Features – Page 14 of 26

26Jan

By Yasmeen FrassoNo Comments

Features

Swipe Right For Love

This Valentines Day, Yasmeen Frasso discusses the use of dating apps. Dating has always been a curious thing; since the days where Victorian women would be sought after and courted by a suitor (think Jane Austen) not much has really changed. You seek out a potential partner, work up the courage to ask them out and do you best to impress them over a series of meetups. The desired result? Having lots of babies perhaps, but if not maybe just living happily ever after together. Yet, as with everything, the progression of technology has forever changed the dating landscape. Enter the dating app revolution. Back in the mid 2000’s, sites such as the ever famous Match.com began to spring up, allowing people to connect and meet new people over the internet. Since, the rise of ...

17Jan

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Features

Obituary of an Orca

Orbital's Sumi Bal pays respects to the recent passing of Tilikum. Tilikum, the orca whale that inspired the documentary Blackfish, has died. This is the whale that spent his entire life in captivity, being taken from his mother in the wild at just two years old. Used in every SeaWorld show for a mere five minutes to splash an unapologetic audience, the majority of his existence was spent alone, awaiting that five minutes. Now if that isn’t depressing, I don’t know what is. This is the whale that bred the majority of orcas at SeaWorld enclosures. This involves involuntary masturbation, and insemination of the female whales. In other words, rape. This is the whale that suffered extreme mental and physical trauma due to imprisonment with two physically dominant female whales. One...

12Jan

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Features

Thoughts on Home

Rhiannon Ireland discusses what home means to her. As Christmas has just ended, a time where students traditionally return home to spend time with their family, an article about the concept of ‘home’ seemed an appropriate thing to write about. The traditional definition of home is usually where you and your parents or guardians live, in a house that you have lived in for many years, but to me, home does not have to be a physical place. Home can be the smell of a candle that used to burn in your bedroom and remembering how its shadow flickered against the wall. It can be buying the same advent calendar your mum bought you for years, and remembering how you used to decorate the house with your family whilst listening to the sound of old black-and-white movies in the background. To g...

30Dec

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Features

The Floating Piers, Lake Iseo

Last summer saw an artist’s dreams recognised as Christo was given the go ahead to carry out a project he had been planning since 1970. The idea was the product of two artists, however Christo’s partner, Jeanne-Claude passed away in 2012, and was never able to see the project completed. Finally, earlier this year, Christo and his team were able to begin setting up the Floating Piers on Lake Iseo in Italy. The Floating Piers was a highly anticipated piece and became a hot topic worldwide. The project was an incredible success and drew in over a million tourists throughout the 16 day exhibiton. I was lucky enough to be able to visit the Floating Piers in late June, and it truly was a beautiful experience. Lake Iseo is naturally a stunning sight, sparkling crystal blue waters surrounded by...

16Dec

By Yasmeen FrassoNo Comments

Features

Talking about Domestic Abuse

Features Editor, Yasmeen Frasso, interviews Royal Holloway alumna, Nens Corran. During her time at Royal Holloway, Nens studied History (BA Hons). After graduating with a 1st, she went on to join the Met Police, now working as a Temporary Detective Inspector in a unit focused on Domestic Abuse. You’ve had quite a diverse experience in the police force, could you briefly outline your journey to where you are now? Five years on response team (replying to 999 calls), with secondments out to Street Duties (teaching new recruits) and Jury Protection (protecting jurors in trials with particularly dangerous defendants, organised crimes connections). Four years on Tower Hamlets CID [Criminal Investigation Department], dealing with respectively, robbery and burglary, domesti...

15Dec

By Michele TheilNo Comments

Features

The History Of Bedford College

Many overlook the fact that Royal Holloway's official name is Royal Holloway and Bedford New College. Deputy Sports and Socs Editor, Michele Theil, looks into Bedford College, a more significant part of our history than most realise. Bedford College was founded by social reformer Elizabeth Jesser Reid as the first women’s university in the United Kingdom in 1849. It became a constituent school of the University of London in 1900. Originally, the college was situated at 47 Bedford Square before moving to 8/9 York Place and finally settling at Regent’s Park before the merger with Royal Holloway College. It merged with Royal Holloway College, another college of the University of London in 1985 due to a lack of government funding for higher education, forcing the smaller University of Lo...

9Dec

By Yasmeen FrassoNo Comments

Features

In Conversation with Paul Layzell

Features Editor, Yasmeen Frasso, interviewed Principal of Royal Holloway, Paul Layzell with the hopes of removing some of the mystery behind the man we all get weekly emails from. Sitting outside of the Principal’s office you can’t help but feel you’ve done something wrong to be there. Expecting the worse, I sat waiting, nervous and unsure what I was getting myself in for. Yet the nerves dissipated as soon as I heard a loud laugh down the corridor and along came Paul Layzell. How would you describe your role as Principal to the students of Royal Holloway and what does it entail on a daily basis? Well, my job is to oversee the whole of the organisation and effectively be chief executive. So it’s very difficult to say on a day by day basis I do a series...

2Dec

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Features

What’s the Deal With….GM Crops?

We all know the importance of eating our 5 a day and you may even be chomping down on a salad right now. But would you feel differently if that lettuce was genetically modified? Should you even feel differently at all? First, a little GM crop history. Some of us may remember the first GM food that went on sale in the UK. In the mid 1990's, supermarkets began stocking tomato products based on modified crops. Whilst intended to be the first of many GM products on the way, the move proved hugely controversial and the produce was pulled from sales within 3 years. But what actually are GM crops? In short, it is any plant that has had its DNA altered, be that to increase crop yield, increase its nutritional content, enable better defences against pests or viruses or to withstand environmental...

29Nov

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Features

The Anthropocene extinction: the first, mass loss of life caused by humanity?

By 2020, animal populations on Earth will have experienced a 67% decline, on average since records began in 1970. To put that in context, that is the equivalent of nearly 5 billion people dying by 2066, and no one being born to replace them. This is the frightening new data presented by the WWF and the Zoological Society of London in their new 'Living Planet 2016' report. Vertebrate species, so those with a backbone, are declining at a rapid rate, and whilst not included in this particular paper, it is reasonable to assume similar levels of decline are being seen in some invertebrates, plant and fungal species too. Some scientists have gone as far to predict that the Earth could even be experiencing its 6th mass extinction, the most recent being the so-called K-Pg extinction that famous...

23Nov

By Bethany GoodingNo Comments

Features

Mental Health in the Older Generation

Bethany Gooding shares her experiences with an often neglected area of mental health. When visiting home recently I went from a house full of millennials to a house full of oldies (sorry Mum and Dad!). We were looking after my Grandad for a few days whilst my Grandma was in hospital, meaning the weekend was not the restful break I had planned. My Grandad suffers from dementia and spending the weekend with him made me realise how prevalent mental illness in the elderly is and how I believe it needs more acknowledgement and wider awareness amongst the public. With growing public awareness and campaigns surrounding mental illness, illnesses affecting the elderly should not be ignored, especially with the growing elderly population. Since 1974 the number of those aged over 65 in t...