Neuenschwander (2011), Dwight E, Emmy Noether's Wonderful Theorem, Johns Hopkins University Press 2011 Jacket: A beautiful piece of mathematics, Noether's theorem touches on every aspect of physics. Emmy Noether proved her theorem in 1915 and published it in 1918. This profound concept demonstrates the connection between conservation laws and symmetries. For instance, the theorem shows that a system invariant under translations of time, space or rotation will obey the laws of conservation of energy, linear momentum or angular momentum respectively. This exciting result offers a rich unifying principle for all of physics.' 
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Alexandra Petri, Opinion When is a child not a child?, ' A child is not a child. She is a “hoax,” surely (Fox’s Jesse Watters). A “fanciful tale” in the words of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, “a story too good to confirm.” A story that “looks like a lie” (New York Post). An exaggerated concoction by pro-abortion forces designed to make you feel that your laws are inhuman, that they are vicious, that they are written by people to whom these things could never possibly happen, and therefore they are clumsy and careless in the most bruising possible way. She cannot be a child. Children are what your laws protect.' back

Alexandra Witze (2022), Stunning new Webb images: baby stars, colliding galaxies and hot exoplanets, ' Perhaps the least visually striking, but most scientifically compelling, image of NASA’s release is a chemical analysis, or spectrum, of the atmosphere of a distant planet known as WASP-96b. This planet is around half the size of Jupiter but orbits its star in just 3.5 days, meaning that its surface is extremely hot. Webb observed the planet as it passed across the face of its star, such that the starlight travelled through the planet’s atmosphere and enabled scientists to chemically analyze it. They spotted the fingerprint of water in the atmosphere of WASP-96b, suggesting that it is a truly steamy place. The spectrum is “just spectacular”, says Christopher Evans, the European Space Agency’s Webb project scientist. “People have been trying to do [spectroscopy] from the ground for years…and suddenly it’s just right there, and that’s the first go”.' back

Aquinas, Summa, I, 3, 4, Are essence and existence the same in God?, 'I answer that, God is not only His own essence, as shown in the preceding article, but also His own existence. This may be shown in several ways. First, whatever a thing has besides its essence must be caused either by the constituent principles of that essence (like a property that necessarily accompanies the species--as the faculty of laughing is proper to a man--and is caused by the constituent principles of the species), or by some exterior agent--as heat is caused in water by fire. Therefore, if the existence of a thing differs from its essence, this existence must be caused either by some exterior agent or by its essential principles. Now it is impossible for a thing's existence to be caused by its essential constituent principles, for nothing can be the sufficient cause of its own existence, if its existence is caused. Therefore that thing, whose existence differs from its essence, must have its existence caused by another. But this cannot be true of God; because we call God the first efficient cause. Therefore it is impossible that in God His existence should differ from His essence.' back

Associated Press /Al Jazeera, Srebrenica women recognised for highlighting 1995 genocide, ' They were the ones who lived in a world in which their husbands, sons, brothers, uncles and nephews were massacred. They were the ones who fought to make sure that the world would neither deny nor forget the truth of what happened in Srebrenica. As thousands converge on the eastern Bosnian town to commemorate the 27th anniversary on Monday of Europe’s only acknowledged genocide since World War II, the crucial role women have played in forging a global understanding of the 1995 massacre also is getting recognised. A permanent photo exhibition of portraits of the women of Srebrenica opened on Saturday in a memorial centre dedicated to the massacre’s more than 8,000 victims.' back

G M Jackson, Finding the Flaw that Necessittates Renormalization, ' Here's what Paul Dirac had to say about renormalization: "Most physicists are very satisfied with the situation. They say: 'Quantum electrodynamics is a good theory and we do not have to worry about it any more.' I must say that I am very dissatisfied with the situation, because this so-called 'good theory' does involve neglecting infinities which appear in its equations, neglecting them in an arbitrary way. This is just not sensible mathematics. Sensible mathematics involves neglecting a quantity when it is small – not neglecting it just because it is infinitely great and you do not want it!" 'f back

Matt Killingsworth, 20 years on, the International Criminal Court is doing more good than its critics claim, ' But perhaps the critics’ greatest frustration with the ICC is its perceived failure to hold the United States (and Israel, to a lesser extent) to account. However, much of this frustration represents a misunderstanding about the court’s legal reach. Neither the US nor Israel is a signatory to the Rome Statute, and the US could veto any attempt to initiate a referral through the UN Security Council. . . . These concerns about the ICC are the result of two factors outside the ICC’s control: the refusal of some countries to sign the Rome Statute and the increased expectations generated when the court was created. . . . The ICC isn’t perfect. Created in a unique period of cooperation, its operations now reflect the more state-centric and less cooperative world we inhabit. To condemn it solely because of its low prosecution rate would be short-sighted. Instead, we should appreciate the central role it has played in creating expectations that global justice can be realised.' back

Peafowl - Wikipedia, Peafowl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera Pavo and Afropavo within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. The two Asiatic species are the blue or Indian peafowl originally of the Indian subcontinent, and the green peafowl of Southeast Asia; the one African species is the Congo peafowl, native only to the Congo Basin. Male peafowl are known for their piercing calls and their extravagant plumage. The latter is especially prominent in the Asiatic species, which have an eye-spotted "tail" or "train" of covert feathers, which they display as part of a courtship ritual.' back

Quantum Hall effect - Wikipedia, Quantum Hall effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The quantum Hall effect (or integer quantum Hall effect) is a quantized version of the Hall effect, observed in two-dimensional electron systems subjected to low temperatures and strong magnetic fields, in which the Hall resistance Rxy exhibits steps that take on the quantized values at certain level

R _xy = V_{Hall / Ichannel = h / e²v}

Richard Feynman & Steven Weinberg (1986), Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics: The 1986 Dirac Memorial Lectures, Foreword: John C Taylor: 'Dirac Died in 1984, and St John's College, Cambridge (Dirac's College), very generously endowed an annual lecture to be held at Cambridge University in Dirac's memory. The First two lectures, printed here, are contrasting variations of Dirac's theme of the union of quantum theory and relativity.' back

Rolf Landauer (1961, 2000), Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process, 'Abstract: 'It is argued that computing machines inevitably involve devices which perform logical functions that do not have a single-valued inverse. The logical irreversibility is associated with physical irreversibility, and requires a minimum heat generation, per machine cycle, typically of the order of kT for each irreversible function. The dissipation serves the purpose of standardizing signals and making them independent of their exact logical history. Two simple, but representative, models of bistable devices are subjected to a more detailed analysis of switching kinetics to yield the relationship between speed and energy dissipation, and to estimate the effects of errors induced by thermal fluctuations.' back

Smriti Mallapaty, Major wildlife report struggles to tally humanity’s exploitation of species, ' Billions of people worldwide rely on around 50,000 species of wild plants and animals for food, energy, medicines and income, according to a major intergovernmental report prepared by dozens of scientists. Although the report finds that overexploitation is a threat to some species, it also highlights many examples of wild species being used sustainably, and recommends ways to support and replicate those methods. . . . A summary of the assessment, which was conducted by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), was released on 8 July, with a full report to come in a couple of months. It will follow a 2019 IPBES report, which found that exploitation of wildlife is one of the largest drivers of biodiversity loss. The latest report builds on that finding and sought to offer a more optimistic message, says Marla Emery, a co-chair of the assessment.' back