Brian Cox on the Existence of God and the Key to Science | #shorts

Is there any evidence for a Creator?

Science in a Golden Age – Astronomy: The Science of the Stars

Science and Islam - Islamic Knowledge | Science Documentary | Reel Truth Science

Physicist Jim Al-Khalili travels through Syria, Iran, Tunisia and Spain to explore the relationship between science and Islam. Throughout his journey he will tell the story of the leap in scientific knowledge that happened in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries and explain how this knowledge helped establish modern science.

The Science of Aging - Waiting for Immortality | DW Documentary

Could immortality one day become a reality? Death anxiety or the aging process fills many people with dread, but what if it could be stopped?

This film investigates the prospects of eternal life. Some of the methods being investigated are rather unusual. In the US, scientists are experimenting with cryonics, a method where the human body is frozen in liquid nitrogen. And, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, researchers are working assiduously on the potential fusion of humans and robots - how human consciousness can be transferred to a virtual world and thus sustained forever.

Opinion is split. Controversial age researcher Aubrey de Gray thinks it should be possible to see life expectancy increase dramatically in the near future, perhaps even by as much as a thousand years. But philosopher Stephen Cave on the other hand confronts us with the question of whether we can ever really escape mortality.

Richard Dawkins Debates Flying Horses with Muslims
Professor Richard Dawkins debates devout muslim Medhi Hassan about his firm belief in flying horses (Al -Buraq)

Sahih Bukhari 5:58:227 "...Then a white animal which was smaller than a mule and bigger than a donkey was brought to me." ... "The animal's step (was so wide that it) reached the farthest point within the reach of the animal's sight. ..."

Russian Scientists Find Ancient Polar Lake
Scientists have been drilling through some of Antarctica's thickest ice for more than two decades as part of efforts to reach the core to examine air trapped there for millions of years. Now, a team of Russian scientists are reported to have broken through the ice to discover a vast lake that has not seen light for more than 20 million years. Al Jazeera's Tarek Bazley reports.

Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith
Dr. J. Anderson "Andy" Thomson discusses his new book, Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith, which provides a brief and accessible guide to the exciting new discoveries that allow us to finally understand why and how the human mind generates, accepts, and spreads religious beliefs

Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith -- Dr. Andy Thomson from Kurt Volkan on Vimeo.

Stephen Hawking: God Was Not Needed to Create the Universe
THE TELEGRAPH: The Big Bang was the result of the inevitable laws of physics and did not need God to spark the creation of the Universe, Stephen Hawking has concluded.

The scientist has claimed that no divine force was needed to explain why the Universe was formed.

In his latest book, The Grand Design, an extract of which is published in Eureka magazine in The Times, Hawking said: “Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.”

He added: “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.” >>> Laura Roberts | Thursday, September 02, 2010

BBC: Islam and Science
Physicist Jim Al-Khalili travels through Syria, Iran, Tunisia and Spain to tell the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries.



Its legacy is tangible, with terms like algebra, algorithm and alkali all being Arabic in origin and at the very heart of modern science - there would be no modern mathematics or physics without algebra, no computers without algorithms and no chemistry without alkalis.



For Baghdad-born Al-Khalili this is also a personal journey and on his travels he uncovers a diverse and outward-looking culture, fascinated by learning and obsessed with science. From the great mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, who did much to establish the mathematical tradition we now know as algebra, to Ibn Sina, a pioneer of early medicine whose Canon of Medicine was still in use as recently as the 19th century, he pieces together a remarkable story of the often-overlooked achievements of the early medieval Islamic scientists. [Source: YouTube]

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Painting: Google Images
Academics Fight Rise of Creationism at Universities
THE GUARDIAN: More students believe Darwin got it wrong / Royal Society challenges 'insidious problem'

A growing number of science students on British campuses and in sixth form colleges are challenging the theory of evolution and arguing that Darwin was wrong. Some are being failed in university exams because they quote sayings from the Bible or Qur'an as scientific fact and at one sixth form college in London most biology students are now thought to be creationists.

Earlier this month Muslim medical students in London distributed leaflets that dismissed Darwin's theories as false. Evangelical Christian students are also increasingly vocal in challenging the notion of evolution.

In the United States there is growing pressure to teach creationism or "intelligent design" in science classes, despite legal rulings against it. Now similar trends in this country have prompted the Royal Society, Britain's leading scientific academy, to confront the issue head on with a talk entitled Why Creationism is Wrong. The award-winning geneticist and author Steve Jones will deliver the lecture and challenge creationists, Christian and Islamic, to argue their case rationally at the society's event in April.

"There is an insidious and growing problem," said Professor Jones, of University College London. "It's a step back from rationality. They (the creationists) don't have a problem with science, they have a problem with argument. And irrationality is a very infectious disease as we see from the United States." >>> Duncan Campbell | Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Aliens 'Already Exist on Earth', Bulgarian Scientists Claim
THE TELEGRAPH: Aliens from outer space are already among us on earth, say Bulgarian government scientists who claim they are already in contact with extraterrestrial life.

"Aliens are currently all around us, and are watching us all the time," Mr Filipov told Bulgarian media. Image: The Telegraph
Work on deciphering a complex set of symbols sent to them is underway, scientists from the country's Space Research Institute said.

They claim aliens are currently answering 30 questions posed to them.

Lachezar Filipov, deputy director of the Space Research Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, confirmed the research.

He said the centre's researchers were analysing 150 crop circles from around the world, which they believe answer the questions.

"Aliens are currently all around us, and are watching us all the time," Mr Filipov told Bulgarian media.

"They are not hostile towards us, rather, they want to help us but we have not grown enough in order to establish direct contact with them."

Mr Filipov said that even the seat of the Catholic church, the Vatican, had agreed that aliens existed. >>> | Thursday, November 26, 2009

Science and Faith: The Conflict
THE TELEGRAPH: A new film opening at the Cambridge Science Festival this evening attempts to demonstrate that the divide between religion and science is not as great as it has been portrayed.

Charles Darwin. Photo courtesy of Google Images
Brain-scanning experiments carried out by scientists last week revealed that religious faith is embedded deep within key parts of the brain. This suggests that belief in a higher power evolved at some early point in human history.

Scientists argued that it explained the widespread nature of religion among human cultures, but the findings also highlighted a growing tendency for science to be used as a way of attacking religion.

It comes at a time when the gulf between science and religion could not seem any wider.

As the scientific community celebrates 200 years since the birth of Charles Darwin in 2009, and 150 years since the publication of his famous work that explained how life evolved on Earth, the conflict between religion and science seems to be escalating.

Darwin's own life could be seen as almost synonymous with the battle that is now raging between faith and science. As a student he joined Cambridge University with the intention of studying to become a clergyman, but found himself distracted by an interest in collecting beetles.

His hobby led him to become the greatest naturalist of all time. But throughout his life he struggled to reconcile his religious views with his theories on evolution through natural selection.

Today, many leading scientists who hold religious beliefs now face a similar internal struggle as they wrestle with mounting scientific evidence that forces them continually to reassess their view of the Bible.

The mounting debate over evolution and creationism has now left many people asking whether science and religion can ever coexist, or even if scientific research will eventually bring an end to religious belief entirely.

This week, however, leading scientists will debate the issue at the Cambridge Science Festival at the premiere of a new film that attempts to demonstrate that the divide between religion and science is not as great as it has been portrayed.

A growing number of scientists who also hold religious beliefs are now speaking out against the growing antagonism that is emerging between scientists and members of the religious community in many parts of the world. >>> By Richard Gray | Monday, March 16, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>

Le Vatican met en garde contre le risque d’un retour à l’«eugénique»
CRAINTE | La peur de l’Eglise catholique est de voir se multiplier les interventions génétiques menant vers une «amélioration» de la race humaine au prix de l’augmentation du nombre des avortements.

Le Vatican a mis en garde mardi contre les risques d’une dérive de la génétique vers l’eugénique, une science qui cherche à améliorer l’espèce humaine, en banalisant les progrès scientifiques et en les mettant au service d’intérêts commerciaux.

"Le risque d’une dérive de la génétique n’est pas seulement théorique. Le terme d’«eugénique» semble appartenir au passé (...) mais (...) une bonne publicité soutenue par de grands intérêts économiques fait perdre de vue les vrais dangers", a affirmé Mgr Rino Fisichella, président de l’Académie pontificale pour la vie.

Selon le religieux, qui présentait un congrès prévu les 20 et 21 février au Vatican sur "Les nouvelles frontières de la génétique et les risques de l’eugénique", le risque est "de mettre en oeuvre des pratiques eugéniques au nom d’une «normalité» de la vie" en voulant "améliorer physiquement l’espèce humaine". >>> AFP | Mardi 17 Février 2009

ENERGY PUBLISHER: Vatican Conference on Eugenics and Genetics

An academic congress will be held at the Vatican February 20-21: 'New Frontiers of Genetics and the Dangers of Eugenics." Scientists will look into the biomedical, legal, ethical, philosophical, sociological, and theological aspects of genetic research.

A February 17 press conference was held at the Vatican to present a forthcoming academic congress entitled: "New frontiers of genetics and the dangers of eugenics". The congress, promoted by the Pontifical Academy for Life for the occasion of its twenty-fifth general assembly, is due to take place in the Vatican's New Synod Hall on February 20-21. Participating in conference were Archbishop Rino Fisichella and Msgr. Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, respectively president and chancellor of the Pontifical Academy for Life, and Bruno Dallapiccola, professor of genetic medicine at Rome's "La Sapienza" University. 



"The congress will be attended", Archbishop Fisichella explained, "by scientists from a number of universities, who will examine the question from various points of view: from the strictly biomedical to the legal; from the philosophical and theological to the sociological". "Thanks to the great work undertaken over the last ten years, above all that of Francis Collins on the Human Genome Project, it is possible to map thousands of genes and thus achieve an understanding of various types of disease; this often offers a real possibility of overcoming heredity ailments". 



"The aim of this congress is to verify whether, in the field genetic experimentation, there are aspects that tend towards - or effectively implement - eugenic practices", said the archbishop. Such practices "find expression in various scientific, biological, medical, social and political projects, all of them more or less interrelated. These projects require an ethical judgement, especially when it is sought to suggest that eugenic practices are being undertaken in the name of a 'normality' of life to offer to individuals". 



"Such a mentality, which is certainly reductive but does exist, tends to consider that some people are less valuable than others, either because of the conditions in which they live, such as poverty or lack of education, or because of their physical state, for example the disabled, the mentally ill, people in a 'vegetative state', or the elderly who suffer serious disease". >>> By Spero News | Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Broché et Relié) - Livraison gratuite dans toute la Suisse >>>

Is There a “Religionome” and Can It Be Mapped?
REUTERS: Neuroscientist Andrew Newberg has an intriguing idea: is there a “religionome” similar to the human genome and can scientists map it? He raised this idea at a recent Pew Forum conference on religion and public life in Key West, Florida, where he discussed the topic of why belief in God persists.

Newberg’s work focuses, among other things, on his view that we are biologically driven to find meaning in our lives. He argues that our brains have the capacity to create and perpetuate systems of belief that take us beyond our basic survival needs. These beliefs are biologically rooted in the brain, he thinks, but are also given form by our peers, parents and society. Is There a “Religionome” and Can It Be Mapped? >>> Posted by Ed Stoddard | May 6, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)