A Black high school student in Texas who served an in-school suspension over his hairstyle received the same punishment again when he arrived Monday wearing his hair in twisted dreadlocks tied on top of his head, his mother said.

https://apnews.com/article/hairstyles-dreadlocks-racial-discrimination-crown-act-034a59b9f2652881470dc606b39e5243

Chemical reactions are like a dance between atoms and molecules. As the dancers bounce into each other, they may react. Or they may not.

To make things simpler – more like a line dance, less like a mosh pit – researchers at U of Chicago put all the reactants in the same quantum state. Et voila: the reaction went faster.

This speed-up is known as quantum superchemistry, and theorists had predicted it should be possible. Now we know it is!

https://physicsworld.com/a/quantum-superchemistry-emerges-in-the-laboratory/

#physics #chemistry

Once a piece of metal starts to crack, that crack is only going to get bigger, right?

Well, that's the rule.

But some rules are made to be broken, and researchers
at SandiaLabs recently (and accidentally!) figured out how to break this one. In the process, they provided experimental proof of a theoretical prediction on metal healing made 10 years earlier by Michael Demkowicz at Texas A&M.

https://physicsworld.com/a/fatigue-generated-cracks-fuse-back-together-in-metals/

#physics #materials #engineering

Multiple bright, young scientists I know have told me they will not be applying to jobs in TX & FL.

Faculty friends at institutions in these states have shared they are having trouble recruiting new students & concerned about what they could be accused of.

Having spent years working at UT Austin where I loved our weird & welcoming community, I’m deeply troubled watching things fall apart. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/25/texas-a-m-professor-opioids-dan-patrick/