What crying baby mice could teach us about human speech
Scientists have found a cluster of rhythmic brain cells in newborn mice that may explain why spoken languages around the world share a common tempo.
When baby mice cry, they do it to a beat that is synchronized to the rise and fall of their own breath. It's a pattern that researchers say could help explain why human infants can cry at birth — and how they learn to speak.
Mice are born with a cluster of cells in the brainstem that appears to coordinate the rhythms of breathing and vocalizations, a team in the journal .
