An interest in the interesting

I have been fascinated with science for many year, firstly it was with evolutionary Biology reading the books of Richard Dawkins starting with The Selfish Gene, but then I guess my interests were even before that, watching documentaries, especially The Blue Planet which was amazing and ground breaking when made. Recently within the last 4 or 5 years I have been taking more of an interest in cosmology and the physics behind the workings of the universe and the laws of nature. Its truly fascinating, i struggle with some of the concepts behind it all, the more I read the more I realise i don't know, much I don't understand and have to re-read, the more I know the more I realise what an ego-centric existence me lead with our petty squabbles not realising how insignificant be are, just a mustard burp in time but then again i see the magnificence of it all and feel in awe, its truly humbling to (attempt) to comprehend what is out there (and in there if i read about the Quantium Realms)

Why do we need religion any more now we have science to explain things? We have that candle to light up the shadows in this world and yet some groups still won't let go of the apron strings on belief in a God. Just take for example the planet Earth, the sphere we call home. The easiest place to study as we live here right upon it. So beautifully simple yet so confusingly complicated. Its so far the only planet we know of that supports life. 7 Billion people call the Earth home ands over 10 million SPECIES of animals and plants upon it. The surface area of last is about 29 percent, the rest taken up with oceans, and upon that surface area there are about 200 countries, within these man made boundaries there has been over 4000 religions over the 10 thousand years of human history and countless wars due to some people wanting to increase the number of countries or decrease the number of religions, we find it impossible to live in peace. For such a small world orbiting a ordinary star in a nothing special galaxy we are not very well organised. There has been just over 500 humans who have been high enough to see our home, the Earth from space against the tapestry of stars and when they do something magical happens to them all. They return with a description not of segregation and complexity, but of unity and simplicity. One of my favourite quotes is from Frank Borman, Gemini 7, Apollo 8, I saw this quote on the big backdrop during a Brian Cox tour this year in both Edinburgh and later in Glasgow..... "when you're finally up there at the moon looking back on earth, all these differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend, and you're going to get a concept that maybe this really is one world and why the hell can't we learn to live together like decent people"

Such people like frank are not making whimsical comments, these are statements from humans whose experience has given them a different perspective. We can't all be astronauts, but we have the ability top read, to search out answers, we open a science book and read the contents, it lifts us up mentally not physically, and gives us that perspective we need. Be like a child, open your eyes and pay attention to the small things, don't be led by prejudice and hate, look for what you don't understand then find out the answers, search for regularities in nature then try to understand their origin and how the laws apply to other aspects. Read Darwin, Sagan, Feynman, Hawkin, Dawkin, Al-Khalili and Einstein, you may not understand it at first, I certain didn't, and some aspects I still don't but this is the fun of it, you re-read, you attend lectures, you search on the internet, you load the apps on your smart phones lay in the garden at night and use it to name the stars! Go to book festivals and listen to philosophers, scientists and travellers, watch square one debates on youtube, come out your comfort zone and speak up or shout down bad ideas which are contagious. We all have a duty to ourselves to learn, every day is a school day, there is a hidden reality, sub-atomic or cosmic sized you need to be at least aware of it.