A Wonderful Session with Lahore Astronomical Society (LAST)

by Salman Hameed LAST members after the meeting These are tough times in Pakistan. But there are positive things taking place as well. I have written on several occasions about the burgeoning astronomy scene in Pakistan - in particular in Lahore and Karachi (for example, see this post from...

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Celebrating human evolution and religion in Ethiopia

by Salman Hameed Biological evolution is a subject often at the center of science and religion debates. On the one hand, it seems logical that an idea that removes one aspect of human uniqueness may cause tension amongst some religions. On the other hand, such a tension is not necessary nor has always...

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Mapping the damage to Syrian Archaeological sites

by Salman Hameed From Science: This map is based on satellite data and shows locates sites of damage The civil war in Syria and surrounding areas is also taking its toll on archeological sites. Last week's issue of Science has an article that used satellite imagery to assess some of the damage....

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Jail time for a Turkish astrophysicist for blocking headscarf students

by Salman Hameed Astrophysicist Pekünlü photographed while taking pictures of women wearing headscarfs This is a fascinating story that provides some insight into the changing political landscape in Turkey. An astronomy professor has been sent to jail for 25 months for repeatedly blocking...

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A new book on atheism in the Middle East

by Salman Hameed About a year ago, I had a post about growing open atheism in Egypt where I pointed to a possible trend in increasing self-expression, including in the domain of religious beliefs. Among the various factors contributing to it, university education and the exposure of other...

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A new paper on Islamophobia and Islamic Creationism in Europe

by Salman Hameed I have a new paper out in Public Understanding of Science that looks at the context for Islamic creationism in Europe. In particular, the focus is on the way evolution-rejection may be becoming a marker of identity amongst Muslim minorities in Europe and how media coverage is...

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SSiMS talk on Monday by Stefano Bigliardi: "My Quest for Islam and Modern Science: Challenges, Results and Prospects"

by Salman Hameed Our next SSiMS talk is on Monday by Stefano Bigliardi. He will be talking about his book, Islam and the Quest for Modern Science, in which he interviews various contemporary Muslim figures who are all approaching Islam and modern science from different perspectives. Here is the title...

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A nice article in Nature on the 50th anniversary of Salam's Centre for Theoretical Physics

by Salman Hameed Fifty years ago, Abdus Salam and Italian physicist Paolo Budinich established the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. One of the main goals of the centre was to help physicists from third world countries. Last week, Nature had a wonderful article...

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SSiMS talk tomorrow by Caroline Tee: "The Technical Sciences and the Purposes of God"

by Salman Hameed We are excited to have our lunch talk tomorrow on Turkey. Our speaker is Carline Tee from University of Bristol, UK. Join us tomorrow if you can. Here is the abstract of the talk and her bio: The Technical Sciences and the Purposes of God Theory and Practice in the Hizmet Movement...

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Ferdowsi's 11th century epic Shahnameh in illustration

by Salman Hameed I have posted about Hamzanama and Tilisme-Hoshruba before (see: Homer meets Tolkien in Medieval World and Tilisme-Hoshruba: "Magic that will blow your senses away"). These are South Asian stories mixed with Iranian and Arab/Islamic tales. Well, if you go back a bit, you run into...

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