Science & Technology – Page 4 of 9

25Sep

By Thom Cuffin-MundayNo Comments

Science & Technology

Fact from Fiction: COVID 19

Fake news? One of the biggest issues our generation faces is the idea of “fake news”, in which information is misconstrued or completely falsified to better suit a specific agenda. This problem has been around for many decades but has seen a surge due to social media, and now plays a large role in our everyday lives. From catching up with loved ones to joining a random blog, it is now easier than ever to connect with people worldwide. This has led to various groups coming together on social media platforms to present convoluted ideas about the shape of the world or origin of a new pandemic. Large media organisations are, unfortunately, not innocent when it comes to “fake news”, and sometimes perpetuates the development of these ideas. A simple internet search ca...

25Sep

By Ellie MatthewsNo Comments

Science & Technology

COVID-19: The Science of Coronaviruses

What is a Coronavirus? Coronavirus (CoV) refers to a family of viruses that can cause illness in both humans and animals, mainly respiratory or intestinal. Coronaviruses have been around for a very long time; they are typically mild, and usually only affect the upper airways (nose and throat). Four major types of coronavirus have been shown to exist, namely Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma, although only the first two of these are known to infect humans. Just four strands of coronaviruses (229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1) combine to cause 10 - 30% of cases of the common cold across the world. Major coronaviruses include Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). SARS was predominantly seen in China between 2002 and 2003, and MERS on the Arabian ...

Esports and Accessibility; A Conversation with Royal Holloway’s Games Society

25Sep

By Alex WhitemanNo Comments

Science & Technology

Esports and Accessibility; A Conversation with Royal Holloway’s Games Society

Despite playing video games for most of my life, I can’t say I’ve had much experience with competitive gaming. I had always preferred single-player games, with the odd game of MarioKart or Street Fighter whenever I visited a friend’s house. As much as I love games, I cannot claim to be any good at them. Which is why the concept of esports, or competitive gaming, always seemed a little foreign to me. I spoke with the new team behind Royal Holloway’s Games Society, Mercedes Mayes, president, Yuji Aoyama, vice president, and Malik Hashi, esports representative, on the topic of the esports scene at Royal Holloway. After our discussion I had just learned a ton about esports itself and its presence at Royal Holloway, and I felt confident I could get involved. We talked about what espor...

25Sep

By Ellie MatthewsNo Comments

Science & Technology

Lockdown Gamer and Proud

My fondness for games dates all the way back to my 6th birthday, when my mum bought me Hungry Hungry Hippos and unleashed my inner competitive demon. It wasn't until a few years later, when Monopoly was introduced, that my parents realised their mistake. While I have continued to play games into my adult life, other things in my life took priority; GCSEs, then A-levels, then University. This was until, on March 11th, Boris shut down the country, I was flung back home, and told all my exams would be open book and online. Suddenly, my overly tedious revision timetable was wasted, leftover lectures in term 2 disappeared, and I was left feeling as though my life had been pulled out from underneath me. Lockdown was a strange time. Whilst I was happy to get an extra-long holiday (especial...

Civilization 6 And Learning About Climate Change

23Feb

By Daniel WoolleyNo Comments

Science & Technology

Civilization 6 And Learning About Climate Change

I think Civilisation 5 is tied with Animal Crossing as one of my most played games. I have put around 400 hours into Civilisation 5 and most likely 100 hours in Civilization 6. I love the series and importantly its recent DLC adds another element to the game that is an important modern issue. The Civilisation games are an empire-building, turn-based strategy game. You take a pick from over twenty historical nations and leaders. You then lead your nation from the Stone Age into the Information Age. While growing your empire you also progress to your ideal victory; will you dominate the world with your army or your religion, or be the first space fairing nation, or will you be elected as the world leader? The choice is yours. To add to the micromanaging of building and e...

30Jan

By Jamie WoodsNo Comments

Science & Technology

Your Guide To Internet Privacy

Online privacy. It's a hot topic at the moment. The internet giants have been in the headlines almost daily, accused of abusing the data they have. With private companies tracking your every move online, the internet feels more unsafe than ever. But, practically, what can I do to stay safe on the internet? Hopefully, we have some answers for you. Background The Internet. We all know and love/hate it. Chances are you're reading this article online right now, instead of in our print edition. For the internet to work, there is always going to be a trade-off. Service providers need to know some basic information (such as where you're connecting from - we call this your IP address) so their websites work. As a result, wherever we go online, we'll always leave a footprint on a di...

The silver lining of mutually assured destruction – nuclear peace

26Jan

By Kaelin DignamNo Comments

Science & Technology

The silver lining of mutually assured destruction – nuclear peace

It's been about a month since I wrote my article about why war is highly unlikely amidst growing fears that it would break out after the US assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. This article should be considered an informal follow-up to that, almost like an unofficial part two. You don't have to, but you should probably read the first article before this one as it will make a lot more sense. This article is less about reporting statistical information but more of a highly informal comment about war and in particular nuclear war. Since the second world war was ended by the hellish fire of nuclear weapons which were first unleashed to the world in 1945, decimating the Japanese town of Hiroshima in which almost 90% of the population were simply innocent civilians, the world has not se...

A Netflix-For-Games; Why Google Stadia Wasn’t It.

20Dec

By Alex WhitemanNo Comments

Science & Technology

A Netflix-For-Games; Why Google Stadia Wasn’t It.

So Google Stadia came out and people hate it. Let’s talk about it! Stadia is Google’s attempt at entering the gaming market, but instead of being a traditional console like PlayStation or Xbox, it’s entirely cloud-based, and streams games to your TV, phone, toaster, whatever. It’s a novel idea. Many people have been looking into the possibility of a ‘Netflix-for games’, and if anyone was going to have an advantage, it would be Google. They have their fingers in just about every technological pie, so it would make sense that they’d have the resources to make game streaming work. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be living up to peoples’ expectation of it, with middling reviews across the board, and Google’s stocks actually dropping during the week of its release. Why? What is the reason people hav...

25Nov

By Daniel WoolleyNo Comments

Opinion, Science & Technology

Gaming and Hong Kong

Games are political. The recent indie darling, Untitled Goose Game, might not seem political on the surface. In the game, you are a goose who terrorises a quaint British town. The game becomes political during the credits where House House, the developers, refuse to acknowledge the existence of Australia and rather dedicates the game to the people of the Kulin nation, which never seceded to the Australian Government. Even with a simple game like Untitled Goose Game, there are many ways games can be politicised. This shows a way a gaming company can have political interests and how this impacts the creation and maintenance of their games. Recently Activision-Blizzard has shown another way politics can manifest itself within the gaming industry with their actions over China and Hong Kong...

What can be said of the human mind? Todd Phillips’ Joker may have answers…

18Nov

By Luna TrimmingNo Comments

Science & Technology

What can be said of the human mind? Todd Phillips’ Joker may have answers…

When Todd Phillips did a commentary of the opening scene of his film Joker for Vanity Fair (which was published on to YouTube), he explained that he was most proud of the overall tone of the film. Specifically, he referred to it as an ‘unsettling tone, that sort of slow, ramp-up into insanity…’ an insanity that perhaps many of us who have watched the film may be able to sympathise with; within reason of course. Phillips explains that the unsettling nature of the film is deliberately manoeuvred, as well as carefully structured through camera movement and the staging of each scene, illustrating the isolation and the mania that the Joker feels within himself. Are we to argue that the feelings of separation from reality and the questioning of one’s sanity is not totally incompreh...