ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 501

Scientists Just Captured Something Extraordinary At The Moment Of Fertilization

Health and Medicine





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The newly discovered human "zinc spark". Northwestern News/Duncan et al. 2016

Sparks really do fly when the magic happens. At the exact moment a sperm penetrates an egg, the latter releases billions of zinc atoms from its surface which spark off. Using fluorescent microscopy, these sparks emit a light, which can then be filmed. The discovery that human eggs cells undergo this process could lead to new ways for doctors to identify viable eggs for in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Wind Farms Have An Insignificant Effect On Local Climate

Environment





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Wind farms warm the local environment, but only very slightly. WDG Photo/Shutterstock

Our global reliance on fossil fuels may soon come to an end. Renewable energy sources are on the uptick, with report after report detailing their proliferation across the globe.

Wikipedia Might Not Be The Democratic Community We Think It Is

Technology





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360b/Shutterstock.

The dream of the Internet was to create a free-flow of information, unbounded by any form of top-down, centralized power, which history has shown can easily become corrupt and self-serving. Wikipedia is seen as a particularly well-known stronghold of this optimistic idea.

Incredible New Images Of Mars Are So High-Res, You Can See Beagle 2 On The Surface

Space





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This image shows the path of Spirit driving up Husband Hill summit in spring/summer of 2006. NASA/UCL/University of Leicester

Long gone are the days of seeing mysterious faces in blurry images from the surface of Mars. Satellite images of the Red Planet are now getting the high-resolution treatment.

Thanks to a new technique, called Super-Resolution Restoration (SRR), researchers from University College London were able to go beyond the 25-centimeter (10-inch) resolution limit of current cameras. By stacking and matching pictures of the same area taken from different angles, SRR-treated images have a resolution of up to 5 centimeters (2 inches).

Rising Atmospheric CO2 Has Lead To A Global “Greening” Effect

Environment





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The overall impact of increases in CO2 are massively negative, however. apiguide/Shutterstock

The rise in atmospheric CO2 over the past 100 or so years has been having some devastating effects. From the record temperatures being observed with increased frequency, to the melting of the Arctic ice, there is little doubt that the climate is indeed changing.

Early Warning Trigger Found For Most Unpredictable Kind Of Volcanic Eruption

Environment





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A child watches on as a hydrothermal eruption plume from an Ecuadorian volcano rises into the sky. Martin Bernetti/AFP/Gettyimages

Volcanoes are complicated. Whether they’re acting destructively or they’re building new land from the depths of the ocean, volcanologists are still unable to pinpoint the precursors to many types of eruptions.

This Stunning Image Of Saturn’s Rings Contains A Surprise

Space





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Check out the full image below. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

If you’re confused by this image, we don’t blame you. What you’re seeing here are the rings of Saturn and the gas giant itself. But the planet’s rings are, well, rings. Why do they appear to be criss-crossing each other here?

This Band Uses The Humming Of Tesla Coils To Play Music

Physics





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YouTube/ARC ATTACKMUSIC

Whether you love or hate synthesizers and drum machines in your choice of music, you can’t help but be impressed by this very novel – and fairly dangerous – reinvention of the term “electronic music.”

ArcAttack are a band who play music through the hums of Tesla coils. The sound comes from their musical instruments, which are rigged up to control the current and the frequencies of electrical current through the coils, resulting in sparks which can cause vibrations through the air at predetermined frequencies.

Pluto’s Halo Craters Revealed In New Images

Space





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The craters have strange rings around them. NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Pluto continues to be a remarkably curious world. In the latest images from New Horizons, we can see craters surrounded by a white "halo effect" in the western Vega Terra region of the dwarf planet.

The bright halo effect is due to methane ice on the walls and rims of these craters, although why it forms there is a bit of a mystery. This is mirrored in the composition data from another of New Horizons' instruments – the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA), which is the purple/blue image below.

Your Lungs Are Full Of Microorganisms … And That’s A Good Thing

Health and Medicine





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An example of the types of bugs that may be calling your lungs home. www.shutterstock.com

When we’re born, our lungs are thought to be sterile. But from the moment we take our first breath, our pristine lungs are exposed to all the bugs that are in the air. It has become clear in the last 10 years that the lungs rapidly acquire a population of many different microorganisms (mostly bacteria and viruses) that colonise the lungs and remain with us for the rest of our lives. This population of bugs is called the lung microbiome.