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July 1816: Fresnel’s Evidence for the Wave Theory of Light

Until the early 20th century, the question of whether light is a particle or a wave had divided scientists for centuries. Isaac Newton held the former stance and advocated for his “corpuscular” theory. But by the early 19th century, the wave theory was making a comeback, thanks in part to the work of a French civil engineer named Augustin-Jean Fresnel.

Born in 1,788 to an architect, the young Fresnel had a strict religious upbringing, since his parents were Jansenists — a radical sect of the Catholic Church that embraced predestination. Initially he was home-schooled, and did not show early academic promise; he could barely read by the time he was eight. Part of this may have been due to all the political upheaval in France at the time. Fresnel was just one year old when revolutionaries stormed the Bastille in 1,789, and five when the Reign of Terror began.

Eventually the family settled in a small village north of Caen, and when Fresnel was 12, he was enrolled in a formal school. That is where he discovered science and mathematics. He excelled at both, so much so that he decided to study engineering, first at the École Polytechnique in Paris, and then at the École Nacionale des Ponts et Chaussées.

Simple Brain Hack Could Boost Learning and Improve Mental Health

Adopting a curious mindset over a high-pressure one can enhance memory, according to recent research from Duke University. The study showed that participants who envisioned themselves as a thief planning a heist in a virtual art museum demonstrated better recall of the paintings they encountered than those who imagined executing the heist on the spot while playing the same computer game.

The slight variation in motivations — the urgent need to achieve immediate goals versus the curious exploration for future objectives — could have significant implications in real-life scenarios. These include incentivizing people to receive a vaccine, prompting action against climate change, and potentially providing new treatments for psychiatric conditions.

The findings were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

PROPAGANDA — They Showed This To High School Kids In 1948! Would They Allow This Today?

Every citizen should watch this. It’s brilliant.


This film was made to sell to high school media departments who purchased it to show to their juniors and seniors. Students in public high schools were being exposed to the concept of propaganda, especially given the context of World War II and the early Cold War. At this time there was an emphasis on educating citizens, including school children, about the role of propaganda. Would anyone make a film like this to run in schools involving media fake media or not?

Propaganda from all sides was studied including in history or social studies classes. Teachers used examples from Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy or Imperial Japan to illustrate how propaganda was used to control information and manipulate public opinion during the war.

In civics or government classes, students discussed propaganda in the context of democratic values, freedom of speech and the role of the press. This included conversations about the differences between propaganda, misinformation, and the free exchange of ideas.
In English or other language arts classes propaganda was discussed as a form of rhetoric or persuasion.

The early stages of the Cold War and the 1948 presidential election were events for discussion in classrooms. Teachers used these current events to talk about the role of propaganda in politics and international relations.

Dr. Michael Roberts, Ph.D. — Chief Science Officer, International Space Station National Laboratory

Dr. Michael Roberts, Ph.D. is Chief Science Officer of the International Space Station National Laboratory (https://www.issnationallab.org/), and Vice President at the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS — https://www.issnationallab.org/about/center-for-the-advancem…dership/), which as manager of the ISS National Laboratory in partnership with NASA, is responsible to the nation for enabling access to the International Space Station for research, technology development, STEM education, and commercial innovation in space as a public service to foster a scalable and sustainable low Earth orbit economy.

Before joining CASIS in 2013, Dr. Roberts worked as a microbial ecologist, principal investigator, and research group lead in the NASA Advanced Life Support program at the Kennedy Space Center.

Prior to arriving at NASA-KSC in 1999, Dr. Roberts completed an undergraduate degree in biology at Maryville College, a doctorate in microbiology at Wesleyan University and post-doctoral research at the Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University and the RIKEN Institute in Wako-shi, Japan.

Unleashing Cosmic Power: Energy Flow in the Universe’s Largest Shock Waves

A team of researchers led by Associate Professor Kazuhiro Nakazawa from Nagoya University.

Nagoya University, sometimes abbreviated as NU, is a Japanese national research university located in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya. It was the seventh Imperial University in Japan, one of the first five Designated National University and selected as a Top Type university of Top Global University Project by the Japanese government. It is one of the highest ranked higher education institutions in Japan.

Recycle Spent Nuclear Fuel Save the Grid with Steven Curtis

Make nuclear power safer by tapping the gold mine in the spent fuel rods by using molten salt reactors and small modular reactors for both safe nuclear plant back up power and for microgrids that will be less susceptible to an EMP or CME E3 waveform. Watch to learn!

Contact Steven Curtis:
[email protected].
wastetoenergynow.org.
(702) 219‑6463

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Gen Z’s digital natives will seem old-fashioned next to ‘Gen A,’ the first A.I. native generation, BofA says

Just as Ray Kurzweil predicted in the book The Age of Spiritual Machines.


The analysts cited Timothy Papandreou, an advisor to Alphabet’s research and development organization, X (formerly GoogleX), who explained at a recent event that A.I. will lead to a transition from a generation of programmers to a generation of “perfect prompters” as kids learn to utilize generative A.I. “assistants” throughout their lives.

Gen A won’t need programming skills to use their A.I models, instead they will work to properly prompt these systems with simple text to get the desired outcome, whether that’s finding information about Kafka for a school paper or writing an email at work.

“Children will now have an A.I. avatar shadow assistant or agent from birth. As they grow A.I. will grow with them and know everything it needs to know, and always be there as a mentor,” Papandreou said, arguing that Gen Z will be the “last generation to not grow up with AI.”

Microsoft to stop locking vital security logs behind $57-per-user monthly plan

Microsoft will expand access to important security log data after being criticized for locking detailed audit logs behind a Microsoft 365 enterprise plan that costs $57 per user per month. The logging updates will start rolling out “in September 2023 to all government and commercial customers,” the company said.

“Over the coming months, we will include access to wider cloud security logs for our worldwide customers at no additional cost. As these changes take effect, customers can use Microsoft Purview Audit to centrally visualize more types of cloud log data generated across their enterprise,” Microsoft announced yesterday.

Microsoft Purview Audit Premium is available on the $57-per-user Microsoft 365 E5 plan for businesses as well as the similar A5 education plan and G5 government plan. There’s also a Purview Audit Standard service that comes with a much wider range of plans, including the Microsoft 365 Business Basic tier that costs $6 per user per month.

It’s Raining Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria

This is an educational video. It does suggest a bit of a solution and it’s a good reason to be careful about eating snow maybe or drinking rain water? I’m no expert but now I’m wary though I haven’t heard of anyone getting sick from doing so.


Bacteria are everywhere, including clouds, and the rain that falls from them. Not only can they survive the harsh environment and hitchhike across continents, they can share their genes, too. Including the ones that make them resistant to antibiotics.

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Sources:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722083681?via%3Dihub.
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