Science Stories in the news this week – 12 Sept

Here is this weeks collection of science news stories that triggered my “Hey, that’s cool” detector. As always, if I’ve missed anything that is truly cool, then drop a comment and I’ll do an update that includes a hat tip you. In honor of the Pope’s visit to the UK, lets start with this one … Read more

Water on Mars – More evidence

Click to see a larger image on the Guardian web site … From Today’s Guardian …click here … This image, provided by NASA, shows volcanic cones on Mars that are similar in size and shape to cones found in Iceland where hot lava has run over wet ground. The heat from the lava boils the … Read more

How Religion will rewire your brain

Lets first of all start with a few words from George Dvorsky’s blog – Sentient Developments, where he wrote this great description of Diane’s TED talk (above)  … In this TED talk from 2009, cognitive deprogrammer Diane Benscoter talks about her efforts to help people leave cults. At the age of 17, Benscoter joined The … Read more

NGC 7635 – The Bubble Nebula

This one blows my mind … you can click on the picture for a high resolution image … This beautiful emission nebula is visible as an extremely faint and large shell around its star. It might give the impression that its a fragile and delicate soap bubble decorating the havens, but in reality it has … Read more

Islamic Veil: Liberation or Oppression

One claim I’ve often come across is that women who adhere to the practise of covering up assert that the Islamic veil is very liberating. Really!! … for who and in what way? OK, lets think about that for a moment and apply a bit of thought to it. What is actually going on here … Read more

Parents sacrifice 4-yr-old girl to become rich

This one simply leaves me stunned, shocked, sick and angry at the pointless stupidity … Lust for wealth drove a poverty- stricken couple to sacrifice their own four-year-old daughter at a village in Uttar Pradesh’s backward Sitapur district, about 90 km from here. The couple, identified as Srikrishna and Ramdevi, were told by a “tantrik” … Read more