ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 495
May 4, 2016
Salamanders In All-Female Populations Regrow Their Tails Faster
Photo credit:
Kevin Fitzsimons
Some Ambystoma salamander populations are all female, and they reproduce by cloning themselves, though they do mix it up by stealing sperm they find on leaves and twigs left behind by males of other species. Like salamanders who reproduce sexually, these females are also excellent at regenerating various body parts. However, according to new findings published in the Journal of Zoology last week, these all-female salamanders regrow their tails faster.
How Realistic Is It To Ask Someone To “Cry A River”?
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Weeping may not be the best way to fill a river after all. Amanda Carden/Shutterstock
Things are getting pretty emotional in the English city of Leicester at the moment, where the local soccer team has just pulled off what many are describing as the most unlikely sporting fairytale of all time by winning the Premier League – despite starting the season as 5,000-to-one outsiders.
Ocean Acidification Conference Hears The Bad News
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Coral bleaching is predominantly caused by high temperatures, but it is ocean acidification that most impedes recovery. Ethan Daniels/Shutterstock
The Fourth International Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World is underway in Hobart, Australia. While the venue is at the opposite end of Australia from the Great Barrier Reef, the event occurred in the shadow of the largest example we have witnessed of the consequences of unrestrained carbon emissions on a marine environment. Unfortunately, as talk after talk emphasized, this is just a foretaste of what is to come.
A Rare Transit Of Mercury Will Take Place This Monday – Here’s How To Watch It Live
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Transit of Mercury on November 8, 2006 from the Solar Observatory SOHO. NASA
On Monday, May 9, Mercury will slowly make its way across the Sun’s disk. The transit of Mercury is a rare event, as we've discussed before, with only about a dozen occurring every century. This one will be visible in full from the easternmost side of the Americas, western Europe, and north-west Africa. It lasts several hours, so people from Bangladesh to California will be able to catch at least part of this astronomical event.
Prejudice Can Actually Change How You View Faces
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The way we see faces can sometimes be clouded by deeply ingrained prejudices. Ollyy/Shutterstock
What you see when you look at someone may not always be an entirely fair representation of that person, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience into how our deepest prejudices – including those that we wish we didn’t have – can cloud the way that our brains process visual stimuli when observing faces.
Volcanic Eruptions On Mars Used To Explode Through Ancient Ice Sheets
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Eyjafjallajökull in 2010. Lava fissures pumped magma into and through a mixture of frigid water and ice. Etienne De Malglaive/Gettyimages
Volcanoes are many things: spectacular, terrifying, gargantuan, and enigmatic. They free us from ice ages, destroy civilizations and build new islands from the sea as we watch.
Hundreds Of Laboratory-Riased Chimpanzees Are About To Experience Freedom For The First Time
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Stock photo. YC_Chee/Shutterstock
After years of living in a research laboratory, hundreds of chimpanzees are being moved to spend the rest of their lives in a sanctuary.
Scientists Have Successfully Drilled Into The Dinosaur-Killing Impact Crater
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The crater is 66 million years old. solarseven/Shutterstock
Researchers are taking part in a groundbreaking effort to drill offshore into the very heart of the impact crater of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, and at a depth of around 700 meters (2,300 feet), they have just made their first breakthrough.
Vitamin Found To Halt Aging In Muscle Tissues And Increase Lifespan
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Aging is still an inevitable fact of life, but maybe not for much longer. oneinchpunch/Shutterstock
While it may be a little premature to declare the search for the elixir of youth over, a remarkable milestone in the quest to abolish death and aging may have just been reached. According to a new study in the journal Science, a vitamin called nicotinamide riboside (NR) has the capacity to stimulate the regeneration of lost muscle tissue in elderly mice, while also increasing their lifespan.
Living Near The Sea Can Improve Your Mental Health
Photo credit:
kak2s/Shutterstock
There are very few people who don’t enjoy the benefits of going for a walk by the sea or looking out at the ocean from a sandy beach. Now, some new research suggests there is a reason for our age-old affinity with the ocean.
The research, published in this month’s issue of Health & Place, found that living in a residence with a view of the ocean was associated with improved mental health.
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