The Nature of Reality





  
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  What if the laws of physics as we know them are just accidents, the products of cosmic happenstance?
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  Science proceeds from the assumption that the universe is ordered in a rational and intelligible manner. The most refined expression of the rational order in nature is encompassed in the laws of physics.
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Paul Davies

Frozen Accidents: Can the Laws of Physics be Explained?

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A person is tested for COVID-19 at a drive-thru testing site in Florida in July 2020. Image Credit: Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto, Getty Images

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A statue of Zheng He at the Sam Poo Kong Temple in Java, Indonesia. Image Credit: Budianto Santosa, Shutterstock

<p data-block-key="qedi3">In the 1400s, Zheng He sailed thousands of miles around Asia and Africa in ships the size of soccer fields, spreading Chinese innovations like compasses and gunpowder in the process. </p>

<p data-block-key="ftxz2">In the 1400s, Zheng He sailed thousands of miles around Asia and Africa in ships the size of soccer fields, spreading Chinese innovations like compasses and gunpowder in the process. </p>

The legendary Chinese seafarer the West overlooks

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<p>Follow along as NASA launches the Mars 2020 Mission, perhaps the most ambitious hunt yet for signs of ancient life on Mars. In February 2021, the spacecraft blazes into the Martian atmosphere at some 12,000 miles per hour and lowers the Perseverance Rover into the rocky Jezero Crater, home to a dried-up river delta scientists think could have harbored life. Perseverance will comb the area for signs of life and collect samples for possible return to Earth. Traveling onboard is a four-pound helicopter that will conduct a series of test flights—the first on another planet. During its journey, Perseverance will also test technology designed to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, in hopes that the gas could be used for fuel—or for humans to breathe—on future missions. (Premiered February 24, 2021)</p>

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