ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 175

OPEN DISCUSSION JULY 2019

This thread has been created for discussion on themes relevant to Reason and Science for which there are not currently any dedicated threads. Please note it is NOT for general chat, and that our Comment Policy applies as usual. There is a link to this at the foot of the page. If you would like …

NASA Announces New Dragonfly Drone Mission to Explore Titan

By David W. Brown NASA announced Thursday that it is sending a drone-style quadcopter to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Dragonfly, as the mission is called, will be capable of soaring across the skies of Titan and landing intermittently to take scientific measurements, studying the world’s mysterious atmosphere and topography while searching for hints of life …

Cyanide-Laced Meteorites May Have Seeded Earth’s First Life

By Stephanie Pappas Cyanide isn’t just the last resort for the captured spies of Hollywood film. It’s also a crucial component of the early chemistry of life. And now, new research finds that cyanide might have ridden to Earth on meteorites. Samples of a particular group of primitive meteorites — including a large one that fell near …

Creationist Ken Ham Claims Public Libraries Are ‘Dangerous Places’ For Children

By Michael Stone The stupid, it burns: Ken Ham, the creationist behind Kentucky’s Ark Encounter, claims that “public libraries are becoming dangerous places for kids.” The New York Daily News reports: The creationist responsible for Kentucky’s Ark Encounter — a museum set inside a replica of the Biblical Noah’s Ark — is warning children about the …

Jerry Falwell, Jr. Lashes Out at Christian Critic of Refugee Children Conditions

By Hemant Mehta This afternoon, Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, expressed some sympathy for the refugee children our Republican government has chosen to put in concentration camps. That seems like the bare minimum any evangelical Christian leader could say. The situation is bad. The kids …

Move over, DNA: ancient proteins are starting to reveal humanity’s history

By Matthew Warren Some time in the past 160,000 years or so, the remains of an ancient human ended up in a cave high on the Tibetan Plateau in China. Perhaps the individual died there, or parts were taken there by its kin or an animal scavenger. In just a few years, the flesh disappeared …

Could a Gut Bacteria Supplement Make Us Run Faster?

By Gretchen Reynolds Could an infusion of bacteria from the guts of athletes help inactive people to exercise more easily? A new study of marathoners, mice and their respective intestines toys with that possibility. It finds that strenuous endurance exercise by human athletes increases the numbers of certain bugs in their microbiomes and that giving …

Ohio Middle School Removes Ten Commandments Plaque Fearing Lawsuit from Atheists

By Hemant Mehta A Ten Commandments plaque inside on Ohio middle school has finally been taken down. Before this week, you would’ve seen it as you walk into the auditorium at Welty Middle School in the city of New Philadelphia. It was apparently a gift from the Class of 1926 and had remained there ever since. But …

They turn to Facebook and YouTube to find a cure for cancer — and get sucked into a world of bogus medicine

By Abby Ohlheiser Mari pressed kale leaves through the juicer, preparing the smoothie that she believed had saved her life. “I’m a cancer-killer, girl,” Mari told her niece, who stood next to her in the kitchen. The pair were filming themselves for a YouTube video. Mari said she was in remission from a dangerous form …

The Magic of Dowsing Keeps Holding On

By Sasha von Oldershausen Before Jeff Boyd became the city of Marfa’s public-works director, he had a long career underwater. As a commercial saturation diver, one of the most specialized kinds of divers around, he would spend his days some 400 feet below the surface, breathing a mixture of helium and oxygen, for month-long stretches. …