ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 541
March 12, 2016
A Cougar Broke Into A Zoo And Mauled A Koala To Death
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The cougar is well known to researchers around L.A., after being tagged and snapped multiple times stalking the local area. Griffith Park Trail Camera
He rose to fame after being papped in front of the Hollywood sign, but the cougar snappily known as P-22 might not have won any new fans following his latest exploits in downtown Los Angeles. It appears that P-22 is the prime suspect in a grisly crime to have taken place in Los Angeles Zoo on March 3.
March 11, 2016
What We’re Reading
One of the titles below will make Stephanie Keep’s head explode, or maybe she’ll just make like a hydra and tear off her face. Brownie points if you can identify which article, and why. And enjoy all the other interesting articles we found this week!
When It Rains, It Increasingly Pours, Scientists Say, Bloomberg Business, March 8, 2016 — The intensity of rainfall has increased in both wet and arid terrestrial areas due to climate change. This effect is predicted to continue to intensify. Arid areas in particular are urged to make changes to their infrastructure in order to handle more intense weather events.
Why Sub-Saharan African Needs an Agricultural Revolution, Now, The Christian Science Monitor, March 8, 2016 — By 2100, many areas that currently produce staple crops in sub-Saharan African will no longer be able to support those same crops. If people act now, they will be able to transition to different crops that should tolerate new climatic conditions. With preparation, a very small percentage of total agricultural area will be rendered unsuitable for cultivation.
Lizard Trapped in Amber for 99 Million Years is "Missing Link", CDA News, March 7, 2016 — Specimens of ancient lizards trapped in amber have recently been released from a private collection for analysis, allowing scientists to determine that certain distinctive features of chameleons, such as their projectile tongue, were present far back in evolutionary history.
An Evangelical Movement Takes on Climate Change, Newsweek, March 9, 2016 — What are people of faith doing to encourage acceptance of and action on climate change? And how are they coping with the backlash from their coreligionists who are entrenched in climate denial? Read Tik Root's informative essay to find out.
Meat-Eating Among the Earliest Humans, American Scientist, March-April 2016 — Briana Pobiner of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History offers a marvelously clear explanation of what we are coming to discover about the meat-eating habits of our early human ancestors.
This Mind-Boggling Study Shows Just How Massive Sea Level Rise Really Is, The Washington Post, March 10, 2016 — The article describes a recently published study that explored whether sea level rise could be mitigated by pumping sea water on top of Antarctica, where it would freeze and remain sequestered for millenia. The conclusion: possible, but only with an utterly unrealistic infusion of money and energy. And besides, what could possibly go wrong with pumping billions of gallons of seawater on the most pristine environment on Earth?
This Animal Tears Its Face Off to Open Its Mouth, phenomena/nationalgeographic.com, March 8, 2016 — Ed Yong knew hydra were impressive creatures, long studied for their regenerative capabilities and asexual means of reproduction. What he didn’t know, however, was that the hydra constantly obliterates and reforms its mouth. Yep. Its mouth. Nature is weird.
Has A Giant Rat The Size Of A Small Child Really Been Found In London?
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The giant rat was discovered by Tony Smith and his friend James Green, pictured here. SWNS
Some people are afraid of rats, and others are relatively nonplussed. Regardless, surely everyone would balk at the sight of a 1.2 meter-long (4-foot) rodent, the unpleasant spectacle that greeted Londoners this week after it was found lying dead near a kids’ play area on a housing estate.
A Fishy and Fun Tale from Scientists in the Classroom
Eileen Hynes is a teacher at Lake and Park School in Seattle, Washington. She is a member of NCSE’s teacher advisory board, a National Geographic Teacher Fellow, and a NOAA Climate Steward.
When I first learned about NCSE’s Scientists in the Classroom program, I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the pilot. Scientists in the Classroom is just the kind of program that we look for at our school, one that creates engaging and meaningful experiences for our students. It was not just a gift to get matched with Mary, a first year graduate student at the University of Washington School of Fisheries, but complete serendipity, as I was about to launch into a major thematic study of the ocean with the teachers and students at Lake and Park School.
For her first visit, Mary brought the tools of an oceanographer, including her scuba gear, to share. The kids were thrilled to hear about the adventures she had as a marine scientist, from collecting data on a dive to using the latest technology in her genomics lab. The students had recently visited the Cedar River Watershed and were working to understand the hydrologic cycle, the relationship between the oceans and freshwater, and the effects of climate change on the ocean. Mary answered all of their questions about climate change and the ocean, and even brought in a game to illustrate the effects of overfishing on ecosystems and fishing communities.
After our first visit, we made plans to travel to the University to visit Mary’s lab. During this visit, students learned about fish adaptations, worked with a species identification key, and saw the university's fish collections. At the end of the day, the students played an active game where they “swam” around on the grass looking for genetically similar fish. If that had been all we did with Mary, it would have been plenty—but there was more to come! In November she was back again, joining us on a whale watching expedition in the Salish Sea. On the whale watch, students got to know Mary better. They shared their science journals with her, talked about their observations, and asked her countless questions. In addition to being a scientific expert and role model for the students, Mary was becoming an integral part of our class. Throughout the entire ocean study this fall, Mary helped students practice thinking like scientists. With Mary’s help, students wondered, observed, and experimented to understand adaptations and the effect of climate change on the ocean.
In December Mary joined us as we marked the end of one year and the beginning of another with the study of deep time and evolution. Through the use of pictures and a large model of the evolutionary tree of Mammalia, students worked in small groups to arrange the animals on their tree. Another group of budding scientists arranged pictures of the different steps of the evolution of whales from the sea to land and back again. This was a thoughtful and concrete presentation that created an effective space for the students to visualize evolution.
Connecting with Mary has provided Lake and Park School students a wonderful opportunity to see a scientist in action and learn about evolution and climate change from someone in the thick of it. In fact, it was such a great experience that we’ll be working with Mary this spring, even as she travels to South Korea for the World Fisheries Conference (we’ll be Skypeing her in!). Inviting a scientist into the classroom is such a simple thing, but the impact on my students has been enormous. What will we do with Mary this spring? Stay tuned!
Fossil Friday
The Quaternary (or Anthropocene, if you like) element of the mélange here is a USB flash drive belonging to Dan Phelps, who provided the photograph. But what is the Ordovician element? If you think you know the answer, write it on a postcard or on the flyleaf of a copy of Maynard Shipley’s The War on Modern Science (1927), and mail it to NCSE, 1904 Franklin Street, Suite 600, Oakland CA 94612-2922. Or just leave a comment below, unless you’re Dan Phelps. In any case, write big!
Remarkable Breast Cancer Trial Destroys Tumors In Just 11 Days
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Breast cancer killed over 500,000 women in 2011. jovan vitanovski/Shutterstock
Breast cancer is the most common cancer for women in both the developed and less developed world. Currently, early detection is the best way to increase survival rates in patients, and there are various treatments available designed to neutralize tumors. Despite considerable medical advances, however, over half a million women died in 2011 from breast cancer.
Why Does Standing On Lego Hurt So Much?
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The stuff of nightmares. Frédérique Voisin-Demery/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
It’s hard to believe something so colorful and playful could also be so distressing, but if you’ve ever stepped on a Lego brick with your bare foot, you’ll know there’s no pain quite like it.
So what makes these interlocking bricks of plastic such an unpleasant experience to step on?
This video from the American Chemical Society’s YouTube channel, Reactions, shows the science behind why these little Danish bricks really get your nerves zinging.
Crops Grown In “Martian” Soil
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It's one small stem for man... NASA
When we send humans to Mars, one of the things that will be key, especially if we want to stay for long periods or even permanently, is the ability to be self-sustainable. One way this will be possible is by growing food on Mars, so new research showing that crops can grow in Martian soil could be – yes, we’re going to say it – one giant leaf for mankind.
“Drowned Apostles” Found Near Original Twelve Off Australian Coast
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Peekaboo, I've found you! A diver inspects the Drowned Apostles. Liz Rogers
The Great Ocean Road is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Australia. Within this dramatic coastline resides the Twelve Apostles, rocky pillars that jut out from the unforgiving sea. Around 20 million years in the making, these spires apparently have been hiding a secret for some time.
NASA Might Use ISS Landings For Practice Mars Missions In Kazakhstan
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Designs for Mars habitats are still being worked on. Team LavaHive/NASA
Last week, Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko returned from the first-ever one-year mission on the International Space Station (ISS). Research from the mission is expected to be invaluable for planning missions to Mars, particularly how astronauts cope with spending a prolonged amount of time in a microgravity environment.
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