The Big Picture: The History of the Universe Is Our History
The Big Picture: The History of the Universe Is Our History
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Culture, Not Biology, Shapes Language
From Barbara King at NPR’s 13:7, a blog set at the intersection of science and culture: There’s no language gene. There’s no innate language organ or module in the human brain dedicated to the production of grammatical language. There are no meaningful human universals when it comes to how people construct sentences to communicate with each other….
Cosmic Hurricane: Black Hole Has 20 Million MPH Winds
Scientists have measured the fastest winds yet observed from a stellar-mass black hole, shedding light on the behavior of these curious cosmic objects. The winds, clocked by astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, are racing through space at 20 million mph, or about 3 percent the speed of light. That’s nearly 10 times faster than…
Dreams of Meaning
ByEditorWe sleep. We dream. We do not know why. Faith traditions have interpreted sleep and dreams as meaningful for millennia without the need for scientific grounding, though. Dreams are visits from angels, attacks by devils, and revelation from the divine. Some dreams predict the future while others seem like spiritual exhaust from the day. Dreams…
Damage From Chemical Exposure Passed Down for Generations
New research has shown that exposure to commonly used chemicals causes changes in rats that are passed down through multiple generations. The researchers exposed gestating female rats to vinclozolin, a popular fruit and vegetable fungicide. They then put the rats’ third generation of offspring through a variety of behavioral tests. They found that the rats…
Mars Rover Detects Simple Organic Compounds
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has detected several simple carbon-based organic compounds on Mars, but it remains unclear whether they were formed via Earthly contamination or whether they contain only elements indigenous to the planet. Speaking at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, Curiosity mission leaders also said that the compound perchlorate—identified previously…
Stem Cell Opponents File Appeal With U.S. Supreme Court
It’s been 3 years since the legality of federal funding for research involving human embryonic stem cells (hESC) was first brought to the US court system, and despite some tense moments, including a temporary ban on National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for hESC research, the courts have continued to uphold the legality of such…