The News
Primate Gestures May Be Clue to Human Language
by Michelle Trudeau
Morning Edition, May 1, 2007 · Watch a group of apes for a while and you'll inevitably see them use their hands to communicate that they want something from another — like food, or to play, or to be groomed, or to have sex.
Researchers at Emory University studied gestures used by two groups of chimps and two groups of bonobos. Chimps and bonobos are two separate species of apes; genetically, they are humans' closest relatives.

The Research
Read the research behind this story in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.