Life: extraterrestrial, artificial, synthetic...

Here is a 10 min segment of conversation about life between Dawkins and Matt Ridley...

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For the sake of sanity...

Yes, I'm still at the SSSR conference in Baltimore. However, a few of us had to sneak out today to restore some sanity. It was absolutely amazing - people, people, everywhere! May be really a lot of people (though this looks a bit on the high-end). And we definitely boosted this number with...

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Separating the Taliban from Al Qaeeda

I'm in Baltimore to attend the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR). I will try to post about some of the talks at the meeting. Our panel is tomorrow (Friday) - on Creationism in Europe. I will update soon. In the mean time, here is a reliably interesting article by our friend, Scott Atran, How to turn the Taliban against Al-Qaeeda from yesterday's NYT. (Also...

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Center for the Study of Science in Muslim Societies at Hampshire College

Hampshire College has launched a Center for the Study of Science in Muslim Societies (SSiMS). I will, of course, keep you informed about any events associated with the center. Here is the press-release: Hampshire College Announces Center for the Study of Science in Muslim Societies  AMHERST, Mass., Oct. 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- A center for academic research and scholarship related to science...

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More on Turkey: Religion, commerce and the teaching of evolution

I'm back in the States, but Turkey is still on my mind. So first, here is an oped in yesterday's NYT: Turkey Steps Out. As usual, this is a calm and measured piece by Roger Cohen, looking at Turkey's foreign policy as pragmatic and perhaps very successful:  Zero problems with neighbors lay...

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German Imams

This is a weekly post by Nidhal Guessoum (see his earlier posts here). Nidhal is an astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at American University of SharjahAfter 9/11, and especially after 7/7 (the London subway bombings) and other such striking terrorist acts, European governments came to the conclusion that Islam is now a reality in the west that cannot be ignored (millions of Muslims –...

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UFOs in the headlines: A parting gift from Istanbul

I'm at the Istanbul airport - reading about UFO sightings as the front-page story of Hurriyet - Daily News (a mainstream newspaper). No - don't worry, there is nothing new. A retired Turkish General was recalling an event from 1983. Too bad, they again left without a trace. By the way, I also missed...

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Morals and animals

At a recent talk, I had a slide that basic said that humans are a story-telling animal. This was just an aside as I was discussing humanity's attempts to answer questions about our origins - from earlier mythologies to modern science. During the Q&A, one person took exception to this and didn't like the fact that I had degraded humans to the level of animals. But I don't think this is a degradation...

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Blogging from Turkey: Headscarves, headscarves, and smoking

A few quick observations from Istanbul. Smoking is unbelievably rampant here. I feel like I'm in a Mad Men episode (by the way, I haven't seen the season finale - so don't say anything about it). The traffic is insane and the city is huge (but spectacularly beautiful). There are several big banners posted across the city asking for help for Pakistan flood-victims. Facebook may also face a ban...

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Goldilocks planet and a vampire

Okay so the two are not necessarily linked - unless we do find an alien race of vampires on Gliese 581g, and I'm not ruling out that possibility. Hey - since the planet is tidally locked (see an earlier post: Gliese 581g: An extrasolar planet sitting in a "habitable zone"), these vampires can be quite...

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Halal Makeup

This is a weekly post by Nidhal Guessoum (see his earlier posts here). Nidhal is an astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at American University of SharjahReaders of this blog probably will all know that “halal” means “lawful” or “permitted” in Islam, and that it’s a very general term; its...

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Blogging from Turkey: Food and friends

The food experience in Istanbul so far has been terrific. Part of the reason is that I'm getting good intelligence about where to go and what to eat. But there are some concerns. Look this is what ate for lunch yesterday (Tevuk Sis or Chicken Shish): This was at Haci Baaba (pronounced Haji Baaba)....

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Blogging from Turkey: At Bogazici University

It has stopped raining in Istanbul! Finally. On Friday I had the opportunity give a seminar talk at the Department of Education at Boğaziçi University (Bosphorus University). First I must say that the university has absolutely stunning views of the Bosphorus! It was raining while I...

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Oman, Baluchistan, and Pakistan

Nicholas Kristoff has an article about Oman - and how it has changed drastically in the last 40 years. The change has been positive and he credits a lot to education - and especially to women's education. By the way, I have an especially soft spot for Oman as I remember a particular fad in Karachi in the early 1980s to improvise television antennas (and I mean improvise - even aluminum plates could...

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Blogging from Turkey: Clouds, rain, but no piano-playing cats

I'm in Istanbul - and it is cloudy, dreary and rainy. C'mon - I can easily have this weather back in Massachusetts. Couple of quick things: Travel from the airport to the hotel was very reasonable. I took a shuttle called Havas and it brought me to Taksim in 40 minutes for 10 Turkish Lira (about...

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Lecture Video: Barbara J. King - Gorillas and God

I'm at Logan to leave for Istanbul -but I just found out that the video for our latest lecture is now ready (thanks to Thomas Ciaburri). So here it is. Dr. Barbara J. King was our Science & Religion Lecture Series speaker at Hampshire College on September 22nd. She gave a fantastic talk on the...

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