Fourier Analysis And Grad School

Every biochem and physics student knows that pain. Top image shows the Krebs cycle (aka citric acid cycle) with its maddening array of enzymes and intermediates that powers cellular respiration. Bottom shows the Carnot cycle, that thermodynamic nightmare with isothermal and adiabatic processes that engineering students memorize while crying into their coffee. The monkey's expression perfectly captures that moment when your professor says "this will definitely be on the exam" and your brain just shuts down. The "neuron activation" part is the brief moment of clarity before realizing you still don't understand either cycle. Fun fact: The Krebs cycle produces just 2 ATP molecules directly but sets up the electron transport chain to make about 34 more. That's efficiency that would make even a thermodynamics professor proud!

The brutal reality of physics summed up in one comic. Our bearded adventurer discovers the mythical "Sword of Truth" only to be utterly destroyed by its philosophical beatdown. Physics doesn't reveal ultimate truths—it just methodically eliminates wrong ideas while leaving us forever uncertain about what's actually correct. That's the scientific method for you: a perpetual cycle of disproving things rather than confirming absolute truths. The final panel showing our hero crumpled in existential despair is basically every physics grad student at 3 AM wondering why they didn't just go into finance.

Ooooh boy, buckle up for some quantum weirdness! 🧠💫 Some genius on the internet just "discovered" that MRI machines aren't just taking pictures of your insides—they're literally teleporting you to alternate realities ! Because, you know, manipulating proton spins is basically the same as ripping holes in the multiverse fabric! 🕳️ The beautiful quantum confusion here is that spin isn't actually spinning (mind = blown), but rather a fundamental quantum property. And that whole "spin twice to get back to start" thing? That's legit science! But jumping to "therefore MRIs are interdimensional portals" is like saying "my toaster makes bread hot, therefore it can probably launch me to Mars." 🚀 Next time your doctor orders an MRI, be sure to pack your multiversal passport! Maybe in one reality, people actually understand quantum physics! 😂

Schrödinger's cat is having none of this theoretical nonsense today. While physicists debate the cat's quantum superposition state (simultaneously dead AND alive until observed), the actual feline has strong opinions about being stuck in a hypothetical death box. Nothing ruins a good thought experiment like reality meowing back at you. Thirty years of teaching quantum mechanics and I've yet to meet a cat willing to participate in the collapse of its own wave function.

The genie's face says it all when someone wishes to make protons heavier than neutrons. That's like asking to rewrite the fundamental laws of physics! In reality, neutrons are about 0.1% heavier than protons (1.675×10 -27 kg vs 1.673×10 -27 kg). Trying to flip this would break nuclear stability, potentially causing atoms to collapse and, you know, ending the universe as we know it. The genie's "there are 4 rules" response is basically saying "I'd rather deal with raising the dead than mess with the strong nuclear force." Smart genie. Physics has boundaries even magic won't cross!

This is what happens when particles decide to throw the wildest party in the quantum realm! 🎉 What you're looking at is a Feynman diagram on steroids - showing particle interactions so complex that even the particles themselves are confused about where they're supposed to go! With electrons, fermions, and W bosons bouncing around like they've had too much quantum coffee, this diagram represents the physics equivalent of trying to follow the plot in a Christopher Nolan movie. The joke is that this absurdly complicated QCD (Quantum Chromodynamics) decay would be so rare - with probability on the order of e^26 (that's 1 followed by 26 zeros in the denominator!) - that you'd have better luck finding a cat that actually wants to be petted when you call it.