How California could be the launching pad for the Democrats' 2020 presidential nominee

The California legislature recently passed a bill which would move its presidential primary from June to March. Renée Van Vechten looks at the arguments that the move may make the Golden State the kingmaker for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, and highlights two potential Democratic presidential candidates from California: junior US Senator Kamala Harris and Los Angeles Mayor Eric ..

Replacing a veteran U.S. Senator won’t be simple in the Golden State.

On January 8th the veteran California Democratic Senator, Barbara Boxer, announced that she would not be seeking re-election in 2016, sparking intense speculation over potential candidates for her replacement. Renée Van Vechten writes that as a highly contested ballot, the election to replace Boxer is likely to be very expensive. In addition, while California leans heavily Democratic, 2016’s top-two or ‘jungle primary’ could be disrupted by a strong Republican candidate splitting Democratic votes. With this in mind, she argues that the current front-runner, Attorney General Kamala Harris, may face an uphill battle to win one of the two top spots on the 2016 ballot

Nonequilibrium Dynamic Conductivity of Superconductors: An Exploitable Basis for High Energy Resolution X-Ray Detectors

A new design for high‐energy radiation/particle detectors is presented. The nonequilibrium response of a superconductor to the absorption of the incident quanta is sensed by electromagnetic measurements of the altered dynamic conductivity. Microwave absorption may be used to amplify the signal. Such a detector will provide better energy resolution than semiconducting charge‐collection devices once the statistical resolution limit is reached

This year's mid-term election results will test just how liberal California really is

On June 5th Golden State voters selected Lieutenant Governor Democrat Gavin Newsom and businessman and Republican John Cox to face off in the fall gubernatorial election. Renée Van Vechten writes that Newsom is boldly liberal, even for a deep blue state like California. Only a new slate of more moderate state Democrats, she argues, will be able to rein in his tendencies which otherwise might prove too liberal – and expensive – for most Californians