Welcome to Inescapable Perspective!

My goal for this blog is to create a place where the latest science news is not only available, but understandable, accessible and exciting. My training is in the physical sciences, so I will likely write more about astronomy than biology and more about earth science than social science. But, at the same time, this is a blog and not a peer-reviewed journal, so you can expect me to stray from my areas of expertise from time to time as my interests wander. Not all posts will be about science either: if current events, politics, philosophy, or anything else catches my interest, it may appear here.

The blog's title comes from a Carl Sagan quote. This quote resonates with me and I believe that scientific literacy and the critical thinking that comes with it, are the key to achieving the "Inescapable Perspective" that Sagan describes.

"In our tenure on this planet we have accumulated dangerous evolutionary baggage, hereditary propensities for aggression and ritual, submission to leaders and hostility to outsiders, which place our survival in some question. But we have also acquired compassion for others, love for our children and our children's children, a desire to learn from history, and a great soaring passionate intelligence--the clear tools for our continued survival and prosperity. Which aspects of our nature will prevail is uncertain, particularly when our vision and understanding and prospects are bound exclusively to the Earth--or, worse, to one small part of it. But up there in the immensity of the Cosmos, an inescapable perspective awaits us." --Carl Sagan, Cosmos