Research: Talking, longer sentences help babies’ brains

Research: Talking, longer sentences help babies’ brains

WASHINGTON

The sooner you start explaining the world to your baby, the better.

New research shows that both how much and how well parents talk with babies and toddlers help to tune the youngsters’ brains in ways that build crucial language and vocabulary skills — a key to fighting the infamous word gap that puts poor children at a disadvantage at an even younger age than once thought.

The idea is to connect words and meaning, so the brain becomes primed to learn through context.

“You’re building intelligence through language,” is how Stanford University psychology professor Anne Fernald explains it. “It’s making nets of meaning that then will help the child learn new words.”

And forget dumbed-down baby talk: Longer, more- complex sentences are better.

Car-bomb blast kills 6 in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia

A car bomb exploded close to a convoy of United Nations vehicles near Mogadishu’s international airport Thursday, killing six Somalis on the street, officials said. Al-Qaida-linked militants claimed responsibility.

A U.N. vehicle was damaged, but no U.N. staff members were injured, said Nicholas Kay, U.N. representative to Somalia. He said four security escorts were lightly wounded.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack and expressed “deep condolences” to the families of the Somalis killed and injured, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

NSA: Snowden copied password

WASHINGTON

Former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden gained access to at least some classified documents he later disclosed by copying a password from a co-worker who has since resigned, the NSA reported to Congress. Snowden previously has said he did not steal any passwords.

The unnamed civilian employee who worked with Snowden resigned last month after the government revoked his security clearance, according to a letter that NSA legislative director Ethan L. Bauman sent this week to the House Judiciary Committee. A military employee and a private contractor also lost their access to NSA data as part of the continuing investigation, Bauman said.

Bauman’s memo, dated Monday, provides some of the first details about what authorities said they have learned about how Snowden retrieved so many classified documents before passing them to news organizations.

Volcanic eruption closes 3 airports

SURABAYA, Indonesia

Volcanic ash from a major eruption in Indonesia shrouded a large swath of the country’s most densely populated island today, closed three international airports and sent thousands fleeing.

First light brought clear the extent of the overnight explosive eruption at Mount Kelud on Java Island, though there was no immediate word on any casualties.

Booms from the mountain could be heard 80 miles away in Surabaya, the country’s second-largest city, and even further afield in Jogyakarta. Ash covered the ground in both cities and was still falling, according to witnesses and accounts on social media. TV footage from towns closer to the peak showed farmyard animals covered in ash.

Associated Press