How can Popular Science Media Survive in the Time of a Crisis?

This is the title of a recent article in Science and Life, a respected popular science magazine in Russia. When I ran into the article two days ago, I didn’t think it would enlighten me on the problems faced by science magazines in Russia. I was expecting a cliché write-up; the author would blame everything on the profusion of the Internet, lack of state support and apathy from people, who didn’t care about science. Thankfully, it wasn't the case.

It was comforting to know that Russian-speakers had bought 7 billion issues of science magazines in the past 10 years. It’s a respectable number. But don’t let it give you the impression that the industry is having a party.

High delivery costs, large commissions and a dearth of kiosks are big problems facing the magazines. And a recent decision by the Russian government to spend 43 million 370 thousand rubles on a new publishing house to make science popular can reduce their sales, the article's author, Alisa Zaichenko, fears.

Zaichenko is also concerned about the quality of the works the state-owned publisher will produce.

The problem seems intractable. It is an issue if the state doesn't invest in science and there are problems if the state invests in science. Thankfully, Anton Ishchenko has an idea.

Anton Ishchenko is a Deputy in Duma. His idea is to support the existing magazines and popular science media instead of spending money on a new publisher. For obvious reasons, Science and Life is with Ishchenko. I'm not sure which idea is better, the government's or Ishchenko's.

In fact, if my desires had any worth I will want all the existing Russian science magazines to thrive and new publishers to appear.

Problems in General Physics

It finally arrived on Wednesday. I was in Chandigarh for an interview. Returned late that night but on Thursday morning my hands were on Irodov's book! I wasn't hoping to solve even the first problem, I solved three! I know that's not impressive. Nonetheless I am glad that I did better than I was expecting to! 

The first problem reads: 

A motorboat going downstream overcame a raft at a point A; τ = 60 min later it turned back and after some time passed the raft at a distance l = 6 km from the point A. Find the flow velocity assuming the duty of the engine to be constant. 

Here is my solution: 

Here is the same solution is more legible form: 

I know it's not Quantum Physics or Relativity. It's just elementary high school stuff. Still I am relieved to discover I haven't forgotten everything. Moreover, Problems is General Physics is considered the best book at high school level. I took between 30-45 min and five pages to solve the very first problem! I feel proud!