Science & Technology

With Valentine’s Day just passed, I want to write about love today. A love that has made headlines, questioned laws in various countries, been a harbinger of change and has made the world accustomed to the idea of love and equality. Over 29 countries in the world now have legalized same-sex marriage and given recognition to those belonging to the LGBTQ community.  We as a society over the years have judged people on various occasions and various parameters. Discrimination on the basis on sex, caste and creed remains to be a highly debated and controversial one; from 1924 with the Henry Gerber’s documented gay rights organization, to 1976 when an ophthalmologist and a professional tennis player Renée Richards underwent gender reassignment surgery and got banned from competing in th...

Plants are an essential part of our existence. They are the source of everything we rely on to survive. From our food, air, and water, to our climate, clothes, and life-saving medicines. Although plants play such a key role in our lives, they are often taken for granted as something that exists to serve us and which we have little in common with. However, are plants more human than we think? In times of high stress, it isn’t uncommon for people to scream out in frustration or let out a cry for help. This can often feel good and lets others know how we are feeling. However, this emotional response isn’t only done by humans. In fact, Tel Aviv University scientists have shown that plants have this same response when put under drought or physical stress. When placing microphones near stres...

When the odds are stacked against us, and it seems like the entire world wants to tell us “No, that’s not possible, surely it can’t be done”, we look  up to the stars and say “Just watch me”. Because we know that rules are made to be broken. We know that dreams were meant to be followed. The impossible was made to be possible.” This is a direct quote from the trailer for the next innovation in gaming, the latest console to hit the market, the high-power titan brought to you by KFC Gaming… Wait… What? Introducing…the KFConsole; the only video game console in the world that can also keep your chicken warm while you game. Where do I even begin with this? On 22nd December 2020, the official KFC Gaming Twitter unveiled the trailer for its new console, having been previously a...

Whatever your console of choice, there’s plenty to look forward to this year in order to satiate your gaming appetite. No matter whether you’ve forked out millions to a scalper to get your hands on a new PS5 or Xbox Series X, fought your way through arduous Tesco queues to secure their £50 Nintendo Switch Black Friday discount, spent your lockdowns building your new supercomputer to assert your true gaming superiority, or opted for the perfect portability of a phone, this list will provide you with the absolutely, unequivocally, one hundred percent objectively, greatest game to get your hands on this year (read: entirely subjective guess based on the author’s questionable and limited gaming knowledge…). Xbox’s (E)xemplary (E)xample - It Takes Two (expected release March 26th)  Produ...

2020, despite everything, ended up being a pretty good year for games. We saw the release of hundreds of fantastic titles, like the blood-pumping Doom Eternal, the adorable Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the atmospheric Ghost of Tsushima, the revolutionary Half-Life: Alyx, and the surprising first episode of Final Fantasy VII: Remake. However, our Game Of The Year comes from indie team Thunder Lotus, with Spiritfarer: A Cosy Management Game About Dying! One of the reasons I love indie games is the sheer devotion to a singular idea, and Spiritfarer is no exception; it takes a unique concept and runs all the way with it. Part 2D platformer, part farming simulator, and part story-driven character study, it exhibits all these genres not to create an experimental, genre-defying experience, ...

What if I told you that there is a drug which promotes better concentration, memory consolidation, emotional stability, hormone regulation, a healthy immune system, better energy, protects against chronic diseases, improves your appearance and is completely free? You would quite rightly be sceptical, although sleeping 8 hours a night achieves all of this. Around two-thirds of adults neglect their sleep and sleep less than they ought to which explicitly harms their health and overall development. In a university culture of drinking and all-nighters the effects of this are especially visible. When talking about sleep it is important to differentiate between rapid eye movement sleep (REM) and non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM), as each type contributes differently. REM sleep works to str...

Florence Roberts 'It starts simply… A virus tougher than the rest. Nothing your team can’t handle. But as January turns into February… What results is a year that will never be forgotten. This is no ordinary virus. This is no ordinary year. Your team will see things, live things, do things that might just save humankind from being snuffed out completely. The results of this year will be spoken in whispers for generations… Are you prepared for Pandemic Legacy?’ No, I am not describing 2020. I am talking about one of the best games in existence. Now you may be asking who wants to play a boardgame about a world changing set of viruses during 2020? Well, you may find that this is the perfect thing for your house/hallmates to play while you are bubbled together this year.&nbs...

Alex Whiteman This November saw the release of the ninth generation of consoles; Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X. We’ve already heard a lot about their graphical fidelity, their frames per second, their system storage, their loading times (or lack thereof) and their slew of launch titles. It feels like we already know everything there is to know about these two (financial and physical) behemoths, but one aspect of their hardware has escaped much attention; their sustainability.  Unfortunately, the games industry’s carbon footprint is massive. A study by University of Cambridge’s Dr Claire Barlow and Dr John Durrell found that, in manufacturing and shipping the PlayStation 4, the equivalent of 89 kilograms of carbon dioxide is emitted per unit, totalling rough...

Samuel Bennett It would be fair to say that 5G has had confused reception from the public. From fears of it being carcinogenic to range issues to conspiracies theories blaming it for the rapid spread of COVID-19, the fifth generation standard for cellular networks appears to be an overpriced gimmick with serious health risks. However this is far from the case. 5G has largely different aims from its predecessors, which means that it will still have a big impact on our lives but simply in a way that isn’t obvious. For better or for worse, the next two decades will most likely see many self-driving Teslas and Amazon delivery drones taking to the roads and skies, which highlights the first thing to know about 5G: it is not made for us today. It is not intended to be in use until at leas...