ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 83

Just How Dangerous Is the ‘Murder Hornet’?

By Paige Embry The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) has arrived in North America. In the past several days photographs and videos have surfaced showing how viciously this insect has attacked honeybees elsewhere in the world: it crawls into hives and rips off the heads of bees in large numbers—making its supervillain nickname, “murder hornet,” …

The Supreme Court will soon weigh in on who counts as a minister. Its answer could change religious freedom law forever

By Kelsey Dallas The Supreme Court on Monday will hear its final religious freedom case of the current term. According to some legal scholars, it saved the most significant for last. On its surface, Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, which was consolidated with St. James School v. Biel, seems to pose a basic question. …

30 years after ‘pale blue dot’ photo of Earth, the coronavirus reminds us of our fragility

By Ray Jayawardhana On Valentine’s Day of 1990, following fly-bys of Jupiter and Saturn and on its way out of the solar system, the Voyager 1 spacecraft looked back one last time at the planet whence it was launched. The picture it captured of the Earth as a blurry dot hovering in the dark takes on a new poignancy …

The Nobel Disease: When Intelligence Fails To Protect Against Irrationality

By Candice Basterfield, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Shawna M. Bowes, and Thomas H. Costello No scientific award is more coveted than the Nobel Prize. In the eyes of the public, this prize, especially in the three traditional science categories of chemistry, physics, and physiology or medicine, is virtually synonymous with scientific brilliance. At the same time, …

Astronomers just stitched together an unprecedented portrait of Jupiter in infrared — and realized its Great Red Spot is full of holes

By Morgan McFall-Johnsen New snapshots of Jupiter reveal its turbulent weather in infrared — the spectrum of light just beyond visible wavelengths. To get these unprecedentedly sharp images, a team of researchers from NASA and the University of California, Berkeley combined data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Juno probe that orbits Jupiter, and the …

The right to worship: Church and state clash over religious services in the coronavirus era

By Mansee Khurana Religious leaders and state officials are squaring off in court over how to worship during the coronavirus pandemic. Numerous churches around the country have filed lawsuits claiming that banning religious gatherings is a violation of the First Amendment, a fight that presses the question of what limits officials can place on religious …

Supreme Court Weighs Whether Parochial Schools Are Exempt From Fair Employment Laws

By Nina Totenberg For the second time in as many weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court is tackling a major religion case. This time the question is whether lay teachers at parochial schools are exempt from the nation’s fair employment laws. But the court’s eventual decision could reach beyond teachers, affecting the lives of millions of other employees …

Catholic bishop suspends priest and issues trespass order over blog about clergy sex abuse

By Michelle Boorstein A months-long standoff between a Catholic bishop in Virginia and a priest who blogs frequent, strident criticism of the church’s handling of clergy sexual abuse has boiled over, with the diocese suspending the priest from ministry and changing parish and residence locks where he was assigned, the priest said Saturday. The Rev. …

It’s already getting too hot and humid in some places for humans to survive

By Justine Calma A combination of heat and humidity so extreme that it’s unendurable isn’t just a problem for the future — those conditions are already here, a new study finds. Off-the-chart readings that were previously thought to be nearly nonexistent on the planet today have popped up around the globe, and unyielding temperatures are …

President Trump’s Favorability Ratings Recede from March’s Peak

By PRRI Staff New data from PRRI shows that President Donald Trump’s favorability rating has dropped seven points over the last four weeks. Today, just over four in ten (43%) Americans hold mostly or very favorable views of Trump, compared to a 54% majority who hold mostly or very unfavorable views of him. In mid-March, …