The beam is an explosion inhibitor . . . Something strange is going on inside the ruby colored beam of coherent light. Physicist Homer Layton has a theory that time runs marginally slower there. The beam is injecting a disturbance into time itself. His team has dubbed this phenomenon "the Layton Effect." Combustible material will burn inside the beam -though with a lower flame - but will not flash. Nothing will explode. Homer plans a scholarly...