How about a graphite ring for getting engaged?

Donald Sadoway is a professor of materials science and engineering at MIT. Over the last few years he has emerged as one of the most popular lecturers on campus. Even Bill Gates has referred to him as a fantastic chemistry teacher. His course titled “Introduction to Solid-State Chemistry” is so much in demand that in 2007 it had about 600 students and the school had to stream the lecture into another room. Fortunately all his lectures including the ones for 2010 are online. Sadoway is a great speaker and seems to have thought very carefully about what he wants to say in class. Definitely worth watching.

Check out his description of the structural differences between diamond and graphite and how they affect the radically different properties of the substances. It’s one of the clearest explanations of the difference I have heard.

At the end, Sadoway mentions that since graphite is the most stable form of carbon at room temperature, wouldn’t it make sense to present a ring made of graphite instead of diamond to your love interest as a symbol of everlasting love? I think that makes sense although my fiancée will probably disagree.

AND NOW, FROM MIT…

“Voting analysis shows Obama won because of his support among blacks”

This was the conclusion of a recent MIT study that analyzed Obama’s win. In other news, pandas have shown a willingness to eat bamboo shoots.

Does anyone else get the feeling that supposedly high-profile research sometimes reveals facets of life that are intuitively obvious?

But jokes aside, the research has a point. Many people behaved as if racial barriers were finally shattered and that race relations were now officially over. While people’s joy and hope was palpable and understandable and while this has indeed been a very important election, history does not really care for exaggeration. I personally never believed that Obama truly transcended race in the minds of many. In fact, as accomplished as he is, I think that he won as much because of the utter incompetence of the other side as because of anything else. Would he have won if he had been running against Ronald Reagan? I don’t think so. We are not old enough yet for that to have happened.