Ask a theoretical physicist turned teacher, lecturer and author

[Alex K]

Am I right in thinking that lasers are so ubiquitous in modern technology because they're so much fun to play with that physicists have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get funding to do research with them?

They are fun, super versatile, and they are (comparatively) cheap as dirt. I'll never forget the laser experiments at our advanced lab course. I think I had my supervisor jumping for cover once or twice

On a more serious note, what's the gender balance like in Physics? In Comp Sci it's about 10% women to men now.

Probably slightly better. I don't have the numbers, but I'm sure it is below 20% in this country.

Also, how plausible is it that the creation of a black hole can create a new universe?

I don't find it plausible at all. The mathematical solutions corresponding to theoretical (idealized, eternal Schwarzschild) black holes contain infinitely extended bridges to parallel universes which can in principle be reached by falling through the black hole if it rotates or is electrically charged. This is what the corresponding spacetime diagram looks like:



and this is what a realistic computer rendering true to Einstein's equations looks like of you falling into it across the horizon into a new universe:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/8748890
an absolutely spectacular+cinematic simulation considering that it is not an artists impression!

However, these mathematical solutions with new universes attached don't usually apply to black holes which are finite in time, i.e. created at some point, and then evaporate via hawking radiation. I don't think there is much of a universe in a black hole.