By Categories
-
Recent Posts
Archives
- January 2022
- September 2021
- October 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- March 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
RSS Feeds
Meta
Category Archives: The Science-Minded Citizen
A New Home on a Bright Moon
Humanity has the potential to become the agency by which life from Earth radiates out into the cosmos – the rest of the Solar System and then the stars beyond. This is the most exciting role in the universe for us, the most optimistic future for our species. Far from a curse to life on Earth, we would become one of … Read more
Posted in The Science-Minded Citizen
Tagged advantages, exploration, humanity, luna, lunar, moon
Leave a comment
An Environmental Issue We Can All Clear Up
The Earth is doomed. We are doomed. There is nothing we can do and it is not worth even trying.
How easy it is to feel like this! Pushed up against sheer cliffs of despair by the mass of headlines about our world’s environmental dangers, we are squeezed into a narrow ravine of thought. Only think of now and here and, … Read more
An Armchair Astronomer No More
The glitter of a clear night sky has always entranced us. Even in these days of extraordinary knowledge about the affairs of the cosmos, it is still easy to look up and lose yourself in its illimitable mystery and wonder.
Many of us have a fascination and thirst for knowledge about the planets, the stars, the galaxies. This great intrigue is … Read more
The Solar System In Motion
In ancient times, it used to be thought a matter of common sense that the Earth was stationary and that the planets, the stars and the Sun all moved around us. As we stand on the Earth, it seems immeasurably, or at least hugely, wide in all directions horizontally. The general perception of many was that this size alone, this … Read more
Posted in The Science-Minded Citizen
Tagged motion, planets, simulation, solar, system
Leave a comment
Lab Assistant to My Eight Year Old Daughter
My eight year old daughter Elizabeth and I have been having a lot of fun recently carrying out all sorts of experiments with a junior chemistry set. It’s already been quite an adventure into science and not only have we learned a lot but we’ve also had some wonderful Daddy and daughter time together, working our way through the introductory lessons … Read more
Posted in The Science-Minded Citizen
Tagged chemistry, daughter, family, father, science
Leave a comment
The Climate is Changing!
By LadyJulBug
credit: https://pixabay.com/en/earth-globe-water-fire-flame-1023859/
Scientists are in consensus:
Climate change is real. Humans are the cause.
For those of us who understand the scientific research and are inclined to accept the scientific consensus, this statement is obvious.
We get it. We’ve accepted it. Climate change is real. We are the cause.
However, this issue must go beyond just understanding and accepting reality.
Do we really … Read more
Saturated in Science: Memories of a Part Time Course in a Full Time Life
On a cliff top near Brighton, England over a decade ago, bewildered that even an everyday plant like grass had a scientific name, it struck me. Whilst not a professional scientist, I could feel the longing, the burning thirst that is the passion that a scientist must feel. The wanting to know, to discover, to learn; this was far from the … Read more
Posted in The Science-Minded Citizen
Leave a comment
Spirituality and “Inner” Life
I have come across many scientists who say: “I do not subscribe to any religion, but I am a spiritual person.” What exactly is spirituality? Here are a couple of definitions:
The term “spirituality” lacks a definitive definition, although social scientists have defined spirituality as the search for “the sacred,” where “the sacred” is broadly defined as that which is set apart … Read more
Posted in The Science-Minded Citizen
Tagged Body, brain, Definition, development, Dreaming, History, Kurzweil, Logic, Meditation, mind, Mystical, Personal, Physics, Ray, religion, research, science, skeptics, Spirituality, Vinod, Wadhawan
14 Comments
Only a Theory?
By Laurie Hatton (in collaboration with her local Brights Community Cluster)
Sherlock Holmes commonly stated to Watson, “I have a theory.” The word “theory” means that something is a guess or speculative idea. Right? Well, yes it can. However, when a scientist uses the term theory, he or she means something totally different. A scientific theory is an idea that has a lot of evidence … Read more
Posted in The Science-Minded Citizen
Tagged Brights, Evolution, Hatton, Hypothesis, Idea, Laurie, Only, scientific, Supported, Tested, Theory
32 Comments
Belief
By Fran Evanisko
(in collaboration with his local Brights Community Cluster)
To my dad, the old days were either better or worse than the present, depending on the point he was trying to make. If he wanted me to appreciate all of the good things I had, he would emphasize how bad things were during the depression. If he wanted me to feel bad about … Read more
Posted in The Science-Minded Citizen
Tagged acceptance, Aristotle, belief, believe, disagreements, Earth, evidence, faith, Galileo, objective, philosophy, proposition, Pythagoras, religion, science, truth, worldviews
2 Comments
All posts