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Little Squeakers
07 April 2018

Little Squeakers

Speech is controlled by the brain, which forms thoughts into words that come out of our mouths. Babies learn to speak by making babbling sounds that gradually turn into proper words over time as their brains develop. But researchers studying baby marmoset monkeys have discovered that the developing body also plays an important role in helping these animals learn to ‘talk’. These audio traces represent the babbling sounds made by a ten-day-old marmoset (bottom) – controlled ‘trills’ on the left and right and immature noises known as ‘phees’ in the middle. By four weeks the immature sounds are mostly gone (top), and more trills are made. The middle trace is from an older animal breathing helium mixed with oxygen, which reverses the lungs to a more immature state. The immature phee sounds are back, suggesting that the changing vocal noises are due to the body growing rather than the brain maturing.

Written by Kat Arney

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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