Salman Hameed, teacher, host, gung ho astronomer, founder, and contagiously curious intellectual, is the type of refreshing science professor we wish we’d had in undergrad. He joins AMP to talk about religion versus science, astrology, and aliens.As a Hampshire College professor of integrated science and humanities and director of the Center for the Study of Science in Muslim Societies, Salman has taught classes ranging from "History and Philosophy of Science and Religion” to "Aliens: Close Encounters of a Multidisciplinary Kind.” It all started with a surreptitious viewing of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage—which he mistook for science fiction at the time—and a prompt rejection of the traditional Pakistani path into medicine or engineering. (Admittedly we, too, were hooked by his description of how Cosmos compressed the history of the universe into one calendar year.)We delve into Salman’s recent four-year National Science Foundation study on the reception of biological evolution in different Muslim communities. Just as Muslims are not a monolith, their responses were not monolithic. He explains how political, cultural, and social factors all influence one’s stance, which surprisingly does not necessarily correlate to religiosity; sometimes a belief in evolution is even based on the Quran.Salman regales us with anecdotes about his American education, including his initial astonishment at how many students believed in UFOs and alien abductions (and just as alarming, creationism). Throughout his career he’s been most interested in why people believe what they do rather than debunking theories. He speculates about the attraction to astrology and we learn of ancient cities having horoscopes based on their founding date. This leads to a take on psychics, how they get into your head, and what role they play in society. Naturally we revisit aliens; Asad asks for, and receives, an emphatic answer about whether there are advanced life forms out there (with a three-part clarification)! Salman also states his opinion of the life forms behind the recent Pentagon and New York Times reports on UFOs. We end with a starkly un-unique American Muslim experience, then a superbly unique one involving the chaotic calculation of the new moon to determine when Eid would fall in Long Island.Salman is also the founder of Kainaat Studios, a nonprofit sharing the wonder of astronomy with the next generation in Pakistan by producing YouTube videos in Urdu. And listen to his podcast, Mr. Universe. Follow Salman on Twitter @salmanahameed.American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC.Writer and Researcher: Lindsy GambleShow Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad ButtMusic by Simon HutchinsonHosted by Asad Butt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices