ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 206

A Strange, Sleeping Magnetar Just Woke Up After a Decade of Silence

By Rafi Letzter A particularly odd, spinning star has woken up, and it”s spitting bright flashes of radio waves at us again. The stellar spinner is a magnetar, which is a type of neutron star — a Manhattan-size remnant of a larger star, and the densest type of object besides black holes that we’ve detected anywhere in …

Anti-Vax Parents Lose Bid to Send Kids to School Amid Measles Outbreak

By David G. McAfee A judge in New York has ruled against anti-vaxxer parents who want to send their unvaccinated kids to school during a measles outbreak. More than 40 unvaccinated students were banned from the private Green Meadow Waldorf School in Rockland County, where local residents are currently experiencing a measles outbreak. Several parents …

The Duggars Helped Overturn LGBTQ Civil Rights in Arkansas. They Still Have a TV Show.

By Nico Lang The public may have forgotten about the Duggars, but Arkansas has not. The family’s TLC reality show, Counting On, quietly debuted its ninth season last month. A spinoff of the once-popular 19 Kids and Counting, it was developed after reports broke that Josh Duggar, the oldest child of Jim Bob and Michelle, molested four …

49 killed in terrorist attack at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand

By Isaac Stanley-Becker, Eli Rosenberg, and Alex Horton Forty-nine people are dead and scores more are injured after a heavily armed gunman clad in military-style gear opened fire during prayers at a mosque in the center of Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday. A second mosque was also targeted in what Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called …

A NASA Journey to the Moon May Need to Find Another Rocket or Two

By Kenneth Chang Struggling to get its new giant rocket ready in time for a scheduled launch next year, NASA might just leave it on the ground and turn to commercial alternatives. “NASA has a history of not meeting launch dates,” said Jim Bridenstine, NASA’s administrator, at a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, “and I’m …

NIH and top scientists call for moratorium on gene-edited babies

By Joel Achenbach Scientists and ethicists from seven nations on Wednesday called for a moratorium on gene-editing experiments designed to alter heritable traits in human babies. It’s the latest alarm sounded by researchers who have been both excited and unnerved by the powerful genetic engineering technique known as CRISPR, which can potentially prevent congenital diseases …

Translators aim to bring Richard Dawkins’s books on atheism and evolution to a Muslim audience

By Julie Zauzmer In the introduction to his 2006 book “The God Delusion,” author Richard Dawkins boldly declares his goal: “If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down.” It is a goal that has meant Dawkins’s books have courted controversy ever since. Now, a group …

Malaysia women’s march meets disapproval from religious, political authorities

By Alexandra Radu KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (RNS) — In solidarity with women around the world, several hundred people marched in Malaysia’s capital on Saturday (March 9) to mark International Women’s Day. The march, organized by activist groups and local nongovernmental organizations, demanded greater women’s rights and called for a ban on child marriage, an end …

How secret conversations inside cells are transforming biology

By Elie Dolgin Nobody paid much attention to Jean Vance 30 years ago, when she discovered something fundamental about the building blocks inside cells. She even doubted herself, at first. The revelation came after a series of roadblocks. The cell biologist had just set up her laboratory at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, …

Trump budget seeks cuts in science funding

By Joel Achenbach, Ben Guarino, Sarah Kaplan, and Brady Dennis President Trump’s third budget request, released Monday, again seeks cuts to a number of scientific and medical research enterprises, including a 13 percent cut to the National Science Foundation, a 12 percent cut at the National Institutes of Health and the termination of an Energy Department …