BBC News - God² - how science and religion rub along

BBC News - God² - how science and religion rub along

Citizen Sky

Citizen Sky

I would like you to imagine the unimaginable vastness of space
with its billions of other stars like our sun. Did you know that
light travels so fast that it can go around the earth (all 24
time zones) seven times in just one second?

There is one star in particular I would like to talk to you about,
it is called epsilon Aurigae. It is so far away that it takes the
light from that star two thousand years to reach earth. This star
is what astronomers call a variable star, that means it varies in
brightness over time. Why does it do that? Now that, my friend, is
the mystery.

To unravel this mystery astronomers have called upon anyone with
an interest in science to help them making observations. And so
an army of amateur astronomers has come together to see and report
how this star changes in brightness. This project is called
Citizen Sky. The great thing about this project and others like it
is that it allows anyone to experience what it is like to
participate in cutting edge scientific research. This is important
because today's society relies more and more on science and
technology. If we all want to make smart decisions about how to
deal with both the blessings and the challenges of technology an
understanding of basic scientific principles is essential.

So you can imagine why I was inspired to produce a documentary
about this project. This documentary is called Mystery in the Sky.
You can find out more about it at http://www.mysteryinthesky.com
You can watch the trailer here http://kck.st/d4krd9
And, if this got you really interested you can even pre-order the
DVD at that same site http://kck.st/d4krd9

Thank you so much for reading this and have a wonderful day.

Kind regards,
Guustaaf Damave
http://www.zebramap.com/

TitusOneNine - Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow—Why God Did Not Create the Universe

TitusOneNine - Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow—Why God Did Not Create the Universe


In Western culture the Old Testament contains the idea of providential design, but the traditional Christian viewpoint was also greatly influenced by Aristotle, who believed "in an intelligent natural world that functions according to some deliberate design."

That is not the answer of modern science. As recent advances in cosmology suggest, the laws of gravity and quantum theory allow universes to appear spontaneously from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.

Our universe seems to be one of many, each with different laws. That multiverse idea is not a notion invented to account for the miracle of fine tuning. It is a consequence predicted by many theories in modern cosmology. If it is true it reduces the strong anthropic principle to the weak one, putting the fine tunings of physical law on the same footing as the environmental factors, for it means that our cosmic habitat—now the entire observable universe—is just one of many

BBC News - Stephen Hawking: God did not create Universe

BBC News - Stephen Hawking: God did not create Universe

Island holds Darwin's best-kept secret

BBC News - Island holds Darwin's best-kept secret