ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 628

Super-Strong Diamond Nanothread Has People Dreaming Of A Space Elevator

Technology





Photo credit:

The molecular structure of diamond nanothread (DNT). John Badding Lab / Penn State University

Diamonds are supposedly a girl’s best friend, and soon they might be the best friend of any engineer looking for a material stronger than carbon nanotubes and graphene. A new microscopic structure, called diamond nanothread (DNT), shows the potential to revolutionize material science.

What’s The Most Dangerous Job In The United States?

Health and Medicine





Photo credit:

06photo/Shutterstock

We live in a world of health and safety regulations, caution signs and fluorescent high-visibility jackets. Although a lot of the time we think of them as an annoyance, they’ve no doubt helped to decrease the number of work-related deaths over the last 20 years.

Why Do Some Non-Ginger Guys Have Ginger Beards?

Health and Medicine





Photo credit:

Yeko Photo Studio/Shutterstock

Males aged 18 to 60 have been hit by an epidemic of beard growing over the past two years or so. Experts have underestimated how long it will continue to rage, although if current trends continue, all young urban media professionals will be affected by 2017 (probably).

GIFs Reveal 25 Years Of Glacier Flow In One Second

Environment





Photo credit:

Frank Paul, University of Zurich

You probably associate GIFs with Reddit and obscure pop culture references. However, this hilarious and mesmerizing medium is now being used by geographers to document the movement of glaciers.

Diving Bell Spiders Use Air Bubbles Like Gills

Plants and Animals





Photo credit:

Argyroneta aquatica. Norbert Schuller Baupi/ Wikimedia Commons

Insights into how the “diving bell spider” can spend its whole life underwater have been revealed.

The spider breathes air which it traps in a dome shaped web that it suspends between aquatic plants. Researchers have found that their air bubbles act like gills, extracting oxygen from the water and that the spiders only need to resurface once a day to replenish their air supply.

Health Check: What Should You Do If You’re Bitten By A Spider?

Plants and Animals





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Spiders such as this funnel-web (Hadronyche infensa) will only bite if threatened. Author provided

This article is about spider bites in Australia, but doesn’t constitute medical advice. Always see a medical professional if you believe you’ve been bitten or stung by a venomous animal.

I work with spiders for a living, and I’ve never been bitten by one.

Researcher Claims Small Doses Of LSD Can Alleviate Anxiety And Depression

Health and Medicine





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Can having an acid trip help those with depression? Irina Kozorog/Shutterstock

Anxiety and depression are serious mental health problems, both of which are severely disruptive at the best of times and incredibly dangerous to the individual at the worst of times. There are a dizzying array of available treatments for both, each with wildly varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the individual.

Explainer: Why Are We Afraid Of Spiders?

Plants and Animals





Photo credit:

Coming for me next? Pierre J, CC BY-NC-SA

I have personal interest in arachnophobia – the fear of spiders – because I am a spider expert, but also because my daughter has it. She is not alone. According to the American Psychiatric Association, phobias affect more than one in ten people in the US, and of those individuals, up to 40% of phobias are related to bugs (including spiders), mice, snake and bats.

There are clearly a lot of arachnophobes. But do they know why they fear spiders? Can they do something to control those fears?

Once bitten twice shy?

Which Is The World’s Deadliest Spider, Really?

Plants and Animals





Photo credit:

Hadronyche sp. lurking about. Marshall Hedin, CC BY-NC

It seems Ebola and terrorism may have lost their scare factor. That is because journalists have once again turned to arachnophobia. “Brazilian Wandering spider found under a bunch of bananas in Waitrose home delivery,” said one newspaper recently.

Human Liver Cells That Can Fully Regenerate Created In The Lab

Health and Medicine





Photo credit:

Fluorescently labelled human liver cells. Professor Yaakov Nahmias

The human liver is an incredible organ. It is one of the few organs that can regenerate, with people able to lose as much as 75 percent and yet still grow it back. With such incredible regeneration abilities, you might think that liver cells would be fairly easy to grow in the lab, but they’re not. Most attempts to expand and grow human liver cells in the lab, known as hepatocytes, result in immortalized cancer cells with not much metabolic function.