In 2005 and 2007, respectively, Systrom and Krieger were awarded Mayfield fellowships. (Only a dozen upperclassmen are chosen each year.) In an intense nine-month work-study program, fellows immerse themselves in the theoretical study of entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership, and work during the summer in a Valley start-up.

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Last year, the Department for Children, Schools and Families introduced the Diploma qualification in England which combines theoretical study with practical experience.

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Instead, when working alone you can treat the assignment as a theoretical exercise, like a B-school case study to turn in to the professor.

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"When you have such a big mass in such a small space you have extremely high gravity, " said Charles Wang, a theoretical physicist at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, who wasn't involved in the study.

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"This is a fantastic example of how the response of cells changes due to a behavioral paradigm, " said theoretical neuroscientist Harel Shouval of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, who was not involved in the study but has worked previously with the researchers.

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