Languages differ in grammar as much as in vocabulary: some require speakers to mark tense in every sentence, while Hokkaido Ainu does not require time to be specified at all. Grambank, a new database, records 195 grammatical features across more than 2,400 languages, including two sign languages, drawn from grammar books and expert consultation. The study estimates that nearly half of the world's language diversity is threatened, and in some regions such as South America and Australia all indigenous languages are at risk. Each lost language takes a distinct way of organising experience with it.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.