The Safety Belt of Our Solar System

[View this email in your browser]( [Nautilus logo]( Thursday, October 07, 2021 Chapter Three: Order Dear Nautilus Reader, On Tuesday, Giorgio Parisi was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. He won for discovering hidden patterns in complex, disordered systems. Those systems include collections of atoms, Earth’s climate, and, perhaps most beautifully, those giant, undulating flocks of starlings known as murmurations. This week in Nautilus, we bring you an extraordinary portrait of starling murmurations by physicist-turned-photographer Kathryn Cooper. “I’m interested in the transient moments when chaos briefly changes to order, and thousands of individual bodies appear to move as one,” Cooper says. On a similar theme, we revisit our essay by mathematician Jordan Ellenberg on how complex systems emerge from a basic force of life and establish an amazing equilibrium. Ellenberg, a gifted writer who transforms math into engaging prose, illustrates this self-organizing principle with the simple sandpile. Order and chaos play out on thresholds, the edges of existence, and this week we explore one the most remarkable and seldom examined edges, the “heliosphere.” This layer of space at the edge of our solar system, astrophysicist David McComas writes, keeps “our home safe.” Without it, Earth would be bombarded by four times the amount of cosmic rays that come at us now. And finally, we bring you the riveting story of another little-known chapter in science—how, in the wake of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the American government, aided by Walt Disney and a modernist artist, hatched a propaganda campaign to make atomic power “our friend.” [READ ISSUE]( [The Safety Belt of Our Solar System]( [Mapping the heliosphere, which shields us from harmful cosmic rays.]( [Virat Markandeya]( [David McComas has a favorite “astrosphere,” the environment created by a star’s stellar wind as it buffets the surrounding interstellar medium.]( PAID ADVERTISEMENT “Rhoden’s Road Trip” Takes a Stroll Down HBCU Football Memory Lane Award-winning columnist William C. “Bill” Rhoden’s collegiate journey began at Morgan State University. Along with a team of aspiring HBCU journalists, Rhoden will look back at the rise of HBCUs during his career in journalism and explore the rich history and culture of HBCU football. Presented by Rhoden’s Road Trip, a part of the Undefeated on ESPN+ Black History Always Collection. [WATCH NOW only on ESPN+]( [Order Flocking Out of Chaos]( [A physicist-turned-photographer captures the incredible harmony of starling murmurations.]( [Katie Jewett]( [At first, they trickle in: one bird here, a few birds there. Then, at dusk’s cue, a dark smudge materializes on the horizon.]( [The Math of the Amazing Sandpile]( [To understand self-organization in nature, behold the sandpile.]( [Jordan Ellenberg]( [Remember domino theory? One country going Communist was supposed to topple the next, and then the next, and the next.]( THE NAUTILUS COLLECTION Own a Vintage “Atoms for Peace” Poster! In 1953, President Eisenhower proposed the creation of an international body to promote the peaceful uses of atomic energy. His speech launched an American publicity campaign, “Atoms for Peace.” Atoms for Peace provided an opportunity for American industrialists, notably John Jay Hopkins, head of defense contractor General Dynamics, to make over their image. Swiss-born graphic designer Erik Nitsche created six posters for Hopkins, each featuring the firm’s name along with the phrase Atoms for Peace in various languages. NautilusThink, the non-profit educational arm of [Nautilus Magazine](, is auctioning two of these vintage Erik Nitsche posters. The proceeds will be used to commission new content for Nautilus' [Ocean]( and [Spark of Science]( Channels as well as support educational outreach. [BID ON NAUTILUS POSTER]( [BID ON TOWER POSTER]( [The Disneyfication of Atomic Power]( [Inside America’s propaganda campaign, “Atoms for Peace,” launched in the wake of Hiroshima.]( [Jacob Darwin Hamblin]( [John Jay Hopkins’s visit to Japan in 1955, as an informal emissary of “Atoms for Peace,” must have seemed surreal to everyone involved.]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( [Web Site]( Copyright © 2021 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from [nautil.us](. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext 360 W 36th Street, 7S, New York, NY 10018 Don't want to hear from us anymore? [Click here to unsubscribe.](