Egyptian government crackdown on academics

by Salman Hameed The government of Egypt is being absolute in quashing any dissent. In particular, it has - so far - been successful in treating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group in its entirety, and to prosecute anyone who has any sympathies with the group. I doubt that this kind of absolutism...

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Chatting about astronomy on PTV World

by Salman Hameed When I was in Pakistan this past December, I had a chance to participate in a morning chat show on PTV-World. The video is now available for the show (thanks to Nabeel Tirmazi for that) and I have embedded it below. One thing to note: regardless of the topic, it is almost impossible not to talk about religion in Pakistan. Therefore, you will see that this topic came up repeatedly...

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Heading over to Creighton University

by Salman Hameed The Kripke Center at Creighton University, Omaha, is holding a two day symposium on Religion and the Sciences: Opportunities and Challenges on Feb 21-22. Here is the description of the symposium: Scholars in many fields of religious and theological studies have used the sciences...

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Alan Lightman on seeking permanence in our universe (or in other universes)

by Salman Hameed Alan Lightman is one of my favorite writers. He used to be an accomplished astrophysicist and now he is an outstanding writer. His new book is titled The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew. It is a collection of his essays and I haven't had a chance to read it yet....

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A fantastic new initiative in Pakistan: Eqbal Ahmad Centre for Public Education

by Salman Hameed Pervez Hoodbhoy has launched a new project for public equation in Pakistan. It hosts essays, short videos about science, documentaries, and videos on physics concepts, and many of the videos are both in Urdu and english. Here is the goal of Eqbal Ahmad Centre for Public Education...

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IVF centers flourishing in Iran

by Salman Hameed A year ago, I had posted about the stunning decline in fertility rates in much of the Muslim world. This will have a profound social impact in the next few decades. But in the article, Iran was singled out as its birth rate has now fallen below the level it requires to replace its...

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The problem of camels in the book of Genesis

by Salman Hameed It seems that camels pose a historical problem for some of the accounts in the book of Genesis. It seems that camels were domesticated in the region decades/years after some of the Biblical events involving camels were supposed to have taken place. Is it a big deal? It depends on...

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Hitler taken down by Lollywood Heroes - Pakistani Science Fiction Week

by Salman Hameed I have previously pointed to this excellent Islam and Science Fiction website run by Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad (who is also responsible for designing the Irtiqa banner). His website is celebrating Pakistani science fiction, and started off with a Lollywood alternative history movie...

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Syrian Science Refugees

by Salman Hameed There is no end in sight for the conflict in Syria. The scale of displacement of people both within Syria and outside is enormous. Not surprisingly, the academic community has also been impacted by the civil war. A recent news item in the journal Science that suggests that there is...

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