Irtiqa Conversation with Dr. Stefaan Blancke: Creationism in Europe

by Salman Hameed There is a new paper out in the Journal of the Academy of Religion that provides a broad overview of the various creationist movements in Europe. The title of the paper is Creationism in Europe: Facts, Gaps and Prospects (you can download the full paper!) and it is authored...

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New humanoids in Margaret Atwood's dystopian future

by Salman Hameed I haven't had a chance to read any of the books in dystopian trilogy by Margaret Atwood, but after reading this recent review in Nature, I'm itching to read them. Here is the review of MaddAddam - the final book in the trilogy - in this week's Nature: A decade after Margaret Atwood...

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Saturday Video: An Animated history of Physics - from Galileo to Einstein

by Salman Hameed This was created for BBC 2 (tip from Open Culture). Enjoy! P.S. Note that in a little over four minutes, it also resolves the tension(s) between science and religion.&nbs...

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Pew Survey: Most Americans okay with Stem cell research and IVF - but abortion seen linked to morality

by Salman Hameed I'm back from the break and I'm catching up on good and the bad news. So lets start with a recent Pew survey on the views of Americans on IVF, Stem cell research and abortion. All three of these issues are deeply tied to politics and legal matters here in the US and also feature in...

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Urdu floating at the edge of the Solar system

by Salman Hameed I have an article in the Magazine section of today's Express Tribune. It is about Voyager 1 and its recent efforts to determine the boundary of our solar system. But I wanted to bring attention to the fact that the Voyager record not only has an Urdu greeting, but it also contains...

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Saturday Video: "The Final Moments of Karl Brant"

by Salman Hameed Here is a nicely made short film that brings up an interesting question about personhood. The ending of this film is okay - but I think it raises some fascinating questions about death that can be examined in a follow-up film. [Spoiler: Read the next sentence after watching the short film. I think the detective at the end should really be charged with murder. But then...

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Eid Mubarak - with a correct New Crescent Moon

by Salman Hameed Eid Mubarak to all!  I wanted to point out that apart from the beautiful calligraphy, the crescent side is accurate here for a waxing Moon (image from here). Waxing crescent is the one that determines the beginning of the new Islamic month, and is visible close...

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Will science prosper or stumble under the new government in Pakistan?

Salman Hameed Ehsan Masood has an article in this week's Nature that talks about the promise of scientific development by the Muslim League, that won the recent elections quire handily. I did not know that, but the Muslim League explicitly placed science at the center of their governing strategy....

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Five movie recommendations to save you from mindless summer monsters and superheroes

by Salman Hameed Our usual Film Autopsy is on hiatus for the summer, so I thought I'll suggest a few films to save you from summer monsters and superheroes. Some of these films have a tengential connection to the blog but two are relevant for their connections to politics impacting the larger Muslim world. So here we go: Science Fiction Europa Report: At a time of big-budget but dumb science fiction...

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