OK, physics nerds, here’s your chance for glory. I tossed an empty fun-size Milky Way wrapper on the floor, but instead it stuck to a book on a nearby shelf. It is hanging there purely by the power of static electricity, not because it’s got sticky chocolate residue on it:

How long will it stay there? I want no excuses about not knowing what the weather is like or how much the wrapper weighs or precisely what kind of paper the publisher used for the book jacket for Quicksilver. I just want educated guesses on this question that’s of critical importance to ordinary citizens. What do you say?

My brother weaseled out by claiming it was “really more of an engineering question.” I hope I can expect better from my readers.

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Take the next step: Help us fight for the truth.

Investigative journalism, like the story you just read, takes time to do. Months of research. Weeks of writing, editing, and fact checking—and putting together the photography, art, video, and audio that tell the stories in a new way, illuminating new perspectives and voices

We can afford to take that time because we don’t report to an oligarch or corporation with a special agenda. We report to you, and for you. That’s why we unabashedly pursue the truth and relentlessly shine a light into the darkness.

In this month’s Summer Membership Drive, we’ve got to raise $200,000 to support more crucial investigations. This is a pivotal moment in our nation, with democracy on the line, and we can only do this work because readers like you step up. Every donation, of any amount, makes a difference here. We cannot do this work without you.

So, we’re asking: Will you support independent journalism that demands those in power answer for their actions?

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