Welcome!

We live in a fascinating world within a fascinating universe. Yet we only know a very tiny part of the whole. The need to understand our environment is part of our nature. And here, in this corner of a neighbourhood called The Milky Way, the human being keeps on trying to enlarge the known fragment of the universe.

It might be a dream, but it would be a dream worth dreaming anyway. Our intrinsic curiosity has lead us to better understand, for example, the basics of life, the chemical structure at the atomic scale and below, the formation the Solar System and the incredible history of our planet.

Nowadays, the society seems not to care much about science. Fortunately, there are a lot of heroes who don't give up. Furthermore, science and technology have made possible for us to fly on an airplane while listening to music in our mp3 player or mobile phone, or reading on an e-book, or even working, to put just one example of so many I could think of. 

Sometimes the simple possibility to have a shower with running hot water could be a miracle if it weren't for the people who made that possible. So, many should thank science and engineering about a thousand times each day for every little miracle transformed into common reality. And even if we just were at the ape stage of the evolution process, we might just look at the miracles that nature can offer many times a minute (whenever there was no threat of a predator trying to have us for lunch, of course!).

So, science is the pathway to understanding what sorrounds us, which could actually mean everything from our own cells to the world we live in to the very most distant galaxy we have been able to identify so far. Anything! Then, why is it considered as something too boring to pay attention to most of the times? Or something out of which it is impossible to make a living of? Is it possible to understand well more or less complex scientific concepts?

I don't know the answer to the last question, as I don't know how many subjects I will be able to do my best to explain in a comprehensive way. I am not a teacher, but I studied Chemistry and Biochemistry, and one of my other passions, among which we can also find reading and listening to music, is astronomy (unfortunately, I never had time to learn about it, but every now and then I managed to read a few books on the subject). So I have a scientific background.

One of my "local heroes" is Eduard Punset, who can be counted among the great communicators of science to the public. In part as a homage to him, like I was trying to follow his path in a way (I know I am not him), I have decided to start this blog. Another reason is that I wanted to do something apart from my job, in my free time. And I am sure there are many other reasons for it, but I don't want to list them (I don't even know all of them!). Of course, a big question is how often will I be able to post. I will do my very best to find time for it, if not every week once or twice a month at least. We will see.

Nevermind, welcome to "Science At Hand"!

This is Raul Vallecillo, trying to bring science to everyone, inlcuding non-scientists. I come from Spain but I have chosen the English language for a more international and worldwide approach. Hope anyone landing here will have a chance to understand what I write, :-)