Does the Press Have a Right to be Wrong?: Fake News, Press Freedom, and Defamation Law in 2021

The following study analyzes defamation lawsuits filed against Fox News and its on-air personalities by companies that manufactured and maintained voting machines used in the 2020 US presidential election. Smartmatic and Dominion accused Fox in court of broadcasting debunked allegations that the companies had rigged the election against incumbent president (and longtime Fox viewer) Donald Trump. The size of the sought-after damages, and the size of Fox itself, make this the largest “fake news suit” in history. This study explores the merits of the suits, defenses to defamation (particularly opinion, political speech, and retraction) and the potential ramifications of a judgement for either side. The study is particularly interested in whether defamation law can be utilized against the fake news phenomenon while still preserving the fundamental American right to a free and independent press. In short, is there a happy middle ground that prohibits news sites from disseminating verifiably false information that does not restrict legitimate journalism

The Mars observer camera

A camera designed to operate under the extreme constraints of the Mars Observer Mission was selected by NASA in April, 1986. Contingent upon final confirmation in mid-November, the Mars Observer Camera (MOC) will begin acquiring images of the surface and atmosphere of Mars in September-October 1991. The MOC incorporates both a wide angle system for low resolution global monitoring and intermediate resolution regional targeting, and a narrow angle system for high resolution selective surveys. Camera electronics provide control of image clocking and on-board, internal editing and buffering to match whatever spacecraft data system capabilities are allocated to the experiment. The objectives of the MOC experiment follow

Partitioning of Phosphorus and Molybdenum between the Earth's Mantle and Core and the Conditions of Core Formation

There are several hypotheses on the specific processes that might have occurred during the formation of the Earth. One hypothesis that has been proposed is that early in the Earth's formation, there was a magma ocean present, and within this body, siderophile elements separated out of the silicate liquid to form the metal core. This study addresses this hypothesis. P and Mo are moderately siderophile elements that are present in both the mantle and the core. The concentrations of P and Mo in silicate vs. metal can be measured and in turn used to determine the temperatures, pressures, oxygen fugacity and melt composition required to achieve the same concentrations as observed in the mantle. The data here include eight experiments examining the partitioning of P and Mo between metallic liquid and silicate liquid. The purpose of the experiments has been to gain a greater understanding of core-mantle separation during the Earth formation process and examines temperature effect on P and Mo, which has not been systematically studied before

Visual and infrared observations of the distant Comets P/Stephan-Oterma (1980g), Panther (1980u), and Bowell (1980b)

Broadband observations of comets P/Stephan-Oterma (1980g), Bowell (1980b), and Panther (1980u) in the visual [0.5≾ λ(µm)≾0.9] and infrared [1.2≾λ(µm)≾20] wavelength regions are reported together with measurements in the 1.5-2.4-µm wavelength range having 5% spectral resolution. The visual data indicate the existence of solid grains in extended halos around the nuclei of the three comets. The visual photometric profiles of comets P/Stephan- Oterma and Panther are interpreted as evidence that grains around Panther and those close to the nucleus of P/Stephan-Oterma are sublimating. Broadband near-infrared and thermal infrared measurements of comet Panther suggest the presence of 2—4-µm radius particles in the coma. The particles within a 5.8X 10^6-m diameter region centered on the comet have a total cross section of 10^8 m^2 and a near-infrared geometric albedo of about 14%. Comet Bowell presents a total cross section of 3 X 10^8 m^2 within a 1.2 X 10^7-m region centered on the comet and its coma grains also have an albedo of 14%. The near-infrared spectrum of P/Stephan-Oterma is a featureless solar-reflection continuum. The near-infrared spectra of Bowell and Panther exhibit features which are similar in the two comets. The spectral features are not due to H_2O, CH_4, or CO_2 ices nor to emissions from gases released from the nuclei nor to reflection from mineral grains of known composition in the comae. The spectrum of solid ammonia provides the best match to the near infrared; it is nevertheless significantly different from the comet spectra. The synthesis of the visual data with the infrared data is attempted in terms of a model involving a mantle of volatile material on the nuclei of Bowell and Panther, but not on P/Stephan-Oterma. The composition of the mantle cannot be exactly specified from the existing data but a complex molecule incorporating the N-H bond may be present

Responses of predatory invertebrates to seeding density and plantspecies richness in experimental tallgrass prairie restorations

In recent decades, agricultural producers and non-governmental organizations have restored thousandsof hectares of former cropland in the central United States with native grasses and forbs. However,the ability of these grassland restorations to attract predatory invertebrates has not been well docu-mented, even though predators provide an important ecosystem service to agricultural producers bynaturally regulating herbivores. This study assessed the effects of plant richness and seeding density onthe richness and abundance of surface-dwelling (ants, ground beetles, and spiders) and aboveground(ladybird beetles) predatory invertebrates. In the spring of 2006, twenty-four 55 m × 55 m-plots wereplanted to six replicates in each of four treatments: high richness (97 species typically planted by TheNature Conservancy), at low and high seeding densities, and low richness (15 species representing a typ-ical Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Reserve Program mix, CP25), at low and highseeding densities. Ants, ground beetles, and spiders were sampled using pitfall traps and ladybird beetleswere sampled using sweep netting in 2007–2009. The abundance of ants, ground beetles, and spidersshowed no response to seed mix richness or seeding density but there was a significant positive effect ofrichness on ladybird beetle abundance. Seeding density had a significant positive effect on ground beetleand spider species richness and Shannon–Weaver diversity. These results may be related to differencesin the plant species composition and relative amount of grass basal cover among the treatments ratherthan richness

Library Design in Combinatorial Chemistry by Monte Carlo Methods

Strategies for searching the space of variables in combinatorial chemistry experiments are presented, and a random energy model of combinatorial chemistry experiments is introduced. The search strategies, derived by analogy with the computer modeling technique of Monte Carlo, effectively search the variable space even in combinatorial chemistry experiments of modest size. Efficient implementations of the library design and redesign strategies are feasible with current experimental capabilities.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Molecular Differentiation of Alfalfa Weevil Strains (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Mitochondrial DNA was amplified and sequenced from eastern, western, and Egyptian strains of alfalfa weevil, Hypera postica (Gyllenhal). Eastern and Egyptian weevils differed at only 2 nucleotide sites in 1,031 base pairs sequenced; western weevils differed by 5% sequence divergence. Three restriction sites were identified which separated eastern and western haplotypes. No intrastrain polymorphism was detected in 150 weevils from Nebraska. Collections from Lincoln in eastern Nebraska and Scottsbluff in western Nebraska were fixed for the eastern and western haplotypes, respectively. Eastern and western haplotypes were found together in the same fields in a broad overlap region in central Nebraska