Category: science
A frank discussion – the monster in the room
| August 12, 2011 | Posted by Georgie Tindale under lifestyle, science |
While watching a horror film, I can imagine there are typical reactions, and highly atypical reactions. A reaction of one young girl (and I’m sure a whole generation of people) back in 1931 was one of complete terror; the idea of an un-dead being with superhuman strength shuffling towards his creator was by no means a cliché, but a chilling possibility. The cult following of old-style horror films, such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (though of course dying in 1851 rendered her non-existent in the creation of the film itself), is given explanation by the potency of ideas such as dark science, monsters and a few deaths along the way. However, when I recently sat down to watch this film (the… more
Have you ever had the urge to eat human calf muscle?
| August 12, 2011 | Posted by Amy Proudfoot under science |
According to a rather terrifying website I stumbled across, this is a very common urge, although personally I’ve always been more a breast than a leg girl myself. However, human cannibalism isn’t just the prerogative of creepy forums, but is in fact a part of our history. Evidence suggests that it was happening as long ago as 780,000 BC and with reports of mass cannibalism occurring less than ten years ago during the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, cannibalism seems to be something that humanity can’t shake. Cannibalism occurring during times of war is not a rarefied event, for instance in the Second World War there were many reports of cannibalism, the siege of Leningrad (modern-day St. Petersburg,… more
Climate change is dull
| July 30, 2011 | Posted by Harry Mason under satire, science |
Do you think climate change is real? And man made? These aren’t just typical rhetorical questions used as techniques to draw the reader’s attention at the start of an article, but something I want you to consider. Go on. Done? (If yes -> continue to next line. If no -> consider further, then return to the start of this line.) Excellent. Then I shall keep algorithms to minimum from here on out. While I would like the power to know exactly what you thought of while considering these questions (though if I had the power to read minds, I doubt I’d keep it only to knowing your thought processes on climate change), I reckon I could hazard a fair few guesses at which thoughts… more
The sad end of the Race
| July 29, 2011 | Posted by Fergus Doyle under international, science |
It’s sad that we, humanity (the good guys, if you will), have become disenchanted with space in the last 50 years. In the same month that the last shuttle funded by the American taxpayer was launched into space, I bought a copy of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. He predicted that, by 12 years ago, the first manned mission to Mars would have been launched and within 25 years the red planet would have been completely colonised. So, where did it all go wrong? Why have we only got as far as (albeit permanent) inhabited satellites floating in our cosmic back yard? Unfortunately, it’s all a matter of politics. In the 60’s, childish competitions such as the Space Race were… more
Going up in smoke – the truth behind “The Union”
| July 25, 2011 | Posted by Georgie Tindale under international, lifestyle, reviews, science |
At 9.30pm on the 17th of July, a large group of festival goers waits for an aged come-back band to finally make an appearance. I am amongst the crowd. The mood is infectious, a sense of excitement and anticipation which cannot be avoided, and as I turn around to express all the joy to my companions, I am suddenly hit by a pungent smell. Potent and unmistakable it surrounds me from all directions, from the Yuppies in their suits in front, to the middle aged-“free love ambassadors”, behind me. By law, I am surrounded by criminals; law breaking vagrants who will surely turn nasty any minute. Surely I should escape, flee from these people “under the influence of dope” before the… more
Donate to The Vampire Trust today!
| July 1, 2011 | Posted by Amy Proudfoot under satire, science |
Every ten minutes, a vampire dies of thirst. The blood drought continues and, whatever recent media portrayals would have you believe, real vampires cannot survive on animal blood alone; in fact doing so causes them to lose their sparkle (not literal sparkle, those sort of vampires don’t deserve to be saved) and eventually, sadly, they die. This has caused vampire numbers to decrease to only 5% of their levels in the days of Bram Stoker, despite a perplexing new phenomenon where young teens actually want to be bitten. But you can help… Just forty minutes of your time (the actual donation only takes around ten minutes), every sixteen weeks, could help TVT keep a whole coven of vampires in blood,… more
A teaspoon full of DNA
| May 28, 2011 | Posted by Georgie Tindale under culture, reviews, science |
…Only using likeness could he grasp the white-faced hunters with a hand, could put them in a world where they were thinkable and not a random and unrelated irruption. He was picturing the hunters who went out with bent sticks in skill and malice. The people are like a famished wolf in the hollow of a tree… They are like the river and the fall… nothing stands against them. This is a vivid account of a creature trying to make sense of something incomprehensible and intimidating. When confronted with a race of people so different to his own, our speaker can only grasp at similarities (in the only terms he understands), and is completely incapable of understanding anything deeper about… more
Evolution: the end, or a new beginning?
| April 27, 2011 | Posted by Elliot Davies under international, science |
Is human evolution stagnating? It certainly is, states Professor Steve Jones, celebrated author and geneticist and one of the foremost authorities on evolution, who argues that the driving forces behind our evolution are one by one coming to a standstill. One such driving force is Darwin’s natural selection, the well-known process by which the best adapted creatures survive while those who do not fit their environment perish. But the trappings of modern society could be rendering all that irrelevant; whereas in the not-so-distant past half of all human children would have died by age 20, these days around 98 per cent of children are reaching at least age 21. According to Professor Jones, advancements in medicines and diets mean our… more
How nuclear reactors work
| April 3, 2011 | Posted by Elliot Davies under science, technology |
The current events in Japan have got many people wondering about nuclear power plants and the nuclear reactors inside them. Are they safe? Can they explode like an atomic bomb? How do they work? Let’s take a look. In actual fact, nuclear power plants work very similarly to the common coal-fired power plants. In both cases, fuel is used to heat water into steam which is then used to turn a turbine. The spinning turbine generates electricity which can then be directed to a country’s power grid; in the UK this is the National Grid. The difference lies in how the fuel is used. Fossil fuels like coal are burned, which produces the heat to boil the water, but nuclear… more
