The question of which environmental processes operate in filaments still remains unresolved. Given the ubiquity of filaments and their importance in feeding clusters, a proper understanding of these mechanisms is crucial to building a more complete picture of galaxy evolution. Carrying out such an investigation requires access to large galaxy samples with spatially resolved information. As part of this effort, we analysed resolved H alpha maps of 685 galaxies inside and outside the filaments around the Virgo cluster, in addition to extensive measurements of the integrated physical properties. We created a pipeline to decompose the H alpha images into individual clumps that trace star-forming regions. We find that the number and average size of clumps in a galaxy are well-defined functions of distance and angular resolution. In particular, the power-law relation between the number of clumps and the distance of a galaxy is consistent with a fractal structure of star forming regions. We formulated an algorithm to compare filament and non-filament galaxies after removing observational differences. Although we do not have any conclusive evidence of a difference in clump size distributions between filament and non-filament galaxies, we do find that filament galaxies have slightly more peripheral clumps than their non-filament counterparts.
Several recent studies have sought to understand the impact of the "big lie"-the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump-and the impact of the events of January 6 on American democracy. This study seeks to understand why many Americans have come to accept election denialism and conspiratorial views related to January 6. Beyond the rhetoric and actions of Trump and his allies, we argue that outgroup prejudice-anti-Black racial resentment, anti-immigrant sentiment, and sexism-is key to understanding acceptance of the "big lie" and conspiratorial views related to the events of January 6, 2021. Employing data from the 2024 American National Election Study, we find that outgroup prejudice, rather than white identity, underpins both misinformation and overconfidence in inaccurate beliefs surrounding these events. Our findings shed light on how the politics of grievance undermine democratic attitudes in America.
The visual systems of amphibious animals must perform in two optically distinct environments: air and water. Little is known about how diffraction-limited, arthropod compound eyes maintain optical function across the air-water interface, aside from one commonality: flat corneas. Since the external shape of a lens is only one of several properties that influence optical performance, we examined how the corneal optics of compound eyes varied with amphibious ecology across two biological transects: developmentally in one insect species and comparatively among multiple species. Both analyses revealed that flat corneas alone are insufficient to provide amphibious optical performance. The corneas of compound eyes universally combine flat external surfaces, rounded internal surfaces and inwardly expanded thicknesses to support visually guided behaviours in air and water. Conservation of these features among diverse groups provides a strong evolutionary link between the optical performance of compound eyes and the environmental medium.
This article considers the material practices of forging 'Hindu' spaces in colonial India, through an examination of a cremation charity's movement against a mechanical crematorium in interwar Calcutta. Established around 1926, the mechanical crematorium was advertised by the municipality as a cost-effective alternative to traditional Hindu pyres, disposing of unclaimed corpses and dissected parts by employing stigmatized Dalit labour, in a region of the city marked for 'offensive' trades. However, by 1932, a cremation charity led by municipal councillors and Indian capitalists contested the existence of the crematorium, arguing that its technological process, labour practices, and location were an affront to Hindu sensibilities. This article examines the rise of the charity and the decline of the crematorium within the context of electoral politics, the politics of the location, and the broader impact on interwar labour crises and famines in Calcutta. By analysing the anti-crematorium movement, this article offers a colonial material history of the construction of the emotional resonance in 'Hindu spaces' in India, outlining how it emerged at the interstices of communal and caste boundaries.
Shepherd argues that we know general physical propositions and mathematical propositions on the basis of the same kind of reasoning - the same inference. She describes this inference as an inference from "like causes" to "like effects". While her account of this inference is at the centre of her epistemology, much of it is still obscure to scholars. This paper presents an interpretation. I argue that, contrary to what scholars have suggested, Shepherd sees mathematical rather than physical reasoning as the exemplar of the inference. My reading resolves some initial worries about Shepherd's conception of mathematics. It also explains the justification for two key assumptions: that we know objects to have essences and that we know them to belong to natural kinds.
