ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 549
February 29, 2016
Films That Explored Religious Abuses Won Big at the Academy Awards
Photo credit: Kerry Hayes/Open Road Films
By Hemant Mehta
Tonight’s winners at the 88th annual Academy Awards included a couple of films that exposed the worst practices within certain religious communities.
Spotlight, the film about Boston Globe reporters who uncovered the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, took home awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
The film is remarkable, not just for its realistic look at a newsroom, but for taking the subject matter so seriously. You can’t watch that movie without feeling anger and shock at just how widespread the Catholic cover-up was.
But perhaps the most understated win came in the category of Best Documentary Short. It went to Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy for her film A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness — a movie about faith-based honor killings.
As the New York Times describes it, the film is:
…an enlightening exploration of the Pakistani culture that allows and even encourages honor killing. In this account of an 18-year-old woman who disobeys her family by eloping with a man from a lower class without permission, she is shot in the face by her father and uncle, thrown into a river and left to drown. Miraculously she survives. All the principals are interviewed.
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Dinosaur Survived A Record Number Of Bone Fractures
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An artist's impression showing the multiple injury points. You should have seen the other guy! Leandra Walters
Two paleontologists have uncovered evidence that a dinosaur fossil, excavated way back in 1942, was hiding a record number of injuries. It had at least eight bone fractures and sites of damage through infection. As the new study in PLOS ONE reveals, this beast lived on despite its dramatic injuries – but it probably would have been in a considerable amount of pain.
Scientists Discover Extraordinary Jurassic Fossil Bed In Argentina
Photo credit:
The Patagonian landscape as it exists today. kavram/Shutterstock
Palaeontologists in southern Argentina have uncovered an enormous network of fossils dating back to the Jurassic period, enabling them to reconstruct an entire ecosystem that has remained “frozen” in time for around 140 to 160 million years. The discovery occurred in the locality of La Bajada, in a region of southeast Patagonia called the Deseado Massif, where recent soil erosion across an area spanning some 60,000 square kilometers (23,000 square miles) has exposed the fossils.
$250,000 Shark-Spotting Drone Debuts In Australia
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A great white, one of the types of shark spotted off the coast of New South Wales. Andrea Izzotti/Shutterstock
Although the chance of dying from a shark attack in your lifetime is just one in 3.7 million, it doesn’t hurt to be a little vigilant in areas frequently visited by sharks. With this in mind, the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has announced that a $250,000 shark attack-spotting rescue drone will soon be trialled in the region.
Why On Earth Do The Insides Of This Fish GLOW
Photo credit:
Shocking Animals/YouTube
A video of a glow-in-the-dark fish has sparked fears about radiation poisoning. Although “The Simpsons” is usually spot-on when it comes to predicting the future, glowing radiation-mutated fish aren’t a thing.
Lack Of Sleep Makes You More Likely To Overindulge In Junk Food
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Too little sleep could be contributing to the obesity epidemic. Paul Biryukov/Shutterstock
Even though we know it’s not good for us, let’s face it: junk food can be pretty darn tasty, and you’re only human if you struggle to say no to an oozy slice of pizza or fudgy slice of decadent chocolate cake. But if you’re not getting enough sleep, that little devil on your shoulder might be even harder to ignore, leading to poor food choices and some extra inches around the waistline. Now we have an even greater insight as to why that might be, thanks to a new study.
Researchers Are Using Tarantula Venom To Design New Painkillers
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Tarantula venom may be surprisingly useful. asawinimages/Shutterstock
The search for safer, more effective and non-addictive painkillers has led scientists to an unlikely source: tarantula venom. More specifically, a single compound found in the venom of the Peruvian green velvet tarantula, which has been found to inhibit a particular pain receptor on the membrane of neuronal cells. By examining how this molecule works, researchers hope to open up new possibilities for the creation of synthetic painkillers.
Watch Scott Kelly Return To Earth After Spending A Year In Space
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Scott Kelly (left) and Mikhail Kornienko (right) have spent a year on the ISS. NASA
On March 27, 2015, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko launched to the International Space Station (ISS). Now, almost one year on, they’re preparing to return to Earth from their groundbreaking mission.
Kelly and Kornienko, together with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov who has been on the station for 6 months, will undock from the ISS at 8.05 p.m. EST on Tuesday, March 1 (1.05 a.m. GMT on Wednesday, March 2). Almost three hours later, at 11.27 p.m. EST (4.27 a.m. GMT), they will touch down in Kazakhstan, 342 days since they left Earth.
Volcanic Eruption Creates New Island Off Japanese Coast
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The island continues to rise from the depths, as shown in this image taken in November 2015. Japan Coast Guard
A once-hidden Japanese volcano is rising up out of the Pacific Ocean. A new study in the journal Geology has outlined the remarkable evolution of one of the world’s youngest islands, revealing how it formed in two incredibly explosive phases.
February 28, 2016
Iranian elections deal blow to hardliners as reformists make gains
Photo credit: Morteza Nikoubazl/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock
By Saeed Kamali Dehghan and Ian Black
Hardliners in Iran have been dealt a humiliating blow after reformist-backed candidates in Friday’s hard-fought elections appeared on course for a sweeping victory in Tehran, with a combination of moderates and independents sympathetic to President Hassan Rouhani leading in provinces.
A coalition of candidates supported by the reformists, dubbed “the list of hope”, is likely to take all of the capital’s 30 parliamentary seats, according to the latest tally released by the interior ministry, in surprising results seen as a strong vote of confidence in Rouhani’s moderate agenda. Mohammad Reza Aref, a committed reformist who has a degree from Stanford University in the US, is at the top of the list.
Preliminary results for the Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for appointing the next supreme leader, showed Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a key Rouhani ally, leading the race. Elections to the assembly are usually a lacklustre event but have attracted huge attention this time because of the age of the current leader, 76-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei and Rafsanjani, a prominent pragmatist who was not allowed to run for president in 2013, have been at odds in recent years.
Results may not be finalised until Tuesday but if they tally with the initial figures there will be a palpable change in the Iranian political landscape with moderates dominating the scene and hardliners being pushed back to the fringes. Strong gains by supporters of Rouhani could help promote greater opening to the west by Iran and limit political advances by conservatives at home – and secure him a second term in office next year.
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