Hello everyone! I’m Lucy, and welcome to Science News World Winter Special. Today we have two interesting news topics about the speed of learning languages and the healthiest way to prepare vegetables.

Are you interested in learning a new language this winter? Linguists are discussing how age is related to the speed of learning. Some linguists say that children learn faster than adults. Since children have winter breaks, they use the winter break to learn languages in a short time frame. It is true that most studies concluded that the young ones learned faster. While adults learned the basics, children tended to speak fluently. Linguists also found out that children’s minds are very flexible. Kids’ brains are often described as a sponge. Scientists’ opinion is that when people pass a certain age, they lose the ability to learn certain skills. Other linguists think adults learn faster than children. They say children’s levels are lower than adults and are expected to learn less than adults. It just looks like children learn faster, but adults learn more in a short period. Linguists claim that research disproved that children have flexible minds. This means that younger students learn basics, and older ones learn high-level-language in a small amount of time. This winter, some companies are keeping their employees ambitious by building a learning zone at their office.

Next up, we are fighting illnesses in winter, so we have to prepare vegetables in a healthy way. Scientists are talking about how the cooking process affects the nutrients. Some scientists say that raw vegetables are healthier. They say that if you boil vegetables, the water drains the vitamins in them, and when you dispose of the water, the vitamins go away with the water. They also say that raw vegetables are easier to digest. They think it’s because raw ones naturally contain chemicals that help you digest, these chemicals are called enzymes, and when you cook the vegetables, the heat destroys the enzymes. Other scientists say that the cooked vegetables are actually healthier. They say that it is true that the water drains the vitamins out when you boil the vegetables, but they also found that if you boil those for a right amount of time, the vitamins are still with them. In winter, we recommend a hot vegetable soup, which allows us to take in vitamins and water, which is good for digestion.

Before we go, we want to hear your story about today’s news. Are you going to learn a language this winter break? How do you cook your vegetable when it’s cold outside? You can comment on our website. I hope you enjoyed our show! Have a nice day!