Tootfinder

An Analysis of the Radius Gap in a Sample of Kepler, K2 and TESS exoplanets orbiting M Dwarf Stars
F\'abio Wanderley, Katia Cunha, Verne V. Smith, Diogo Souto, Ilaria Pascucci, Aida Behmard, Carlos Allende Prieto, Rachael L. Beaton, Dmitry Bizyaev, Simone Daflon, Sten Hasselquist, Steve Howell, Steven R. Majewski, Marc Pinsonneault
https://

An Analysis of the Radius Gap in a Sample of Kepler, K2 and TESS exoplanets orbiting M Dwarf Stars
Planetary radii are derived for 218 exoplanets orbiting 161 M dwarf stars. Stellar radii are based on an analysis of APOGEE high-resolution near-IR spectra for a subsample of the M-dwarfs; these results are used to define a stellar radius-M$_{\rm K_{\rm s}}$ calibration that is applied to the sample of M-dwarf planet hosts. The planetary radius distribution displays a gap over R$_{\rm p}$$\sim$1.6-2.0 R$_{\oplus}$, bordered by two peaks at R$_{\rm p}$$\sim$1.2-1.6 R$_{\oplus}$ (super-Earths) an…

Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true.
—Bertrand Russell

Russia deploys additional electronic warfare systems near Estonian border: https://benborges.xyz/2025/07/24/russia-deploys-additional-electronic-warfare.html

Fears of racial profiling rise as Border Patrol conducts ‘roving patrols,’ and detain U.S. citizens
video: “These guys, literally based off of skin color! My homie was born here!” The friend said Gavidia was being questioned “just because of the way he looks.”
U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Greg Bovino,
who oversaw raids that included picking people up at Home Depot
and stopping them on the highway,
has emerged as a key figure in L.A.
He stood alongside…

Fears of racial profiling rise as Border Patrol conducts 'roving patrols,' detains U.S. citizens
Border Patrol agents on 'roving patrol' arrest U.S. citizen on assault charges. Fear of widespread racial profiling gains momentum as Home Depots and car washes raided.

Stand-your-ground laws,
which are in effect in more than half of U.S. states,
are associated with higher homicide rates,
increased racial disparities in legal outcomes,
and broader public costs,
according to a report from Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control research and advocacy group.
Stand-your-ground or shoot first laws remove the legal duty to retreat before using deadly force in a self-defense situation.
These laws evolved from the centuries…

The Dangers of Shooting First: "Stand Your Ground" Laws Are a License to Kill
Shoot First laws, also known as Stand Your Ground laws, allow a person to use deadly force in a confrontation without any duty to retreat.

Ukrainian drones attack Russian chemical plant in Stavropol Krai, local officials, media report: https://benborges.xyz/2025/07/25/ukrainian-drones-attack-russian-chemical.html

Today's episode of #DemocracyNow is important. #MsRachel, heralded as a modern Mr. Rogers, has opened millions of apolitical eyes to the tragedy in #Gaza. If you can spare an hour, you won't regre…

YouTube Star Ms. Rachel on Her Gaza Advocacy: “My Deep Care for Children Doesn’t Stop at Any Border”
We speak with Rachel Griffin Accurso, the educator known to millions around the world as Ms. Rachel, who has become a leading advocate for children in Gaza. Her YouTube channel for young children became wildly popular during the COVID-19 pandemic and today has more than 16 million subscribers. Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, Accurso has used her social media reach to speak out for Palestinian children facing hunger, disease, injury and death. She has been hailed as the heir to Mister…

Strongly resonant polarization dynamics of pulse trains in a spin-flip model for an excitable microlaser with delayed self-feedback
Stefan Ruschel, Sylvain Barbay, Neil G. R. Broderick, Bernd Krauskopf
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.13630

Strongly resonant polarization dynamics of pulse trains in a spin-flip model for an excitable microlaser with delayed self-feedback
Motivated by recent experimental observations concerning the polarization dynamics in an excitable microlaser with saturable absorber coupled to an external feedback mirror reported in [Ruschel et al. (2025) Opt. Lett. 50 (8) 2618], we propose here an in-depth theoretical investigation of the locked dynamics of regenerative vectorial pulse trains that this system produces. We perform a numerical bifurcation analysis of self-sustained pulse trains of a corresponding spin-flip model with delayed …

Wavelength Requirements for Life Detection via Reflected Light Spectroscopy of Rocky Exoplanets
Joshua Krissansen-Totton, Anna Grace Ulses, Maxwell Frissell, Samantha Gilbert-Janizek, Amber Young, Jacob Lustig-Yaeger, Tyler Robinson, Stephanie Olson, Eleonora Alei, Giada Arney, Celeste Hagee, Chester Harman, Natalie Hinkel, Emilie Lafleche, Natasha Latouf, Avi Mandell, Mark M. Moussa, Niki Parenteau, Sukrit Ranjan, Blair Russell, Edward W. Schwieterman, Clara Sousa-Silva, Armen Tokadji…

Wavelength Requirements for Life Detection via Reflected Light Spectroscopy of Rocky Exoplanets
Searching for signs of life is a primary goal of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). However, merely detecting oxygen, methane, or other widely discussed biosignatures is insufficient evidence for a biosphere. In parallel with biosignature detection, exoplanet life detection additionally requires characterization of the broader physicochemical context to evaluate planetary habitability and the plausibility that life could produce a particular biosignature in a given environment. Life detect…