Eight attacks, 11 days – Salon.com.

Robert Fisk: Syrian war of lies and hypocrisy The West’s real target here is not Assad’s brutal regime but his ally, Iran, and its chemical weapons Has there ever been a Middle Eastern war of such hypocrisy? A war of such cowardice and such mean morality, of such false rhetoric and such public humiliation? I’m […]

Mid-August marks the start of the holy month of Ramadan, when hundreds of millions of Muslims will fast from dawn to dusk; for the faithful, that also means no daytime arguing, cursing, or sex. But it’s not all about pious asceticism. Ramadan is a world-moving force in its own right — an unpredictable time of rampant consumerism, surprising conflict, and political skulduggery.

  http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/culture/2012/07/al-azhar-islam-did-not-impose-th.html   Al-Azhar University has awarded Sheikh Mustafa Mohammad Raashed a doctorate in Shariah and law with honors. His thesis discussed the hijab (veil) within Islamic jurisprudence. He asserted that the hijab “is not an Islamic obligation.” ABOUT THIS ARTICLE Summary: In a landmark doctoral dissertation, Sheikh Mustafa Mohammad Raashed says his studies found […]

Science writer Rita Carter tells the story of how modern neuroscience has revealed that reading, something most of us take for granted, unlocks remarkable powers. Carter explains how the classic novel Wuthering Heights allows us to step inside other minds and understand the world from different points of view, and she wonders whether the new […]

Most people believed in Dragons.  Well, today, most people believe in some sort of dragon. Most people fully accept paranormal and pseudoscientific claims without critique as they are promoted by the mass media or by religious authorities. Conspiracy theory in the middle east is prominent and sometimes almost paranormal and ridiculous, but widely accepted.  Also, […]

Adam Rutherford meets a new creature created by American scientists – the spider-goat. It is part goat, part spider, and its milk can be used to create artificial spider’s web. It is part of a new field of research, synthetic biology, with a radical aim: to break down nature into spare parts so that we […]

Tell Congress not to censor the internet NOW! – fightforthefuture.org/pipa PROTECT-IP is a bill that has been introduced in the Senate and the House and is moving quickly through Congress. It gives the government and corporations the ability to censor the net, in the name of protecting “creativity”. The law would let the government or […]