ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 98

NASA pauses work on James Webb Space Telescope due to coronavirus, weighs risk to other science missions

By Meghan Bartels As many NASA centers switch to mandatory telework to confront the spread of COVID-19, NASA leadership acknowledged that prized science missions may suffer delays and that the agency was prepared to make that trade in order to keep its employees safe. Among the missions affected is the James Webb Space Telescope, where work …

Hobby Lobby founder reportedly told employees a message from God informed his decision to leave stores open amid the coronavirus outbreak

By Bethany Biron Hobby Lobby, the craft store chain that is no stranger to controversy, is once again finding itself in hot water for allegedly citing a message from God in its decision to leave stores open amid the coronavirus outbreak. Though more than 90 retailers in the US have temporarily shuttered in the past week in an …

Sudan Is on the Verge of Abolishing the Death Penalty for Apostasy

By Hemant Mehta When Humanists International released its annual “Freedom of Thought Report” in November, describing serious cases of discrimination and persecution against atheists around the world, the nation of Sudan was ranked 187 out of 196. (Saudi Arabia ranked last.) It’s not a place where religious freedom is taken seriously. One of the reasons …

Dear Liberty University board: Please stop Jerry Falwell Jr. before it’s too late

By Marybeth Davis Baggett Jerry Falwell, Jr. is about to make a terrible mistake. It’s time for the Liberty University Board to stop him and shut the campus down before it’s too late. Although Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s ban on gatherings of more than 100 people forced Falwell to cancel residential classes at Liberty University, the …

How ‘undertaker’ bees recognize dead comrades

By Eva Frederick They’re the undertakers of the bee world: a class of workers that scours hives for dead comrades, finding them in the dark in as little as 30 minutes, despite the fact that the deceased haven’t begun to give off the typical odors of decay. A new study may reveal how they do it. “The …

Covert coronavirus infections could be seeding new outbreaks

By Jane Qiu As coronavirus outbreaks surge worldwide, research teams are racing to understand a crucial epidemiological puzzle — what proportion of infected people have mild or no symptoms and might be passing the virus on to others. Some of the first detailed estimates of these covert cases suggest that they could represent some 60% …

Convicted paedophile Vincent Ryan confessed to a priest — then he continued abusing children

By Sarah Ferguson Vincent Ryan is a Catholic priest and a paedophile, convicted of sexually abusing more than 30 children. In Australia’s first television interview with a convicted clerical sex abuser, Ryan said there was no reason why he should not remain a priest. “It’s a duty. I’ve committed myself to it,” he said. “It’d …

Most white evangelicals satisfied with Trump’s initial response to the COVID-19 outbreak

By Gregory A. Smith President Donald Trump has received high marks from white evangelical Protestants on a range of issues throughout his time in office. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has proved no different – at least in the initial phase of the crisis, according to a new Pew Research Center survey gathered as part of …

Some Blood Types May Be Slightly More Susceptible to COVID-19, Paper Suggests

By Jacinta Bowler There’s a new bit of information about COVID-19 you may have heard. Those with type A blood are more susceptible to the new coronavirus, according to headlines. But how reliable is this info, and should you be changing your behaviour? First thing’s first: the information does come from a study, but one that has …

Perry Stone Claims America’s Coronavirus Outbreak Is a ‘Reckoning’ for Allowing Abortion and Gay Marriage

By Kyle Mantyla When right-wing pastor Perry Stone held a prayer service at his church in Cleveland, Tennessee, earlier this week, he declared that the current COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in America is a “reckoning” brought on by the nation’s rejection of God and its embrace of reproductive rights and marriage equality. “If this is a moment of reckoning, …