ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 702

Why Are There More Men Than Women?

Health and Medicine





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Booties. Mukhina Viktoriia/Shutterstock

And the full answer isn’t because of societal preferences – i.e. male babies being preferred over female babies for religious or economic reasons. Although that is a factor of course.

View the Known Universe

Space





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Arches Cluster in the Milky Way, taken by the Hubble Telescope. NASA/ESA.

Jaw dropping, heart stopping, mind blowing. Just a few phrases that popped into my head when I first saw this incredible digitally created journey mapping the universe, all the way from Earth, through our solar system, out to the Milky Way, zooming all the way back to show the afterglow of the Big Bang and Quasars, the furthest objects we're currently able to see.

Frogs Are Irrational

Plants and Animals





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Túngara frogs rely on voice, rather than looks, for sex appeal, but other voices can confuse. Credit: Brian Gratwicke via Wikimedia Commons

In news that might interest the newly single Miss Piggy, frogs have been observed to allow irrelevant factors to influence their mating choices. While similar behavioral traits have been demonstrated in humans, the finding shows how fundamental irrationality is to our psychology, exposing processes that rely on an assumption of rationality.

We Could Soon Prove If Life Began Outside The Solar System Or Not

Space





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Did life begin in interstellar oases (examples in green)? NASA/JPL/R. Hurt.

The theory of panspermia is a controversial one, to say the least. It has various forms, but the crux is this: Life originated beyond the Solar System and was spread through the galaxy, perhaps via drifting microbes, asteroids or even artificially by intelligent beings. It’s fair to say that it has split opinion over the years.

What Would Happen If You Dropped A Nuclear Bomb Into A Volcano?

Environment





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Tungurahua volcano eruption. Fotos593/Shutterstock.

A volcano is a lava-filled boil on the surface of the Earth, just waiting to build up enough pressure to spew out ash and lava. A nuclear bomb is an explosive, man-made weapon designed for destruction and chaos. It disintegrates everything in its local vicinity and irradiates everything in its range after that. But what happens when you combine one of man's most destructive creations with one of nature's?

Buzz Aldrin Wants Us To Colonize Mars by 2039

Space





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Aldrin is pictured here at the Veteran's Parade in New York in 2010. Mishella/Shutterstock.

Buzz Aldrin has been an outspoken proponent of colonizing Mars for many years, and indeed he has numerous books out about his ideas. But the Apollo 11 astronaut, and second man on the Moon, has now gone on record again to reveal he has a new plan to colonize Mars, and wants humans to be living there by 2039 – the 70th anniversary of Apollo 11.

Quasar Sheds Light On A Twin Black Hole Secret

Space





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Artists illustration of Markarian 231, with two black holes at the center. NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI).

Astronomers noticed something curious about the center of a galaxy 600 million light-years away. A central blast of radiation, a quasar, seemed to have an engine of bumper-sized proportions. Not one, but two black holes circling each other.

The World’s First Solar-Powered Sports Car Could Drive Forever

Technology





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Is The Immortus (illustrated) the future of driving? EVX Ventures.

Can a road-legal car be powered by the Sun alone? One company thinks so, and they’re planning to unveil a scaled-down version of their proposal later this year.

Countries In The Middle East Will Be Hardest Hit By Water Shortages

Environment





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Bahrain is among a number of countries in the Middle East that will likely face water shortages. Eugene Sergeev/Shutterstock

Access to water is a growing problem that is only set to be exacerbated by climate change. Of the 33 countries that are expected to face extremely high water stress by 2040, nearly half are in the Middle East.

Most Psychology Papers Can’t Be Reproduced

The Brain





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Psychology research may not have run into a brick wall, but it has hit a speed hump. Credit: Lightspring/Shutterstock

An attempt to reproduce 100 psychology studies published in leading journals couldn't match the results in almost two thirds of cases. The findings raise serious questions about the rigor of research in the field, as well as how other areas of science would stack up under the same test.