PMU199Y

[Your professor]

Spring Oral Presentations

As in Fall semester, in Week 8 of this semester we will not be having a regular seminar class. Instead, on March 4th, the entire student class will give presentations on topics of their choice. Each student will be allocated 3-3.5mins to speak. Visual aids are discouraged and computer use is prohibited. You are welcome to bring handwritten (or typewritten) speech notes on paper.

Please note that you are obliged to not steal other speakers' thunder. In other words, when talking about your own topic you are not permitted to cover someone else's topic.

If you need any advice on what to say or where to find good information, please ask your friendly Professor. They will give copious hints and suggestions when asked.

Topics

When	Who	What
14:20	Lin	How are physicists planning to detect gravitons? (LIGO)
14:24	Jam	How did dark energy go from being Einstein's greatest blunder to being awesomely important today?
14:28	Geb	Why did COBE satellite experimenters get the Nobel Prize in 2006?
14:32	Lor	Why did two teams working on Supernovae win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011?
14:36	Max	How have the WMAP and Planck satellites taught us more about the evolution of the universe?
14:40	Reu	What might dark matter be made of?
14:44	Sye	What are some of the ways the Universe might have been born?
14:48	Nas	What are the possibilities for the ultimate fate of the universe?
14:52	Jen	What is the Multiverse?
14:56	Cas	What does the M in M theory mean?
15:16	Joa	Why do some particle physicists like supersymmetry?
15:20	Jim	What are some of the exotic particles beyond the Standard Model that particle physicists hope to discover?
15:24	Pat	Different theories of extra dimensions
15:28	Jos	What is the role of tachyons in string theory?
15:32	Tha	What is the Cosmic Censorship hypothesis?
15:36	Tji	How does string theory help resolve spacetime curvature singularities?
15:40	Ali	Quantum geometry and the nature of spacetime in string theory
15:44	Seb	What is quantum determinism and why did Stephen Hawking threaten it?
15:48	Tal	Why exactly did Stephen Hawking concede a major scientific bet to John Preskill in 2004?
15:52	Qia	How does string theory help resolve the Black Hole Information Paradox?