ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 716
August 10, 2015
When We Understand How HIV Replicates Despite Drug Therapy, Then We Can Stop It
Photo credit:
HIV-infected H9 T cell captured by a scanning electron micrograph. NIAID, CC BY-NC
The last two decades has seen great advances in the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Therapy can now be tailored to the patient, ensuring patients’ bodies can tolerate it and making the drugs extremely effective.
Revealed: Why Animals’ Pupils Come In Different Shapes And Sizes
Photo credit:
Spot the fox, wolf, sheep and…cuttlefish. Jim Champion (sheep); R'lyeh (wolf); Michele Lamberti (fox); William Warby (cuttlefish), CC BY-SA
Wolves and foxes are closely related and share many of the same characteristics. But look at their eyes – where wolves have rounded pupils like humans, foxes instead have a thin vertical line. But it isn’t just canines –across the animal kingdom, pupils come in all shapes and sizes. So why the differences?
A Teacher Uses Star Trek For Difficult Conversations On Race And Gender
Photo credit:
Can Captain Kirk’s struggle for belonging and identity become a tool for teaching? James Vaughan, CC BY-NC-SA
The television series Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–1969) debuted one year after my immediate family and I relocated from the Harlem district of New York City to an area of South Central Los Angeles in 1965.
August 9, 2015
How American Journalists Covered The First Use Of The Atomic Bomb
Photo credit:
Hiroshima, August 6 1945, and Nagasaki, August 9 1945. CC BY-SA
Seventy years ago this week, the US military revealed the greatest (and best-kept) secret of the Allied effort to win World War II.
The use of the atomic bomb proved to the world that it was indeed possible to make one.
But how had it been possible to keep the secret? And how did US journalists break the news?
From New York To Oak Ridge
Taking Plants Off Planet – How Do They Grow In Zero Gravity?
Photo credit:
Astronaut Cady Coleman harvests one of our plants on Space Shuttle Columbia. NASA, CC BY
Gravity is a constant for all organisms on Earth. It acts on every aspect of our physiology, behavior and development – no matter what you are, you evolved in an environment where gravity roots us firmly to the ground.
Wasps Turn Spiders Into Their Zombie Bodyguards, Then Kill Them
Photo credit:
The wasp’s pupa commandeering an enslaved spider. Keizo Takasuka, Author provided
Scientists in Japan have discovered a species of wasp that induces a zombie-like state in spiders in order to manipulate them into protecting the wasp’s own pupa.
The finding, published today in The Journal of Experimental Biology, is the latest example of biological control, whereby parasitic insects manipulate hosts for their own survival and reproduction.
How To Make Sense Of ‘Alarming’ Sea Level Forecasts
Photo credit:
Sea level rise is one of the biggest worries of climate change. This image is from the Witness King Tides project, which aims to visualise sea level rise using large tides and storm surges. Witness King Tides/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA
You may have read recent reports about huge changes in sea level, inspired by new research from James Hansen, NASA’s former Chief Climate Scientist, at Columbia University. Sea level rise represents one of the most worrying aspects of global warming, potentially displacing millions of people along coasts, low river valleys, deltas and islands.
Nepal Earthquake May Have ‘Unzipped’ Fault Line, Boosting Risk Of Future Quake
Photo credit:
The April 2015 earthquake flattened villages and towns, but more may be to come. AAP Image/Jonathan Hyams/Save The Children
New research shows the earthquake that struck central Nepal in April this year was only a partial rupture of a regional fault line, meaning another strong quake could be due in future.
This Week in Science: August 9, 2015
Read the full stories by clicking each individual picture.
Scientists Use The Power Of Acoustics For Real-Life Levitation
Photo credit:
Real levitation used to aid drug research. Argonne National Laboratory.
These orbs of liquid aren’t magically levitating: they’re hovering on the power of sound waves.
Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory used sound waves to float droplets of various solutions infused with medicines.
Why? While it does initially look like a cool party trick, the real benefits are for the pharmaceutical industry.
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