Why Do Americans Own More Guns Per Capita Than Anyone Else?

Plus: this week’s top science news—mars habitability; killer harpoon mosquito heads; moving an asteroid; implanting human neurons in rats; and more. [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( October 18, 2022   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Here’s the top science news—plus this week’s One Question and related Nautilus stories [JUMP IN](   DISCOVERIES The Top Science News This Week   [Early Mars Habitability and Global Cooling by H2-Based Methanogens]( Ancient Mars was “very likely” a nice place to live for underground microbes. [Nature Astronomy→](   [“Our Jaws Dropped”: Mosquito Larvae’s Killer Harpoon Heads Revealed]( Fans of Mortal Kombat will be reminded of Scorpion’s catchphrase, “Get over here!” [The New York Times→](   [The DART Mission Successfully Changed the Motion of an Asteroid]( Humans have managed to shave about 30 minutes off of Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos. [CNN→](   [Human Brain Cells Implanted in Rats Prompt Excitement—and Concern]( A bit like adding “another transistor to a circuit,” said Stanford University’s Sergiu Pasca, one of the neuroscientists behind the experiment. [Nature→](   Scientists May Have Just Cracked the Code on Fast Electric Car Charging]( The fast-charging batteries could be commercially available in a couple years. [Time→](   Gamma Ray Burst May Be Most Powerful Yet Seen in Space](//sailthru.nautil.us/click/29405461.2764/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubmV3c2NpZW50aXN0LmNvbS9hcnRpY2xlLzIzNDI1MDktbWluZC1yZWFkaW5nLWFpLXdvcmtzLW91dC13aGF0LXlvdS1hcmUtdGhpbmtpbmctZnJvbS1icmFpbi1zY2Fucy8_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uYXV0aWx1cy1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmaGU9ZDY2ZTNkNDM1ZGI1ZjlhZjA5Y2JiNTVlMTBkY2ZlY2Q/60aaa7da6c0d2461fe58eb64Da476690a The once-in-a-century explosion could help illuminate how black holes form and whether dark matter exists. [Axios→]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [JOIN TODAY](   [Smarter Health Solutions That Fit Your Lifestyle]( Take charge of your health with innovative healthcare solutions. With [Qardio](’s clinically validated, award-winning devices, you can monitor your blood pressure, weight, temperature, oxygen levels, and pulse rate. Taking [better care of your body]( has never been easier. [Learn More](   [ONE QUESTION]( [Why Do Americans Own More Guns Per Capita Than Anyone Else?]( INTERVIEW BY BRIAN GALLAGHER One question for [Jennifer Carlson](, a 2022 MacArthur Grant-winning sociologist at the University of Arizona and author of the forthcoming book [Merchants of the Right: Gun Sellers and the Crisis of American Democracy](.   The legal structure makes it possible. The social structure makes it urgent. If you talk to people who own and carry guns, their number one reason for doing so is for self protection. This is really clear if you walk into a gun store and start talking to people. It’s very clear from the survey data. That’s actually historically new. Even as recently as the 1990s, people were saying hunting was the number one reason they owned guns. That’s not to say protection wasn’t an element before, but that it’s so central to defining what it means to own and carry a gun now is really important. [Read the interview](   Related Nautilus Stories   [TECHNOLOGY]( [Omniviolence Is Coming and the World Isn’t Ready]( BY PHIL TORRES In The Future of Violence, Benjamin Wittes and Gabriella Blum discuss a disturbing hypothetical scenario. [Continue reading →]( [ZOOLOGY]( [The Wild World of Threats]( BY DAVID P. BARASH You’re confronting a spider, up close, womano-a-womano. [Continue reading →]( [SOCIOLOGY]( [How Freedom Divides]( BY MARK W. MOFFETT As a biologist who studies animal behavior, particularly the long-term stability of the societies of different species, our own included, I’ve traveled through diverse cultures around the world. [Continue reading →]( [SOCIOLOGY]( [Collective Intelligence Will End Identity-Based Politics]( BY GEOFF MULGAN The Canadian poet Dennis Lee once wrote that the consolations of existence might be improved if we thought, worked, and lived as though we were inhabiting “the early days of a better civilization.” [Continue reading →]( [SOCIOLOGY]( [Is Tribalism a Natural Malfunction?]( BY SIMON DEDEO From an office at Carnegie Mellon, my colleague John Miller and I had evolved a computer program with a taste for genocide. 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