“… A steady state hysteresis caused by reversible slippage”: There are passages in this article about the study of bird nests that read for me like poetry written in the language of physics.
One effort to disentangle the structural dynamics of the nest is underway in the sunny yellow lab — the Mechanical Biomimetics and Open Design Lab — of Hunter King, an experimental soft-matter physicist at the University of Akron in Ohio.
“We hypothesize that a bird nest might effectively be a disordered stick bomb, with just enough stored energy to keep it rigid,” Dr. King said. He is the principal investigator of an ongoing study, with a preliminary review paper, “Mechanics of randomly packed filaments — The ‘bird nest’ as meta-material,” recently published in the Journal of Applied Physics. (He added that, obviously, the bird-nest stick bomb never explodes.)
I think of my friend who loves birds, beauty berry bushes, curious pursuits, and, like me, wry and resonant turns of phrase. These are among the passions that perk us up in unsteady states.
(Siobhan Roberts, “Why Birds Are the World’s Best Engineers,” NYTimes, 3-17-20)
(c) 2020 JMN
EthicalDative 
Dispatch from the Charwoman
I’ve received from a political entity email that closes as follows:
James, it’s never been more clear that the work we do at the HDCC matters a great deal. Our Democratic candidates are continuing to fight for health care coverage and other policies that will make Texas even stronger. We’re so grateful to have you on our team.
Best,
Celia Israel, Charwoman, Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee
I’m pleased to receive outreach from an organization in which even housekeeping staff is empowered. (“Are” empowered for my U.K. public.)
(c) 2020 JMN