Globe-trotting

Swedish royals announce birth of daughter

Stockholm: Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia announced the birth of their fourth child, a daughter. The young princess, whose name and photograph have not been released, was born on Friday in Stockholm. Her father, Prince Carl Philip, is the son of Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and fourth in the line of succession. AP

Whale song follows human language law: Report

Melbourne: All known human languages display a surprising pattern: the most frequent word in a language is twice as frequent as the second most frequent, three times as frequent as the third, and so on. This is known as Zipf’s law. Researchers have hunted for evidence of this pattern in communication among other species, but until now no other examples have been found. Experts have now discovered that the Zipfian pattern also occurs in whale song. This complex signalling system, like human language, is culturally learned by each individual from others. PTI

Flu season in US most intense in 15 years

New York: The US winter virus season is in full force, and by one measure is the most intense in 15 years. One indicator of flu activity is the percentage of doctor’s office visits driven by flu-like symptoms. Last week, that number was clearly higher than the peak of any winter flu season since 2009-2010, when a swine flu pandemic hit the nation, according to data posted Friday morning by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The flu has forced schools to shut down in some states. AP