The World - Nov. 8, 2012

THURSDAY

An Asian elephant named Koshik can imitate human speech, saying words in Korean that can be understood by speakers of the language, according to researchers from the University of Vienna. It is unclear why Koshik started mimicking human speech but cognitive biologists Angela Stoeger and Tecumseh Fitch suggest in research published in the journal Current Biology that it might be related to his experiences as a juvenile.

A prehistoric town unearthed in eastern Bulgaria is the oldest urban settlement found to date in Europe, a Bulgarian archaeologist said today. Vasil Nikolov, a professo...