From the most dramatic moment in life – the day of your birth – to first steps, first words, first food, right up to nursery school, most of us can’t remember anything of our first few years. Even after our precious first memory, the recollections tend to be few and far between until well into our childhood. How come?

But even as adults, information is lost over time if there’s no attempt to retain it. So one explanation is that infant amnesia is simply a result of the natural process of forgetting the things we experience throughout our lives.

Our culture may also determine the way we talk about our memories, with some psychologists arguing that they only come once we have mastered the power of speech. “Language helps provide a structure, or organisation, for our memories, that is a narrative.  By creating a story, the experience becomes more organised, and therefore easier to remember over time,” says Fivush.

(Adapted from: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160726-the-mystery-of-why-you-cant-remember-being-a-baby)

From the most dramatic moment in life – the day of your birth – to first steps, first words, first food, right up to nursery school, most of us can’t remember anything of our first few years. Even after our precious first memory, the recollections tend to be few and far between until well into our childhood. How come?

But even as adults, information is lost over time if there’s no attempt to retain it. So one explanation is that infant amnesia is simply a result of the natural process of forgetting the things we experience throughout our lives.

Our culture may also determine the way we talk about our memories, with some psychologists arguing that they only come once we have mastered the power of speech. “Language helps provide a structure, or organisation, for our memories, that is a narrative.  By creating a story, the experience becomes more organised, and therefore easier to remember over time,” says Fivush.

(Adapted from: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160726-the-mystery-of-why-you-cant-remember-being-a-baby)

Broadly speaking, different life stages give us different advantages in language learning. As babies, we have a better ear for different sounds; as toddlers, we can pick up native accents with astonishing speed. As adults, we have longer attention spans and crucial skills like literacy that allow us to continually expand our vocabulary, even in our own language.

And a wealth of factors beyond ageing – like social circumstances, teaching methods, and even love and friendship – can affect how many languages we speak and how well.

“Not everything goes downhill with age,” says Antonella Sorace, a professor of developmental linguistics and director of the Bilingualism Matters Centre at the University of Edinburgh.

She gives the example of what is known as ‘explicit learning’: studying a language in a classroom with a teacher explaining the rules. “Young children are very bad at explicit learning, because they don’t have the cognitive control and the attention and memory capabilities,” Sorace says. “Adults are much better at that. So that can be something that improves with age.”

(Adapted from: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20181024-the-best-age-to-learn-a-foreign-language)

Broadly speaking, different life stages give us different advantages in language learning. As babies, we have a better ear for different sounds; as toddlers, we can pick up native accents with astonishing speed. As adults, we have longer attention spans and crucial skills like literacy that allow us to continually expand our vocabulary, even in our own language.

And a wealth of factors beyond ageing – like social circumstances, teaching methods, and even love and friendship – can affect how many languages we speak and how well.

“Not everything goes downhill with age,” says Antonella Sorace, a professor of developmental linguistics and director of the Bilingualism Matters Centre at the University of Edinburgh.

She gives the example of what is known as ‘explicit learning’: studying a language in a classroom with a teacher explaining the rules. “Young children are very bad at explicit learning, because they don’t have the cognitive control and the attention and memory capabilities,” Sorace says. “Adults are much better at that. So that can be something that improves with age.”

(Adapted from: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20181024-the-best-age-to-learn-a-foreign-language)

The early years are crucial for acquiring our own language. Studies of abandoned or isolated children have shown that if we do not learn human speech early on, we cannot easily make up for this later. However, that cut-off is not the same for foreign language learning.

“The important thing to understand is that age co-varies with many other things,” says Danijela Trenkic, a psycholinguist at the University of York. Children’s lives are completely different from those of adults. She gives the example of a family moving to a new country. Typically, children will learn the language much faster than their parents. But that may be because they hear it constantly at school, while their parents might be working alone. The children may also feel a greater sense of urgency since mastering the language is crucial to their social survival: making friends, being accepted, fitting in. Their parents, on the other hand, are more likely to be able to socialise with people who understand them, such as fellow immigrants.

(Adapted from: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20181024-the-best-age-to-learn-a-foreign-language)

The early years are crucial for acquiring our own language. Studies of abandoned or isolated children have shown that if we do not learn human speech early on, we cannot easily make up for this later. However, that cut-off is not the same for foreign language learning.

“The important thing to understand is that age co-varies with many other things,” says Danijela Trenkic, a psycholinguist at the University of York. Children’s lives are completely different from those of adults. She gives the example of a family moving to a new country. Typically, children will learn the language much faster than their parents. But that may be because they hear it constantly at school, while their parents might be working alone. The children may also feel a greater sense of urgency since mastering the language is crucial to their social survival: making friends, being accepted, fitting in. Their parents, on the other hand, are more likely to be able to socialise with people who understand them, such as fellow immigrants.

(Adapted from: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20181024-the-best-age-to-learn-a-foreign-language)

Storms prompt California super bloom

A super bloom ____ wild poppies has appeared near Lake Elsinore, in California, following weeks of heavy rain. Hillsides in the area, ____ the south east of Los Angeles, are covered ____ swathes of the orange and gold wildflowers. The bloom is in stark contrast ____ last year's devastating wildfires, when thousands ____ local residents were evacuated. Recent storms saw further evacuations in the area. Visitors have been taking advantage ____ the spectacular natural phenomenon to take floral-themed selfies.

(Adapted from BBC)

Yes, you can retire before your 40th birthday

What if you didn’t have to wait until you were in your mid-sixties to retire? What about 50, or even just as you hit your 40th birthday? Don’t laugh — with enough dedication, you could say goodbye to your full-time job years sooner than you think. “We all dream of retiring early with a fantastic pension and no money worries,” said Victoria Lewis, a financial adviser with the Spectrum IFA Group in Paris, France. You just have to put the right plan in place.
What counts as early retirement? In the United States, the average adult retires at 61, according to a Gallup poll. In Australia, men retiring within the last five years were 61.5 to 63.3, on average, and women were 59.6, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Whereas in Japan, the average worker retires at 69.1, and in Luxembourg, the average retirement age is 57.6, according to the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Based on those averages, financial experts consider an early retirement age to be under 55, and typically between age 50 and 55. But in some countries, like India, for instance, where two-thirds of the population is 35 or younger, more youthful working population has its goal set to retire earlier “at 45 or 50,” said Lovaii Navlakhi, founder and chief executive officer of financial planning firm International Money Matters in Bangalore. Here is some advice on making it happen:
What it will take: Dropping out of the workforce years before everyone else, means you have to be completely debt free, with savings equal to about 25 times the income you wish to achieve in retirement, taking any government pensions or payments into account. A basic financial rule of thumb maintains that you can withdraw about 4% from a retirement portfolio per year — or 1/25th of the balance. That means you should be able to safely withdraw about $40,000 per year from a $1,000,000 retirement portfolio — added to whatever you might be receiving (or expecting to receive later) from the government. Earnings and interest will presumably make up the difference annually, making it possible to withdraw 4% a year indefinitely. (Market fluctuations may affect this, of course.)
How long do you need to prepare: It depends on how dedicated you are to your cause, and how quickly you can pay off any outstanding debts (including paying off your mortgage) and accrue the required savings. For Pete, a US blogger who writes at MrMoneyMustache.com (and prefers not to give his last name to protect his family’s privacy), he and his wife were able to retire at about age 30 after nine years of serious savings and low lifestyle expenses.

(Adapted from BBC)

Yes, you can retire before your 40th birthday

What if you didn’t have to wait until you were in your mid-sixties to retire? What about 50, or even just as you hit your 40th birthday? Don’t laugh — with enough dedication, you could say goodbye to your full-time job years sooner than you think. “We all dream of retiring early with a fantastic pension and no money worries,” said Victoria Lewis, a financial adviser with the Spectrum IFA Group in Paris, France. You just have to put the right plan in place.
What counts as early retirement? In the United States, the average adult retires at 61, according to a Gallup poll. In Australia, men retiring within the last five years were 61.5 to 63.3, on average, and women were 59.6, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Whereas in Japan, the average worker retires at 69.1, and in Luxembourg, the average retirement age is 57.6, according to the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Based on those averages, financial experts consider an early retirement age to be under 55, and typically between age 50 and 55. But in some countries, like India, for instance, where two-thirds of the population is 35 or younger, more youthful working population has its goal set to retire earlier “at 45 or 50,” said Lovaii Navlakhi, founder and chief executive officer of financial planning firm International Money Matters in Bangalore. Here is some advice on making it happen:
What it will take: Dropping out of the workforce years before everyone else, means you have to be completely debt free, with savings equal to about 25 times the income you wish to achieve in retirement, taking any government pensions or payments into account. A basic financial rule of thumb maintains that you can withdraw about 4% from a retirement portfolio per year — or 1/25th of the balance. That means you should be able to safely withdraw about $40,000 per year from a $1,000,000 retirement portfolio — added to whatever you might be receiving (or expecting to receive later) from the government. Earnings and interest will presumably make up the difference annually, making it possible to withdraw 4% a year indefinitely. (Market fluctuations may affect this, of course.)
How long do you need to prepare: It depends on how dedicated you are to your cause, and how quickly you can pay off any outstanding debts (including paying off your mortgage) and accrue the required savings. For Pete, a US blogger who writes at MrMoneyMustache.com (and prefers not to give his last name to protect his family’s privacy), he and his wife were able to retire at about age 30 after nine years of serious savings and low lifestyle expenses.

(Adapted from BBC)