ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 638

What Makes Our Brains Unique?

The Brain





Photo credit:

Alex Mit/Shutterstock

Our brains are arguably one of evolution’s greatest achievements, composed of many regions that each have unique configurations of cells and patterns of connectivity that together bestow us our mental prowess. But what is it about our genes that makes this organ so distinct from those of others? New research from scientists at the Allen Institute is offering us some insight, discovering that a relatively small number of gene expression patterns seem to predominate in the brain, and that these appear to be common, or conserved, among humans.

Where In The Ocean Did Iconic Spiral Ammonites Live?

Plants and Animals





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Marine fossils arranged by position in the water column. J.A. Sessa and B.T. Huber.

Ammonites were spiral-shelled marine mollusks that drifted throughout the Mesozoic seas until the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction event. Despite how abundant they are in the fossil record, we don’t know that much about their ecology. Now, researchers trying to reconstruct their habitats reveal where in the water column these ubiquitous fossils preferred to live.

Experiment Proves Einstein Wrong

Physics





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NIST physicist Krister Shalm with the photon source used in the "Bell test" that strongly supported a key prediction of quantum mechanics: There are in fact "spooky actions at a distance." Burrus/NIST

Scientists at the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) have proven beyond reasonable doubt that Einstein was wrong about one of the main principles of quantum mechanics and that "spooky action at a distance" is actually real. 

Scientists Think They’ve Discovered A New Domain Of Life In The Human Gut

Health and Medicine





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Our guts are home to trillions of bacteria, and possibly even new forms of life. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory - PNNL/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Considering that scientists are only able to grow an estimated one percent of known microbes in the lab, many suspect that there are plenty of new forms of life yet to be discovered, the so called “dark matter” of life. Now, a new study has hinted at the possibility that some of these unknown forms might be residing closer to home than imagined – in our own guts.

New Laser Could Generate Sun’s Core Temperature Instantaneously

Technology





Photo credit:

Juergen Faelchle/Shutterstock

Controlled nuclear fusion has been the dream of many – a clean, seemingly-perpetual source of energy.

Scientists Can Now Measure The “Mystical” Effects Of Magic Mushrooms

The Brain





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Scientists have found a way to measure the "mystical" effects of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. Psilocybe Cubensis – Ecuador by afgooey74 via Flickr CC BY 2.0

Ever since LSD was first synthesized back in the 1930s, psychotherapists have been interested in using hallucinogenic drugs to treat a range of mental disorders.

World’s Ten Most Dangerous Volcanoes Identified

Environment





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Which volcano tops the list? Alexander Piragis/Shutterstock

The Earth is peppered with volcanoes, and for the most part, they aren’t dangerous. Some, however, certainly are, ranging from the known city-destroyers like Vesuvius to the civilization-enders, like Santorini.

How Much Sex Should You Have If You Want To Get Pregnant?

Health and Medicine





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The best chance for getting pregnant is more sex. Who knew? Credit: Nadezhda Sundikova/Shutterstock

The announcement that sex leads to pregnancy is ten thousand-year-old news, but Indiana University scientists have given it a new spin by confirming the suspicion that sex throughout the menstrual cycle increases the chance of conception. Besides helping those struggling to conceive, the findings could have implications for wider understanding of the immune system.

Little Galaxy Keeps Churning Out Stars

Our galactic home, the Milky Way, is big. Most galaxies are far smaller. And it’s not easy being one of those little galaxies—a big galaxy’s gravity can rob their gas. And gas creates new stars, so losing gas spells the end of star-making. That's what happened to nearly all the small galaxies orbiting the Milky Way.

But a small galaxy can still succeed. Take the example of Leo P. Discovered in 2005, the galaxy Leo P lies some 5.3 million light-years from Earth. And it contains only about a hundred-thousandths as many stars as the Milky Way. But it’s thriving nevertheless.

So what’s Leo P's secret for success? Pretty simple: steer clear of gas-grabbing big galaxies. Leo P still has lots of gas. In fact, Leo P's gas outweighs its stars. Astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to study the small galaxy and published their findings recently in The Astrophysical Journal. [Kristen B. McQuinn et al, Leo P: An Unquenched Very Low-mass Galaxy]

All that gas means that Leo P can keep making new stars. So the diminutive galaxy has a bright future, as long as it keeps obeying the number one rule of survival: don’t let any behemoths siphon off your gas.

—written by Ken Croswell, voiced by Steve Mirsky

(The above text is a transcript of this podcast)

This Is The Message We Have Sent To Aliens

Space





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The Golden Record. NASA

The Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, launched in 1977, are now the furthest manmade objects from Earth. While it will take them tens of thousands of years to get even remotely close to another star, both contain messages on board to any aliens who happen to pick them up – however unlikely that is.