Religion Vs. Science – Oh, Enough Already

I went out for dinner last night with an old friend from my university days and invariably it was a night filled with sharing recent news as well as reminiscing about our time spent in all those lab sessions and seminars. During the course of one of our many conversation threads, we ended up comparing notes over the growing debate between religion and science and the typical rise in louder and more obnoxious participants on each side as such issues go “mainstream”. It was no surprise to me that, as products of a science education and from working in the sector, we were in agreement about the need for both the science body and the general public to wrestle back control over these two aspects of our society from those who are clearly abusing both to further their own myopic agendas. It’s thanks to that wonderful and engaging conversation that I decided to write this entry to start clearing the air on this whole absurd debate.   Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

Saturn’s True Colours – A Majestic View From The Heavens

While going through some correspondance I received over the holiday break, I came upon this wonderful news piece that I wanted to share. Last week, the international team behind the Cassini-Huygens mission released new images of the planet Saturn, including one that features a “natural colour view” of the planet. As you can see in the image above, this new look at Saturn reveals a colour scheme that differs greatly from the one we’re all probably familiar with when we think of what Saturn looks like.

To demonstrate, let’s compare this new image of Saturn from the Cassini space probe taken this past July against the image of this same planet taken by Voyager 2 in 1981. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry