Whenever science is praised, its advances are often exemplified in light of the enormous practical benefits through which they had eased the labours of human life. The prolongation of life, the construction of machinery, the improvement of welfare are themes that give a somewhat distorted impression of science as solely an enterprise for practical gain, serviced entirely […]
Read more "On the Meaning of Science"It takes the processes of scientific thought to look beyond the prejudice that human intuition so inconveniently sets upon our views of the natural world. The natural world operates not according to our preconceptions and short-sight but rather according to logical consequences of reasoned thought. The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes once reflected that “it is […]
Read more "Remembering Charles Darwin"For centuries, the nature of light has been a source of much wonder and study. The fascinating nature of light lends the spectacular vividness to the natural world that our senses perceive. The colour of the sky embellished with bluish and reddish hues, the glittering mosaic of rainbow layers bejeweled with iridescence, and the glamoring […]
Read more "A Brief History of Light"Recently, a mysterious planet Nine was hypothesized to linger about in the outskirts of our solar system. Even with our most sophisticated equipment, we had largely been oblivious to its presence. But, deep theoretical evidence based upon the gravitational perturbations caused in the outer regions of the solar system that confirm predictions and account for […]
Read more "Planet Nine and the Obliquity of the Solar System"On January 15 2009, six minutes after takeoff, US Airways Flight 1549 was ditched into the Hudson River, partly a result of the heroic efforts of Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger. The aircraft had sustained perilous engine damage due to a bird strike. With both engines disabled and therefore incapable of generating thrust, the plane had […]
Read more "The Miracle on the Hudson Revisited"Astrology is quite ridiculous. It is nothing but pure superstition that derogates and suspends reasoned thought and that is largely based on loose statements that can be equally applied to anyone. It has largely been kept alive by virtue of confirmation bias, the subconscious ability to cherry-pick supportive evidence while overlooking and/or repudiating evidence to […]
Read more "Why Astrology Is Nonsense"As transient lifeforms, we are normally not fully equipped to apprehend the unimaginable stretches of space around us. This is largely due to the limits of perception imposed by our own brains. What our senses define and register is nothing but a mere figment of the entire vastness of the universe around us. As time went on […]
Read more "How Big Is the Universe?"Just yesterday, the European Southern Observatory announced the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting our closest star, Proxima Centauri. Proxima Centauri is located 4.22 light-years away from us and is classed as a red dwarf. So, despite its relative proximity, Proxima Centauri glows very dimly and is quite undersized, at 1.5 times the size of Jupiter. […]
Read more "Exoplanet Discovery!"It is true that we live in the 21st century but ghost stories are still one thing that seem to never depart from the personal recollections of people alleging their existence. Anecdotal experiences such as these, quite often, shade into age-old convictions that are kept alive by the tradition of spoken testimony. But, what evidence is there […]
Read more "Ghosts Almost Certainly Don’t Exist"Cupping is a medieval practice and alternative superstition that doesn’t work. Quite, unfortunately, such forms of occult pseudoscience still make their way into our present-day communities. The useless technique involves creating incision points along the body over which heated glass jars are placed, thereby creating a vacuum and drawing “humors” to the surface as the […]
Read more "The Quackery of Cupping"