ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 178

This Is NASA’s Best View Yet (and Closest, Too!) of Asteroid Bennu

By Meghan Bartels NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft inched closer still to an asteroid called Bennu, breaking the record it set previously — but the real reward is the stunning photographs the probe has captured since the maneuver. The spacecraft first slipped into orbit around Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid, on Dec. 31. At the time, the probe became the …

Anti-LGBTQ Hate Group Leader Tony Perkins Now Leads U.S. Religious Freedom Group

By David G. McAfee Tony Perkins, the leader of the anti-LGBTQ hate group Family Research Council, is now the head of a legitimate government organization dedicated to religious freedom. Perkins, who once said religious liberties don’t apply to Muslims, was appointed by GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell last year to serve as a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious …

The Evangelical, the ‘Pool Boy,’ the Comedian and Michael Cohen

By Frances Robles and Jim Rutenberg MIAMI BEACH — Senator Ted Cruz was running neck and neck with Donald J. Trump in Iowa just before the caucuses in 2016, but his campaign was expecting a last-minute boost from a powerful endorser, Jerry Falwell Jr. Mr. Falwell was chancellor of one of the nation’s largest Christian …

Domestication Made Dogs’ Facial Anatomy More Fetching to Humans

By Jim Daley In the celebrated Claymation series Wallace and Gromit, loyal dog Gromit is silent yet highly expressive, often making his thoughts known with pronounced eyebrow movements. Although they are exaggerated on the clay pup for comedic effect, any real dog’s owner will confirm these animals do seem to have highly communicative faces. A pooch’s raised …

Atheist nurse’s fight against mandatory AA will go before B.C. Human Rights Tribunal

By Bethany Lindsay A B.C. nurse who lost his job when he refused to attend a 12-step program for addiction will get a chance to argue he was discriminated against as an atheist. Byron Wood contends Alcoholics Anonymous’s emphasis on placing your life in the hands of a higher power simply won’t work for someone …

Cassini’s Breathtaking Final Images Reveal Never-Before-Seen Shapes in Saturn’s Rings

By Michelle Starr In its final year, Cassini plunged where no spacecraft had plunged before, down in the space between Saturn and its rings. Again and again it dove, for a total of 22 orbits. In the data collecting during those breakneck dives, astronomers have just found new information about the way tiny moons sculpt …

China announces hefty fines for unauthorized collection of DNA

By David Cyranoski China this week announced a new law restricting the collection and use of genetic resources from people in the country — including biological samples that yield DNA, such as blood, and data gleaned from sequencing them. There will be hefty fines for unauthorized collection or use of genetic material. The law, which …

The Twisted Life and Death of a Predator Priest With a Wrestling Fetish

By Pilar Melendez As a New Jersey priest in the 1970s and 1980s, John Capparelli liked to arrange wrestling matches for parish boys. He gave them skimpy Speedos to wear, took pictures of them grappling, and even joined in—using the rough-housing as an excuse to sadistically grope the kids. “Capparelli kind of played the role …

6 things I wish people understood about atheism in America

By Jay Wexler The first time I remember openly identifying as an atheist was when I announced to my high school freshman English class that I didn’t believe in God. Later that day in gym, I broke my collarbone playing dodgeball. Was it God’s revenge for my blasphemy? I didn’t think so, but for a …

Breaks in the Perfect Symmetry of the Universe Could Be a Window Into Completely New Physics

By Paul Sutter The bible of particle physics is dying for an upgrade. And physicists may have just the thing: Some particles and forces might look in the mirror and not recognize themselves. That, in itself, would send the so-called Standard Model into a tailspin. Just about all fundamental reactions between the universe’s subatomic particles look the …