Moghul Emperor Jahangir's Interest in Science

by Salman Hameed Growing up in Pakistan, I did hear a lot about the Moghul Emperors, but rarely about science. In fact, if science was brought up, it was to state their lack of interest in the subject and, thus, one of the big reasons for their fall. There were some exceptions. There is probably...

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Please read this short story - "My Mother is a Lunar Crater"

by Salman Hameed There are very few writers who can provide a nuanced critique of politics in different cultures, bring science into their stories, and write a beautiful prose. All of these elements are present in the short story, My Mother is a Lunar Crater by Uzma Aslam Khan. A full disclosure:...

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Launching a new initiative: Kainaat Astronomy in Urdu

by Salman Hameed Kainaat Astronomy in Urdu I have been making popular astronomy videos in Urdu for the past couple of years. I, myself, got hooked onto astronomy after watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos - on Pakistan, and it dramatically altered the direction of my life. For this reason, I have always...

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An excellent new book on doubt in 19th century Victorian England

by Salman Hameed This year is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I am again reading it right now and I am again reminded of how good it is. There is also plenty of science and religion in there, especially as we are dealing with the creation of (intelligent)...

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Anti plagiarism efforts in Nigeria

by Salman Hameed Plagiarism in scientific publication is not a Nigerian issue alone. There have been high profile cases from all around the world. Plagiarism is also not the only issue worth worrying about in science publications: There are key retractions on fabrication of data and then there is...

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Elaine Howard Ecklund lecture on "Science and Religion in Global Public Life"

by Salman Hameed Elaine Howard Ecklund has done some of the most extensive empirical sociological work on public perceptions of science and religion. If you are interested in the subject, you should check out these two books on the subject: Science vs Religion: What Scientists Really Think and...

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Pre-print server for Indonesian research

Salman Hameed When I was in graduate school, astronomy pre-print server (astro-ph) had just started. It was an incredible source of articles and we would get those in a timely manner as well. There were many legitimate concerns as well. For example, if authors upload "submitted" articles, then you...

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Four new Pakistan related books

by Salman Hameed You should know that podcasts for New Books Network (NBN) are an amazing resource! This is the place you hear the authors not only talk about their books, but also what got them interested in their field to begin with. It introduces cutting-edge research and scholarship....

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Talk today on evolution and 'Clash of Civilizations'

by Salman Hameed If you happen to be in Western Massachusetts today, come to Union Station in Northampton at 6pm. I am giving a talk as part of Sci-Tech Cafe: A Scientist Walks in to a Bar... Here are the details: …and decides to bring up a politically charged topic. Monday, April 23rd, 6pm ***Union...

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New Open Access Journal for Research in Africa

by Salman Hameed There are two big challenges in scientific publishing right now: 1) Global access to high quality journals, and 2) Predatory fake journals. This latter category has all the trappings of science sounding names, but when you closely look at them, it turns out to be a scam to get...

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Live telecast of Breakthrough Discuss conference on Astrobiology later today...

Salman Hameed A quick note here to let you know that Breakthrough Initiatives - yes the same group that wants to send small unmanned spacecrafts to Alpha Centauri, is hosting its third annual conference on April 12-13. The theme of the conference is Alien Life - Diversity in the Universe....

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Morocco's giant Solar Farm Looks Promising

by Salman Hameed If you are looking for natural resources, then an unblocked Sun is definitely a good one. Here in Massachusetts, we keep waiting for it. But Morocco is taking advantage of it. It has built a huge Solar plant called Noor Power Station near the city of Ouarzazate, located on a plateau...

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Protest at an Italian museum over discount for Arabic speakers

by Salman Hameed This is a new one for anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe. The largest collection of Egyptian artifacts outside Cairo are hosted at the Egyptian Museum in the Italian city of Turin (wait - I presume that we can also see the Shroud of Turin here too). I am surprised that Italy...

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Science in Sudan after sanctions

by Salman Hameed Sanctions have a broad impact. Even when science is not specifically targeted, it becomes harder to get scientific equipment that can support research. In the country ratings for science (it is an imperfect measure - and we should take that caveat seriously), Sudan is at no. 99, sandwiched...

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A Dystopian Graphic Novel from Egypt

by Salman Hameed Ganzeer is a graphic artist from Egypt. The picture above is one of the protest graffitis against the Egyptian military after the Egyptian Arab Spring of 2011. He later fled to the US and is busy with his brand of protest art. He has also been working on a graphic novel, The Solar...

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Political Unrests and the Upcoming Water Crisis

by Salman Hameed The recent Iranian protests have several components. Some of it is definitely political. However, another component has to do with the water crisis. And Iran is not the only country that has faced political unrest with water shortage. More recently, Nigeria, Somalia and Syria have...

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