The modern genre of pop cosmology began with the big bang of Stephen Hawking’s 1988 megabestseller, A Brief History of Time. Since then, world-class physicists like Michio Kaku, Steven Weinberg, and Freeman Dyson, who died earlier this year at the age of 96, have earned wider fame by writing popular accounts of fundamental physical concepts: time and space, matter and energy, the origin and destiny of the universe. – Tablet
Here They Are: The Studies That Show The Arts Promote Mental Health
The arts offer an evidence-based solution for promoting mental health. While practising the arts is not the panacea for all mental health challenges, there’s enough evidence to support prioritizing arts in our own lives at home as well as in our education systems. – The Conversation
Bradley Fields, Who Used Magic To Teach Math, Dead Of COVID At 68
“[He] was ‘an antique guy in a modern world,’ appearing in a derby and vest and performing illusions from the vaudeville era: classic tricks with steel rings or handkerchief, dividing an assistant into thirds. … After [his sons] were born, Mr. Fields spent a year teaching elementary school in Manhattan’s Chinatown, which inspired him to create MatheMagic, a show for children that he performed up to 200 times a year.” – The New York Times
Physics Or Free Will?
Consider that “everything we see around us – rocks and planets, frogs and trees, your body and brain – is made up of nothing but protons, electrons and neutrons put together in very complex ways. In the case of your body, they make many kinds of cells; in turn, these cells make tissues, such as muscle and skin; these tissues make systems, such as the heart, lungs and brain; and these systems make the body as a whole. It might seem that everything that’s happening at the higher, ‘emergent’ levels should be uniquely determined by the physics operating beneath them. This would mean that the thoughts you’re having at this very moment were predetermined at the start of the Universe, based on the values of the particle physics variables at that time.” – Aeon
How American Movies Strenuously Avoided The Issue Of Racist Policing
“The entertainment industry has generally followed the official line: blithe ignorance and denial giving way to grudging admission of a problem, but only as far as the ‘bad apple’ theory. And while it is safe to say the majority of law-enforcement personnel are not racist, the existence of institutional racism is repeatedly denied.” Except, of course, by Black filmmakers. – The Guardian
Texas Governor Finally Gives Performing Arts Groups Guidelines On Operating Under COVID
Gov. Greg Abbott’s Phase III reopening guidelines covering “performance halls,” effective June 10, allow audiences up to 50% of capacity at indoor venues; there’s no such limit for outdoor shows as long as no single group has more than 10 people and all groups are at least six feet apart. Performers and presenters themselves aren’t prepared to rush back to work all at once, though. – The Dallas Morning News
California’s Cinemas Could Reopen As Soon As This Weekend
Guidelines, issued on Monday by the state’s Dept. of Public Health and currently under review by the governor’s office, require spacing between seats, masks required of all customers when entering and leaving the building and in line for concessions or restrooms, and an upper limit of 100 attendees or one-fourth of the theater’s capacity, whichever is lower. – Variety
Why We Don’t Collectively Dream Big Anymore
Questions about what sort of future human beings might create tend to be limited by the horizon of the management strategies of market capitalism. This version of the future isn’t about radical discontinuity at all, just an intensification of the business practices that promise to give us Amazon Prime by drone at the same time that the real Amazon burns. – Aeon
BBC Broadcasts Live Concerts From Empty Halls. A Way Forward?
Last week’s small beginnings showed a way forward, demonstrating what an crucial role the BBC can and must play to aid a potential recovery of classical music before it is safe for venues to open to the public. – The Guardian
Generational Divide: Younger Collectors Versus Older Collectors
Younger, digitally minded collectors are predictably more receptive to online purchases, albeit at relatively low price levels. By contrast, more experienced collectors, conscious of possible condition and provenance issues, remain wary — and it is their spending that makes the art world go around. – The New York Times