A distinctive advantage of the Core modules, and a challenge as well, is to relate one's own field of specialization to other disciplines. Consider, for example, the water molecule, which is composed of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. Quantum mechanics leads to the conclusion that the angle between the average positions of the two hydrogen atoms in 120 degrees. The result, however, has stunning and far-reaching consequences for biology.
All life consists of chemical reactions taking place in the solute water.
The ability of water to dissociate molecules crucially hinges on the angle between the hydrogen atoms being 120 degrees, since this allows the hydrogen atoms to 'get a grip' on other atoms. If, for example, the angle between the hydrogen atoms were 180 degrees, the hydrogen atoms would lie along a line, and none of the biochemistry essential for the existence of life could ever have taken place. Another interesting connection is that of physics with finance. The price of a stock or a bond undergoes a random evolution in time in exactly the same manner as the position of a quantum particle does. Furthermore, the study of finance is also connected with the field of statistical mechanics, which studies the properties of a large collection of particles.