NEWSLETTER MARCH 2026

Is Plasma the new Ether

‘Plasma is superheated matter – so hot that the electrons are ripped away from the atoms forming an ionized gas. It comprises over 99% of the visible universe. In the night sky, plasma glows in the form of stars, nebulas, and even the auroras that sometimes ripple above the north and south poles. That branch of lightning that cracks the sky is plasma, so are the neon signs along our city streets. And so is our sun, the star that makes life on earth possible.

‘Plasma is often called “the fourth state of matter,” along with solid, liquid and gas. Just as a liquid will boil, changing into a gas when energy is added, heating a gas will form a plasma – a soup of positively charged particles (ions) and negatively charged particles (electrons).’

What is plasma?

This is the definition given on a MIT website dedicated to the study of plasma and fusion energy. It is clearly the best candidate for the ether although the ether was considered to be invisible yet somehow permeating the vacuum of space to provide a medium for light waves.

Plasma fits in with Faraday’s idea that there is once substance but at various densities. This is the way to unification rather than multiplying particles and forces. I will be covering this in more depth in April’s podcast but meanwhile check out the podcast and materials on Dynamics and the Continuum here.

Geothermal Energy

Iceland seems to be a world leader in this clean form of energy. A description of how it can be captured can be found by clicking this link.

Although it may not suit all countries, it is clearly a much easier route to clean energy than nuclear fusion.

Eastern Mysticism v Western Pragmatism

Many western philosophers and scientists have been enthralled by eastern mysticism. For example, Schopenhauer was impressed by the Upanishads and David Bohm collaborated with Jiddu Krishnamurti, an Indian mystic. I don’t believe that it helped their careers: Schopenhauer was upset that hardly anyone came to his lectures while Hegel’s lectures were packed out, and I think that Bohm was possibly side-lined.

I do not wish to compare the eastern approach with all the technology produced by the west (although Harry Lime’s speech in The Third Man comes to mind) but with Gestalt philosophy which covers the interconnectedness of man and nature in a way that is conducive to a western intellectual mind. This is expounded in a seminal work by Perls, Hefferline and Goodman titled Gestalt Psychology: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality. The first half of the book consists of practical psychological exercises and the second half expounds the theory. It also helps in formulating a genuine unified field theory.

One of A.N. Whitehead’s criticism of the GTR was that it omitted experience.

E Bookshop

A new E Bookshop will be added to the website later this month and the titles will include a volume of Selected Papers by Fermi, Pauli, Hubble, Einstein, Schrödinger and Turing together with my introduction and booklist; My own book on Black Body Radiation and The UVC Disambiguation will also be available and is a follow up to the earlier podcast The Ultra-Violet Catastrophe or a Storm in a Teacup.

Podcasts 2026

A newsletter and podcast will be published each month in 2026. These podcasts will be subscription based and can be accessed through the following links.

January
Fantasy Physics: The Non-existent Neutrino available now

February
The Vacuum Energy Catastrophe and the Big Bang available now

March
Why Intelligence is Non-Computable available now

April
The God Particle or a Blip on a Screen