ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 627
November 29, 2015
Christmas Trees Have Pretty Bizarre Sex Lives
Photo credit:
Guschenkova/Shutterstock
The sex lives of Christmas trees are a lot more interesting than their wholesome image suggests. Not necessarily because they’re into kinky stuff, but because they are a certain type of conifer that rely on the ancient practice of “tree sex” to reproduce.
This Week in Science (Nov. 22 – 29)
This is a collection of the 10 best and most popular stories from science and technology over the past 7 days. Click the individual images below to read the stories and follow the This Week in Science on wakelet (here) to get these weekly updates straight to your inbox every Sunday.
November 28, 2015
Ultrasound Used To Take Super-Resolution Images Of Rat’s Brain
Photo credit:
The high resolution image shows the direction the blood moves in either red of blue, with the brightness showing how fast it is moving. ESPCI/INSERM/CNRS
Scientists have been able to create amazing high resolution microscopic images of the blood vessel network in the brain of a rat, using ultrasound. The technique, developed by a team of researchers in France, refines a procedure already used to image organs deep within tissue, but is able instead to produce super-resolution pictures. The process could potentially be used to diagnose strokes and track the growth and development of tumors.
Father loses custody of boys after refusing to stop trying to cure their autism through homeopathy
An Ontario father has lost custody of his children in part because he refused to stop trying to cure their autism through homeopathy.
“Not only were these treatments not effective, but they had negative effects,” reads a court decision granting sole custody to the children’s mother.
The father, a 48-year-old computer programmer in the Greater Toronto Area, will now see the children three weekends a month, with shared access during holidays.
The two boys, aged nine and 10, suffer from “severe and profound” autism spectrum disorder. They do not speak, are not toilet-trained or able to dress or feed themselves.
At an October hearing, the children’s mother sought a court order barring her former husband from administering homeopathic treatments, arguing he was pointlessly “looking for a ‘cure’ for autism rather than trying to find a method of managing autism.”
To continue reading the entire article, click on the name of the source below.
Why Are Tarantulas Blue?
Photo credit:
A greenbottle blue tarantula. Michael Kern/www.thegardensofeden.org
Maybe you’ve never stuck around long enough to get a close look at a tarantula, but most of them are blue. And according to a new study published in Science Advances this week, that vibrant hue is driven by natural selection – not sexual selection like we might expect.
Experts optimistic Tut’s tomb may conceal Egypt’s lost queen Nefertiti
Chances are high that the tomb of Ancient Egypt’s boy-king Tutankhamun has passages to a hidden chamber, which may be the last resting place of the lost Queen Nefertiti, experts said on Saturday.
There is huge international interest in Nefertiti, who died in the 14th century B.C. and is thought to be Tutankhamun’s stepmother, and confirmation of her final resting place would be the most remarkable Egyptian archaeological find this century.
New evidence from the radar imaging taken so far is to be sent to a team in Japan for analysis. The results are expected to be announced in a month.
“We said earlier there was a 60 percent chance there is something behind the walls. But now after the initial reading of the scans, we are saying now its 90 percent likely there is something behind the walls,” Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damaty told a news conference.
He said he expected to reach the other side of the tomb’s wall within three months.
Discovery of Nefertiti, whose chiseled cheek-bones and regal beauty were immortalized in a 3,300-year old bust now in a Berlin museum, would shed fresh light on what remains a mysterious period of Egyptian history.
To continue reading the entire article, click on the name of the source below.
Ultrasonic, Highly Sensitive Graphene Microphones Developed By Researchers
Photo credit:
You're on. suradach/Shutterstock
Graphene, a technological innovation from the University of Manchester that won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010, has been used to develop tough and flexible digital touchscreens, water filtration devices, drug delivery systems, and advanced night vision contact lenses.
What’s The Most Dangerous Food In The World?
Photo credit:
Robyn Mackenzie/Shutterstock
Whether you’re chowing down on a slice of pizza or having a spoonful of ice cream, food can be delicious. But it can also be pretty deadly. No, I’m not talking about choking on an olive, or getting a fish bone stuck in your throat, I’m talking about the toxins and poisons found in some meals. Check out the infographic below to see which are the most deadly food items around.
One in three two-year-olds in United States have not received all recommended childhood vaccines, study finds
Source: RTI International
Approximately 34 percent of children in the United States do not receive all doses of vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) by age 2, according to a new study by researchers at RTI Health Solutions, a business unit of RTI International.
This is consistent with findings reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The ACIP recommends most children receive a series of routine immunizations, consisting of 19 doses of vaccines administered at age-specific intervals between birth and age 2 to protect against 11 diseases.
The study, published in press in Vaccine, used data from the 2012 National Immunization Survey, an annual survey conducted by the CDC, to examine vaccination coverage among a nationally representative sample of nearly 12,000 2-year-olds in the United States. Researchers estimated the proportion of children who completed the ACIP recommended number of doses by 8, 18 and 24 months of age (completion rates); and whether each dose was administered at age-appropriate times between birth and 24 months (compliance rates).
Read more by clicking on the name of the source below.
Fossilized Tropical Forest Found — in Arctic Norway
by Mindy Weisberger
A tropical forest densely packed with 12-foot-tall trees with flared trunks and curved branches of needle leaves — Dr. Seuss would have felt right at home — covered an area near the equator some 380 million years ago. Scientists spotted the fossilized stumps a long way from this location — in Arctic Norway.
Not only did the researchers date the forest as one of Earth’s oldest, but they also suggest it may have contributed to a dramatic drop in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels traced to that time in our planet’s distant past.
During the Devonian period (416 million to 358 million years ago), Earth’s first large trees were emerging. Also around this time, atmospheric carbon dioxide dropped significantly. Scientists look to the earliest forests for evidence that tree growth played a part in scrubbing CO2 from the atmosphere — trees use the greenhouse gas to photosynthesize and form sugary food — contributing to the global cooling event that occurred at the end of the Devonian.
Read more by clicking on the name of the source below.
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