So, I'm teaching a freshman seminar right now, and covering, among other things "summary of current research topics" - to kinda tease the students about what is out there that might be interesting.
Two of the topics covered are exoplanets and modern cosmology.
I found I could fit a nice summary of exoplanets into about 40-50 slides covered in two fast paced classes.
The cosmology is up to 107 slides, two be covered in two classes, and I had to stop, though there was more stuff I knew I really had to include.
So, maybe there is really something to all this cosmology stuff after all?
Or, there are alternative explanations:
like, cosmologists have put more effort into outreach and have more pretty pictures and animations than the exoplanet people
or, I know enough about planets to know what can be safely left out, but with cosmology I feel I need to cover all the topics for it to make sense
or, I know enough about planets that I can actually summarise the topics succinctly, which is after all one of the definitions of understanding a topic well enough
or, I just taught an intro cosmology class and am recently refreshed on excessive amounts of topical material
or, it is the end of the semester and I am just way too hyper and short on sleep
Any plans to put the slides online? I don't know much about exoplanets, and it would be fun to see a quick summary....
Tricky - I mostly use NASA graphics in these because they are public, but it'd be some work to go through and check and put in links/acknowledgements/permission for any non-public figures.
Be faster to write up a fresh set probably.
Maybe I'll do a primer sometime soon.