Specials

Bring on the Blasphemy

Wednesday, July 8, 2009
By Nano Manannan
Bring on the Blasphemy

So there you have it. Today, those numskulls in the Dail have passed the blasphemy amendments to the defamation bill without debate. Funny how there was no public consultation on this. Where did this come from?  Is there more to this? At first look it seems that this is yet an another example of an... »

Sara Burke – Irish Apartheid: Healthcare Inequality in Ireland

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
By Cygnus Atratus
Sara Burke – Irish Apartheid: Healthcare Inequality in Ireland

I think I’ve just found the book I’ll be taking with me for my two weeks off.  Sara Burke is a freelance journalist, broadcaster and health policy analyst. She is currently doing a PhD in health policy in Trinity College Dublin, and has a weekly radio slot on RTÉ’s Drivetime programme. Sara authored Irish Apartheid – Healthcare... »

Lest we forget.

Friday, June 26, 2009
By Cygnus Atratus
Lest we forget.

photo credit: la picarita Michael Jackson is gone and I’m not sad. I guess that makes me as much of a freak as he was, given the massive media explosion of coverage on a wretch of a man whose megalomania apparently knew no bounds. I will try my best in the coming days and weeks... »

Why We Believe in Gods

Sunday, May 31, 2009
By Cygnus Atratus
Why We Believe in Gods

Andy Thomson gives his talk titled ‘Why We Believe in Gods‘ at the American Atheist 2009 convention in Atlanta, Georgia. J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., M.D. is Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction (CSMHI), Staff Psychiatrist at the University of Virginia Student Health Services and in private practice.  In this... »

Origins Symposium > Lawrence Krauss

Saturday, May 23, 2009
By Cygnus Atratus
Origins Symposium > Lawrence Krauss

 Lawrence Krauss is a physicist and cosmologist, but is best known as a popularizer of science. In this lecture, the finale of the Origins Symposium, he describes the progress made to date in Cosmology – including the amazing fact that we can now put a very accurate date on the age of the Universe! 13.7 billion... »

Is There a Higgs Particle?

Friday, May 15, 2009
By Cygnus Atratus
Is There a Higgs Particle?

A Talk With Brian Cox (Culled from edge.org) INTRODUCTION By Martin Rees As an astronomer I’m lucky to work in a subject where there is already public interest, and where it’s not too difficult to convey the key ideas and new discoveries in a non-technical and accessible way. It’s far harder to make particle physics accessible and interesting.... »

Pictures from Space, pictures of Space

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
By Cygnus Atratus
Pictures from Space, pictures of Space

Here’s a selection of astronomical images which have caught my eye for various reasons in the past few months. Click on a pic to get the full effect.   We normally only see Saturn from the “sun-side”, but the Cassini probe recently took this sublime image from the far side of Saturn looking back towards the sun. And... »