ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 239

Blasphemy Laws: An Excuse for Persecution

By The NYT Editorial Board

It is good news that Pakistan’s Supreme Court has acquitted and freed a Pakistani Christian woman who had already spent eight years on death row for blasphemy. In a 56-page ruling, the three justices said Asia Bibi, a farmworker in her early 50s, was the victim of mob justice aroused by unsubstantiated claims of what she said about the Prophet Muhammad in an exchange with women angry that she had sipped water from a cup used by Muslims.

Though the trial was a farce, overturning it took courage. In 2011, the governor of Punjab Province, Salman Taseer, who had campaigned for Ms. Bibi’s release and for changes in the blasphemy laws, was shot and killed by his bodyguard. Two months later, the minister of minorities, the sole Christian in the Pakistani government, who had also called for the changes, was killed. The announcement of the Supreme Court ruling on Oct. 31 set off protests across Pakistan and a warning from Islamist firebrands that the justices were risking death. Ms. Bibi has been in hiding since her release and may have to flee Pakistan.

But this is not a story about the triumph of tolerance over antiquated law. Ms. Bibi was freed not because the court found that the blasphemy law violated her rights or was in any other way inherently wrong, but because the trial was flawed. Blasphemy, broadly defined as speaking insultingly about God or religion, remains a capital crime in Pakistan and illegal in many other lands, in the East and the West.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

Using the Telephone Game to Teach Natural Selection

 

[VIDEO] The Classic Phone Tree Game demonstrates Change over Time

 

The Classic Phone Tree Game demonstrates Change over Time (Activity Doc) (DOCX)

‘Reprogrammed’ stem cells implanted into patient with Parkinson’s disease

By David Cyranoski

Japanese neurosurgeons have implanted ‘reprogrammed’ stem cells into the brain of a patient with Parkinson’s disease for the first time.

The condition is only the second for which a therapy has been trialled using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are developed by reprogramming the cells of body tissues such as skin so that they revert to an embryonic-like state, from which they can morph into other cell types.

Scientists at Kyoto University use the technique to transform iPS cells into precursors to the neurons that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine. A shortage of neurons producing dopamine in people with Parkinson’s disease can lead to tremors and difficulty walking.

In October, neurosurgeon Takayuki Kikuchi at Kyoto University Hospital implanted 2.4 million dopamine precursor cells into the brain of a patient in his 50s. In the three-hour procedure, Kikuchi’s team deposited the cells into 12 sites, known to be centres of dopamine activity. Dopamine precursor cells have been shown to improve symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in monkeys.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

Gravitational waves from a merged hyper-massive neutron star

By the Royal Astronomical Society

For the first time astronomers have detected gravitational waves from a merged, hyper-massive neutron star. The scientists, Maurice van Putten of Sejong University in South Korea, and Massimo della Valle of the Osservatorio Astronomico de Capodimonte in Italy, publish their results in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.

Gravitational waves were predicted by Albert Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity in 1915. The waves are disturbances in space time generated by rapidly moving masses, which propagate out from the source. By the time the waves reach the Earth, they are incredibly weak and their detection requires extremely sensitive equipment. It took scientists until 2016 to announce the first observation of gravitational waves using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) detector.

Since that seminal result, gravitational waves have been detected on a further six occasions. One of these, GW170817, resulted from the merger of two stellar remnants known as neutron stars. These objects form after stars much more massive than the Sun explode as supernovae, leaving behind a core of material packed to extraordinary densities.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

Rubio cites Bible verse amid recount criticisms: ‘You cannot count what is not there’

By Emily Birnbaum

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Wednesday tweeted a Bible verse amid his criticism of the Florida recounts, writing, “You cannot count what is not there.”

“What is crooked cannot be made straight, and you cannot count what is not there. Ecclesiastes 1:15,” Rubio wrote.

Rubio, who frequently posts Bible passages, posted the quote as he continues to accuse Democrats of attempting to “steal” elections in Florida as the races for governor and Senate undergo recounts mandated by law.

Rubio for days has accused election officials and Democrats in Florida’s Broward and Palm Beach Counties of malign activity, sometimes without presenting evidence of these claims.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

The Trump administration’s anti-birth control agenda, explained

By Anna North

One day after the midterm elections, the Trump administration released final rules allowing employers to opt out of providing health insurance that covers birth control.

The administration has been chipping away at the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act, which requires most employers to offer insurance that covers birth control, for more than a year. Under President Barack Obama, religious employers could already seek an exemption to the mandate.

But in October 2017, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released interim rules allowing almost any employer, religious or not, to get an exemption. The final rules are essentially identical to the interim versions and are intended to be permanent, though they are likely to be challenged in court.

More broadly, HHS under President Donald Trump has made rollbacks of birth control coverage a core part of its agenda. These rollbacks have been “part of their plan to dismantle ACA from the very beginning,” Mary Alice Carter, executive director of Equity Forward, a reproductive rights watchdog group, told Vox.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

‘Invisible’ mice reveal anatomical secrets

By Sara Reardon

A new technique that makes dead mice transparent and hard like plastic is giving researchers an unprecedented view of how different types of cell interact in the body. The approach lets scientists pinpoint specific tissues within an animal while scanning its entire body.

The technique, called vDISCO, has already revealed surprising structural connections between organs, including hints about the extent to which brain injuries affect the immune system and nerves in other parts of the body. That could lead to better treatments for traumatic brain injury or stroke.

Methods that turn entire organs clear have become popular in the past few years, because they allow scientists to study delicate internal structures without disturbing them. But removing organs from an animal’s body for analysis can make it harder to see the full effect of an injury or disease. And if scientists use older methods to make an entire mouse transparent, it can be difficult to ensure that the fluorescent markers used to label cells reach the deepest parts of an organ.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

New Hampshire State Rep. Sherry Frost Says She’s Also an Atheist

By Hemant Mehta

I’ve been asked why I keep track of the atheists in politics. Is it really that important? It is to me in part because, for years, I couldn’t name a single atheist in public office. Knowing that an atheist can get elected says a lot about the acceptance of atheists in our society in general. Visibility matters!

Furthermore, the label is also a sign that someone probably shares my views on a lot of other issues — though that’s not always the case. I look forward to the day when I can divide the atheists in politics into those I support and those I want voted out. We’re not there yet.

Anyway, it turns out there’s another state representative who’s an atheist.

I didn’t know this until last week. But she contacted me out of the blue having seen articles I had written about those non-religious candidates (along with some of the bigger wins and losses).

She wanted me to know she was an atheist, too.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

Vatican orders US bishops to delay taking action on sexual abuse crisis

By Daniel Burke

The Vatican has told the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to delay voting on measures to hold bishops accountable for failing to protect children from sexual abuse, the president of the conference said in a surprise announcement Monday morning.

In announcing the decision to his fellow bishops, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo said he was disappointed by the Vatican’s interference, which he said he learned of on Sunday afternoon.

“At the insistence of the Holy See, we will not be voting on the two action items in our docket regarding the abuse crisis,” said DiNardo.

For weeks, the US Catholic bishops have trumpeted a series of reforms they had hoped to make after what one cardinal called the church’s “summer of hell.” Those reforms must be approved by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which gathers the country’s bishops twice a year to debate and adopt new policies.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

The Supreme Court Case That Could Bring Down the Wall of Separation Between Church and State

By Andrew L. Seidel

In the wake of the dumpster fire that was Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, there was speculation in legal circles that the U.S. Supreme Court would lay low: It would avoid taking on controversial cases or overturning long-standing precedent.

But the Court’s action earlier this month suggests that patience, restraint, and avoiding hot-button issues are not going to be its new watchwords.

On November 2, on the eve of the first Shabbat since the anti-Semitic massacre in Pittsburgh, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal to a decision striking down a 40-foot cross World War I memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland. The American Humanist Association (AHA) challenged the cross’ presence on government land, and the Fourth Circuit had ordered its removal. The Supreme Court often—though by no means always—overturns cases it agrees to hear. AHA has to win over at least one conservative justice, so many fear that the Court will allow the cross to stand.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.