Factual Freemen's - Winter 2021

Foreword Welcome!

We’re very pleased to present to you all the first edition of Factual Freemen’s.

Factual Freemen’s is a student-led scientific magazine that accepts articles from members of Freemen’s senior school. After much hard work, we have managed to produce 9 thought-provoking and mind-boggling scientific articles.

This edition’s theme is Christmas which is embodied by our various articles on Christmas psychology, such as the impact of the Christmas holidays on mental health, or whether a belief in Santa as a kid will affect later life. Of course, these are also accompanied by non-Christmas themed articles on various topics from different areas in STEM, such as how the CPU works, the healthiness of different types of sodas, and the logarithmic function.

We hope you find our articles interesting and educational.

Signed, Alison Kerr & Natalie Ho Co-Founders

1

2

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

P.9

Is it OK to Believe in Santa Claus?

by Angie (Tsz Wan) Chung, U4

P.17 3

Diet Soda VS Normal Soda: How Do They Compare?

by Alison Kerr, L6

P.14

How Does The CPU Work?

by Brandon Illavia, L6

CONTENTS

The Future of Humanity in Wall-E: Is it Accurate?

by Sidy Barry, L6

P.23

The Morals of Excavating Human Remains

by Amelia Castledine, L6

4

P.20

Christmas & Mental Health

by Emmanuella Adewole, L6

P.27

CONTENTS

P.31

The Next Pandemic is Coming: It’s Going to be Mental!

by Natalie Ho, L6

Logarithmic Function and E

by Kelsey (Kexin) Zhang, L6

P.38 5

P.35

Fox Myths: Misconceptions and Reality

by Genevieve (Yixuan) Guo, L6

CONTENTS

Upcoming STEM Competitions

P.43

6

P.42

Acknowledgements

FACTUAL FREEMEN’S

1 Diet Soda VS Normal Soda: How Do They Compare?

Normal Cola: Sugar, or sucrose, to be exact, is a disaccharide, made up of fructose and glucose. Sucrose is broken down by the enzyme sucrase, in the small intestine. Here, it is separated into fructose and glucose. Glucose is then absorbed directly across the lining of the small intestine and into the bloodstream2. It can then be combined with oxygen and turned into ATP in the mitochondria.

Introduction: Out of all sodas, I have chosen to focus on the most popular and the most well-known soda, Cola. I’m sure most people know what Cola is but do you know what Cola is made of? Normal Cola is sweetened with either sugar (sucrose) or high-fructose corn syrup which is used as sugar in the US. One 12 oz can of Cola has 39g of sugar which means that it is almost 9% sugar. Normal Cola also includes carbonated water, caramel colouring, phosphoric acid, caffeine and ‘natural flavouring’1, Unfortunately, the natural flavouring used is not disclosed to the public with only 2 of Cola executives knowing the full recipe. However, the most important item concerning soda is its effect on our health. This brings in the matter of which is better: artificial sweeteners or sugar?

The process of turning glucose into energy is called glycolysis3. During glycolysis, one molecule of glucose is split into 2 pyruvate molecules. However, during the formation of pyruvate ATP and NADH is formed (these are known as active carriers which are diffused between the cells and store, energy in the form of covalent bonds).

This is how: The pyruvate moves from the main part of the cytoplasm (the cytosol) into the mitochondria. Here, the pyruvate is converted into the carbon dioxide (which we exhale) and 2 carbon acetyl group. The 2 carbon acetyl group then attaches to coenzyme A (CoA) which is an active carrier, which transports acyl groups in the cell. This produces acetyl CoA which is another activate carrier molecule. Acetyl CoA is also produced by the oxidation of fatty acids. The acetyl CoA is linked together with the CoA by “high energy linkage” which is the binding of the acetyl molecule to a receiving protein (CoA). This makes it easier to transfer the acetyl group.

The acetyl group is then transferred to a molecule called oxaloacetate which has 4 carbon atoms.

7

Here, the acetyl group goes through a series of reactions called the citric acid cycle which results in the production of carbon dioxide and NADH (an electron carrier that transports electrons from donor molecule to acceptor molecule).

Fructose: Fructose, on the other hand, is a bit different.

Fructose, unlike glucose, is not controlled by the hormone insulin and is almost entirely metabolized in the liver. During fructolysis4, a phosphate group is introduced to fructose, forming fructose-6-p, which is catalysed by hexokinase.

Glucose: From there on the electrons from NADH is passed along an electron-transport chain (a chain of electron carrier molecules) within the inner membrane of the mitochondria. The transfer of the NADH’s electrons along the electron-transport chain releases the energy which is used to produce ATP along with oxygen molecules.

Glucose raises blood sugar levels which stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin for glucose to enter body cells (mitochondria) and produce energy.

Leptin is then produced by fat cells to signal to the hypothalamus that there is enough fat storage and that the body should stop eating. This makes glucose sound quite ideal to use to sweeten foods as it would limit the amount of sugar one could eat because of leptin. However, glucose isn't as sweet as fructose or sucrose so if we were to use pure glucose, the result would be that the food would be very high in calories to achieve the same sweetness that could be otherwise achieved with sucrose.

The enzyme fructokinase, present in the liver, catalyses the reaction between fructose-6-p and another phosphate group to form fructose 1phosphate. This reaction is not affected by insulin which means that fructose will disappear from a diabetic person’s bloodstream at a normal rate.

The enzyme aldolase B then splits fructose 1phosphate into glyceraldehyde and dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP).

Glyceraldehyde is then converted to glyceraldehyde3-phosphate via triokinase while DHAP is also getting converted into glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate by triose phosphate isomerase. Glyceraldhyde is then turned into pyruvate by the enzyme pyruvate kinase. The pyruvate then joins the pyruvate made by glucose to form acetyl CoA which is then stored as a fatty acid in a triglyceride (a lipid with 3 fatty acids and a glycerol). Some glyceraldhyde is coverted into glycerol by glycerol dehydrogenase which is then turned into glycerol-3-phosphate, found in triglycerides, by glycerol kinase.

8

Unlike glucose, fructose does not immediately raise blood-sugar levels and it also doesn’t signal to the fat cells to produce leptin which means that when we eat fructose, we don’t feel full. This is quite dangerous and has led to many health conditions such as diabetes, dyslipidemia5 (abnormal levels of cholesterol in the blood), leptin resistance which causes obesity, visceral adiposity (fat that wraps around your organs) and even cancer6. Fructose is transported through the liver by an intestinal epithelial cell called GLUT 5 amongst others. What is interesting about GLUT 5, however, is that it is often found in cancerous breast tissue7, which shows some correlation between fructose and cancer.

As of 2014, aspartame was the largest source of methanol10 in the American diet. Methanol is a toxic alcohol that is considered to be consumable in small amounts but toxic in large quantities. However, small amounts are also concerning when combined with free methanol because of enhanced absorption.

Free methanol (digested methanol) is created when aspartame is heated, though it can be found in some foods. If consumed regularly, it is dangerous because it breaks down to form formaldehyde, which is a carcinogen (cancer-causing) and a neurotoxin.

However, in 2006-2007, Ramazzi Institute conducted an experiment and found that aspartame increased the chances of malignant tumour growth11 in pregnant women. However, the American Cancer Society and European Food Safety Authority denies this12. The acceptable daily intake of aspartame is 40mg per kg of body weight in Europe while the amount of aspartame in one can of diet Cola is only 185mg. This means that someone weighing 68kg has to drink more than 15 cans of diet Cola to reach the unsafe amount. However, paired with substances like caffeine, diet Cola can be dangerous if consumed in large quantities.

Diet Cola: Diet Cola is sweetened with aspartame which is an artificial sweetener. Aspartame9 is a low-calorie sweetener that has been used for decades as a way to lower one’s intake of added sugars while still providing satisfaction from enjoying something sweet. Aspartame is about 200 times sweeter than sugar, so only a small amount of the sweetener is needed to match the sweetness provided by sugar.

Its ingredients are aspartic acid and phenylalanine.

Both are naturally occurring amino acids. Aspartic acid is produced by your body, and phenylalanine is an essential amino acid that you get from food.When your body processes aspartame, part of it is broken down into methanol. Consumption of fruit, fruit juice, fermented beverages, and some vegetables also contain or result in methanol production.

Despite institutions like the American Cancer Society and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) denying that aspartame causes cancer, many other institutes such as the researchers at the University of Sussex who found shortcomings with the assessment of aspartame done by the EFSA. “‘Sales of aspartame should be suspended’: EFSA accused of bias in safety assessment,” by Katy Askew.13 9

A 2016 paper in Physiology & Behavior reported, “there is a striking congruence between results from animal research and a number of large-scale, long-term observational studies in humans, in finding significantly increased weight gain, adiposity, incidence of obesity, cardiometabolic risk, and even total mortality among individuals with chronic, daily exposure to low-calorie sweeteners – and these results are troubling.”14 In 2012, Harvard published findings15 on the longest epidemiological study in humans16, which looked at aspartame consumption over an 18-year period. The researchers found a positive association between diet soda and total aspartame intake and risks for nonHodgkin lymphomas and multiple myeloma in men and leukemia in both men and women. However, the American Cancer Society considers the relation between aspartame and blood cancer insubstantial.

Diet Cola is marketed as a healthier option for people looking to lose weight. However, in a study conducted in 201717 shows that consuming diet Cola has no effect on weight loss and can even cause weight gain. This study was, however, conducted using aspartame solely from soda and sweetener pills so did not take into account the aspartame found in food.

10

However, we must also take into account the psychological effects of drinking diet Cola over normal, full-sugar Cola. After drinking diet Cola, we think that we were good because we drank diet Cola instead of normal Cola, and therefore reward ourselves with other sugary foods. This means that the calorie deficit caused by drinking diet Cola is lost as we gain the calories through other means and therefore surpass the advised amount of sugar that can be consumed safely.

Conclusion: Small amounts of aspartame are fine and can be used to replace the sugar in normal Cola safely.

However, treating diet Cola as a drink with zero calories and zero side effects can be dangerous.

Marketing diet Cola as the healthier option has led many people to believe that drinking diet Cola had no consequences on the body and reduced weight gain. While this is widely believed to be true, we still must remain critical and remember that any type of processed sugar/artificial sweetener is not nutritional and should never replace the nutritionally rich foods in our diet. With the rise of sugary, carbonated drinks, 42.4% of adults in the US during 2020 were considered obese. This statistic clearly shows the effect of sucrose and artificial sweeteners on our diet and how they cause insulin resistance, which causes diabetes, and leptin resistance in our bodies. The lack of exercise caused by the convenience of cars and other modes of transport have caused the general athleticism of the population to go down.

Considering this along with our sugary diets, deaths due to coronary heart disease and cardiac arrest have increased to 1 in 4 deaths in the US. This is caused by cholesterol deposits in the coronary artery which blocks blood flow to the heart.

Overall, you should remember to reduce your consumption of sugary items. After reading this article, what did you think? Would you rather drink diet soda or normal soda? (Or water?)

Bibliography: 1 Ivanov, Tatyana. “What Natural Flavorings Are in Coca-Cola?” LEAFtv, 27 May 2021, https://www.leaf.tv/articles/whatnatural-flavorings-are-in-coca-cola/.

2 Groves, Melissa. “Sucrose vs Glucose vs Fructose: What's the Difference?” Healthline, Healthline Media, 8 June 2018, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sucrose-glucose-fructose#absorption-and-use.

3 Alberts, B., Johnson, A., Lewis, J., Raff, M., Roberts, K. and Walter, P., 2021. How Cells Obtain Energy from Food. [online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26882/> [Accessed 28 October 2021].

4 Basnet, A., 2021. Metabolism of Fructose (Fructolysis) | Online Biochemistry Notes. [online] Online Biochemistry Notes | Biochemistry notes by Anup Basnet. Available at: <http://biocheminfo.com/2020/04/09/metabolism-of-fructosefructolysis/> [Accessed 28 October 2021].

5 Stanhope, Kimber L, and Peter J Havel. “Fructose consumption: considerations for future research on its effects on adipose distribution, lipid metabolism, and insulin sensitivity in humans.” The Journal of nutrition vol. 139,6 (2009): 1236S-1241S. doi:10.3945/jn.109.106641 6 Port AM, Ruth MR, Istfan NW. Fructose consumption and cancer: is there a connection? Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes. 2012 Oct;19(5):367-74. doi: 10.1097/MED.0b013e328357f0cb. PMID: 22922366.

7 Zamora-León, S P, et al. “Expression of the Fructose Transporter GLUT5 in Human Breast Cancer.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 5 Mar. 1996, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC39870/.

8 “Everything You Need to Know about Aspartame.” Food Insight, 26 Feb. 2021, https://foodinsight.org/everything-youneed-to-know-about-aspartame/.

9 Team, the Healthline Editorial. “The Truth about Aspartame Side Effects.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 17 Sept. 2018, https://www.healthline.com/health/aspartame-side-effects#aspartame.

10 Ralph G. Walton, Woodrow C. Monte,Dietary methanol and autism,Medical Hypotheses,Volume 85, Issue 4,2015,Pages 441-446,ISSN 0306-9877, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2015.06.025.

11 Landrigan, Philip J., and Kurt Straif. “Aspartame and Cancer – New Evidence for Causation.” Environmental Health, BioMed Central, 12 Apr. 2021, https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-021-00725-y.

12 “Request for Data on Aspartame.” European Food Safety Authority, https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/consultations/call/080924.

13 Askew, Katy. “'Sales of Aspartame Should Be Suspended': EFSA Accused of Bias in Safety Assessment.”

Foodnavigator.com, 2019, https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2019/07/22/Sales-of-aspartame-should-besuspended-EFSA-accused-of-bias-in-safetyassessment?utm_source=copyright&utm_medium=OnSite&utm_campaign=copyright 14 Fowler SP. Low-calorie sweetener use and energy balance: Results from experimental studies in animals, and largescale prospective studies in humans. Physiol Behav. 2016 Oct 1;164(Pt B):517-23. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.04.047.

Epub 2016 Apr 26. (abstract) 15 Lawless, Kristin. “The Story of How Fake Sugar Got Approved Is Scary as Hell.” VICE, 20 Apr. 2017, https://www.vice.com/en/article/nzpbkx/the-story-of-how-fake-sugar-got-approved-is-scary-as-hell.

16 Schernhammer, Eva S, et al. “Consumption of Artificial Sweetener- and Sugar-Containing Soda and Risk of Lymphoma and Leukemia in Men and Women.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, American Society for Nutrition, 24 Oct. 2012, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3497928/.

17 Azad, Meghan B., et al. “Nonnutritive Sweeteners and Cardiometabolic Health: A Systematic Review and MetaAnalysis of Randomized Controlled Trials and Prospective Cohort Studies.” CMAJ, CMAJ, 17 July 2017, https://www.cmaj.ca/content/189/28/E929.

11

FACTUAL FREEMEN’S

2 Is it Okay to Believe in Santa Claus?

On the other hand, other families believe that the Santa Claus myth is a magical story that can teach their children the value of generosity. Although an old man flying around the world in a sleigh led by flying reindeer is physically impossible, the magic of Santa Claus is a traditional tale that has been passed down for many generations.

Introduction: More and more parents nowadays face the dilemma, “Should I tell my children that the Santa Claus myth is not true or should I let them believe in the tale?”

The belief that letting children believe in Santa is wrong has been gaining in popularity, especially over the past few years. Some parents think that by allowing their kids to believe in the Santa myth, they are lying to them, and presume that the inevitable time when they find out the truth will negatively affect their children.

For many families, incorporating Santa traditions into their holiday celebrations creates joyful memories that last a lifetime. It also provides opportunities for shared beliefs, play, and reliving a childhood memories, all whilst encouraging empathy, kindness and generosity.

12

History has shown us that some of the most influential people of all time had a very active imagination and high creativity levels. World renowned writers, scientists, inventors and Nobel Prize winners — like Albert Einstein — are those who let their imagination and creative minds run wild.

Benefits: Believing in Santa Claus can benefit children’s behavioral development as an avenue for creativity, imagination and play. There are developmentally appropriate ways to sensitively and honestly respond to your child’s questions about him, such as not directly answering the question, but rather letting them think.

Contrary to the belief that the Santa tale can be harmful to children, a group of psychologists and psychiatrists have established a theory that the myth can be healthy for a child’s growth.

They explain that believing in a mythical figure is part of a child’s imagination. As Dr. Matthew Lorber, a child psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, explains, imagination is a significant component of people’s childhood and leads to the healthy development of their character.

Certainly, imagination can boost their linguistic and thinking skills. Children, especially when playing with others or when making an imaginary friend, inevitably start experimenting with their vocabulary. They repeat words they hear and learn every day; they make mistakes and come up with creative solutions to those problems. The Santa Claus myth can boost their language capacity as many children are often excited to send Santa a letter. It becomes an ideal chance to write a formal letter outside of the structured school environment.

Furthermore, Christmas time is definitely a period when a family comes closer together. Parents like to spend quality time with their children and telling them stories, including the one about Santa, which leads to happy and comforting moments. These strengthen the bonds between family members and create memories that last a lifetime. More importantly, family can tell children a story about who they are and the importance of family.

In fact, Explaining the real story of Saint Nicholas may be an even better way to teach them good values. After all, Saint Nicholas helped the poor by offering them money and gifts. What better a chance to help children learn the importance of generosity, assistance and openness to inspire them while growing up?

However, while there certainly are many benefits to protecting children’s belief in Santa, it might not be morally OK to lie to children about his existence.

Critical Thinking Development: Most children have a positive reaction to their Santa discovery. Discovering the truth about Santa is part of growing up and a sign that the child is developing critical thinking skills.

Psychologist Jean Piaget, the pioneer of cognitive development, proposed that between the ages of four and eight, children enter the ‘concrete operational stage’ of thinking.

This stage is marked by questions. Children become skeptical, using their critical thinking skills to try to figure things out. They experiment, evaluate evidence and analyse with reasoning. They start asking “Can one man really fly all around the world in one night?”.

13

Children learn to think for themselves and they use their newfound critical thinking skills to solve the Santa mystery. This is all developmentally appropriate and signifies important learning.

Conclusion: Ultimately, what is important for parents to know is that the story of the old man in red and white giving out presents in December will not harm their children. Rather, letting them believe in it will help them grow and develop their young minds.

14

FACTUAL FREEMEN’S

3 How Does The CPU Work?

Introduction: Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes while you’re busy playing your favourite video game, messaging your group chat, or maybe even writing an article that you forgot to do that is due for tomorrow? Once you dig deeper into it, the inside of the computer really is not that daunting as it is usually made out to be.

The motherboard is the main circuit board inside your computer that connects all the different parts together. It’s also known as the mainboard, mobo, MB or system board. A motherboard connects all the individual parts together.

Components:

Able to execute more than a billion instructions per second, the central processing unit acts as the heart and brain of the computer, in which it performs most of the processes inside your own computer.

Most people use the word “processor” and “CPU” interchangeably, but this is not technically correct, seeing that the CPU is just a single processor within the PC (personal computer). Every time you press a key, click the mouse, open an application, or even turn on the computer, you’re sending instructions to the CPU. The CPU speed is measured in gigahertz (GHz). The faster the processor, the more instructions it can execute and carry out quicker.

Given this, the actual computer speed depends on the speed of the other components.

Generally, the CPU consists of some key components: the control unit (CU), the arithmetic logic unit (ALU), registers, the cache, buses, and a clock. Each one of these components work interdependently to allow the CPU processing. The control unit sends signals to coordinate how the processor works. The arithmetic logic unit performs simple multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, and logical operations.

How it Works: When you visit a website, you will probably notice the logo or a picture towards the top of the page.

Every time you visit a different page on the site, your browser could re-download that menu or picture, but that would be unnecessary.

15

Instead, your browser stores all these things inside the cache — images, code, and many other files, so it can avoid having to redownload them each time you load them up. By allowing the cache, your browser can run a lot faster given that it does not need to redownload a bunch of files. The cache is the faster memory that is used to temporarily hold data that the CPU is likely to reuse. (Clearing your cache can be useful sometimes.)

RAM & ROM:

Once in a while, you might encounter a site that stops working, and the solution could be clearing the cache. The browser will store files so when the site is updated, your browser might still use old files. If the cache isn’t cleared, old forms of the site may be shown which can cause the common display or access problems.

However, do not confuse these with “cookies”.

The ones where the site will ask you whether you “accept” them or “decline” them (not the ones you eat, unfortunately).

Cookies store information about everything you do online. By browsing online or adding things to your shopping basket, it is all saved using a cookie. Even though they do give lots of your information away, they keep track of all the sites you are logged into so by clearing your cookies you will need to log back into all your accounts.

Random access memory (RAM), in simple terms, is your system’s short-term memory. RAM resembles a stick. It’s a thin piece of hardware that is placed inside the motherboard. As soon as your computer performs a function, the data will be temporarily stored in RAM until it is needed once again. Everything in the RAM disappears once you turn your computer off, so whatever word document, spreadsheet, or tab you have open will be lost. This is called volatile memory.

Obviously, there are ways to prevent losing your data every time you switch off your computer. By saving a file, the data written on the word document or spreadsheet will be written to the hard drive. Simply, the hard drive is long term memory.

On the other hand, the read-only memory (ROM) is the system’s permanent storage. Being the primary memory unit of the computer, data can only be read from this memory. It is located on the motherboard and contains the basic instructions for what is being executed when a computer is being powered on. ROM is a type of nonvolatile memory meaning that information is maintained even if you turn your computer off, while conversely, RAM is the opposite – volatile.

Synchrony: Finally, the CPU contains a clock. This is used to coordinate each of the components within the computer.

16

To keep the components synchronised, it sends out an electrical pulse. The frequency is called the “clock speed” and the quicker the clock speed, the more instructions that can be performed at each moment in time. During the 1980s, processors usually ran at 3.5 million pulses per second. In contrast, processors used today usually run between 3.5 billion pulses per second.

Conclusion: These are the basic components within your computer and the CPU. However, there are hundreds of different components within the computer that perform all sorts of things.

17

FACTUAL FREEMEN’S

4 The Future of Humanity in Wall-E: Is it Accurate?

Introduction: WALL-E is a beloved movie engraved deeply in many of our hearts, with its heart-rending story of a robot vying for companionship. The main plot, however, happens because of a troop of humans who have been out in space on a ship known as the Axiom. The ship was meant to be out in space for 5 years but stayed out for 700 years, in which time humans became a bunch of technology-dependent, lazy people.

In this article, I will be discussing how plausible and how accurate the changes that the human race went through are. There will be WALL-E spoilers, but it came out in 2008, so if you’re worried about spoilers, you have your priorities in the wrong place.

Plot Realism: Firstly, since the Axiom (at the time of the movie) had been away from the Earth for 700 years.

Obviously the plot isn’t plausible or reasonable in the slightest, since humanity has a long way to go before it finds a fuel source sustainable enough to power a ship big enough to carry the whole population for 700 years in the solitary vacuum of space. Getting past this major inconvenience, the facts behind WALL-E are leaning in the right direction. In the movie, it is mentioned by the first president of the launch that the worsening diet of the humans is causing their bones to shrink, and the amount of fat in their body to grow, causing them to become big and almost babyish in looks.

However, this isn’t quite accurate. Spending prolonged amounts of time in space would usually result in bone deterioration, true.

18

However, contrary to what the movie says, it would be a lot more severe. According to the statistic recorded by NASA, for every month in space, human bones become roughly 1-1.5% less dense.

Now, imagine how much of an impact this would have over 700 years, as has happened in WALL-E. By the time our protagonist robot got to the Axiom, it’d likely be full of sentient blobs of flesh, with little to no bone. In fact, this severe loss in bone density is one of the big problems surrounding the ambitious Mars trip.

The journey would be very long, and bone density would plummet by about 6-8% on average. If the loss is that severe, we could imply that humanity would probably not survive a 700 year-long trip in space, even if they had the appropriate fuel and materials.

However, this isn’t the end of it. The security in the Axiom seems good, and they have robots to take care of many things, such as cleanliness, but are these robots really reliable? It takes time for robots that aren’t working to be spotted, as humans are shown to barely pay attention to anything but their screens. A robot breakdown may occur and depending on the type of robot that has broken down, this could very well lead to a large number of deaths.

RIDGE Hazards: NASA has a list of hazards that they have people checking regularly whenever astronauts go into space.

They summarise it with the acronym RIDGE (space Radiation, Isolation & confinement, Distance from earth, Gravity fields, and hostile/closed Environments).

The Axiom is no longer anywhere near to the Earth, meaning Distance from Earth is unnecessary, and it is large, so Isolation and confinement is also not a problem.

However, there are still 3 predominant hazards that need to be worried about.

Space radiation requires a lot of shielding to prevent; otherwise, there is an increased chance of cancer developing. Radiation also needs constant monitoring, which would be challenging all over the ship.

While shielding is plausible, Gravity fields would be impossible to deal with. With the Axiom’s 700 year voyage in space, it likely has encountered many different gravity fields.

As the trip was only meant to last 5 years, it isn’t likely they would have been ready to combat different gravities. Entering a different gravity then returning to a regular one so suddenly can cause post-flight orthostatic intolerance where the body has trouble maintaining its blood pressure while standing, which would no doubt be an issue for the earlier generations aboard the Axiom.

The last factor is hostile/closed Environments. This means that if diseases find their way onboard the ship, they will very easily spread, resulting in a need to have air quality being monitored at all times. With the possibility of robot malfunction, this isn’t very plausible.

Back to Normal…

Now, assuming the humans did manage to survive all this, would they be able to go back to living the way they were before?

19

The answer is no, sadly. Although the humans manage to create emotional moments towards the end of the movie by suddenly standing up to save WALL-E, this is biologically impossible.

As earlier stated, their bone density has gone down by an extreme amount, and even if it’s only to the extent shown in the movie, standing up still wouldn’t be possible.

The bones have shrunk to the extent that they may as well be accessories. There is nothing connecting them, neither joints nor ligaments to link them, making it impossible not only to stand, but to hold objects, as they are shown to do in the movie multiple times. Even if they were somehow able to support themselves, the bones are so thin and the humans are so overweight that the bones would likely snap just supporting their weight. The humans being able to stand is a very nice touch which adds emotion to the movie, but it isn’t scientifically or logically possible.

Conclusion: In summary, WALL-E has a lot of scientific weak points that essentially disprove it, and there are more that I haven’t touched on. However, as much as I find the movie impossible, it’s nice to enjoy, and there are a lot of messages behind it as long as you try to enjoy it, instead of analysing every bit.

20

FACTUAL FREEMEN’S

5 Christmas & Mental Health Introduction: Christmas is quite the festival in the west. From sitting comfortably around the TV, cuddled up on the sofa watching the designated christmas movie to fighting for your life and the best deal at the department store… Is it really necessary for our emotions to correspond with the bright fairy lights and warm hearths that symbolise the season? How do we truly feel during Christmas?

Mental Health During Holidays: For those who suffer from mental health disorders, Christmas can be quite difficult; huge gatherings and the worry of buying the ideal presents can add up to a large amount of stress.

The constant reminder that you should feel happy might have the opposite effect for many people.

Not to mention that for students, holidays may not feel like a holiday at all, since exams do not disappear and they still spend a lot of their time stressing about them.

In recent years, we’re facing an ever greater stress around holidays: the stress of the next possible lockdown and further uncertainties for students on how the COVID-19 pandemic may affect their futures. Isolation for some can be just as detrimental as stressful social situations.

21

Specifically during winter periods of longer nights and shorter days — long periods of darkness — can cause people to feel involuntarily down or depressed. Some scientists believe that this may stem from a lack of vitamin D due to reduced periods of sunlight1.

So back to self preservation. Self preservation can be communicated as emotional insecurity, as many human conditions are. It is, in fact, destructive. Many of the things that self preservation tells us are extremes that aren’t even true. So, we must simply take a breath and a step back. Ask yourself: Why am I feeling this way?

What is the Science behind these Feelings, and How can we Best Look After Ourselves as we Get Closer to the Holidays?

All mammals, in some form or the other experience anxiety — a tragedy, I know.

Previously, our anxieties seemed to stem from a need for survival, but it manifests itself more subtly nowadays.

Since we no longer have to fight to survive, our survival instincts have been translated into self preservation. Self preservation aims at gaining, maintaining, and improving life2. As we are social animals, we use social interaction as the base for a lot of our development. Many scientific discoveries come from the sharing of ideas, and many of the largest companies are built on nepotism. Universities even have this in the form of alumni.

It stems further past the inbreeding monarchs and to a more tribal system. (Tribes were based on where you were born and who you married.)

Often the answer is sitting right in front of us and we simply have to ask the question. Sometimes it may seem like there is no answer but your feelings are still completely valid.

What can I do to make myself more comfortable?

Remember that your health should always take priority.

Try to avoid situations which put this at risk.

And finally… Countdown from 10.

It is quite amazing what simply counting down from 10 can do. Deep breathing counteracts the fight or flight stress reaction that underlies anxiety.

Social Media and Scrooge: I suppose the easiest way to explain this point is to look at the classic novella of ‘A Christmas Carol’. In the story, the main character Ebenezer Scrooge discovers the gift of giving, reforms his life and becomes a good man, blah blah blah. Real life isn’t nearly as nice as that. The two things I would like to cover in this section are the psychological response to gift giving and the comparison of wealth to others.

Subconsciously, we as humans recognise the importance of social interaction, the stress behind this can manifest itself as social anxiety: the constant feeling that everyone has negative feelings towards you or that you are always doing something wrong. For some, this anxiety can be induced by big events like exams or speeches, and for others, this feeling of stress hardly ever comes.

22

Some may interpret A Christmas Carol as social commentary on poverty and rich people, and how their selfishness affects those less fortunate than them, but there is a more obscure view. A Christmas Carol is also a story about a man discovering the great response to kindness. Scrooge had never gone out of his way to give in his pursuit of wealth. Christmas is the classic season of giving, so it is the perfect time to be more charitable.

In fact, studies show it is less about the amount of money but the act of giving that makes us feel good.

When you give, the hormone oxytocin known as the “happy hormone” is released from the pituitary gland deep within your brain. Interestingly, oxytocin has been shown to facilitate relationships with others and is strongly associated with positive social behaviors. You could try volunteering or helping out a friend — there are so many ways you can help others whilst simultaneously helping out yourself.

Social media has a chokehold on the current generation, both young and old. As much as we campaign and explain that with social media what you see isn’t always what you get, it doesn’t change the fact that we instinctively take everything we see at face value. Although the Christmas season is meant to be a period of family time and sharing love, it has quickly become a very commercial holiday. It is no coincidence that Black Friday sales occur so close to Christmas. For those who aren’t blessed with wealth, it can be a difficult time when their financial shortcomings feel the most prevalent, and the need to be a part of the giftgiving festivities may leave some with debt to carry into the new year.

Back to the Science: Scientists have long since been boggled by mental health. The stigma is starting to fade and they have even started to investigate the biology at a molecular level3 but the fact remains that humans are fascinating beings.

Although sometimes your feelings may feel illogical, they happen for a reason. It is simply your body trying to ensure your safety.

Conclusion: Even when I think about it and I don't particularly see the magic of Christmas anymore (I think it fades away once you enter adolescence), you begin to realise how hard it is to live — I suppose it's better to call it surviving — and frivolous holidays don't provide much of an escape from that. If anything, they are a constant reminder that time has passed and the clock of life is constantly ticking down.

Just because Christmas is a time of jubilation and happiness doesn’t mean you can’t feel sad from time to time. Exercise the act of giving as it will probably make you feel better, spread love to yourself and your family members and if you ever feel alone remember to talk to someone because Christmas *insert cheesy quote here*.

“For it is in giving that we receive.” ~ St. Francis of Assisi

23

Bibliography: 1 Anglin, R. E. S., Samaan, Z., Walter, S. D. and McDonald, S. D. (2013) “Vitamin D deficiency and depression in adults: systematic review and meta-analysis,” British Journal of Psychiatry. Cambridge University Press, 202(2), pp. 100–107. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.111.106666.

2 International Pathwork Foundation. (2013). Distortions of the Instincts of Self-Preservation and Procreation. [online] Available at: https://pathwork.org/lectures/distortions-of-the-instincts-of-selfpreservation-and-procreation/ [Accessed 8 Nov. 2021].

3 Chem.ox.ac.uk. n.d. Unravelling molecular mechanisms of mental health | Department of Chemistry. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/article/unravelling-molecularmechanisms-of-mental-health#/. [Accessed 9 November 2021].

24

FACTUAL FREEMEN’S

6 The Morals of Excavating Human Remains Introduction:

Cultural Differences in Ethics:

Archeology may be dealing with objects far removed from our modern life, but the treatment of excavated material and the morals and ethics that dictate this remain a core principle within the subject.

More recently, human remains discovered by excavation were treated less sympathetically than done by modern standards. Remains were ripped from their countries and sold too high bidding private collectors and museums.

As with all other areas of academic study, Archeologists are bound by codes of conduct that provide guidance for their activities both on and offsite.

Well known examples of this include the bodies of Egyptian pharaohs which were sold to many western museums and continue to be displayed today, in line with other surreptitiously obtained artefacts from archaeology’s colonial beginnings.

Human remains were treated as a commodity for sale, not dissimilar to the other artefacts discovered at the time. Archeology was closer to an antiques market than a field of study. The bodies excavated were treated not as the remains of a once living human being, but as interesting decor.

The discovery of human remains is one of the most common occurrences that bring the ethics and morals of the field to the forefront. These guiding principles have changed and evolved over time, in line with archeology itself, emerging from the opportunist looting of Victorian times into the regulated scientific field of today.

Modern archeologists’ views differ greatly from these early beginnings of archaeology, but many still worry about a new form of “academic colonialism”. With the ethical question of excavating human remains, many archaeologist’s views are implicitly warped by Christian and western-centric perceptions of death. While archaeologists’ studies of the dead are rarely personal and bodies often become objects for study, this leaves space for the disregard of cultural differences.

25

Western beliefs and rituals surrounding a death can differ greatly from those found around the world, so in order to adequately question the ethics of bone excavation, cultural and religious context need to be considered. Despite this, when dealing with human remains, there is a continued Christian prejudice and disregard for the cultural practices of non-christian, prehistoric or even simply non-recent graves. Pre-historic graves in particular are treated merely as a source of scientific study.

This leaves a lot of questions as to when we deem the religion and cultural practices pertinent to a set of human remains important.

When archeologists encounter the problems that arise from these questions, they often fall back on the Antiquarian or purely scientific viewpoint: “Only the cultural-historical value is important.” Ethical questions are seen as separate from archaeology; in essence, “someone else’s problem”. This disconnect has led to a rise in ethics debate within the field.

Today’s theory, despite claims it is ‘postcolonial’, still suffers from Western bias and a desire to see what we want to see.

There is some question as to whether to this discussion is nothing more the intellectual newcolonialism in the disguise of a well-meaning debate of ethics and morals. This warping by Christian morals can lead to misinterpretation through asking the wrong questions and coming to the wrong conclusions through a predetermined worldview. It is important to not only question our own perceptions but others as well in order not to use ethics without considering their impact upon the excavation. It is not about using western ethics at all, but whether or not that’s the correct decision for that excavation.

Scientific Value & Respect: The question of whose bodies we deem acceptable to excavate goes beyond culture but also what is scientifically valuable, which is also intrinsically linked the age of the body. People carry donor cards allowing for posthumous use of their organs in transplants, and others donate their bodies to science, but the bodies excavated by archeologists are mostly of people who would never expect such a disturbance.

To excavate someone’s bones is a violation of their original burial and to do so without historical or scientific value would remove any respect for the remains.

However, the idea of having ‘respect’ for human remains is somewhat flawed, as at the stage of excavation all that remains is bones. With any disturbance or destructions of human remains, it remains unclear as to how this would be disrespectful to the dead themselves. In a similar vein, do we only treat bones with reverence simply because of the knowledge of them once being a person, or due to a sense of ‘respect’?

26

The word has become something of a buzzword in the discussion of archeological ethics, but many people find it hard to define how an archeologist should “respect” the dead.

There are clear ways in which someone could be shown to disrespect the dead, such as destruction of bones after excavation and scientific study is complete. But is there a comprehensive way to catalogue set guidelines as to how we should treat human remains? I’d argue no. If anything, the lack of immediate harm created by not treating the dead with sufficient respect should be enough to convince a person that the ethics that guide the excavation of bones should go beyond a handbook or textbook, but into the realms of personal nuanced decision.

Conclusion: The ethics of bone excavation go beyond a simple tried-and-tested guide or the regulations set out by countries and other groups. The world is a mix of cultures and beliefs that form the basis of their own ethical systems, past and present, and it’s these we should look to when deciding whether to excavate. The ethical system chosen does not only need to reflect that of the subject being excavated, but also what is deemed necessary for the archeologist.

Archeology is as much about the excavation as it is about those completing its work, as well as the wider world. Scientific and historical values also come into play. Overall, the ethics of bone excavation are complicated and nuanced and by no means all-encompassing. The most important thing, however, is the treatment of bones fitting not within a specific set of rules but being allowed to choose between many.

Archeology is full of grey areas and the ethics that guide it should reflect this.

27

Bibliography: 1 http://www.archaeologyexpert.co.uk/ethicsandmorals.html 2 https://www.theposthole.org/read/article/350 3 Kaliff, Anders, and Terje Oestigaard. "Excavating the kings' bones: the materiality of death in practice and ethics today." BAR INTERNATIONAL SERIES 1768 (2008): 47.

4 SCARRE, GEOFFREY. “Archaeology and Respect for the Dead.” Journal of Applied Philosophy, vol.

20, no. 3, Wiley, 2003, pp. 237–49, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24355053

28

FACTUAL FREEMEN’S

7 The Next Pandemic is Coming: It’s Going to be Mental!

Introduction: Bill Gates warned us that it was coming. Five years ago, Microsoft’s co-founder and multi-billionaire warned the world about an impending global pandemic during a Ted Talk, which has now amassed over three billion views worldwide. In the talk titled “The next outbreak? We’re not ready.”, Gates discussed the lessons learnt from Western Africa’s 2014 Ebola crisis and declared that international governments were not prepared for the foreseeable pandemic that would hit them.

What are the Common Mental Health Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Sadly, Bill Gates was right. On January the 5th, 2020, the COVID-19 virus was officially declared a global healthcare level threat by the World Health Organisation and now, almost two years in, we still are not yet clear of this once-in-a-generation global contagion.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an exponential increase in the number of mental health problems reported over the past 18 months.

An investigation conducted by Statista showed that the percentage of adults living in the United States displaying symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder tripled between 2019 and 2020, increasing from 11% to 42.4%.

So, if Gates was right the first time, when should we expect the next pandemic?

Unfortunately, it is bad news for us. The next pandemic is here already, and we don’t have any vaccines or monoclonal antibody therapy to fight it.

The death rate that comes with it is higher than COVID-19, and social distancing or lockdowns will only make it worse, because this time, the cause is not infective: it’s a mental health pandemic.

So what does mental health got to do with a viral infection? You never hear of this issue when it’s influenza season.

Quite simply, this COVID-19 pandemic has been longer, harder, and far more damaging than we could ever have imagined. Although whilst people like Bill Gates have said that we should have been prepared for such events, even they could not have predicted the severity of pandemic.

But this doesn’t mean that it won’t be more devastating if we don’t deal with it in time.

29

Similarly, the mental health effects of COVID-19 are also more profound than usual, and can even affect those who don’t actually contract the virus. The devastating problem with mental illness is that, unlike other medical conditions, it does not just affect the one person, but also has a knock-on effect on those around them — especially close family members. In this regard, it is more ‘infectious’ than the virus itself. A WHO report suggests that mental health issues play a part in the death of over 40% of individuals, and those with mental health disorders tend to die 5 years earlier than those not afflicted.

Whilst it appears that most eventually will ‘shake off’ these effects, it is believed that for a small number, this may become a chronic condition. The loss of self-worth associated with this, for the individual, is incalculable.

Different Perspectives:

From a family standpoint, COVID has created a different but no less devastating effect on mental health. One of the most direct manifestations of this is due to the infective nature of COVID-19. Many relatives have been unable to comfort, personally care for, or be at the last moments of a loved one that unfortunately lost their battle with the virus. Being able to care for and say goodbye to a family member can be a great help within the grieving process. Being robbed of this ‘sense of closure’ is likely to make the grieving process harder and further increase the mental burden on surviving family members.

From an individual standpoint, COVID can have several ways to exerts its effect on mental health. Firstly, just contracting the virus can cause the patient to feel stigmatized, especially if they pass it on to family or friends. The sense of harming a loved one — especially if it causes the death of that person — will have a devastating effect on the person’s psyche.

These effects have been even worse for members of the healthcare profession. Faced with the initial unknown nature of the pandemic and the lack of adequate protective equipment, frontline medical workers have been described as ‘being on their knees’ in response to the crisis by media representations, with many warning us of an even worse mental health epidemic amongst the frontline healthcare workforces.

Secondly, if the patient develops severe symptoms of COVID, especially for those who need intensive care, they will be forced, for maybe the first time, to face their own mortality. The elation of survival can be quickly replaced with the horrors of the near-death experience, similar to those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

For the most part, healthcare workers are psychologically resilient professionals highly trained to deal with death and loss. But the elevated death toll, mental and physical burnout from working overtime, and the constant stress of their own safety and the people around them have undoubtedly placed healthcare workers at additional risk for developing mental health problems. The magnitude of the sacrifices made daily by these dedicated people will not be without consequences.

Finally, the COVID-19 virus can have long-lasting medical effects for those who do contract the virus. From research so far, up to 1 in 3 people who have contracted COVID described experiencing lethargy, persisting pains as well lingering neurological and cognitive symptoms such as difficulty thinking and fumbling over simple words.

In fact, even prior to the pandemic, this group was recognized as having the highest rates of stress, mental burnout, drug and alcohol dependence and high suicide rates. Large numbers of individuals working long-term in the NHS have quit their jobs and the loss of this talent will need time and resources to replace.

30

Global Lockdown: Lockdown itself has caused a number of interpersonal issues. The rates of domestic violence, separations and divorce filings have skyrocketed over the past 18 months. Families who were able to coexist happily with each other during a normal routine found themselves unable to tolerate each other when they have to be together 24/7. Physical violence both for the victim and the perpetrator can carry a high mental toll and the ensuing separation and divorce is likely to widen the psychological damage to the entire family unit, especially the children. Left unresolved, these children could potentially carry the scar of this trauma into their own adult lives and perpetuate their trauma onto the next generation.

With the global lockdown has come the massive global recession which has hit world economies and the financial status of everyone around the world.

Many people have lost their jobs, and with it, their financial stability and self-esteem. It is well known that depression and unemployment go hand in hand, and with millions out of jobs, this adds a further burden to the mental health of those affected.

So How Do We Deal with This?

The difficulty in tackling this mental health pandemic is the common misconception that “it won’t affect me”. Most sufferers will be in denial that they have a mental health problem. But the first step in dealing with any problem is to first admit that there is one.

So, in order for any solutions put in place to be fully effective, responses from local, nationwide, and worldwide representations must be called on to collectively decide on how best we can educate the public about the current pandemic on our mental health and come up with strategies to tackle the inevitable mental health crisis coming our way.

Without public education, those affected just will not recognize that they have a problem.

Given that the majority of psychological cases are dealt with by emergency first-responders and frontline healthcare workers with relatively low experience of mental health issues, many cases may be missed on the patient’s first contact with the medical profession.

31

As for hospital staff and health departments, there are a number of strategies they can implement to ensure that patients in their wards are as wellsupported as possible.

For example, panic-inducing news channels constantly bombarding us with statistics of death tolls and the pandemic should be turned off. The staff can instead encourage patients to engage in mindful activities such as reading, solving puzzles, and non-strenuous exercise. It is important that nurses who have direct contact with patients try to understand the world from their patient’s perspectives and tailor their care accordingly.

The creation of specific guidelines must be set out by health departments and governments to help all first responders and frontline healthcare workers how to seamlessly diagnose, care for, and treat patients with psychological illnesses. Increasing direct access to mental healthcare professionals and informing the public about how they can do so will also help to reduce the number of people who “slip through the net”.

For better or for worse, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed us, the people around us, and the world around us. But as we come closer to reaching herd immunity and a possible end to the COVID 19 pandemic, it is paramount that, more than ever, we do not turn a blind eye to the mental health crisis brewing just beneath the surface.

Healthcare workers, teachers and governments are well-positioned to support students, patients, and the general public during this trying time.

Dealt with wrongly, the mental health pandemic could be more devastating than the COVID pandemic we are facing now.

Simple solutions such as offering stress management and coping methods to the public / students at schools should be put into effect as soon as possible. Increasing the availability of walk-in appointments with a mental health specialist in school and workplaces will also help decrease the number of undiagnosed mental illnesses and new psychological problems being developed.

Addressing the social stigma associated with such illnesses must be another first step taken by governmental bodies, influencers, and people in higher positions when tackling this crisis.

People suffering and living with mental health issues should stop feeling ashamed of their condition and speak out about their own experiences to inspire others to see mental health specialists if needed.

32

Bibliography: 1 Business Insider. 2021. Mental health problems to be next pandemic after COVID-19 crisis says study. [online] Available at: [Accessed 13 November 2021].

2 Dias, M. and Bunn, S., 2021. Mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on adults. [online] POST. Available at: [Accessed 13 November 2021].

3 Mind.org.uk. 2021. [online] Available at: [Accessed 13 November 2021].

4 governmentevents.co.uk. 2021. Flattening a Different Curve: A Blueprint for Covid-19 Recovery? – Government Events. [online] Available at: [Accessed 13 November 2021].

5 Daily Maverick. 2021. Sponsored Content: Is Mental Health the next pandemic?. [online] Available at: [Accessed 13 November 2021]

33

FACTUAL FREEMEN’S

8 Logarithmic Function and E Introduction:

Earthquake with an intensity (I)’s magnitude (M) where I0 is the measure of a zero-level earthquake

No, this article is not about a random letter in the alphabet. e is a powerful number in the world of mathematics. But before we dig deeper into e, we need to first take a look at the logarithmic functions.

D = decibel level in dB I = intensity of sound in Wm-2 In = intensity threshold of the least audible sound a human can hear (1 x 10-12 Wm-2)

Logarithmic functions are inverses of exponential functions. Common logarithmic (logx) has base 10, natural logarithmic has a base e (lnx). The relationship between a logarithmic and exponential function is as thus:

How much is 1000000x100000000?

This is where the logarithmic function steps in.

Logarithmic functions are used to represent large data as they reduce the size of numbers and make them easier to handle. There is an enormous difference between 105 and 1023.

Taking a base 10 log, these numbers are now 5 and 23, making them much more manageable.

This has practical uses. For example, in chemistry, the concentration of hydroxyl can vary by more than 100 trillion times between strong alkalis and strong acids. The pH scale is logarithmic, each increase in 1 pH of a solution meaning 10 times more hydrogen ions present per cubic decimetre (dm3). Some other real-life applications include the Richter scale for the magnitude of earthquakes. It is a base-10 logarithmic scale, meaning that each order of magnitude is 10 times more intensive than the last one. Each increase in level means 32 times more energy.

Graph of common logarithmic (logx) and natural logarithmic (lnx):

34

The brightness of stars is also based on a logarithmic scale. Each increase in one stellar magnitude means a star is 2.51 times dimmer. In the decibel scale for measuring sound, a sound 10 times greater in intensity than near silence will be measured as 10 dB; a sound 100 times more intense than 0 dB will be measured as 20 dB; a sound 1,000 times greater in intensity than near silence will be measured as 30 dB, and so on.

The number e and the natural logarithm have many applications in calculus, number theory, differential equations, complex numbers, compound interest, and more. There are different ways to represent e. Here is the most common way.

Logarithmic functions also help with algebraic manipulation. Logarithms have a unique property: they are able to change multiplication and division into addition and subtraction, and vice versa. They can change the square root of power into multiplication and division, reducing advanced operations to secondary operations.

y = (1 + 100%/n)n

Compound Interest Formula:

You will find that there seems to be a "ceiling" blocking the y value. This ceiling is e. If the annual interest rate remains unchanged as 100%, y will tend to e (2.71828182845...) as n increases.

e Also known as Euler’s constant, e is an irrational number (it cannot be written as a simple fraction).

2.71828182845... This symbol for natural base numbers was named after Swiss mathematics and physicist Leonhard Euler. However, it was not Euler himself who first discovered this constant, but Jacob Bernoulli. e is closely linked to logarithmic functions. e also plays an important role in a lot of mathematical formulas, including Euler's formula eiθ = cos θ + isin θ, hyperbolic functions sinh(x) = (ex-e-x)/2, cosh(x) = (ex+e-x)/2 , and the golden spiral r = aebθ.

35

Factorial (!) means to the product of whole number from our chosen number down to 1 e.g. 3!=3x2x1, 7!=7x6x5x4x3x2x1

This characteristic allows logs to have a variety of reallife applications such as calculating half-lives and exponential growth/decay.

Bibliography: 1 https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/algebra/algebra-ii/exponential-and-logarithmicfunctions/logarithmic-functions 2 Matt Boelkins, Eric Sullivan. Active Calculus. http://mathquest.carroll.edu/CarrollActiveCalculus/S_0_4_Logarithms.html

36

FACTUAL FREEMEN’S

9 Fox Myths: Misconceptions and Reality Introduction: In mid-October, a fox casually trotted into our school. We assume it entered the school at around 11:30AM, in which Mrs Fox’s (no pun intended) classroom definitely got the best view, where you could see this unexpected visitor assertively sniffing around the school.

It seemed to be tiptoeing around with its tiny paws, lingering by the windowsill, then scampering off in a random direction. The view from the classroom showed off a scrawny half-thinned coat dappled with brown and grey dashes but also a contrasting brick red colour around its lower half.

While this look made it seem that it was wrapped up in a dark stocking, it also made it apparent that this was a moulting red fox, the Vulpes vulpes.

Although the name suggests so, the red fox doesn’t remain a perfectly spotless red throughout the year.

So, when you go flexing your picture to all your friends about how you met a fox, they would probably ask — out of genuine curiosity, in their defence — “You sure it’s not a stray dog? It doesn’t look ‘red’ after all”. This is quite a valid observation, as this fox is under the process of getting rid of its old mottled summer fur to regain its lustrous burnt orange coating.

37

Seasonal Appearance: Having two sets of fur is commonplace among furry mammals distributed along the temperate zone in Europe as it allows a slim, light and appropriately scrubby outfit suitable for hurtling across summer forest discreetly, and another fluffy, more substantial layer for winter as they stride through the snow.

If you happen to have a dog that sheds, you will start to notice that around March or April, the volume of fur left behind by your fluffy companion becomes exceptionally large.

That’s about the time when their wild relatives do the same. Roughly agreeing on a similar circadian rhythm (an animal’s internal clock), the fox too starts shedding — or moulting — from late March to early April.

The moulting starts at the legs, when the heavy, brick red fur from winter falls off to give way for a new summer coat that should last all the way until September. After this, the hair once again thickens and puffs up the coat, also starting from the legs, preparing for another moulting to welcome back winter (Mauler et al., 1996).

Fox Stories in Different Cultures: This fox looks sneaky. Strangely, numerous cultures may agree upon this statement: with the evidence of “the Wolf and the Fox” from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or “the Fox and the Crow” in Aesop’s fable, and many more similar productions.

Unfortunately, with all these accounts of deceiving vulnerable parties, setting up fraud and stealing chickens, the fox is perhaps one of the most condemned animals in children’s stories. As the old saying “cunning as a fox” implies, this animal has been attributed with a more sinister and foreboding personality, but why have the foxes gained such reputation? Perhaps it is due to their ‘wittiness’ in terms of survival strategies.

It’s only at this point that we gain a stereotypically ‘red’ (although, realistically, more orange) fox.

It is effective to comment on red foxes’ presumed ‘wit’ by their unique hunting technique: red foxes commonly use an agile “mousey pounce” to capture their prey, (mostly small rodents).

Before the pounce, red foxes typically approach their prey in absolute silence, constantly alert, and will not charge unless the prey is within a strikingly close distance to them (which can be achieved by multiple methods: in some cases, fox will pretend to be dead to attract curious prey, such as crows).

38

After this, red foxes would jump off the ground at an approximately 40° angle to catch their prey skillfully, as described in “Red fox: The Catlike Canine” written by David Henry.

This angle of pouncing is peculiar, since it resembles that of which the optimal “take off” angle of a missile: 45°. This delicate movement combines unnoticeable anticipation and agile bursts of energy — a perfect choice for hunting small animals, which does suggest that red foxes are dexterous hunters.

Not only are they great at tactics, but they are also built physically, by various features, as excellent small-animal predators.

A Hunter’s Build: The most significant feature among them all is probably their vertical pupils. Unlike most canine species, red foxes have catlike pupils which are flexible enough to change from a pointy slit shape to a round spherical shape in accordance to light intensity of their surroundings.

As an arrhythmic mammal (mammals that can be active any time in the 24 hour of a day), this is probably an adaptation to enhance their ability of monitoring the amount of light entering their pupil, enabling equally clear vision in both day and night. Pupils shaped as such also improves red foxes’ abilities to identify horizontal movement, allowing them to spot their prey easier (Abbot et al., 1907).

In fact, in the Canidae family which resides around Europe, they are among the tiniest. Due to the scarcity of food resources, they have evolved a tendency to hunt solitarily. Consequently, they are no match for large prey (such as deer, which their relative the grey wolf is used to challenging), and feed in a discreet manner.

By analysing their faeces, it was previously discovered that the typical diet of red foxes found around Oxford comprised majorly of scavenged food — taking up 37% of the total undigested remains, 27% of earthworms, 16% of small mammals (such as moles and shrews), accompanied by small number of fruits, birds, and other invertebrates (Doncaster et al., 1990).

Therefore, contrary to what most fairy tales may suggest, chickens as a food choice are not the most desirable for foxes, as they are not particularly small and approachable among birds (as well as residing with the most dangerous mammal, human). Trust me, they would rather go for earthworms that are much more manageable (Macdonald et al., 2010). Hence, only when being pressured heavily by food scarcity would a fox venture into a coop — which may be caused by deforestation for farming, by the way.

Sightings: Rumour debunking business asides, this sighting, however, is not a surprising one. Foxes are very common in the UK: 357,000 of them are estimated to reside here (Mathews et al., 2018). This enormous population, combined with the naturally gifted position of our school— connected directly to Ashtead common — results in foxes being an expected visitor to this easy access of food wastes.

Overall, red foxes are both intellectually and physically molded into efficient hunters, which might explain the frequent accusation they receive for “murdering” small animals in all levels of deceitfulness.

However, as seen in the photo, red fox is not a big canid, only a little larger than a domestic cat.

39

In fact, according to the Head of Biology Department, John Graham, “there is a fox den across the parking lot, so the fox just goes across the school to get there from time to time”.

Likewise, several major urban cities are scattered with foxes: in Melbourne, an average of 16 individuals could be seen per km2 (Marks and Bloomfield, 1999); in Bristol, this number increased to 20-39 individuals (Baker et al., 2001); in Toronto, red foxes occupy up to 718 hectares (Rosatte and Allan, 2009). Red foxes are some of the most adapted wildlife in cities: they’ve even learnt to avoid residential areas and urban roads while enjoying urban parklands (Halina et al., 2021), demonstrating incredible intelligence.

These observations, including the sighting of the fox in the school, however, are not to be celebrated: they reflect the brutal truth wildlife is currently facing.

Therefore, contrary to what most fairy tales may suggest, chickens as a food choice are not the most desirable for foxes, as they are not particularly small and approachable among birds (as well as residing with the most dangerous mammal, human). Trust me, they would rather go for earthworms that are much more manageable (Macdonald et al., 2010). Hence, only when being pressured heavily by food scarcity, a fox would venture into a coop—which may be caused by deforestation for farming, by the way.

Sightings: Rumour debunking business asides, this sighting, however, is not a surprising one. Foxes are very common in the UK, 357,000 of them are estimated to reside here (Mathews et al., 2018). This enormous population, combined with the naturally gifted position of our school—connected directly to Ashtead common, results in foxes being an expected visitor to this easy access of food wastes.

Their habitats are being restrained to such an extent that they must muster the courage of risking the direct encounter with the most dangerous predator dwelling upon the Earth, the one that drove numerous species to extinction since the day they emerged to existence on the land of Africa — homo sapiens.

According to the 2019 BBS report from the British Trust for Ornithology, red foxes have their population fallen by 44% since 1995 and is one of the two mammals that experienced the most dramatic decrease in population.

At the moment, with means such as habitat destruction (deforestation), poisoning, trapping and pollution, human still poses the greatest threat to red foxes. They don’t belong here, and whenever you see one, perhaps the best solution, rather than feeding it, would be to chase it away, teaching it the concept that humans are the danger.

40

Bibliography: 1 Daniel Maurel, Christian Coutant, Line Boissin-Agasse, and Jean Boissin. Seasonal moulting patterns in three fur bearing mammals: the European badger (Meles meles L.), the red fox (Vulpes vulpes L.), and the mink (Mustela vison). A morphological and histological study. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 64(8): 1757-1764. https://doi.org/10.1139/z86-265 2 Abbott, W. J. 1907. Experiments on the func- tion of slit-form pupils. Pages 71–84 in University of Toronto Studies: Psycho- logical Series. Univ Abbott, W. J. 1907. Experiments on the function of slitform pupils. Pages 71–84 in University of Toronto Studies: Psycho- logical Series. University of Toronto, To- ronto.

3 C. P. Doncaster, C. R. Dickman, D. W. Macdonald, Feeding Ecology of Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in the City of Oxford, England, Journal of Mammalogy, Volume 71, Issue 2, 21 May 1990, Pages 188– 194, https://doi.org/10.2307/1382166 4 Macdonald, David W.. “The Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes, as a Predator upon Earthworms, Lumbricus terrestris.” Ethology 52 (2010): 171-200.

5 Baker, P., Newman, T., Harris, S., 2001. Bristol's foxes - 40 years of change. British Wildlife 12, 411417.

6 Marks, C.A., Bloom eld, T.E., 1999. Distribution and density estimates for urban foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Melbourne: Implications for rabies control. Wildl. Res. 26, 763-775.

7 Rosatte, R., Allan, M., 2009. The ecology of red foxes, Vulpes vulpes, in metropolitan Toronto, Ontario: disease management implications. The Canadian Field-Naturalist 123, 215-220.

8 Halina Teresa Kobryn, Edward J. Swinhoe, Philip W. Bateman et al. Foxes at your front door?

Habitat selection and home range of urban red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), 14 May 2021, PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-417276/v1] 9 Mathews F, Kubasiewicz LM, Gurnell J, Harrower CA, McDonald RA, Shore RF (2018) A Review of the Population and Conservation Status of British Mammals: Technical Summary. Natural England, Peterborough, UK.

41

STEM Competitions* MATHEMATICS ➢ Hans Woyda Maths Competition ➢ National Cipher Challenge. Run by University of Southampton CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY, PHYSICS ➢ C3L6 competition (Cambridge Chemistry Challenge) ➢ Royal Society of Chemistry, Bill Bryson Prize ➢ Royal Society of Chemistry Analyst Competition. For L6 chemistry students ➢ Royal Society of Chemistry: Top of the Bench competition ➢ RSC Chemistry Olympiad ➢ Schools Science Prize (biochemistry and chemistry). Run by Corpus Christi College Oxford. For U5-L6 students ➢ British Biology Olympiad run by the Society of Biology ➢ Cascades Of Particle Physics. Run by Birmingham University for A-level and GCSE students ➢ British Science Association Crest award ➢ National Science and engineering competition: UK scientist of the year and UK engineer of the year. For ages 11-18 ➢ The Big Science Challenge with Rolls Royce & the British Council. For ages 11-16 ➢ UK Space Design Competition. For ages 9-13 ➢ Annual Sixth Form Medical Writing Prize. Run by Elite Academic Medical PSYCHOLOGY ➢ Psychology AS Level Essay Competition. (University of Cambridge Department of Social and Developmental Psychology) ➢ Debating OTHER ➢ DHL innovation award ➢ Benedictus: a liberal arts college offers a competition for 16-19 year olds.

You can write on any subject but must connect to their forum theme *Availability is subject to change based on COVID-19 situation

42

Acknowledgements WRITERS:

EDITORS:

Alison Kerr L6

Leo Norris L6

Angie Tsz Wan Chung U4

Maddie Hensler U4

Brandon Illavia L6

Marcus Tsui L6

Sidy Barry L6

Andrea Corte L6

Emmanuella Adewole L6

Rachel Kwok L6

Amelia Castledine L6

Valerie Chan L6

Natalie Ho L6 Kelsey Kexin Zhang L6 Genevieve Yixuan Guo L6

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Alison Kerr (co-founder, director) Natalie Ho (co-founder, director) Valerie Chan (lead editor, designer) Wallace Li L6 (cover photographer)

Happy Holidays!

43