Take me to the Moon

I've really enjoyed all the coverage of the anniversary of the Moon Landings.

I know that the kazillions they spend on space travel could be used to solve world hunger. I know that it's a huge industrial/military/government complex of a conspiracy to keep American millionaires.......millionaires. I know that scientists could be using their extraordinary minds to solve the Earth's problems. But I think flying to the moon is cool and I love the idea that humans are going to go further.

And I want to know what's out there just as much as I want to know what's under our oceans or what creatures and plants once inhabited our planet or what happens when two sub-atomic particles collide or how my body knows the difference between pineapple juice and petrol.

I'm not religious. I do not believe in a god or gods. I do, however, share something in my response to the universe with those of a religious persuasion. I think it's awe. I am in awe of how this whole thing works. This seems to manifest itself in me as a sort of geeky interest in things scientific.

I honestly look up at the the Milky Way and - like a kid - try to imagine what it must be like to be closer to one of those stars than to our Sun. I read all the articles about the Large Hadron Collider. I'll buy any magazine which advertises itself with pictures of dinosaurs or planets. I search shuttle launch on Youtube every time there is one. I am endlessly fascinated by the human body - from gross muscle movements to biochemical processes.

I want to know more about how it all works. I think we should all be fascinated by how it all works. I think every teacher and parent should instill in every kid a wonder and thirst for knowledge about this extraordinary thing - our ability to know and want to know the world around us. I believe that if this sort of excitement about how interesting it all is was instilled in people then people would do less bad stuff. Kids with a fascination and wonder about life would be less inclined to damage it or themselves. People whose minds are opened to the marvel of it all are more inclined to want to listen to others in order to learn more.

That's why I want someone to go out, take a look and report back on what they find. I want to say - I want to hear others say - with wonder in our voices - "Wow, that's cool".