ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 784
January 11, 2015
It’s survival of the most useful when protecting species
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Coral reefs are like an underwater metropolis – and function in similar ways. Simon Gingins, CC BY-SA
Consensus is growing that we are steering towards a sixth mass extinction event. There are calls for increased efforts to stop the accelerating loss of plants and animals. But do we really need to protect all species from global extinction?
Why you don’t need God
Ryan Bell is a writer and speaker on the topic of religion and irreligion in America. In January 2014, Ryan began a yearlong journey to explore the limits of theism and the atheist landscape in the United States. He blogs about his experience on www.YearWithoutGod.com
By Ryan Bell
It was January 2014 and I was sitting on the beach in Malibu looking out at the seemingly endless Pacific Ocean, ebbing and flowing. I had just begun a personal project of challenging my lifelong assumption that God exists.
You see, I had been a Seventh-day Adventist pastor for 19 years. I resigned from my pastoral position the year before, but now I stepped away from my faith altogether. It was a gut-wrenching decision but I couldn’t see any other way to find peace and clarity. I encountered major theological differences with my denomination and evangelical Christianity in general, including the way it marginalizes women and LGBT people.
I questioned the problem of evils and God’s general silence and inactivity. I sought out more liberal theologies and found them to be the slow death of God. Now I had to face the very real possibility that God does not exist.
Would I discover that God was present and involved, or would I discover that the whole web of theological claims I had embraced and helped develop were false?
I was feeling small against the beautiful and terrifyingly indifferent sea before me. Then I started to feel grateful. “What are the chances that I would be sitting on this beach right now, looking at this remarkable scene of beauty?” I thought. I was struck again by how unlikely my existence is.
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January 10, 2015
Jet Stream Propels Commercial Plane Across Atlantic In Record Time
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Credit: http://earth.nullschool.net
A commercial plane flying from New York to London Heathrow reached near-supersonic speeds on Thursday as it flew through a 200-mile-per-hour jet stream surging across the North Atlantic. The Boeing 777-200 jet reached speeds of 745 miles per hour relative to ground speed.
Why Most Food Labels Are Wrong About Calories
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OK you can trust this food label. But calories? Forget it. Bryan Kennedy, CC BY-NC
Food labels seem to provide all the information a thoughtful consumer needs, so counting calories should be simple. But things get tricky because food labels tell only half the story.
Are Quantum Dot TVs – And Their Toxic Ingredients – Actually Better For The Environment?
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The picture is awesome… but am I risking my health? Steve Marcus/Reuters
Earlier this week, The Conversation reported that, “The future is bright, the future is … quantum dot televisions.” And judging by the buzz coming from this week’s annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that’s right – the technology is providing manufacturers with a cheap and efficient way of producing the next generation of brilliant, high-definition TV screens.
‘Climate Hacking’ Would Be Easy – That Doesn’t Mean We Should Do It
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Just mimic this a few dozen times and we’ll be right. Right? Taro Taylor/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY
Some people might argue that the greatest moral challenge of our time is serious enough to justify deliberately tampering with our climate to stave off the damaging effects of global warming.
Geoengineering, or “climate hacking”, to use its more emotive nickname, is a direct intervention in the natural environments of our planet, including our atmosphere, seas and oceans.
The Charlie Hebdo Attackers Were Attacking You Too
FRANCOIS MORI—AP
By James Poniewozik
At least a dozen people, at current count, have been murdered at the French offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, apparently because it published cartoons satirizing Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. This came just a month after hackers, purportedly angry over The Interview‘s depiction of the assassination of North Korea’s leader, attacked Sony’s computer networks and stole valuable and embarrassing data.
Maybe you would never have read Charlie Hebdo or seen The Interview. Maybe you think mocking beloved religious figures, or fictionally blowing up the head of a living world leader, is in poor taste. That’s fine; decent people can lawfully criticize speech and still hate it being attacked unlawfully.
But if you care about freedom, you don’t always have the luxury of defending monumental art. If speech rights only protected polite comments that everyone could agree with, we wouldn’t need them.
And no matter who you are or what you like, these attacks are also attacks on you.
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January 9, 2015
Infants Too Young For Vaccines Catch Measles From Unvaccinated Children At Disneyland
Photo credit:
Hatchapong Palurtchaivong / Shutterstock.com
Nine cases of measles have so far been recorded in an outbreak in California and Utah, and the number is expected to rise. It is thought that many of the infections were transmitted at Disneyland. Predictably, most of those who have become sick were not vaccinated. Infuriatingly, two of them were children who were too young to get the measles shots, rather than being the children of vaccine opponents.
Binge Drinking Effects Your Immune System Immediately
Photo credit:
Peter Hopper via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0
Just one night of binge drinking affects the immune system, and it can happen within just 20 minutes of ingesting alcohol. The findings, published in the journal Alcohol last month, are the first to document the immediate effects of alcohol on the human immune system. TGIF!
Active Sun At Birth Cut Historical Lifespans
Astrologists have long contended that the stars profoundly influence people here on Earth. And it looks like they may have stumbled onto the truth—at least when it comes to one star: the sun. Because a new analysis of Norwegian birth records suggests that children born during periods of high solar activity lived five years less, on average, than did their counterparts born during periods of low solar activity. And women born during solar maxima appear to have been less fertile. Those findings appear in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. [Gine Roll Skjærvø et al, Solar activity at birth predicted infant survival and women’s fertility in historical Norway]
Researchers analyzed more than 8,600 births from 1676 to 1878, while controlling for other factors like socioeconomic class. And indeed, higher solar activity at birth appeared to cut lifespan. The reason, the researchers say, could be exposure to increased ultraviolet radiation during periods of high solar activity. Because that UV light can degrade an expectant mothers' stores of folate, a B vitamin essential to a baby's healthy development. It's unclear whether the effect would still hold today, as many pregnant women take supplements of the vitamin.
And despite the sun's potentially harmful effects, we still need it—to synthesize ample vitamin D. "A lot of the media now has been that if you're pregnant or planning to become pregnant, then you should avoid sun, or not go south for the winter to get a lot of sun, especially if you're very pale." Study author Frode Fossøy, an evolutionary biologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. "We also need sun, to get vitamin D—so it's a delicate balance."
There's an expression in Norwegian for that, he says. "Den gylne middelvei." The golden middle way, the middle road. "Moderation, yep. That's sensible."
—Christopher Intagliata
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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