ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 141

If There’s a Wormhole Hiding in Our Galaxy, Could We Really Find It?

By Yasemin Saplakoglu Wormholes, passageways that connect one universe or time to another, are still only theoretical — but that doesn’t mean physicists aren’t looking for them. In a new study, researchers describe how to find wormholes in the folds of our galaxy. These hypothetical passageways, created by folding a region of space like a piece of …

Third Indiana Catholic school employee fired in growing scandal over LGBTQ staff

By Tim Fitzsimons A former social worker at an Indianapolis Catholic high school says she was fired for making public statements in support of LGBTQ colleagues who were terminated. “If you publicly support, you know, (being) against discrimination … you too, can be a victim of losing your job,” Kelley Fisher told IndyStar. Fisher, who is …

I lost my faith in a Chick-fil-A

By Luke Douglas If I believe in God and He exists, I’ve gained everything. If I believe in God and He doesn’t exist, I’ve lost nothing. If I disbelieve, and He does exist, I’ve lost everything. Therefore, a rational person who has any doubt should take the leap of faith just in case. I don’t …

From West Virginia to the Vatican: How a Catholic bishop secretly sent money from a church hospital to a cardinal in Rome

By Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Shawn Boburg The idea came to West Virginia Bishop Michael J. Bransfield while he was in Rome visiting an old friend, a powerful cardinal at the Vatican. Bransfield thought the cleric’s apartment was barren and lacked a comfortable room for watching television. After Bransfield returned to West Virginia, in May …

In a Distant Galaxy, Colliding Exoplanets Are Upending What We Knew About Solar System Formation

By Brandon Specktor Solar systems form in a school of hard knocks. Take ours, for example: Earth had barely cooled 4.5 billion years ago when it got slapped in the face by a renegade Mars-size rock, reducing both bodies to giant balls of lava. Scientists believe this cosmic collision spewed so much debris into the air that …

Pete Buttigieg: Religion Shouldn’t Excuse Discrimination

By Trudy Ring Religious freedom should never be used as an excuse to discriminate, Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg said in a new interview with Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. Buttigieg, the first openly gay person to seek the Democratic nomination, is the latest candidate to be interviewed for the Transform the …

Ugandan police detain 16 men over suspected homosexuality

By The Associated Press and Tim Fitzsimons A Ugandan gay rights organization said 16 men were detained earlier this week by police on suspicion of homosexuality and human trafficking. Diane Bakuraira of Sexual Minorities Uganda said Thursday the arrests took place in a neighborhood just outside the capital, Kampala, on Monday as the men were …

Presidential Candidate Julián Castro: “I Don’t Consider Atheism a Dirty Word”

By Hemant Mehta Just days after he got Sen. Elizabeth Warren to say she’d consider hiring a Secular Outreach Director for her presidential campaign, Justin Scott, the Iowa State Director for American Atheists, had a chance to speak to former Obama Cabinet member and current presidential candidate Julián Castro during a meeting at the University of Northern Iowa. He asked Castro what …

New drug forces flu virus into ‘error catastrophe,’ overwhelming it with mutations

By Kai Kupferschmidt Scientists often warn about the dangers of pandemic pathogens spreading quickly around the globe. But one virus already sweeps across the world every year, causing tens of millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths: influenza. Now, a new drug that has shown promise in ferrets may help drive down that …

How the earliest mammals thrived alongside dinosaurs

By John Pickrell Night is falling in the early Jurassic 185 million years ago, and the Kayentatherium is tending to her newly hatched brood. Heavy rains pummel the bank above her den as she looks over her dozens of tiny young. She is about the size of a large cat and could easily pass for a mammal, …