https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/parenting-education/about-6-to-7-per-cent-of-integrated-programme-students-leave-before-completing-the-six-years-moe

• Some Integrated Programme students switch to O-levels, polytechnics, or overseas schools due to academic pressure or differing learning preferences.
• Demand for IP remains high, with about 4,300 applying in 2024’s Secondary 1 posting exercise, despite some students leaving.

Personally, i think there isn’t too much of a distinction between normal secondary school track and integrated programme as both will end up taking A levels in the end. This is besides those students who want to take the polytechnic route. Main difference is those students in integrated programme are generally smarter and more hardworking so the schools will tend to teach ahead. This will be good for students as they will cover easier topics in sec 1 and 2 quickly, and have more time and energy to focus on the harder concepts in upper sec and jc syllabus.

It is equivalent to sending a 30 stories building into space and catching the 20 stories building back in exact same spot.

ELI5: Why is catching the SpaceX booster in mid-air considered much better and more advanced than just landing it in some launchpad ?

from reddit: “SpaceX have had some issues with their attempts at landing a rocket on a landing pad. The landing legs have to be very light because the weight margins of the rocket is already very tight and any mass in the landing legs will reduce the payload mass. Some customers have been paying SpaceX to not outfit their Falcon 9 rockets with landing legs so their satellites will fit, a full rocket is cheaper then a few extra tons of cargo to space. The light legs have collapsed in some landings. Building the legs stronger would make them heavier. Especially for the Starship rocket the legs would have to be very strong and heavy.

The second issue is that the landing pad have issues with the rocket exhaust. During a landing the rockets shoot out a huge amount of supersonic plasma directed straight at the pad. This can melt steel and even make concrete explode. For launches they raise the rocket up a bit and also carefully position it over a trench with a flame deflector made of steel and covered in water. But this is a hazard for the landing legs. And even then the launch pads is regularly damaged by flying pieces of the pad, a few times this have damaged the launching rocket as well. So this is a much bigger issue when the rocket is coming towards the pad instead of away and when the rocket comes much closer to the pad then during launch.

The “chopsticks” is an attempt at overcoming these issues. Firstly all the landing structure is on the ground and can be built very strong without sacrificing any payload mass. And secondly it can catch the rocket at a significant height above the pad so that there will be less damage and so that the rocket will not be hit by any debris.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02393-7

“Something is pumping out large amounts of oxygen at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, at depths where a total lack of sunlight makes photosynthesis impossible.“

“The phenomenon was discovered in a region strewn with ancient, plum-sized formations called polymetallic nodules, which could play a part in the oxygen production by catalysing the splitting of water molecules, researchers suspect. The findings are published in Nature Geoscience¹.”

“At first, Sweetman attributed the readings to a sensor malfunction. But the phenomenon kept occurring during subsequent trips in 2021 and 2022, and was confirmed by measurements with an alternative technique. “I suddenly realized that for eight years I’d been ignoring this potentially amazing new process, 4,000 metres down on the ocean floor,” says Sweetman.”

There is still so much we do not know about, it is important that we do not make blanket statements and be too sure of anything.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE N.S. SAVANNAH (NSS) BEGAN WITH A CEREMONY ON MARITIME DAY IN 1958.
MAMIE EISENHOWER CHRISTENED THE SHIP IN 1959 AND BY EARLY 1962 THE SHIP WAS AT SEA.

By 1970, the NSS achieved its objectives and the project ended. Savannah sailed 454,675 miles on 163 pounds of uranium; if it had been oil-fired, Savannah would have burned nearly 29 million gallons of fuel.

Just shows how amazing nuclear energy can be and a viable source of energy to replace fossil fuels

What is Science?

People talk glibbery about science. What is science? People are coming out of university with a masters degree or a PHD. You take them into the field, they literally don’t believe anything unless it’s a peer reviewed paper. That’s the only thing they accept. And you say to them; let’s observe, let’s think, let’s discuss. they don’t do it. Only when it is in a peer-review paper or not. That’s their view of science. I think that’s pathetic. Gone in to universities as bright young people, they come out of it brain dead, not even knowing what science means. They think it means peer-review papers etc. No! That’s academia. and if a paper is peer-reviewed it means everybody thought the same therefore they approved it. An unintended consequence is when new knowledge emerges, new scientific insights, they can never ever be peer-reviewed so we’re blocking all new advances in science that are big advances. If you look at the breakthrough in science, almost always they don’t come from the center of that profession. They come from the fringe. The finest candlemakers in the world couldn’t even think of electric lights. They don’t come from within they often come from outside the bricks.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/parenting-education/record-number-of-polytechnic-grads-18-of-them-admitted-to-nus-medicine-this-year#:~:text=SINGAPORE%20%2D%20A%20record%20number%20of,for%20the%20last%20three%20years.

This goes to show that junior colleges are not necessarily superior to polytechnics nowadays. There is a greater acceptance that polytechnic is also a viable path for top students as well. I have numerous thoughts on polytechnic vs junior college debate, but they are too long to put in 1 post. End of the day, I think it comes down to learning style. Junior college is essentially secondary school on steroids, so if you find academia acceptable, JC will be preferable, but if you are more of a hands on/ learn by doing/ already found your passion, polytechnic might be a more suitable path for you.

But definitely, for now, it still seems that it is probabilistic more likely to enter university through junior college path than polytechnic. If you would like advice, feel free to contact me as I think it is pretty important and will be glad to help advice with no strings attached.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/a-man-had-severe-day-long-migraines-for-12-years-and-nothing-worked-his-doctors-say-they-vanished-after-they-prescribed-leafy-greens-and-cutting-out-red-meat/ar-AAQSkXg

This is pretty fascinating, this is why i like to share out of the 3 sciences: physics, chemistry and biology. Biology is interesting in the sense that there are always diversity and variations. No one organism is the same and all responds differently to the same stimulus.

So O level results came out yesterday, for all my students that took National Examinations (Maths and Sciences) last year, we got 8 A1, 15 A2, 9 B3 with not a single grade below. I am really glad and proud of my students.

This is a brilliant thread on TWITTER giving a layman explanation on how the new mRNA vaccine works. Do check it out.