Matter Anti-Matter
Welcome to Matter Anti-Matter, a site about nerd stuff. By day, I work at Kickstarter.
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You can also find me here .
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Photo reblogged from The Next Web
But if data from The Guardian is to be believed, physics is becoming more popular among A-level and university students in the UK because—get this—The Big Bang Theory has made it cool again!
We suppose it should not come as a complete surprise that people’s choices in life are based on the stuff they watch on TV, but it still amazes us that a comedy show about two bumbling physicists can get students more interested in the subject.
According to the publication, there was a 10% increase in university acceptance numbers for physics courses when the show first started airing in the UK in 2008–09. And they are still increasing, with admissions this year 17% higher than in 2010. Physics, which until as recently as 2005 was considered a “vulnerable” subject, is now among the ten most popular choices among A-level students.
That is pretty amazing.
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Link reblogged from We Think, So You Don't Have Too
The answer was so “profound” that the Professor shared it with colleagues, and the sharing obviously hasn’t ceased…
Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or Endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the students wrote Proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:
“First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let us look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.
Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So which is it?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa Banyan during my Freshman year, “…that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you.”, and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze.”
This student received the only A. Unknown(Source: mermaidcorrin)
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“The Fellows are a tremendous group of young people who are going to advance the frontiers of knowledge, shake up staid industries, and change the world. Tomorrow will not take care of itself. In order to solve vexing problems and increase the quality of life for people everywhere, the world’s economy needs continuous scientific and technical innovation from outstanding creative minds. I’m looking forward to helping the Fellows become the next generation of tech visionaries.” - Peter Thiel
The Thiel Fellowship may be trying to radically disrupt traditional education, but there’s one thing it’s not disrupting: the gender imbalance in math, science, and tech industries.
Out of 24 recipients, only 2 are women.
Looking at the press release and seeing a string of male faces take over 90% of the $2,000,000 in fellowship money just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I find it hard to believe that there were really only two women in the whole country worthy of Thiel’s fellowship.
And yes, I’ve seen the studies showing that in order for there to be more women in math and science, there need to be more women in math and science. Which is why it’s all the more important for a high-profile organization whose stated mission is to change the world to actually change the world.
I hate to state the obvious, but if the Thiel Fellowship is truly interested in upending outdated institutions, they’re barely even scratching the surface. If we’re lucky, maybe some of those 22 men will someday hire a few women to do marketing/PR at their companies.
