Aug 4, 2026 - IN THE NEWS - Fear of an AI Market Bubble: Communities worry about long-term risks if the AI boom cools down, leaving small towns stranded with empty, massive facilities or lingering environmental liabilities after companies move on or fail. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-jasmine-sun.html?
THIS DAY IN HISTORY - Ludwig Boltzmann worked on statistical mechanics using probability to describe how the properties of atoms determine the properties of matter. In particular his work relates to the Second Law of Thermodynamics which he derived from the principles of mechanics in the 1890s. This work was taken up in other spheres by Shannon, Wiener, Hopfield, others. Depressed by scientific, Boltzmann unsuccessfully attempted suicide during his time in Leipzig... https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Boltzmann
quote Available energy is the main object at stake in the struggle for existence and the evolution of the world. - Boltzmann Quoted in D'A W Thompson On Growth and Form (Cambridge 1917)