Royal Society of Chemistry: Schools’ Analyst Competition

Last May, six Year 12 Chemistry students took part in the annual Royal Society of Chemistry Schools’ Analyst Competition.  This year, tasked with determining the culprit of a baking show (suspiciously similar in format to a well-known TV show) sabotage, the two groups of three had to utilise a range of practical techniques including titration, […]

Pro-life or Anti-women?

BY ANNABEL DAVIES While a dictionary may define pro-life as the idea that all lives matter and everyone is deserving of fundamental human rights, in practice, this is not the case. In reality, anti-abortion laws are simply a tool to control and police a woman’s body. On the 24th June 2022, the US Supreme Court […]

10 Women who have shaped Feminism

BY ANNABEL DAVIES Emmeline Pankhurst + the Suffragettes: When thinking of the feminist movement, one usually pictures the suffragettes; the brave women who caused civil unrest in order to grant women their basic right to vote. Pankhurst, often criticised for her militant tactics, lead this movement and is widely recognised for her contributions to achieving […]

Artificial photosynthesis: The future alternative to fossil derived fuels?

BY ALEXANDER LAWRENCE A recent UC Berkely article[1] announced the discovery of the mechanism of copper nanoparticles in the production of hydrocarbon and alcohol fuels from the reduction of carbon dioxide gas.  The team responsible utilised new electrochemical liquid cell and x-ray imaging technologies to capture the transition of these particles which measure roughly 7nm […]

Victorian Baby Farming

BY SOPHIE JESSETT The practice of ‘baby farming’ became a popular profession in Victorian society. In its most innocent state, it simply meant to foster or adopt a child in return for a payment. However, those with the power to do so, took advantage of the struggling poor and manipulated unmarried mothers into unwittingly sending […]

Salvia Divinorum: A historic herb with a unique chemistry

BY ALEXANDER LAWRENCE Salvia Divinorum, roughly translated to “Sage of the Diviners”, is a species of plant native to the Southeast of Mexico in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas. Originally documented in 1939, definitive identification was not completed until almost 30 years later in 1962 when Albert Hoffman (the chemist responsible for the original […]

Should Suella Braverman be sacked in light of Nadhim Zahawi?

BY ANNABEL DAVIES Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has sacked Conservative chairman Nadhim Zahawi on 29/01/2023 over a ‘serious breach’ of the ministerial code. But, the question remains that if breaking the ministerial code is now an offence worthy of being fired, why has Suella Braverman been reinstated as Home Secretary? What is the ministerial code? […]

How much reliance should we place on the MBTI test?

BY SASKIA HALEY It is human nature to want to know more about ourselves. I remember I used to have a lot of fun in the evenings when I was younger, taking different personality tests and watching videos to do with psychology. One evening, I came across the Myers Briggs Type Indicator test, a widely-used […]

Has anything positive come from COVID

BY EMILIA EGGAR COVID-19 changed the lives of many people and when we look back on what it changed, we remember all the negatives and forget that some things that came of it were positive. We can very easily forget about any positives that did arise from the pandemic as they get drowned within all […]

Waiting for Help

BY EMILY PAYNE Waiting for Help After an injury most people will attempt to go to A&E however, as many will know, you can’t walk straight in and be seen within the next ten minutes. Not even the next hour. The minimum time patients wait before being seen by a triage nurse is 4 hours […]