135 = Pasta Water Solution and QR Code Substitution

From A Problem Squared by Matt Parker, Bec Hill

May 25, 2026 · 52 min · Season 1 · Episode 135

About this episode

The episode discusses the science behind adding salt to pasta water and explores the customization of QR codes, along with a light-hearted take on spring in the UK.

🍝 Why do we put salt in pasta water? 👾 Can you put bespoke characters in to a QR Code? 🌼And Spring Has Sprung (in the UK) so there’s some Any Other Bloomsness Head to our socials to see some frankly-very-silly-but-fully-operational QR Codes. Boiling and Freezing Points of Pure and Salty Water https://van.physics.illinois.edu/ask/listing/1457 Matt has extended his tour - and filming the show in London in October - all the dates, venues and tickets can be found here: http://standupmaths.com/shows Join us on Patreon for early releases and our monthly bonus podcast I’m A Wizard! If you’re already on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on our pinned post! If you want to (we’re not forcing anyone) please do leave us a review, share the podcast with a friend, or give us a rating! Please do that. It really helps. Finally, if you want even more from A Problem Squared you can connect with us and other listeners on BlueSky , Twitter , Instagram , and on Discord .

People in this episode

Hosts: Matt Parker, Bec Hill

Topics covered

pasta cooking
QR codes
spring
comedy
science

Keywords

pasta water
salt
QR code
spring
comedy podcast
Matt Parker
Bec Hill

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Patreon

Books & works: A Problem Squared

Places: UK, London