Quantum speed limits and the maximal rate of information production

Phys. Rev. Research 2, 013161 (2020)

Netflix original film released on Feb. 12, 2020, just in time for Valentine’s Day, “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” is the hotly anticipated sequel to the streaming platform’s wildly popular 2018 release, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” Fans praised the first film for its visuals and cute story. Both films are based on a trilogy of books by author Jenny Han, and fans of this series were anxious to see whether this new installment would live up to their expectations, serving as a worthy adaptation of the second book.

“To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” stars Lana Condor as high school student Lara Jean Covey, who recently began dating Peter Kavinsky, played by Noah Centineo. The film focuses on their relationship and Lara Jean’s struggles when an old crush comes back into her life. Condor and Centineo share good chemistry on screen, and viewers hoping for a sweet story about young love will be satisfied, but the film only tries to be what it is: a romantic comedy. 

Other featured actors include Jordan Fisher as John Ambrose, John Corbett as Lara Jean’s father and Holland Taylor as Stormy, a woman whom Lara Jean befriends at her volunteering site. Unfortunately, most of these characters do not get much screen time — in particular, many scenes from the book with Lara Jean and Stormy were cut. This becomes problematic towards the end of the film when Stormy was supposed to play an important role, as the viewers have seen little of her.

There are a few other character changes, but, for the most part, these are minor and help to streamline the story. One aspect of the characterization that proved distracting was the ages of some of the actors who portray high school students; Trevor, one of Lara Jean’s classmates, for example, is played by Ross Butler, who is 29 years old.

Like its predecessor, the film has gorgeous visuals which capture and enhance the whimsical romance of the source novels, increasing its value as an adaptation. The sets, with standouts including Lara Jean’s room and the retirement home, are colorful and layered with items that add charm to the film as a whole. Lara Jean’s outfits in the first film were admired by viewers, and costume designer Lorraine Carson pulled no punches for this installment, with soft and refined silhouettes that fit her character’s personality. 

But the film’s visuals in creating Lara Jean’s appearance were almost too perfect. She seems to wake up with flawless makeup, including false eyelashes, and some of her hairstyles, while beautiful like her outfits, would be extremely difficult to maintain in real life. Of course, this is par for the course in American films, and there is something to be said about these choices adding to the film’s dreaminess and idealism.

However, at an emotionally dramatic point in the film, Lara Jean has messy hair and less makeup for the first time. It is up to the viewer to decide whether her appearance throughout the film is in part a demonstration of her emotional state, or an unattainable ideal that suggests looking less than perfect must mean that something is wrong.

“To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” is a fun and lighthearted romantic comedy. As an adaptation, it has its advantages, including its aesthetics and heartwarming character interactions, as well as its drawbacks, such as some of its character choices. Overall, viewers in search of something easy and pleasant to watch should check it out, but others looking for more serious themes or commentary should move on.

Name: Brittany Coughlin

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship   

Position Title: Social Media Marketing Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s): Business Technology Administration

Current Class Level: Senior

Work Term: Fall 2019

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.

This semester I have been working for the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship as their Social Media Marketing Intern. Each week, I create and post material on our Instagram, Twitter, and myUMBC groups. I am also responsible for updating/enhancing the website through WordPress. In addition, I attend all of our events and take photos of our guest speakers.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

I heard of this position on UMBCworks last spring. Once I saw the application come out, I did not hesitate to apply because I knew this was going to be something I would really enjoy doing. Prior to applying, I went to the Career Center a few times to ensure that my resume was good to go and my interview skills were ready. Later, I heard back right away after applying and followed through with the process of obtaining my position through two more interviews before receiving the final offer.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization? 

I love working with my boss and having the freedom to create content on all social media platforms. The people I have met through this internship have inspired me to continue my career in this field. 

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

The content I have created has really helped our organization increase event attendance by spreading the word about entrepreneurship and has even influenced people to add our minor. More and more students have been more interested in the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, and I’m looking forward to the Spring semester.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience? 

Don't be afraid to create and work on something that you haven’t before. Prior to this internship, I thought that I would struggle using the software to update the website, but after some practice it actually became easy and now I have another skill to add to my resume. 

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by Sarah Leupen, Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences, UMBC

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.

How do we get the fingerprints we have? – Oscar V., age 8, Somerville, Massachusetts

Fingerprints are those little ridges on the tips of your fingers. They’re essentially folds of the outer layer of skin, the epidermis. The “prints” themselves are the patterns of skin oils or dirt these ridges leave behind on a surface you’ve touched.

Your fingerprints began to form before you were born. When a fetus starts to grow, the outside layer of its skin is smooth. But after about 10 weeks, a deeper layer of skin, called the basal layer, starts growing faster than the layers above it, which makes it “buckle” and fold. The expanding lower layer ends up scrunched and bunched beneath the outside layer.

These folds eventually cause the surface layers of the skin to fold too, and by the time a fetus is 17 weeks old – about halfway through a pregnancy – its fingerprints are set.

Although this folding process might sound random, the overall size and shape of fingerprints are influenced by the genes you get from your parents. So you probably share some fingerprint patterns with your family members.

But the details of your fingerprints are influenced by many other factors besides genes. For example, the shape and size of the blood vessels in your skin, how fast the different layers of skin are growing, and the chemical environment inside the womb all play a part. No two people end up with exactly the same fingerprints, even identical twins.

It was only in 2015 that a big long-term study showed that fingerprints are stable over a person’s lifetime. The ridges of a fingerprint are visible on the skin’s surface layer, but the pattern is actually “encoded” below that. Even if you have a major skin injury, your prints will come back when the outer layer heals – though you might have a scar, too.

So your fingerprints are totally unique to you and have been since before you were born. No matter how much you change as you grow up, you’ll always have the set you have now, no matter how long you live.

What’s a fingerprint’s point?

Surprisingly, nobody really knows what fingerprints are for.

People have long thought that fingerprints provide the friction that helps our hands grip objects. This makes sense because the other animals besides human beings that have fingerprints – including many other primates like apes and monkeys, and koalas – are all tree climbers.

But sometimes what makes sense isn’t true, and a recent study found that fingerprints don’t really help people hold onto things – at least, not things with smooth surfaces.

Other possibilities are that fingerprints improve your sense of touch or help protect your fingers from injury. But scientists don’t know for sure yet.

Making use of your prints

Police have been using fingerprints and their unique loop, whorl and arch shapes to help catch criminals for more than 2,000 years, starting in ancient China.

Fingerprints are now used for many other things as well, all based on the fact that each person’s fingerprints are different. You can use that unique code to unlock your phone or enter a restricted area, for example. In Malawi, fingerprints have been used to identify farmers who have taken out loans. They can even be taken from babies and used throughout the person’s life to access their immunization records.

Police forces are still finding new uses for fingerprints, too. As fingerprint detection and study methods have improved, detectives can even use them to see who threw a particular stone. Those little ridges can hide tiny amounts of substances too – which means they could be used to detect the use of illegal drugs like cocaine and heroin. And now forensic scientists can detect decades-old fingerprints, too – maybe allowing detectives to solve really old crimes – with a new technique that uses a color-changing chemical to map the sweat glands within your fingerprints.

Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

Header Image: Even identical twins have different fingerprints. El Greco/Shutterstock.com

Sarah Leupen, Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Have you ever wondered why students struggle with certain concepts or make the learning choices they do? Would you like to assess the impact of your pedagogical approach on your students' learning? Have you thought about trying to integrate engineering or computing education research into a class or project and wonder how to do that?

The Engineering and Computing Education Program and the Faculty Development Center will offer a series of workshops on aspects of developing a research agenda in engineering and computing education. Through activities and discussions, we will provide examples of well-established research projects and ideas to help you incorporate educational research into your classes and current projects.

The first workshop of the series, What is Computing and Engineering Education will be held on March 4th from 12:00 to 1:30 pm in ITE 238. To register please visit the "Events" tab and click on "Going" at the bottom of the page.

Other workshops:

March 11: Beyond Achievement: What Other Topics Do STEM Education Researchers Study and Why Do They Matter?

March 25: Practical Applications in the Classroom

April 3: Partnering to Integrate Educational Research into Grants and Awards

All workshops will be held in ITE 238 from 12:00 to 1:30 pm. Lunch will be provided.