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Musk’s Mars Moment Science Pick of the day

Eric Berger | Ars Technica | 28th September 2016

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Hard-nosed look at Elon Musk’s plan to populate Mars within the coming decade. It is at the outer edge of possible, and it will probably cost two or three times Musk’s budget of $10 billion — but it is possible, and it leaves far more expensive and far less ambitious government programmes in the dust. Musk argues that we must conquer space not merely to advance science but to ensure human flourishing: “It is about releasing the masses into space, and letting them create a new life in space” (3,900 words)

Unusually Murderous Mammals Society

Ed Yong | Atlantic | 28th September 2016

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Rabbits rarely kill each either. Neither do bats or whales. Lions, tigers, and bears kill each other more frequently, but not nearly as often as primates do. Modern humans kill at a rate which is fairly typical for primates, though high for mammals in general — roughly 2% of human deaths are intra-species murder, down from 12% in medieval times. The most murderous mammals are meerkats: “Almost one in five meerkats, mostly youngsters, lose their lives at the paws and jaws of their peers” (1,300 words)

How To Read Bones Like A Scapulimancer Culture

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The Shang kings of ancient China sought guidance from the gods by inscribing questions on the shoulder-bones of oxen, cracking the inscribed bones with hot irons, and divining the gods’ answers from the shapes of the cracks. “The pantheon they addressed included nature powers, predynastic powers, a supreme power called Di, and the legendary ancestor Ku, one of whose consorts gave birth to the founder of the dynasty after swallowing an egg left by a dark bird” (1,500 words)

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Musk’s Mars Moment Science Pick of the day

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Unusually Murderous Mammals Society

How To Read Bones Like A Scapulimancer Culture

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