Baggott (2024), Jim, and John L.Heilbron, Quantum Drama: From the Bohr-Einstein Debate to the Riddle of Entanglement , Oxford UP 2024 ' The definitive account of the great Bohr-Einstein debate and its continuing legacy. In 1927, Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein began a debate about the interpretation and meaning of the new quantum theory. This would become one of the most famous debates in the history of science. At stake were an understanding of the purpose, and defense of the integrity, of science. What (if any) limits should we place on our expectations for what science can tell us about physical reality?Our protagonists slowly disappeared from the vanguard of physics, as its centre of gravity shifted from a war-ravaged Continental Europe to a bold,pragmatic, post-war America. What Einstein and Bohr had considered to be matters of the utmost importance were now set aside. Their debate was regarded either as settled in Bohr's favour or as superfluous to real physics. But the debate was not resolved. The problems of interpretation and meaning persisted, at least in the minds of a few stubborn physicists, such as David Bohm and John Bell, who refused to stop asking awkward questions. The Bohr-Einstein debate was rejoined, now with a new set of protagonists, on a small scale at first. Through their efforts, the debate was revealed to be about physics after all. Their questions did indeed have answers that could be found in a laboratory. As quantum entanglement became a real physical phenomenon, whole new disciplines were established, such as quantum computing, teleportation, and cryptography. The efforts of the experimentalists were rewarded with shares in the 2022 Nobel prize in physics. As Quantum Drama reveals, science owes a large debt to those who kept the discussions going against the apathy and indifference of most physicists before definitive experimental inquiries became possible. Although experiment moved the Bohr-Einstein debate to a new level and drew many into foundational research, it has by no means removed or resolved the fundamental question. There will be no Nobel prize for an answer. That will not shut off discussion. Our Drama will continue beyond our telling of it and is unlikely to reach its final scene before science ceases or the world ends. Quantum mechanics is an extraordinarily successful scientific theory. It is also completely baffling. From the moment of its inception, its founders struggled to understand its meaning. This struggle was most famously encapsulated in the debate between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein; Quantum Drama tells the story of their engagement and its legacy.' 
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The Committee for the Compilation of Materials on the Damage Caused by the Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical Medical and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings, Hutchison 1981 Jacket: 'This book is the definitive account of the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ... More than four years in the making, this clearly written and jargon free account is both a summary and an analysis by Japan's leading physicists, physicians and social scientists of the full findings about the immediate damage of the bombs ... and their permanent medical, genetic, social and psychological effects. In almost every respect the findings show that the damage caused by the bombs was much more serious than earlier studies have indicated. Not only were there more deaths, but a terrible and lasting impactcan be seen in terms of chronic disease (especially cancers), genetic and chromosomal damage, and social disorganisation - family disruption, crime, suicide and mental illness.' 
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Albert Einstein (1915), The Field Equations of Gravitation, ' In two recently published papers I have shown how to obtain field equations of gravitation that comply with the postulate of general relativity, i.e., which in their general formulation are covariant under arbitrary substitutions of space-time variables. . . . With this, we have finally completed the general theory of relativity as a logical structure. The postulate of relativity in its most general formulation (which makes space-time coordinates into physically meaningless parameters) leads with compelling necessity to a very specific theory of gravitation that also explains the movement of the perihelion of Mercury. However, the postulate of general relativity cannot reveal to us anything new and different about the essence of the various processes in nature than what the special theory of relativity taught us already. The opinions I recently voiced here in this regard have been in error. Every physical theory that complies with the special theory of relativity can, by means of the absolute differential calculus, be integrated into the system of general relativity theory-without the latter providing any criteria about the admissibility of such physical theory.' back

Christopher Shields (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy b), The Active Mind of De Anima III 5 , ' After characterizingnous the mind (nous) and its activities in De Animaiii 4, Aristotle takes a surprising turn. In De Anima iii 5, he introduces an obscure and hotly disputed subject: the active mind or active intellect (nous poiêtikos). Controversy surrounds almost every aspect of De Anima iii 5, not least because in it Aristotle characterizes the active mind—a topic mentioned nowhere else in his entire corpus—as ‘separate and unaffected and unmixed, being in its essence actuality’ (chôristos kai apathês kai amigês, tê ousia energeia; DA iii 5, 430a17–18) and then also as ‘deathless and everlasting’ (athanaton kai aidion; DA iii 5, 430a23). This comes as no small surprise to readers of De Anima, because Aristotle had earlier in the same work treated the mind (nous) as but one faculty (dunamis) of the soul (psuchê), and he had contended that the soul as a whole is not separable from the body (DA ii 1, 413a3–5). back

Cosmological constant problem - Wikipedia, Cosmological constant problem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In cosmology, the cosmological constant problem or vacuum catastrophe is the disagreement between the observed values of vacuum energy density (the small value of the cosmological constant) and theoretical large value of zero-point energy suggested by quantum field theory. Depending on the Planck energy cutoff and other factors, the discrepancy is as high as 120 orders of magnitude, a state of affairs described by physicists as "the largest discrepancy between theory and experiment in all of science" and "the worst theoretical prediction in the history of physics".' back

Count Basie:, Through His Own Eyes, back

Hiroko Tabuchi, E.P.A. Pulls From the Market a Weedkiller Harmful to Fetuses, 'In a move not seen for almost 40 years, the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday issued an emergency order suspending all uses of a weedkiller linked to serious health risks for unborn babies. The herbicide dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, also known as DCPA or Dacthal, is used on crops such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage and onions. Fetuses exposed to it could suffer from low birth weight, impaired brain development, decreased I.Q., and impaired motor skills later in life, the E.P.A. said. . . . Mily Treviño Sauceda, executive director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, also known as the National Farmworkers Women’s Alliance, called E.P.A.’s decision “historic.” “We know intimately the harm that pesticides, including dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, can inflict on our bodies and communities,” she said in a statement accompanying the E.P.A. news release. “This emergency decision is a great first step that we hope will be in a series of others that are based on listening to farmworkers, protecting our reproductive health, and safeguarding our families.” The chemical has been prohibited for use on crops in the European Union since 2009.' back

Kingsbury, Hennigan & Spencer Cohen (2024_08_06), The Last Survivors Speak. It’s Time to Listen., ' The waiting room of the Red Cross hospital in downtown Hiroshima is always crowded. Nearly every available seat is occupied, often by elderly people waiting for their names to be called. Many of these men and women don’t have typical medical histories, however. They are the surviving victims of the American atomic bomb attack 79 years ago. Not many Americans have Aug. 6 circled on their calendars, but it’s a day that the Japanese can’t forget. Even now, the hospital continues to treat, on average, 180 survivors — known as hibakusha — of the blasts each day. When the United States dropped an atomic weapon on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, the entire citizenries of both countries were working feverishly to win World War II. For most Americans, the bomb represented a path to victory after nearly four relentless years of battle and a technological advance that would cement the nation as a geopolitical superpower for generations. Our textbooks talk about the world’s first use of a nuclear weapon. Many today in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the United States detonated a bomb just three days later, talk about how those horrible events must be the last uses of nuclear weapons. back

Richard Feynman & Steven Weinberg (1986), x, 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

Seanna Leth & Sheretta T. Butler-Barnes , From Michael Brown to Sonya Massey, a decade of police antiblack violence causes grief, worry and coping for Black parents , ' Overall, these messages are intended to elicit racial and cultural pride, while also encouraging Black youth to be cautious and aware of the ongoing realities of racial violence. In a forthcoming study we have on how Black parents in Missouri talk to their adolescents about race, one mother shared: “Like with the Sonya Massey thing, my daughter saw the video and she was like – ‘but she didn’t do anything wrong.’ That’s usually what happens. Like I told her, she called the police for help and they end up killing her. It happens sometimes because they act like they’re scared of Blacks for some reason. I feel like we are not progressing in America with this racism thing.” While Black parents and their children continue to resist racial discrimination through their everyday practices of care, love and joy, there remains a critical need to invest in the health and well-being of Black communities through structural policy changes in education, health care and local government.' back