ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 650
October 31, 2015
Here’s What Sugar Does To Your Brain
Photo credit:
Ted-Ed & STK Films/YouTube
It’s a tough life as sweet-toothed sugar fiend; full of sugar rushes and blood sugar lows. We all know too much sugar isn’t good for you, but why do some of us crave that extra cookie or last slice of cake? Turns out, sugar’s hold on us is not too dissimilar to our brain’s reaction to sex and drugs.
Check Out These Pumpkins Exploding, Spewing Molten Iron And Levitating
Photo credit:
The Royal Institution/YouTube
Since Halloween is upon us, The Royal Institution has found a pretty novel way of celebrating: exploding pumpkins and the eerie powers of superconductor levitation.
5 Of The Most Frightening Moments In The History Of Spaceflight
Photo credit:
Luca Parmitano (pictured) had a terrifying spacewalk in 2013. NASA.
Halloween is that time of year when we celebrate the scary, terrifying, and downright spooky. So what better time to look at some of the most hair-raising moments in space?
We’ve been a space-faring species for almost six decades now, and along the way there have been some nail-biting moments when catastrophe seemed imminent. From seemingly doomed manned space missions to an incredible landing on another world, we take a look at some of the most terrifying near-misses to occur in the history of spaceflight.
Out of control in Earth orbit
Preserving The Dead: Weird And Grisly Practices From Around The World
Photo credit:
The Egyptians were certainly prolific in mummification, but they certainly weren't the first, or last, to do it. Mikhail Zahranichny/Shutterstock
Our imagery of mummification is often dominated by the Egyptians, especially around Halloween. But whilst they may have been incredibly prolific in preserving their dead, helped in no small part by the environment in which they lived, they were by no means the first – or last – to practice this funerary ritual. In fact, cultures the world over, on every continent except Antarctica, have dabbled in the art of preserving their dead.
Weirdos, Werewolves And The Full Moon
Photo credit:
Wannabe Harvest Moon by Rowena, via Flickr. CC BY-ND 2.0
If you google Halloween, you will find that the vast majority of images show the full Moon. This iconography is surprising from an astronomical point of view: There’s a full Moon on Halloween every 19 years, with the next one due in 2020. Humanity has always feared the darkness, and the Moon is the "queen of the night," so it is not too peculiar that our satellite is often linked to evil forces that can supposedly take over man and make them mad.
Meet Nature’s Weirdest, Freakiest Vampires
Photo credit:
A sea lamprey – a swimming, agile vampire. Dave Herasimtschuk/Flickr; CC-BY-2.0
Vampires are mythical beings, right? Tales of the dark-natured, blood-sucking mischief makers have been spread far and wide across the ages. These undead monstrosities are familiar to most thanks to the spread of vampire superstition into Western Europe from the Balkans, where tales of their horrifying exploits were commonplace in the 18th century. Civilizations as ancient as Babylonia recorded tales of blood-consuming spirits over 3,800 years ago. But is there any truth to the legends?
How To Make A Zombie: The Science Behind The Undead
Photo credit:
Kiselev Andrey Valerevich/Shutterstock.
Hollywood and gory novels have made us totally obsessed with zombies. Among all the movies and fancy dress outfits, there’s a Zombie Squad, Zombie Research Society and even a zombie apocalypse emergency plan at the Pentagon. Needless to say, the fear is very real among some of us, but is the threat?
The Huge “Asteroid” Set To Fly Past Earth Today Is Actually A Dead Comet – And It Looks Just Like A Skull!
Photo credit:
NAIC-Arecibo/NSF
The Universe has a very special treat for us this Halloween: a skull-shaped dead comet posing as an asteroid. The massive space rock will whizz past the Earth today, providing the best chance for radar astronomers to observe such an object for many years to come.
October 30, 2015
What We’re Reading
A glimpse of the NCSE reading room
Here are some of the stories that caught NCSE’s eye this week. Feel free to share articles that crossed your screen in the comment section, or e-mail us directly during the week with things that caught your eye. We’ll add the best to our weekly posts.
The Hollow Earth is Filled with Giants, Germans, and a Little Sun, Atlas Obscura, October 21, 2015 — The spirit of Captain John Symmes lives on! Eric Grundhauser discusses a modern hollow-earther, and provides a review of the history of the notion en route.
Religion and Science, Pew Research Center, October 22, 2015 — “Highly religious Americans are less likely than others to see conflict between faith and science” is the headline message. But there’s plenty of interesting material on people’s opinions of the relations between religion and science, evolution, and climate science to ponder in this data-rich report.
With GMO Policies, Europe Turns Against Science, The New York Times, October 25, 2015 — On August 9, 2005, Scotland banned the cultivation of genetically modified crops. Seventeen European countries have since followed suit. The European Commission, after lobbying from Greenpeace and other environmental groups, no longer has a Chief Scientific Advisor. Perhaps most chilling, African countries are following Europe’s lead, cutting themselves off from crops that could improve food security despite the consensus of the scientific community that genetically-modified crops are safe.
Hung Like a Howler Monkey, Slate, October 26, 2015 — A new research study informally known as the “calls and balls” paper presents interesting correlations between howler monkey testicles, hyoid bones, and social organization. The correlations support theories related to evolutionary trade-offs in reproductive strategies.
Report Predicts Temperatures Too Hot for Humans in the Persian Gulf, Washington Post, October 27, 2015 — By the end of this century, many areas in the Persian Gulf may for the first time become too hot and humid for human beings to survive. Climate conditions may make it impossible for healthy adults to spend more than a few hours outside in such cities including Dubai, with Mecca predicted to fall dangerously near the potentially uninhabitable zone.
Spectre of Destruction: The Lost Manuscript of the Real-Life M, The Guardian, October 28, 2015 — Maxwell Knight, the inspiration for James Bond’s boss, M, left one last secret for history. The spymaster was also an avid naturalist (founding the British Herpetological Societ, and writing important works of natural history after the war). When The Guardian’s Simon King pried open a locked cabinet Knight left behind, he found a manuscript drafted in 1964 warning against environmental destruction and overconsumption. “If human brains can find means of defying space, improving means of communication and bouncing pictures off satellites,” the intelligence-gatherer argued, “surely he can also discover ways in which these things can be done without destruction—for destruction first is the cry of mad revolution and is the reverse of evolution.”
When Should You Introduce A Child To Evolution?, National Public Radio, October 29, 2015 — Our very own Stephanie Keep inspired anthropology professor Barbara King to write for NPR about Jonathan Tweet’s Grandmother Fish , a book on evolution for pre-school children. In the blog, King answers the question: are pre-schoolers too young to learn about evolution? The answer of course, is a resounding no. King tells us that “Grandmother Fish is a fun way to start children down a path of scientific literacy and, what’s more, can help instill in them a vital sense of connection with the living world.”
They Might Sound Gross, But Intestinal Worms Can Actually Be Good Tor You
Photo credit:
Four rat tapeworms harvested from a single laboratory rat are shown in a six-well plate. The worms don’t harm the rats. Each worm, between two and three feet long, can produce more than 1,000 eggs per day. William Parker, CC BY-NC-SA
Intestinal worms have an incredibly bad reputation. The thought of them sneaking around inside our bodies and eating us from the inside is pretty unpleasant. But just 100 years ago, before toilets and running water were commonplace, everybody had regular exposure to intestinal worms. Thanks in part to modern plumbing, people in the industrialized world have now lost almost all of their worms, with the exception of occasional pinworms in some children.
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