Physicist here to explain the historical significant of turning lead into gold. Alchemy is the ancestor of chemistry and particle physics. It taught that metals are alive, and that lead is a sick form of gold that could maybe be "healed" to make it gold. After alchemy was replaced by chemistry, similarly to how astrology was replaced by astronomy, the idea of turning lead into gold was placed aside, until particle physics and nuclear physics came along... The theory developed that the difference between different elements is the number of protons in the nucleus, and that the nucleus can be broken apart to form lighter atoms from heavier ones, in a process called nuclear fission. Fission turned out to be very real, is how nuclear power plants work, by breaking apart uranium or plutonium into lighter atoms. So, the idea returned, that if lead has 82 protons in the nucleus, while gold has 79 protons, then lead can be turned into gold by knocking 3 protons out of its nucleus... And then we did it.

Guy Ritchie making a Sherlock Holmes series sounds like the perfect recipe. Dark and comedic crime thrillers/mysteries with eccentric characters set in London, accurately describes Guy Ritchie films and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novels. The Robert Downey Jr. films were fun too.

It's hard to imagine how Animal Farm by George Orwell could be accurately portrayed in the form of a children's comedy. The novel is pretty much a horror story, for those who understand it. At least the trailer has an 11+ warning, but it makes major deviations from the book.

There are strong parallels between Supergirl and Rhaenyra Targaryen from House of the Dragon, both portrayed by Milly Alcock. A young woman throw into a universal conflict as a key powerful player, but overshadowed by a more famous male relative who can be a difficult ally.

Despite the age of streaming from home, there is something special about seeing a movie in theaters. Especially a major premiere. To share a story with a theater full of strangers, all brought together through love and excitement for the same story, is a special feeling.

Learning to sketch by hand should be mandatory in math degree programs. Despite being a mathematician in the modern computer age, such lessons would have been very helpful. Had to learn it myself. Many discussions in industry are had while drawing on paper or a whiteboard.

Alternate rule for checking if a number is divisible by 8: Divide it by 2. If the result is divisible by 4, then the original number is divisible by 8.

The final scene in the latest Stranger Things 5 trailer gives off strong Back to the Future vibes. Complete with a car full of nervous yet confident explorers racing towards an alternate location in multidimensional space-time. "You're not thinking fourth dimensionally."

If Spider-Man: Brand New Day has a villain with the ability to mind control, it sounds like Mister Negative. Relatively new to the Spider-Man villain roster. It can be fun to find scientific explanations for super-powers, but Mister Nagative presents a challenge in this regard.

There is a common misconception that if 50% of marriages end in divorce, it means 50% of married people will experience divorce. This is false. Since some people divorce more than once, divorce rate and chances of divorce are two different statistics. youtu.be/e107ntyRODY

Not sure which story the Legend of Zelda film will go with, but the Ocarina of Time story is a masterpiece. A wonderful fairy tale depicting the classic hero's journey, combined with a coming of age story, and a deep symbolic commentary on society and the human condition.

The first RTS era might have passed, but the next great RTS era might just be beginning. Check out the very new game Stormgate by Frost Giant Studios. It's an RTS created by many of the people who created Starcraft 1 and 2 and then left Blizzard. Spiritually it is Starcraft 3.

Penelope and Odysseus are both heroes of Homer's Odyssey, mirroring each other. While Odysseus fights off monsters and temptations to return to her, Penelope stalls and tricks suitors as she remains loyal and waits for him. The suitors are the monsters for her to fight off.

To those interested, here is Part 1 of a lecture series of mine on the Normal Distribution for an introductory statistics course. Parts 2 and 3 are the next videos in the same YouTube playlist. youtu.be/pNzj5ba598Q?si=40ic…

There is beauty in simplicity, and simple rules doesn't necessarily mean simple strategy. The older Mortal Kombat games had less moves and a slower pace, but still had plenty of thinking and strategic timing, and were great. Looking forward to Legacy Collection.

One of the biggest disappointments with modern games, compared to 90's era games, is too many guiding hints, like arrows or map markers. Old school games had you wander around a map or open world looking for a landmark that matches the quest description, and it was great.

There are many real-world applications to imaginary numbers. They're called "imaginary," but that's just a name, and it doesn't mean that they're fake. It's like negative numbers are called "negative," but that doesn't mean that they are "bad."

Yep. Any time something weird happens in math, a good strategy is to look for division by 0.

Many have expressed an interest in the concept of dividing by 0, so here is a mini lecture of mine on the subject: youtu.be/bwkUCXmdCyc?si=VRp5…