In this video excerpt from NOVA scienceNOW, learn about an area of the brain that is involved with both language processing and the creation of stone tools. Correspondent and New York Times technology columnist David Pogue explores how tool-making (an ancient human skill that requires complex, sequential thought) may have evolved together with language. He speaks with scientist Cynthia Thompson who studies the parts of the brain that are active when computing sentences. Pogue also meets with scientists Dietrich Stout and Thierry Chaminade who research whether Broca's area, which is associated with sentence processing, is active when the brain is engaged in stone tool-making. Their findings are consistent with the idea that language and tool-making coevolved, known as the "tool-to-language hypothesis."

This video is available in both English and Spanish audio, along with corresponding closed captions.