ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 629

Eight Signs That You’re Smarter Than Average

The Brain





Photo credit:

Lisa-Lisa/Shutterstock

This infographic from Business Insider shows some of the behaviors and traits that research has suggested are associated with a higher level of intelligence. Of course, as Business Insider points out, remember that correlation doesn’t equal causation. Buying a cat, taking up recreational drug use and losing weight are unlikely to really boost your IQ.  

Fossil Friday

Fossil Friday

Can you identify this handsome Cambrian fellow from his or her headshot?

Dinosaur Erotica Novels Are A Real Thing

Plants and Animals





Photo credit:

Christie Sims

As well-read as you may be, you’ve probably never heard of this obscure subgenre before.

Great Barrier Reef Forms A Shield Against Tsunamis

Environment





Photo credit:

Coral reefs protect the coastline from tsunamis, but only when they are not too close to shore. Filipe Frazao/Shutterstock

Besides its beauty, biological diversity and value as a tourist attraction, the Great Barrier Reef does one more thing for Australians; it guards against tsunamis. Strangely, it seems it didn't perform the same role thousands of years ago when the reef was closer to the shore. Now evidence has been found of an underwater landslide that could have been disastrous for the inhabitants of coastal areas at the time.

Scientists Detect Mysterious Radio Signals

Space





Photo credit:

The Parkes Radio Telescope has discovered all but one of the 16 known Fast Radio Bursts. ribeiroantonio/Shutterstock

Astronomers have detected five more of the mysterious events known as fast radio bursts, one of them a never-seen-before double burst. Double bursts contradict many of the proposed explanations for these events, suggesting the source may be even more exotic than we thought.

Large Hadron Collider Smashes Ions At Record Energy

Physics





Photo credit:

Boom: a collision in the CMS segment of the LHC. CERN

Not only is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN one of the most ambitious experimental facilities in human history, it is also one of the most successful. Most famously responsible for revealing the existence of the elusive Higgs boson, it seems to regularly discover particles that defy the Standard Model of particle physics through its awesome particle collisions.

Immortal Hydra Is Able To Genetically Modify Itself

Plants and Animals





Photo credit:

The many-headed beast. Lebendkulturen.de/Shutterstock

The Hydra is an ancient serpentine marine monster, a fearsome beast in Greek mythology who grew two heads for each one removed by a valiant warrior. Its real life equivalent, a freshwater polyp no longer than a centimeter (0.4 inches), is far less frightening but still quite remarkable – it is able to regenerate its entire body from any tiny fragment of itself.

Evolutionary Innovations Aren’t Always Beneficial, Fish Study Reveals

Plants and Animals





Photo credit:

This "orange rock hunter" from the genus Harpagochromis is a predatory cichlid that’s found in low numbers in Lake Victoria, but maintained in captivity. Matthew McGee

Evolutionary innovations help animals cross functional barriers and exploit new niches that were inaccessible to their ancestors. These might even promote rapid diversification or reduce extinction rates in lineages that evolve them. But for some fish populations in eastern Africa’s Lake Victoria, their adaptive traits weren’t all that beneficial in the end. Researchers studying the extinction of cichlid species with innovative jaws found that increasingly specialized traits made them less flexible to changes in their surroundings.

Final Assembly Of The James Webb Space Telescope Has Begun

Space





Photo credit:

This is what the James Webb Space Telescope will look like when fully deployed. NASA

The first mirror segment has finally been installed on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), marking a milestone in the construction of the next generation telescope. All the 18 segments should be in place by early 2016.

The JWST is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope and will be able to look farther than its predecessor. It will be capable of observing the first stars in the universe as well as detecting the atmosphere and potential traces of life on exoplanets.

CO2 Emissions Almost Paused Last Year, Despite Global Economy Growth

Environment





Photo credit:

Malte Pott/Shutterstock

News about the shocking state of global climate has been rolling in like a tsunami lately. We’ve just sweated through the warmest October on record, but we’re still in the midst of the hottest year.