Unexpected political stories

 Today I saw two news stories which are the opposite of what I'd expect based on simple political stereotypes.

First a story about a US Education Department civil rights investigation of Denver Public Schools. The schools are accused of giving preference to minority membership on a district committee. Given the usual left / right divide over affirmative action type policies I was surprised the Biden administration is doing this.

Then I saw a story that NIH has stopped investigating health effects of cell phone radiation. Again, this seems the opposite of what I'd expect. Though this might be explained by the fact that cell phone companies give money on a bipartisan basis to avoid problems of this sort.

Aristotle was right (sort of)?

 

Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, argued that things fall because they have a natural tendency to move toward the center of the universe (center of the Earth). Rather than a force of gravity causing downward acceleration there is instead a force which holds pushes upwards to prevent things from falling. Galileo and others argued instead that bodies are naturally at rest and there is a force that causes them to fall.

It turns out in one sense modern physics, relativity, is in agreement with Aristotle. According to general relativity gravity is not a force (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3LjJeeae68) but instead a side effect of the geometry of spacetime. Things fall because the mass of the Earth warps the geometry of space such that the the object will move toward the center of the Earth. And it is the force produced by the whatever is holding an object up which actually exists.