At the annual AAAS meeting in Washington D.C.

I have just arrived in D.C. for the annual AAAS meeting. This year's theme is "Science Without Borders". I will definitely have posts from the conference. But here is one of the cool things: Nidhal (Guessoum) will also be here - so we will have an IRTIQA mini-get-together.

You can check the vast vast program of the meeting here. I'm on a panel The Challenge of Teaching Evolution in the Islamic World. It meets tomorrow (Fri) from 3-4:30. The panel is organized by Eugenie Scott of National Center for Science Education and she will also be the moderator (Joshua Rosenau was the original moderator - but apparently, he thinks that family is more important than these panels :) ). Other panelists include Jason Wiles and Taner Edis (he also writes at Secular Outpost). It should be a lot of fun. If you are attending the meeting, come to the session.

Nidhal is on another panel that is dear and close to my heart: The Implications of Finding Other Worlds. It meets on Sunday from 1:30-4:30 and Nidhal is presenting Islamic Views on Extraterrestrial Life. Others on the panel include Jennifer Wiseman, Seth Shostak, Howard Smith, and Wesley Traub. This looks a fantastic panel. I will attend this session - and this will be a nice preparation for my class on "Aliens" (the class meets on Tuesday - so this will give me just enough time to digest information).

More coming up later...