Category: Feature
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RZSS share the impact of lockdown on conservation
Talking to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, who own Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park, Ailie McWhinnie investigates the vital conservation work in Scotland and around the world that has taken a hit during the pandemic, and what we can do to help. The Cairngorm plateau, a wild and rugged landscape strewn with…
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Dissecting BP’s 2050 net-zero carbon pledge
Sami Cheqrouni Espinar examines the credibility of each of the aims outlined by BP to shift its position in a transforming energy sector. On the 12th of February 2020, BP set a company-wide ambition of achieving net-zero emissions by the year 2050. Bernard Looney, the current CEO of BP, stated, “the world’s carbon budget is…
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Reflections on the history of radiocarbon dating
Alice Spaccasassi explores what the history of radiocarbon dating can teach us about how we celebrate and remember scientific discoveries. Few recent discoveries in chemistry have affected as many scientific fields as radiocarbon dating. Archaeologists, geologists, oceanographers and many others use it to determine the age of objects up to 60,000 years old. For reference,…
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Turning invisible: lessons from cephalopod cells
Ellie Bennett looks at the way in which cephalopod cells might hold the key to turning our dreams of invisibility into a reality, albeit at the cellular level. There are few other classes of animal that conjure up such feverish images of deep-sea monsters or otherworldly aliens than that of the cephalopods. Translating from Greek…
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COVID-19, a disease of the blood vessels?
COVID-19 baffled doctors and scientists around the world with its strange symptoms and disproportionate mortality rates. Months after the onset of the pandemic, researchers may finally be closer to understanding how the disease manifests itself in patients. An important clue lies in the circulatory system. Early on, most COVID-19 patients showed signs and symptoms of…
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Lessons from the DRC as they emerge victorious in their 10th battle against Ebola
Simran Kapoor explores what the world can learn from the DRC’s success in combating Ebola, whilst they simultaneously grapple with political tensions, COVID-19, and a killer measles outbreak. Earlier this year, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) found itself in a dire situation. It was simultaneously confronting a measles outbreak and the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside…
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Myth-busting the Golden Ratio
[latexpage] The Golden Ratio is widely praised for its aesthetic beauty: has its significance been blown out of proportion? Number enthusiasts are likely familiar with the idea of the golden ratio, and the artistically minded may have heard of its applications in design. The golden ratio is a simple relation between two quantities commonly occurring…
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A coronavirus vaccine is desperately needed, but what are we willing to do to get it?
Tom Edwick dives into the ethics of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development. As we move into month four of lockdown, life as we knew it seems little more than a distant memory. Life in this new covid era has thrown up a lot of fun experiences that I wouldn’t have had to deal with otherwise, like having…
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You are what you eat: is cannibalism a good idea?
During lockdown I, like many, have been watching more TV shows. My most recent watch was Hannibal. For those who don’t know, Hannibal is a horror-thriller TV series which follows Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a forensic scientist and secret cannibal. Recently, writers and directors have been reframing cannibalism for entertainment purposes, treating their subjects not as…
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Is this it for Human Evolution?
Humankind, in all our arrogance, have always told ourselves that we were different from our animal relatives– that we were stronger, more intelligent, superior. Even the father of Evolution himself, Charles Darwin, talked extensively of how we may and should use the principle of natural selection to further our acts of domestication and agriculture. So…