fundamental

Morgan Marietta, University of Massachusetts Lowell The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Nov. 3, 2021, on a clear question: Does the constitutional right to possess a gun extend outside the home? The answer may alter gun regulations in many states. The crux of the issue before the court is captured by a debate that Thomas Jefferson had with himself at the time of the founding. When Jefferson was drafting a proposed constitution for his home state of Virginia in June 1776, he suggested a clause that read “No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms.” In the second draft, he added in brackets, “[within his own lands or tenements].” Jefferson’s debate with himself captures the question posed to the court: Is the purpose of the right to “keep and bear arms” the protection of a...

Matter is what makes up the universe, but what makes up matter? This question has long been tricky for those who think about it – especially for the physicists. Reflecting recent trends in physics, my colleague Jeffrey Eischen and I have described an updated way to think about matter. We propose that matter is not made of particles or waves, as was long thought, but – more fundamentally – that matter is made of fragments of energy. In ancient times, five elements were thought to be the building blocks of reality. IkonStudio/iStock via Getty Images From five to one The ancient Greeks conceived of five building blocks of matter – from bottom to top: earth, water, air, fire and aether. Aether was the matter that filled the heavens and explained the rotation of the stars, as observed from the ...

Tag: fundamental

Justices At The Supreme Court Will Consider Gun Rights – If The Fundamental Right To Keep A Gun At Home Applies To Carrying Weapons In Public

The Fundamental Building Blocks Of The Universe May Be Fragments Of Energy – Not Waves Or Particles