Germline Gene Editing has enormous potential both as a research tool and a therapeutic intervention. While other types of gene editing are relatively uncontroversial, GGE has been strongly resisted. In this article, we analyse the ethical arguments for and against pursuing GGE by allowing and funding its development. We argue there is a strong case for pursuing GGE for the prevention of disease. We then examine objections that have been raised against pursuing GGE and argue that these fail. We conclude (...) that the moral case in favour of pursuing GGE is stronger than the case against. This suggests that pursuing GGE is morally permissible and indeed morally desirable. (shrink)

We have synthesized a 582,970-base pair Mycoplasma genitalium genome. This synthetic genome, named M. genitalium JCVI-1.0, contains all the genes of wild-type M. genitalium G37 except MG408, which was disrupted by an antibiotic marker to block pathogenicity and to allow for selection. To identify the genome as synthetic, we inserted "watermarks" at intergenic sites known to tolerate transposon insertions. Overlapping "cassettes" of 5 to 7 kilobases (kb), assembled from chemically synthesized oligonucleotides, were joined by in vitro recombination to produce intermediate (...) assemblies of approximately 24 kb, 72 kb ("1/8 genome"), and 144 kb ("1/4 genome"), which were all cloned as bacterial artificial chromosomes in Escherichia coli. Most of these intermediate clones were sequenced, and clones of all four 1/4 genomes with the correct sequence were identified. The complete synthetic genome was assembled by transformation-associated recombination cloning in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, then isolated and sequenced. A clone with the correct sequence was identified. The methods described here will be generally useful for constructing large DNA molecules from chemically synthesized pieces and also from combinations of natural and synthetic DNA segments. 10.1126/science.1151721. (shrink)

This 1979 text addresses the ways in which the dominant theories in large areas of Western social science have been subject to strong criticisms, particularly ...

In a paper recently published in this journal, Navin and Largent argue in favour of a type of policy to regulate non-medical exemptions from childhood vaccination which they call ‘Inconvenience’. This policy makes it burdensome for parents to obtain an exemption to child vaccination, for example, by requiring parents to attend immunization education sessions and to complete an application form to receive a waiver. Navin and Largent argue that this policy is preferable to ‘Eliminationism’, i.e. to policies that do not (...) allow non-medical exemptions, because Inconvenience has been shown to maintain exemption rates low while not harming parents by forcing them to do something that goes against their beliefs. We argue that it is at least doubtful that Inconvenience is ethically preferable to Eliminationism: while the latter disregards the value of liberty, Inconvenience disregards the value of fairness in the distribution of the burdens entailed by the preservation of a public good like herd immunity. We propose a variant of Inconvenience, which we call ‘Contribution’, which we think is preferable to the versions of Inconvenience discussed by Navin and Largent in that it successfully strikes a balance between the values of parents’ liberty, fairness and expected utility. (shrink)

Anti-racist education within the Academy holds the potential to truly reflect the cultural hybridity of our diverse, multi-cultural society through the canons of knowledge that educators celebrate, proffer and embody. The centrality of Whiteness as an instrument of power and privilege ensures that particular types of knowledge continue to remain omitted from our curriculums. The monopoly and proliferation of dominant White European canons does comprise much of our existing curriculum; consequently, this does impact on aspects of engagement, inclusivity and belonging (...) particularly for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) learners. This paper explores the impact of a dominant Eurocentric curriculum and the Decolonising the Curriculum agenda within higher education and its influence upon navigating factors such as BAME attainment, engagement and belonging within the Academy. This paper draws on a Critical Race Theory (CRT) theoretical framework to centralize the marginalized voices of fifteen BAME students and three academics of colour regarding this phenomena. Aspects examined consider the impact of a narrow and restrictive curriculum on BAME students and staff and how the omission of diverse histories and multi-cultural knowledge canons facilitates marginalization and discriminatory cultures. (shrink)

Picking up the question of what FLaK might be, this editorial considers the relationship between openness and closure in feminist legal studies. How do we draw on feminist struggles for openness in common resources, from security to knowledge, as we inhabit a compromised space in commercial publishing? We think about this first in relation to the content of this issue: on image-based abuse continuums, asylum struggles, trials of protestors, customary justice, and not-so-timely reparations. Our thoughts take us through the different (...) ways that openness and closure work in struggles against violence, cruel welcomes, and re-arrangements of code and custom. Secondly, we share some reflections on methodological openness and closure as the roundtable conversation on asylum, and the interview with Riles, remind us of #FLaK2016 and its method of scattering sources as we think about how best to mix knowledges. Thirdly, prompted by the FLaK kitchen table conversations on openness, publishing and ‘getting the word out’, we respond to Kember’s call to ‘open up open access’. We explain the different current arrangements for opening up FLS content and how green open access, the sharedit initiative, author request and publisher discretion present alternatives to gold open access. Finally drawing on Franklin and Spade, we show how there are a range of ‘wench tactics’—adapting gifts, stalling and resting—which we deploy as academic editors who are trying to have an impact on the access, use and circulation of our journal, even though we do not own the journal we edit. These wench tactics are alternatives to the more obvious or reported tactic of resignation, or withdrawing academic labour from editing and reviewing altogether. They help us think about brewing editorial time, what ambivalence over our 25th birthday might mean, and how to inhabit painful places. In this, we respond in our own impure, compromised way to da Silva’s call not to forget the native and slave as we do FLaK, and repurpose shrapnel, in our common commitments. (shrink)

In this article, I argue for the value of participatory methodologies, in research with children, which aims to privilege their epistemologies and living experiences in relation to the nature of self. Researching self with children raises questions about the mainstream materialist paradigm which holds hegemony over most academic disciplines – and, importantly, over the life worlds of everyday people. Children’s experiences of self, others and the world challenge the dominant materialist paradigm, requiring investigation into other metaphysical models of reality, that (...) may have more explanatory power than materialism. I address this by appealing to a body of scholarship referred to as ‘postmaterialist’. Reauthoring our nature as human beings carries an increasing importance and urgency in the face of current ecological, economical and health crises. I argue that any research, which seeks to facilitate social transformation through everyday people, needs to begin by asking ontological questions about the nature of the self - the subject of experience who holds and reports epistemological authority over their subjective experiences. (shrink)

Academic dishonesty is a problem that continues to plague universities. Few studies have examined how mind-set and individualism contribute to academic dishonesty. Using structural equation modeling, a model was developed to explain academic dishonesty, which included mind-set, individualistic learning environment, individualism, and motivation to study. A total of 207 university students in Thailand participated. The final model explained 30% of the variance in academic dishonesty. All variables in this study had a negative relationship with academic dishonesty, indicating that improvements in (...) mind-set, learning environment, and motivation could change perceptions of academic dishonesty. (shrink)

As the title asserts, it is impossible to teach the theory of special relativity without deceiving the student, which means that everyone who already accepts the theory as truth has been deceived. The resulting problem from this deception is, not only is science being held back as people not being told truth, these people are passing their deception onto others, even using time dilation as an answer to the distant starlight problem which many use to attack the account of Biblical (...) creation instead of focusing on the error which yields such exaggerated stellar measurements. The focus of this paper is to expose many of the deceptions within physics texts used to deceive the student, along with several lies which have been told in support of the theory, such as GPS requiring relativity, the Hafele-Keating experiment, muons, etc., while also revealing Einstein’s confusion concerning light. (shrink)

We have identified an emerging tool being used by the UK government across a range of public bodies in the service of public policy - the online targeted advertising infrastructure and the practices, consultancy firms, and forms of expertise which have grown up around it. This reflects an intensification and adaptation of a broader ‘behavioural turn’ in the governmentality of the UK state and the increasing sophistication of everyday government communications. Contemporary UK public policy is fusing with the powerful tools (...) for behaviour change created by the platform economy. Operational data and associated systems of classification and profiling from public bodies are being hybridised with traditional consumer marketing profiles and then ‘projected’ onto the classification systems of the targeted advertising infrastructures. This is not simply a case of algorithms being used for sorting, surveilling, and scoring; rather this suggests that targeted interventions in the cultural and behavioural life of communities are now a core part of governmental power which is being algorithmically-driven, in combination with influencer networks, traditional forms of messaging, and frontline operational practices. We map these uses and practices of what we describe as the ‘Surveillance Influence Infrastructure’, identifying key ethical issues and implications which we believe have yet to be fully investigated or considered. What we find particularly striking is the coming-together of two separate structures of power - the governmental turn to behaviourism and prevention on one hand, and the infrastructures of targeting and influence on the other. We theorise this as a move beyond ‘nudge’ or ‘behavioural science’ approaches, towards a programme which we term ‘influence government’. (shrink)

Despite the remarkable achievements of novel targeted anti‐cancer drugs, most therapies only produce remission for a limited time, resistance to treatment, and relapse, often being the ultimate outcome. Drug resistance is due to highly efficient adaptive strategies utilized by cancer cells. Exogenous and endogenous stress stimuli are known to induce first‐line responses, capable of re‐establishing cellular homeostasis and determining cell fate decisions. Cancer cells may also mount second‐line adaptive strategies, such as the mutator response. Hypermutable subpopulations of cells may expand (...) under severe selective stress, thereby accelerating the emergence of adapted clones. As with first‐line protective responses, these strategies appear highly conserved, and are found in yeasts and bacteria. We hypothesize that evolutionarily conserved programs rheostatically regulate mutability in fluctuating environments, and contribute to drug resistance in cancer cells. Elucidating the conserved genetic and molecular mechanisms may present novel opportunities to increase the effectiveness of cancer therapies. (shrink)

The paper introduces a concept of a ‘negotiated space’ to describe university researchers’ attempts to balance pragmatically, continually and dynamically over time, their own agency and autonomy in the selection of research topics and pursuit of scientific research to filter out the explicit steering and tacit signals of external research funding agencies and university strategies and policies. We develop this concept to explore the degree of autonomy researchers in fact have in this process and draw on semi-structured interview material with (...) research group leaders in Finland and the UK, in the former in seven research fields, in the latter in two fields. First, the analysis reveals that topic selection is strongly filtered by the intra-scientific factors. In topic selection researchers have more leeway, a broader negotiated space than in research content, that is, in the ways in which they pursue their research, which are more affected by funding opportunities and other contextual matters. Second, the ways which affect researchers’ agency include individual- and more aggregate-level acts and factors: at the individual level, researchers resort to different strategies to create a negotiated space, but at the more aggregate level field-specific factors play a role. In fields with multiple funding opportunities, which we call ‘shopping mall’ fields, researchers can have a broader negotiated space than in fields where funding is more based on ‘lottery’. In the latter, the researchers’ negotiated space is narrow and contingent on the outcome of the funders’ decisions. (shrink)

The contributors to this issue focus on legal internationalism, including hybrid mixes with nationalist forms. They have provoked us as editors to think more about these sites and forms of engagement. Sankey shows how civic participation in the ECCC has played a key role in surfacing the gendered harms of separation and starvation. Turan highlights the problems with ICC exclusion of the experience of men and boys from sexual violence. Peroni expresses her hesitations over the Istanbul Convention given an association (...) between assumed vulnerability and migrant women, while admiring its uncoupling of violence and culture. Cruz’s interview with Wendy Brown contextualizes and expands on these themes as they consider, with other participants, the future of feminist theory in the context of neo-liberal capturing of rights and legal space. Thinking more about internationalism and commitment in this context also helps us hold a mirror up to ourselves as we reflect more critically on our own naming of FLS as an ‘international’ journal. Together these contributions, and the reviews of new work, play a role in fleshing out an editorial commitment to enacting the journal as a living thing that ‘hangs together somehow’ even as it is known differently in different places. (shrink)

This study examines the non-linear effects of ESG performance on firm value in Chinese A-share listed firms from 2009 to 2023, addressing a gap in emerging-market ESG research that often assumes a linear, universally positive relationship. Using 29,439 firm-year observations and performance measures including Tobin's Q, ROA, and ROE, the study applies two-way fixed-effect, Lind-Mehlum U-tests, and robustness checks with alternative ESG ratings (Bloomberg and Huazheng) and by excluding extreme market shocks (the 2015 stock market crash and COVID-19). The findings (...) reveal a robust inverted U-shaped relationship, demonstrating that moderate ESG engagement enhances firm performance, whereas excessive ESG investment results in diminishing or even negative returns. Heterogeneity analyses show that this effect is strongest in non-state-owned, financially unconstrained, and high-polluting firms, while SOEs and constrained firms exhibit weaker or more linear effects. Pillar-level analysis highlights environmental and governance dimensions as primary drivers, whereas social initiatives have limited impact. The study's novelty lies in providing empirical evidence for the curvilinear ESG-performance link in an emerging market context, advancing theory by showing that ESG investments create intangible assets such as legitimacy, trust, and innovation only up to an optimal threshold, with institutional and financial contexts shaping the relationship. These insights inform policymakers and managers to calibrate ESG strategies strategically, and motivate future research across other markets, ESG ratings, and causal designs. (shrink)

Notions of research quality are contextual in many respects: they vary between fields of research, between review contexts and between policy contexts. Yet, the role of these co-existing notions in research, and in research policy, is poorly understood. In this paper we offer a novel framework to study and understand research quality across three key dimensions. First, we distinguish between quality notions that originate in research fields and in research policy spaces. Second, drawing on existing studies, we identify three attributes (...) considered important for ‘good research’: its originality/novelty, plausibility/reliability, and value or usefulness. Third, we identify five different sites where notions of research quality emerge, are contested and institutionalised: researchers themselves, knowledge communities, research organisations, funding agencies and national policy arenas. We argue that the framework helps us understand processes and mechanisms through which ‘good research’ is recognised as well as tensions arising from the co-existence of conflicting quality notions. (shrink)

We report on the small-scale (0.5 13 h - 1M, a large-scale bias of ~2.0 and a satellite fraction of 12 ± 2 per cent. Thus, these galaxies occupy haloes with average masses in between those of the higher redshift BOSS CMASS sample and the original SDSS I/II luminous red galaxy sample © 2012 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society © doi:10.1093/mnras/sts314.

We have been scammed in our online qualitative study by some fraudulent participants who falsely claimed to be pharmacists or community health workers. These participants were interviewed before we discovered that they were not who they claimed to be.In this commentary, we describe key indicators of potential imposters, such as the number of emails received in a short period of time, emails with similar content and address structure, participants having a keen interest in the reimbursement, camera switched off during the (...) interview, and inconsistency in the participants’ responses.We provide recommendations on how to prevent future fraud, such as promoting the study to a closed network or groups on social media, encouraging participants to provide sources that verify their identity, ensuring that the camera is switched on during the entire interview, discouraging the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to answer questions or generate content, unless when AI-based language tools are used to facilitate translation, understanding or communication, providing reimbursements with local vouchers rather than international ones, and where the participants are healthcare professionals, checking their registration number prior to the interview.It is important for Human Research Ethics Committee members to consider genuine measures to assess participant authenticity and reduce the risk of fraudulent participation. Additionally, universities and research institutions should develop guidance to educate researchers in this area. Published protocols, guidelines and checklists for online qualitative studies, and participant information statements and consent forms should be adapted to prevent and address potential fraud. For example, the COREQ checklist should be updated so that researchers report the actions undertaken to prevent and detect fraud and their experiences and actions if there was fraud.Fraud in online research impacts the integrity and quality of online research. Urgent actions are needed to raise awareness of this issue within the research community and prevent further occurrences of scams. (shrink)

Einstein’s theory of Special relativity is founded on an error made by Hendrick Lorentz. It is not necessary to expose the mathematical inconsistencies of special relativity, since the theory collapses by simply exposing the error made by Lorentz. In doing so, it not only causes special relativity to collapse, but also general relativity, and the many theories built upon these two deceptive theories. There are many claims of tests made which supposedly prove SR or GR, such as the eclipse of (...) 1919, the Hafele-Keating experiment, GPS, the orbit of Mercury, and muons. The error of these will also be shown as well as an area of astronomy which has been negatively impacted by SR. The epistemology approach to special relativity: you can know it is a false theory when the theory requires deceiving the student for acceptance and the tests which support the theory can be proven false. (shrink)

Since the last issue of Feminist Legal Studies, we editorial board members have had lots of conversations about comfort, displacement and alienation. As we developed the programme for #FLaK2016 we thought about it as a kind of pulling ourselves out of our comfort zone, if academic events and journals ever have a comfort zone. Drawing on a mix of feminist live performance methods and a science and technology studies-type curiosity for objects of experimentation, we tried out a kitchen table method (...) of hosting a live research conversation with activists, artists and academics over two days. But we had not fully anticipated the way that the Brexit result would contribute to and complicate discomfort. A fuller analysis of FLaK awaits a later moment, but here we pick out this one aspect of our gathering—feelings of discomfort – as they animate the contributions to this issue in interesting ways. (shrink)

D.O. Thomas; VI*—The Duty to Trust, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 79, Issue 1, 1 June 1979, Pages 89–102, https://doi.org/10.1093/aristotelian.

David Thomas takes a close look at the United Kingdom during the 1970s to examine the emergence of “electroculture.” Mapping class struggle, dispossession, and state violence onto a history of oil, Thomas makes the case that labor politics and energy politics are deeply intertwined.

In this essay an ‘objective’ account of intrinsic value is proposed and partly defended. It is claimed that a kind of value exists which is, or may reasonably be supposed to be, a property of certain objects. The presence of such value is not to be wholly accounted for as the ‘projection’ of certain human feelings elicited by the object thought to be of value, nor by the object's meeting certain operative human conventions prescribing what is to be admired, nor (...) by its being conformable, in some way, to human needs or desires. Hume, of course, would have none of this. It is hoped to show that if one adopts Hume's account, then his attempt to show that there nevertheless will be convergence in the long run as to what is of aesthetic value is forced and unsuccessful. By contrast, on the ‘objective’ account convergence is to be expected. This, of course, only shows the superiority of the ‘objective’ account so long as there is an expectation of long-term convergence. This is not an expectation of most contemporary value ‘subjectivists’, and therefore the argument will not be directly relevant to their positions. (shrink)

The pro-life paradox, as I call it, begins with a single claim endorsed by many American Christians: infants and young children are innocent in the sight of God because they cannot yet take responsibility for their spiritual well-being. With this in mind, I argue that pro-life believers have unwittingly fallen victim to a theological paradox in which their attempts to save the earthly lives of unborn children make it theoretically possible for said children to die an eternal death. On the (...) one hand, many Christians trust in an eventual spiritual reckoning where God will separate the “sheep” from the “goats”, ushering the former into heaven while damning the latter to hell. However, those who cannot yet repent and seek salvation are not blamed for their spiritual failings. If they die, they go to heaven because they are too young and intellectually immature to know any better. But if dead children are spiritually blameless, then abortion practitioners have perversely and paradoxically saved millions of unborn souls by removing human volition from the equation and by making it possible for the unborn to experience the joys of heaven without the temptations of earth. (shrink)

Much has been written about prisoner research and the controversies surrounding prisoners as human subjects. The Institute of Medicine recently released a report addressing some of these issues. This report, which generated further controversy, needs to be fully discussed in the literature and certain aspects are examined in this work. Further, in the body of literature there has been little acknowledgement of the concept of the right of prisoners to be involved in research. This needs to be pursued from an (...) ethical perspective and eventually a legal one. This paper explores that concept and documents some facilities in which a prisoner's right to research has occurred. (shrink)

In this Chapter a synthesis of the elemental determinants described in Chap. 10.1007/978-981-10-5445-7_2 is applied as a background to the ten chosen architectural works, whether through stylistic or philosophical genesis, and forms the discourse in this chapter. A review of the predominance of the ‘structural aesthetic’ in vernacular architecture confirms that historically the adoption of the equivalent elemental determinants that inform architecture of today existed albeit intuitively. Against the background of architectural monuments of the Greeks and Romans, the work of (...) Filippo Brunelleschi is a fitting opening to the review, based on his stand-alone achievements as a precursor to the Renaissance. Since the Renaissance adopted Classical architecture for inspiration, architecture tended not to expose, but rather to clad the structure. In the fullness of time Antoni Gaudi (La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona) is identified as a major figure in returning architecture to its roots by adopting natural forms for his signature style in aesthetics. The figure of Le Corbusier (Ronchamp Chapel) looms large in architecture, and by virtue of his adoption of organic forms, left raw and unfinished, his gesture to the aesthetic of the structure is recognised. The review follows three towering figures during the middle of the twentieth century: Pier Luigi Nervi (Turin Exhibition Halls) who succeeded in promoting concrete in structural forms that could satisfy all the elemental determinants with impressive aesthetic outcomes; Oscar Niemeyer (National Congress Building, Brasilia) employed gravity-defying shell dome constructions that became the hallmark of his work in both Brazil and abroad; and Jörn Utzon’s whimsical aesthetic that used spherical geometry in Nature for the Sydney Opera House in the most effective way to contain the greatest volume with the least surface area. Moving away from concrete, Frei Otto (Munich Olympic Stadium, 1972) forever changed attitudes to tensile structures that were unmatched in simplicity and elegance and the essence of good architecture. To bring the review up to present day, the avant-garde work of Zaha Hadid (Heydar Cultural Centre) opens a vista on the future, through the use of the most advanced digital design aids, where a steel spaceframe is used with fluidity, with a result bordering on the surreal in architecture. (shrink)

In order to provide substantial argument in the evaluation of the ‘structural aesthetic’, this chapter explores the most significant determining elements. The true measure of aesthetic experience requires convincing formulation and is explored in the research of recognised commentators on aesthetic appreciation. Apart from cognitive and subjectivity aspects that underly the appreciation of architecture as an art form, the role of more pragmatic factors is evaluated, such as symbolism, the contextual framework, or the setting, together with the attributes of symmetrical (...) and asymmetrical form in which architecture is conceived. History has shown that the role of the patron is paramount in the formulation of the architect’s brief., thereby challenging ethical standards. Equal importance is given to the imperatives of religious and secular practices around the globe that to a greater or lesser extent have a bearing on the shape and scale on aspirations that have guided the architects’ briefs. As with all enterprises, architecture is influenced by the availability of the materials, methods and resources available economically at the time, thereby becoming important constraints. Nature as mentor or model for form for architectural work is given recognition and expression through evolved forms of geometry including ‘fractal’ geometry that embodies thematic transformation. By way of the application of natural forms in design, the development of digitally-aided parametric design has pioneered a new approach in contemporary architecture and is recognised as the successor to post-modern and modern architecture. The future of paradigm shifts that are unavoidable include the use of artificial intelligence, of Smart materials, the rise of social media and the interruptive influence of the avant-garde into the established cultural milieu. Collectively these imply new trajectories that are bound to be expressed in architectural design in the future. (shrink)

In this chapter, the aim is to give substance to the premise that the ‘structural aesthetic’ is valid as a measure of architecture of worth, an aspect that is largely overlooked in the wider context. To this end a virtual matrix of criteria, backed by the philosophical research of recognised commentators, becomes a filter to guide the selection of the most deserving ten ‘masters’ and their landmark buildings. As contributing factors, cognitive associations and cultural preference as explored by neuroscience are (...) fundamental to architectural appreciation. The influences of manual methods to the empowering technical advances are seen as integral in the wider perspective. These parameters coupled with the reliance on Nature of master builders from the past and contemporary architects as an inspiration for their architectural forms at all periods of architectural history are compelling in the design equation that has assumed many formulations, from two-dimensional geometry of earlier times to three-dimensional parametricism of recent works. (shrink)

Over a span of over 550 years, widely diverging operational methods employed by three architects in particular are brought into sharper focus; those of Filippo Brunelleschi, Antoni Gaudi and Pier Luigi Nervi. In this chapter, it is noted that they share common elemental factors that influenced their work and determined their design philosophies and structural principles, however, their methods of execution differed: Brunelleschi (Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence) embarked on a gravity defying modus to construct the dome over the transept (...) of the cathedral without scaffolding; Gaudi (La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona) employed models involving ropes and sacks of lead shot to achieve his Nature-inspired soaring vaults and spires; and Nervi (Turin Exhibition Hall C) believed that precasting, the use of ferro-cement, and methods of roof construction with ‘travelling’ formwork, was an important step in construction that could deliver a finished state and define the aesthetic of a structure. (shrink)

Christian Doppler, an Austrian physicist, described in 1842 the apparent change in frequency of a wave when motion of the source or the observer is involved. Named after him, this change in observational frequencies is known as the Doppler Effect. The formula for calculating the frequency change is taught in universities, textbooks, Youtube, and on the internet. Understanding the Doppler effect is used in applications such as radar. Yet, the formula is wrong, yielding a different result when applying the same (...) velocity, once to the source, then to the observer. This article will show the formula, the error, the correction to the formula, and how it disproves Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity. (shrink)