer Reading Challenge E-mail us at
sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or
ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday:
subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science,
our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel
Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This
episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle
Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic
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