Serpentes 001 by Radley College

RADLEY COLLEGE ACADEMIC JOURNAL

SERPENTES FIRST ISSUE

Welcome to the first edition of Serpentes, the Radley Academic Journal. Before you start reading, let us briefly introduce you to our aims. We aspire to change the way academic study is perceived in Radley. Due to the relatively restricted content of GCSEs and A-levels, academics often becomes more about ticking a box than thinking beyond it. We would like to fundamentally change this misconception â&#x20AC;&#x201C; there is so much more to academics than what is written in your textbooks. Do you have an outlandish interest you would like to write about? Have you read an especially good book recently? Did you solve or create a particularly challenging maths puzzle? Send it to us and it could be published in the next issue. Whether you are 6.1 or Shell, this journal belongs to you. The Academic Prefects

Don-in-Charge Contributors

Alfred Mawdsley, Angus Parker, Christoph Wallendahl, John Fu and Matija Conic DLC Dominic Woolf, Felix Rawlinson, Giorgi Gvaradze, Henry Hawkins, Henry Portwood, Henry Roskill, Henry Williams, Jamie Walker, Kim Sangyeon, Usman Ladan, and OWC

THE SCIENTIST Towards a cure for leukemia........................................................................................................................... 4 Barely visible, barely a problem? ................................................................................................................... 6 Why has weakness persisted?......................................................................................................................... 9 The bioethics of curing ageing ..................................................................................................................... 11 Science problems ........................................................................................................................................... 16 VTOL: The future of aircraft ............................................................................................................................ 18 How can a falling object accelerate faster than gravity? ..................................................................... 22 The end of antibiotics ..................................................................................................................................... 23

THE MATHEMATICIAN Why mathemathics is incomplete ............................................................................................................... 24 The Reimman hypothesis ............................................................................................................................... 26 The Collatz conjecture ................................................................................................................................... 29 Problem of the issue: Hilbert's hotel .............................................................................................................. 32

THE CLASSICIST The Iliad is not epic, but tragic ...................................................................................................................... 34 Translation as a form of conquest ................................................................................................................ 36

BOOK REVIEWS “The End of Time” by Julian Barbour ........................................................................................................... 40 “Watchmen” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons ................................................................................... 43

INTERVIEWS Dr Choroba....................................................................................................................................................... 48

MEET THE GRADUATES

RADLEY COLLEGE ACADEMIC JOURNAL

THE SCIENTIST TOWARDS A CURE FOR LEUKEMIA FELIX RAWLINSON

The power and precision of somatic gene technology enables it to treat a host of communicable diseases and genetic disorders. Surprisingly, up until recently, there haven’t been any truly remarkable breakthroughs in cancer research. However, this all changed on November 2015, when somatic gene therapy was used by doctors at the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital to cure a baby with leukaemia.

heartbeat became elevated, she started crying more often and stopped drinking milk. Blood tests revealed that she had infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia – a special form of cancer which causes an overproduction of immature blood cells in the lymph . She was instantly given multiple rounds of chemotherapy, along with a bone marrow transplant to eliminate the cancerous blood cells. Unfortunately, the leukaemia persisted. Doctors claimed there was nothing more they could do except try and alleviate Layla’s pain. But Layla’s parents wouldn’t come to terms with the news. “We didn’t want to accept palliative care and give up on our daughter, so we asked the doctors to try anything, even if it hadn’t been tried before”

Layla Layla was born in June 2014 and seemed perfectly healthy. Three months later, her

Waseem Qasim - a leading researcher at the UCL Institute of Child Health and a consultant immunologist – offered to try 4

his newly developed treatment on Layla. A total of 4 genetic changes were made to Layla’s T-cells. The first 2 alterations were made using a powerful restriction enzyme, TALENs, which can be engineered to cut out specific regions of DNA. These changes enabled the T cells to become universal—allowing them to be used in Layla without the risk of rejection (a phenomenon called graftversus-host disease, where the recipient’s immune system creates such an overwhelming response to the foreign cells that the patient can die as a result). The other 2 genetic alterations added a signature receptor to seek out and attack cancerous cells.

Immune cells can be edited to target cancer cells

treatment demonstrates the amazing potential of somatic gene therapy. Qasim described Layla’s case as “a landmark in the use of gene editing technology and a great sign for future things to come” .

CRISPR-cas9 is the future of genome editing The process is not perfect, though. The gene, called TCRαβ, was not disabled in 0.7 per cent of Layla’s cells, quickly developing signs of graft-versus-host disease. But the team was on the lookout for this, and treated it as soon as signs emerged. Today, scientists are increasingly placing their hopes into CRISPR-cas9, a revolutionary new genome editing tool which promises to cure many genetic diseases due to its unprecedented precision.

Two weeks after Layla’s test, a rash started to appear, indicating an immune response. Remarkably, two months later, Layla was completely cancer-free. She was given another bone marrow transplant to regenerate her T-cells. Three months after the injection, Layla was healthy enough to return home. This 5

BARELY VISIBLE, BARELY A PROBLEM? JAMIE WALKER You might have heard about the 8 million tonnes of plastic that are going into our oceans every year, seen the footage of animals getting tangled, or choking - you might have even seen pieces while swimming in the sea on holiday this summer. But within that estimated 8 million tonnes are pieces that you will not have seen, some that you cannot ever see with your naked eye. These are the micro and nanoplastics that are becoming ubiquitous in our seas.

Microplastics and nanoplastics So how do pieces this small come about? And what problems could something so small cause in something so big as the Global Ocean? Microplastics are defined as pieces of

plastic that are less than 5mm in length, and are either manufactured at this size to be used in various cosmetic products, or exist as the result of the breakdown of larger pieces of plastic. Nanoplastics, usually defined as anything less than 100 nm (10 millionths of a metre), arise from the further break down of those microplastics and not a lot of research has been done into them, largely due to a lack of technology to sample pieces of plastic so small - pieces so small, in fact, that they can move directly across the cell membrane. The UK government, and others, are implementing bans on the use of these ‘primary’ microplastics in products, but ‘secondary’ pieces can still arise. Larger pieces of plastic are actually very slow to degrade in marine conditions. The reason for this becomes clear when we think about the conditions needed for breakdown of plastics. The degradation is set off by UV-B radiation and then proceeds through reactions with oxygen, the speed of which depends on the temperature of the surroundings.

Since plastics in the open ocean are likely to sink, and the intensity of sunlight decreases as you go deeper in the sea, there is less exposure to UV-B. Furthermore, the percentage of oxygen dissolved in seawater is much less than the amount in open air. The temperature decreases as you go deeper in the sea too. What place, then, is exposed to high levels of sunlight, oxygen and temperature? The answer: beaches. If you have been sunbathing on the beach this summer, you can confirm this: the hot UV rays bronzing your chest, oxygen levels high enough to keep you alive, and sand hot enough to make you run into the sea. Plastics on the beach will yield the most microplastic fragments, which can then wash into the sea when the tide comes in.

Plastics deposited on a beach This leads us to at least one simple way of mitigating the problem: picking up the plastic litter left, or washed up on, beaches (or even better: trying not to

leave it there in the first place). From the 14th to the 17th September, the Marine Conservation Society has coordinated ‘The Great British Beach Clean’ in which beaches all along Britain’s 11000 miles of coast are being cleaned and the type of litter recorded.

Free-floating plastics But what’s the problem anyway? What’s the point in cleaning beaches? The answer is more subtle and complex than the obviously visible harm caused by larger pieces. It has been shown the lugworm Arenicola marina can ingest microplastics and that this causes inflammation, reduces their energy reserves and also their feeding rate. The plastics stayed in the lugworm’s gut for much longer than normal pieces of food, which generally pass through continuously. This implies that they spent an extra amount of energy trying to digest the plastic, and that the plastic’s longer time hanging around in the gut may have slowed down the worm’s normal feeding.

Why does it matter that some species of marine invertebrate you’ve never heard of isn’t feeding properly? A. marina is actually a keystone species – one which has a disproportionate impact on the ecosystem relative to its size and abundance. It lives in the muddy bottom sediment of some areas of the sea and through its feeding method, it ‘bioturbates’ the sediment, meaning it stirs up and mixes the mud, redistributing nutrients and microorganisms around and thus increasing the biodiversity of this habitat.

Lugworm Arenicola marina

The exact mechanism for this transfer is subtle and complex. The chemical won’t actually transfer to the animals unless there is less of that chemical already in the tissues of the animal- and often there isn’t because both the plastic and the animal are both in equilibrium with the concentrations of that chemical in the surrounding water. At the moment, scientists think that the overall effect of this chemical transfer on wildlife is unlikely to be particularly significant. More research needs to be done on the effects of microplastics on marine wildlife, especially since the majority of studies have been conducted in laboratories and not in the natural environment. It is harder to care about an issue like this that we can’t see, and which we don’t fully understand, but it presents an exciting challenge to our generation, not just for scientists, but for people across a range of professions.

Microplastics can also concentrate harmful chemicals that have leached into the sea. These chemicals are hydrophobic, and don’t enjoy the watery environment they have ended up in - so when a solid, non-watery surface appears these chemicals are attracted to it. By swallowing microplastics these chemicals can move into the bodies of wildlife with potentially harmful effects.

WHY HAS WEAKNESS PERSISTED? HENRY PORTWOOD

Skeletal muscles are the mechanical motors of our body. They are comprised of 2 types of elongated cells called muscle fibers. Broadly speaking, these fall into 2 categories: type I and type II. The type I fibers, known as ‘slow twitch’, are able to contract for long periods of time without succumbing to fatigue. Even though they’re not as powerful as their type II counterparts, aerobic respiration enables them to operate at a very high efficiency. Unlike type I fibers, type II are capable of generating high levels of explosive power, but are rather inefficient due to respiring anaerobically and are easily fatigued.

connected by two different types of protein myofilaments called actin and myosin. These two proteins overlap with each other, allowing the muscle to contract. When a contraction is triggered, these filaments slide past each other, shortening the sarcomere and allowing us to do useful mechanical work.

Structure of a sarcomere

Skeletal muscle structure Inside each muscle cell, there are many sarcomeres, which are the functional units responsible for muscle contraction. Sarcomeres are comprised of two Z-disks

The Z-disc is comprised of many structural proteins, most of which are a class called alpha actinins. In human skeletal muscles, there are two types of alpha actinins: alpha actinin 2 (AA2), located in the energy-efficient type I 9

fibers, and alpha actinin 3 (AA3), which is found in the mechanically stronger type II fibers. The alpha actinins in human muscles bind the actin myofilaments together, providing important structural integrity to the sarcomere. Some individuals have a mutation in the gene that codes for AA3. A single lettersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; difference in the genetic sequence results in the protein being cut short prematurely. This gene variant is called the 577X allele and it causes an individual to become completely deficient of AA3. Having an AA3 deficiency hugely affects the muscle. You will recall that AA3 is vital for explosive contractions and without it, type II fibers canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t function properly. Unsurprisingly, experiments on mice showed reduced force output in AA3 deficient mice. In addition, these mice became more susceptible to exercise induced muscle damage in the AA3lacking type II fibers. The absence of AA3 also causes the type II fibers to undergo a shift in metabolism, switching to more aerobic metabolic pathways which we typically encounter in our energyefficient type I fibers. Despite all the negative effects, those who express the allele do not have any major complications since AA2 can replace the missing AA3 in their function. Therefore, the 577X allele is said to be lacking a disease phenotype, as the physical attributes that accompany the allele are not negative enough to be

classed as a genetic disease. In fact, the allele is found in 18% of Caucasians. This makes scientists wonder â&#x20AC;&#x201C; why did this muscle defect escape natural selection? 18% is a large proportion of the population. Does it give those individuals some sort of selective edge?

Decreased force output was recorded in AA3 deficient mice The benefits of having this deficiency are actually quite surprising. The enzymes responsible for the powerful, yet inefficient contractions in type II fibers are replaced by enzymes which enable better energy usage, but less mechanical output. Overall, this means that the skeletal muscle of an individual with the 577X allele will be weaker, but more fatigue resistant. Another interesting benefit of the 577X allele is its role in thermoregulation. The calcium ions play an essential role in generating mechanical energy. When exposed to cold, the non-shivering muscle cells of AA3 deficient individuals will leak calcium ions onto the 10

myofilaments from a â&#x20AC;&#x153;storage bagâ&#x20AC;? called the sarcoplasmic reticulum. After finishing their job, respiration supplies the energy needed to remove these ions from the cytoplasm. Some of this energy is given off as heat, helping the individual to stay warm. Interestingly, this mutation may have helped the modern Homo Sapiens migrate out of Africa 60 000 years ago. As he headed towards the northern parts of the Eurasian landmass, cold conditions and many hours spent walking without food made AA3 deficiency highly beneficial. Even though this theory is not the only one to address the issue, it seems the most

plausible one for the time-being. The sheer elegance of this explanation proves that seemingly complicated processes can often be described by very simple ideas.

Humans migrating out of Africa

THE BIOETHICS OF CURING AGEING MATIJA CONIC physiology. His line of reasoning was as follows: Since aging is a universal phenomenon (everyone â&#x20AC;&#x153;catchesâ&#x20AC;? ageing as opposed to, say, pneumonia) and that which is universal cannot, by definition, be abnormal, ageing must be a natural process. Effective anti-ageing treatments may be closer than we think With increasing knowledge of biochemistry, we are beginning to develop a more complete understanding of the ageing process, along with some possible methods of putting a brake on it. Whether these claims are realistic or not is a topic for another article, but it is certainly a subject worthy of ethical enquiry. How do we define aging? It seems pretty straight-forward, but merely changing the public perception of what ageing is can have very profound implications. Claudius Galen, a famous ancient Greek doctor and a philosopher, defined it as a natural, universal condition, as opposed to disease which is an abnormal occurrence in human

Claudius Galen (130 - 210 AD) Many modern scientists still hold the Galenic view when it comes to defining the nature of ageing. Given that our understanding of ageing has changed substantially since ancient times, the conceptual barrier between "ageing" and "disease" might be causing a lack of incentive for biomedical research into life-extension treatments, according to some scientists. In other words, we don't die of "old age" - we are brutally murdered. 12

Some bioethicists would point out that Galen is a naturalist – he implies that “natural” things are intrinsically good and vice versa. However, what if ageing is natural in the sense that it has an essential evolutionary role?

August Weismann (1834 – 1914) To tackle this question, we need to define the term "natural". Is it the functionality or the history of a phenomenon that reflects its purpose? When discussing ethics, it is probably the latter we should be concerned with - not the “what it does”, but the “why it does it”. The first widely accepted function of ageing was suggested by August

Weismann in 1891. His theory claimed that ageing benefits entire populations by making way for evolutionary change and introducing variation. Weismann’s approach sounds appealing and seems intuitively right, but selection almost never acts upon entire populations. Surprisingly, as later evolutionary research has found, ageing serves absolutely no purpose at all: it is simply a harmful by-product of natural selection. Alleles are quickly selected for if they have favourable effects on early life fertility. However, some of these alleles have an “evil” side to them - a side which causes harmful consequences in later life. By then, however, the alleles will have already escaped the selective forces which could eliminate them from the gene pool. This phenomenon is known as antagonistic pleiotropy: a trade-off which is good in evolutionary terms (more offspring and DNA), but a thoroughly miserable experience on an individual level. In other words, it is logically impossible for selection to eradicate ageing as it only operates on the reproductive cycle. Reflecting a lack of evolutionary foresight rather than intent, this makes us question how natural ageing really is. Another viewpoint reminds us that evolution doesn’t really create things to serve a purpose in the first place as it is governed by chance processes. Accordingly, terms like “natural” and 13

“unnatural” are closely bound to the notion of intelligent design. Either way, Galen’s argument seems to be flawed. Evolution suggests that there are no intrinsic ethical problems to curing ageing. While ageing is probably rightfully refered to as a pathology these days, should we really assess bioethical issues like this one in complete social vacuum? Having in mind that effective antiageing procedures will likely be extremely costly, who will have access to them? Both the passionate defenders of the “natural order” and the dedicated anti-ageing proponents are really 2 sides of the same coin. Is the inequality gap bound to rise even further on the most fundamental level there is – biology?

Growing income gap in the US A common objection to these claims would be that politicians are the ones who should be combating inequality, not bioethicists. This view is based on an

out-of-date understanding of what bioethics should represent, modern ethicists argue. In a globalising world, bioethics must not limit itself to setting up frameworks of conditions for a certain treatment to be acceptable for application, but expand its scope and think about making the world a more just environment as a whole. Can we morally afford to invest substantial funds into enhancement research for the privileged, knowing that the average life expectancy of Sub-Saharan Africans is still as low as 40 years? That’s not where it ends. Surprisingly, worryingly large longevity gaps are far from scarce in societies which have all the basic resources Sub-Saharans lack. In the US, differences in longevity correlate with different modes of social inequality, like education. This is called the status syndrome – it might sound ridiculous, but the statistics is crystal clear. The best existing anti-ageing treatment you can possibly receive is simply being born in an affluent, well-educated family in a Western country. A utilitarian might not see an ethical issue here, suggesting that it’s perfectly acceptable to treat a small fraction of the population on the grounds that it increases hapiness. By thinking merely in terms of increased hapiness, however, one neglects many things, including the ability of a development to emphasise existing societal problems. Unlike 14

medical treatments which are already present, non-existing ones should require an additional level of evaluation which should question why the treatment ought to be developed in the first place and who will be the ones profiting from it? So what is my conclusion? Anti-ageing developments might actually, in themselves, be the most noble medical pursuit there is, but they are emerging in a world which has turned its back on equality. The priority should, therefore, be reducing the longevity gap through social justice, making health care accessible worldwide and curing HIV â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the single most common killer in SubSaharan Africa. A change in perspective can help us break out of this cocoon of blind humanism and help us realise that there is a whole world beyond the borders of Europe which doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even get close to experiencing cancer or diabetes.

64% of all HIV infections happen in SubSaharan Africa

HIV distribution in Africa

SCIENCE PROBLEMS Biology challenge 1 Which RNA "hairpin" is likely to be the least stable and why?

Physics challenge 1 During a bicep curl, the mechanical work to lift a free weight held in the hand is provided almost exclusively by contracting the bicep.

ATP is the molecule which supplies the energy for many metabolic processes. Estimate how many atoms of ATP are hydrolyzed in order to lift the forearm and the free weight. The following assumptions are made: 

The forearm weighs 50 N and its center of mass rises a height of 10 cm



The free weight is 50 N and is lifted to a height of 30 cm.



Myosin proteins are 50% efficient converting chemical energy in ATP to mechanical work. The free energy of the ATP hydrolysis reaction is 46 kJ/mol.

Physics challenge 2 Below is an aerial shot of a bicycleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s path through the snow. Which of the curves corresponds to the path of the back tire?

Chemistry challenge Which molecules will get you expelled?

VTOL: THE FUTURE OF AIRCRAFT HENRY HAWKINS The sight of a 9.4 tonne jet slowly rising off the ground pivoting precariously on four columns of steadily flowing air is perhaps one of the greatest feats of engineering to date. The culmination of nearly a century of acquiring knowledge about the mechanics involved in aerospace design can all be seen in the simple image described above.

(VTOL) has roots in both the lunar lander and documents sketched by German scientists during the second World War – likely inspired by their ballistic missile programme.

VTOL landing mechanism

VTOL aircraft Ever since the first manned flight achieved by Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903 and the rapid development of aircraft during the first and second World War, decades of bizarre experimentation have all been aimed at eliminating the greatest weakness of the conventional jet aircraft: horizontal takeoff. Conceived from the apparent need to make tactically vulnerable landing strips redundant during warfare, the concept of vertical take-off and landing

In the case of the AV-8B Harrier, the sole source of thrust is Rolls Royce’s Pegasus engine. The Harrier’s structure is mainly composed of Carbon Fibre composites so as to reduce unnecessary weight, making it one of the first planes to use these materials. The Pegasus engine is traditional in the sense that the engine consists of a high and low-pressure compressor; a combustion chamber, and a high and low-pressure turbine. Where it differs radically is the distribution of thrust from four different outlets – the front two outlets duct1 a fraction of the air from the low-pressure compressors

and the outlets at the rear duct air from the high-pressure turbines.

Rolls Royce Pegasus engine Due to the lower thrust provided by the air bleeding from the low-pressure compressor system (compared to the high-pressure system), the two forward nozzles are placed further from the aircraft’s centre of mass – balancing moments and providing pitch stability along the length of the plane. Where the Harrier lacks is in its rolling stability: due to no air flowing over the wings during vertical take-off the jet is not stable along the roll axis. Engineers attempted to rectify this by including nozzles that bleed air from the engine to nose, tail and wingtips - controlling roll, pitch and yaw by providing force for the control surfaces. However, this control system is not as efficient as aerodynamic lift – a primarily self-correcting system during turbulence. Despite this, pilots often sacrifice stability for manoeuvrability requiring a computer to constantly monitor stability – which is often interfered with by oscillations due to the ground effect

caused by its own jet, causing extreme danger to the pilot during vertical manoeuvres. By using partial vertical take-off and angling the nozzles downwards only at the last second, the jet is able to increase stability and simultaneously conserve fuel for longer ranges. This method of take-off also allows for maximum takeoff weight to be increased from 9.4 to 14 tonnes. Though this does not compare to aircraft such as the FA-18 Hornet (without VTOL capabilities) with a maximum takeoff weight of 23.5 tonnes and the ability to travel at 1.7 Mach, in contrast to the Harrier’s subsonic 0.9. However, both of these fighters are due to be replaced by the STOVL variant of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth jet. With VTOL capabilities, the F-35 improves on the technology the AV-8B Harrier laid the ground work for. Featuring additional modern armaments such as advanced laser targeting, radar capabilities and 6 Infrared cameras used to project an image of the jet’s surroundings onto the pilot’s VR headset, the F-35 still manages to function with stealth technology. Behind the cockpit, during hover two hatches open as the Rolls Royce LiftFan employs two counter-rotating fans propelling approximately 9000 kg of unheated air downwards– providing nearly half of the downforce required for hover. The use of a vane box also allows for slight horizontal movement by 19

directing air flow from the fan while in STOVL mode. The remaining half of the necessary downforce is supplied by heated thrust from the rear engine exhaust, relying on a 3 Bearing Swivel Module (3BSM) allowing the rear engine to rotate 95 degrees in just 2.5 seconds. Two additional roll posts are situated beneath the wings that produce approximately 10% of the downward thrust drawn from the engine’s compression chamber – stabilising altitude in the roll axis. Deeply entrenched in US politics, the investment of from the government is now at a total of $406 billion and supports thousands of jobs. After much involvement from congress, Lockheed Martin agreed to a larger price cut down to $100 million (£76.5 million) for a single F-35 Lightning II. Although this is pioneering technology,

plans to produce jets for the international market are slow as America’s nine major partner nations plan to acquire over 3,100 F-35s through 2035. So, although there are some models out there, unfortunately it may be some time before the F-35 is universally incorporated into the global military.

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II

HOW CAN A FALLING OBJECT ACCELERATE FASTER THAN GRAVITY? CHRISTOPH WALLENDAHL Everyone knows from GCSE physics that a falling object accelerates due to gravity at a constant rate of 9.81ms-2. However, imagine a chain, best imagined as a series of connected rods. The first link of the chain accelerates at 9.81ms-2. When this link hits the ground, there is a reaction force acting against its direction of travel. The link does not stop at a vertical angle, however, but pivots about its connection to the link, continuing to descend due to inertia. The reaction force, on the other hand, continues to act upon the chain. At this point, the link becomes a lever rotating around its centre of mass. As the reaction force acts on the link, it makes it rotate and pull the link above it. This process continues and, combined with acceleration due to gravity, the chain is able to accelerate more quickly than 9.81ms2.

rises from the pot before falling onto the ground. This implies that there must be another force acting upon it, other than the weight of the falling portion of the chain. Pulled by tension, only one side of the link initially rises. The other part of the link is in contact with the bottom of the pot, experiencing a reaction force due to its weight which causes it to rotate. Gravity then pulls it back into an arc - the chain evenly distributes the tension as it curls around to move towards the floor.

The falling chain experiment This phenomenon can also be used to understand the chain fountain problem, where a chain is allowed to fall down from an elevated pot, creating a curved chain arc in the air. Why does this happen? Interestingly, the chain doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just dribble over the edge, but vertically

This problem was, in fact, completely unknown until a video appeared on youtube, inspiring scientists to figure out how it works.

THE END OF ANTIBIOTICS HENRY WILLIAMS Many people have heard of Superbugs: an emerging threat created by our misuse of antibiotics. However, very few realise how immediate the hazard actually is. 700 000 people died last year due to previously treatable bacterial infections – and, if the current trend continues, many more will. Antibiotic

Discovery

Penicillin Vancomycin Imipenem Daptomycin

1943 1972 1985 2003

Resistance Identified 1945 1988 1998 2004

How does resistance come about? From a purely Darwinian perspective, it has a certain beauty to it – it’s a fantastic demonstration of natural selection in action. When bacteria are exposed to an antibiotic, the vast majority are killed. However, through random mutations, a small number may acquire resistance and survive. Penicillin resistance originated due to a decreased affinity of bacteria’s surface receptors (PBPs) to the antibiotic. Cell wall production was, therefore, uninterrupted, as penicillin couldn’t inhibit peptidoglycan synthesis. If

exposed to an antibiotic, most bacteria will indeed get destroyed – but this tiny lot will survive and reproduce, eventually giving rise to a large population of resistant bacteria. However, taking into account how rare mutations are, why is bacterial resistance developing so quickly? There are four main reasons for this. Firstly, antibiotics place huge selective pressures on bacteria. Resistance is an unambiguous property – you either have it or you don’t. Secondly, bacteria reproduce exponentially – on average, they divide every 20 minutes, doubling the population size very frequently. Another essential factor is the presence of small circular loops of DNA called plasmids. R-plasmids, which confer resistance, can be shared within bacterial colonies in a process called horizontal gene transfer, allowing for easy and fast recombination. Lastly, and most importantly, we use an excessive quantity of antibiotics each year. This hugely affects the likelihood of the emergence of resistance within bacterial populations. What are the actions we do to promote this? We commonly use antibiotics for 22

treating everyday bacterial conditions, such as simple ear infections. These justified applications have little impact on the current trends, though â&#x20AC;&#x201C; misuse does. 45% of antibiotics in the US are prescribed knowing they will probably have no effect on the patient. Today, we live in a world where people will often resort to pills to fix even the slightest physiological problem they might experience. To make things worse, antibiotics can most often be bought without any prescription whatsoever, leading to drastic overuse and many opportunities for bacteria to fight back. The guiltiest factor contributing to this resistance trend is not misuse, though - it's agriculture. This sector is responsible for 80% of antibiotics bought in the US. Moreover, the vast majority are used for prevention, rather than to treat existing plant or animal conditions. When resistance is induced, it very easily leaves the farms and spreads across other areas through water and other means. We are already seeing the ramifications of this careless use of antibiotics. An antibiotic colistin has alwayss been kept as a last resort, as very few bacteria had resistance to it. Since 2010, Colistin has been routinely fed to millions of farmed pigs in China, very quickly resulting in a

Colistin resistant strain (first identified in 2015). This is not where it ends. The emergence of a bacterial gene called NDM provides bacteria with resistance to the most potent antibiotic agents we have in our arsenal - carbapenems. This gene gives them instructions to build a special enzyme called carbapenemase, which easily neutraises the antibiotics. Resistant bacteria were first identified in an Indian patient in 2008. Their transmission has been exacerbated by increased global mobility, accompanied by horizontal gene transfer, infecting more than 70 countries so far. The blissful era of antibiotics has made us forget that something as simple as a scratch has the potential to kill. Unfortunately, this golden era is coming to an end. If we continue misusing antibiotics, we may be plunged back into a world in which giving birth, undergoing surgery or any simple bacterial infection may not seem that trivial anymore. Sir Alexander Fleming himself predicted this: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The thoughtless person playing with penicillin treatment is morally responsible for the death of the man who succumbs to infection with the penicillin-resistant organism.

RADLEY COLLEGE ACADEMIC JOURNAL

THE MATHEMATICIAN WHY MATHEMATICS IS INCOMPLETE JOHN FU Maths. Proven in 1931, the first theorem simply states that any axiomatized formal systems, like Maths, is incomplete if it is inconsistent; the second, that the consistency of Maths is unprovable. But what does this all mean?

Einstein and Godel (1950) What are Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems? Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems stand as perhaps the most important results in mathematical logic, and amongst the great theorems of

I going to refrain from the actual proof, because it’s far too long and difficult. If you want to try reading it yourself, the original paper is called On Undecidable Proposition of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems. Instead, let’s focus on the central idea of what incompleteness is. For that, we may have to look at the way in which Mathematics is derived. Mathematics is what’s known as an axiomatic system. That means its central building blocks are axioms. An axiom is an assumption that can’t be proven precisely (e.g. an axiom of geometry is that there is only one line that can join any two points). Everything

in Maths is derived from axioms by rules of inference. What does this have to do with anything? Well, I must confess that I sort of lied in the first paragraph. The true claim of the first theorem is that if any axiomatic system is consistent (by its own rules), then there are statements within the system which are unprovable. This means that some true statements cannot be proven to be true. Conversely, some false statements cannot be proven to be false. We take truth to mean that it is derivable from the axioms, and false to mean the opposite. Incompleteness is quite serious. It entails that any unsolved problem, like the Riemann Zeta Hypothesis or the Twin Prime Conjecture, may actually be formally undecidable and unprovable. This means that mathematicians may just be working on a problem that fundamentally cannot be solved. A famous example of a problem which was proven to be undecidable is Hilbert’s Entscheidungsproblem, which was looked at whether there existed an algorithm, such that when one inputs a statement of first order logic into the algorithm it can tell if it is true or false.

then it is well and truly broken. This means that everything proven already, in all fields (e.g. calculus, quadratics, even simple addition) is completely refuted. That would lead to the whole subject going down the drain. Gödel’s second incompleteness theorem actually talks about this consistency problem. As I say, it states that any axiomatic system cannot prove its own consistency. In other words, we can’t prove Maths’ consistency using Maths. This was another goal of Hilbert’s. However, this is not as big an issue, because there have been a few proofs of consistency using meta-mathematics and other means. So why isn’t there a bleak and generally dire atmosphere in the Mathematics world? It may just be due to optimism. Furthermore, with an infinite number of mathematical statements and theorems, the probability that any one in particular is undecidable is understandably slim. This is compounded by the countless number of already existing proofs. Even proving something to be undecidable is a valuable result in itself.

But this all hinges on the fact that the system is consistent. So if it’s inconsistent does that fix the problem? Yes, but a much bigger problem arises. Consistency is what all axiomatic systems are built upon. If Maths in inconsistent, 25

THE REIMANN HYPOTHESIS USMAN LADAN The Riemann Hypothesis is, after Fermat’s Last Theorem, arguably the most wellknown mathematical problem. The hypothesis is one of seven problems set by the Clay Mathematics Institute. The list of seven has problems ranging from prime number theory to fluid dynamics to algorithms, and the prize for solving any one of the problems is $1,000,000. They are known as The Millennium Problems. Only one of the problems, the Poincaré Conjecture, relating to topology, has been solved. This was done by the Russian Mathematician Grigori Perelman and he famously declined the reward of $1,000,000. Before the hypothesis, there was Riemann. Riemann is one of the most famous mathematicians to have ever lived. His contributions to calculus, geometry and number theory were very significant. At some point in his life, Riemann was studying the prime numbers, specifically the distribution of the primes, a topic many number theorists have researched. He was looking at different approximations for the number of primes below a given number such as the pi function π(x) and the “Li” function Li(x) which is the logarithmic integral (the integral of 1/ln(x) from 0 to a given number).

Eventually he stumbled upon the product known as the Euler product. The Euler product is written as below: ∏ p

1 1 − p−s

Capital Pi is very similar to ∑ but instead of taking the sum of terms, you take the product. s is the variable in this function. You input s into the function and then take the product of all the terms for all values of p where p is a prime number. For the first few primes the Euler product looks as follows: 1 1 1 1 × × × ×⋯ 1 − 2−s 1 − 3−s 1 − 5−s 1 − 7−s The product is done over all primes, meaning it is infinite in length. What Riemann managed to do was show that the Euler product is equal to the Riemann zeta function defined as below: ∞

ζ(s) = ∑ n=1

1 1 1 1 = + + +⋯ ns 1s 2s 3s

There is a fairly simple algebraic proof on Wikipedia for those interested.

recommend the YouTube channel 3Blue1Brown and to look up the video on the Riemann Hypothesis called “Visualizing the Riemann zeta function and analytic continuation”. The zeta function, via this method, is undefined for when s = 1. This method of analytic continuation is where the infamous result of the sum of all natural numbers equalling -1/12 comes from. The Riemann Zeta function is known as a complex function as it takes in numbers of the form a + bi where a and b are real numbers and i = √−1. When b = 0 and a > 1 (i.e when s > 1 and a is real number) the series is known to converge. E.g: 1 1 1 π2 ζ(2) = 2 + 2 + 2 + ⋯ = 1 2 3 6 The above sum was shown to be true by Euler. The series is also known to always converge when a > 1 and b is any real number. However, if you try any value of s where a < 1 and b is any real number, the series seemingly diverges. That being said, using a method called analytic continuation, Riemann managed to extend the zeta function to all complex numbers. Analytic continuation is, in laymen’s terms, “extending” the function beyond its defined area such that the function “seems correct” for those previously undefined points. Important to note is that the function cannot be continued in any way you want. For a much clearer explanation, I

ζ(−1) =

1 1 1 + + +⋯ 1−1 2−1 3−1 =1+2+3+⋯=−

1 12

For more information on this incorrect statement, I recommend the Mathologer video on YouTube called “Numberphile v. Math: the truth about 1 + 2 + 3+. . . = −1/12 ”. Using this method, Riemann deduced that for all negative even numbers, the series converges to 0. These are known as the trivial zeros. The other types of “zeroes” are called the non-trivial zeroes. Riemann hypothesised that the nontrivial zeroes all lie on one line within the 1

complex plane. This line is when a = . In 2

addition, Riemann theorised that there are an infinite number of these trivial zeroes. This is the Riemann Hypothesis. In addition, as the Euler product is the same as the Riemann Zeta Function, if the Riemann Hypothesis is solved, we will learn more about prime distribution. Whoever solves it wins the prize of $1,000,000. If you want to learn more 27

about the maths behind the hypothesis, I recommend the Numberphile video on YouTube called “Riemann Hypothesis – Numberphile”.

within the mathematical community quickly turned into skepticism. Many mathematicians who reviewed the proof believed the result to be false. Even members of our own maths department felt this way. As of present it is widely considered that Sir Atiyah's proof is, in fact, wrong, and will almost certainly join the long list of failed attempts. I still recommend that you watch the video of Atiyah presenting the proof (called "6th HLF – Lecture: Sir Michael Francis Atiyah") on YouTube.

Sir Michael Atiyah, a Fields medallist Since the conception of this problem 160 years ago, there have been many attempts to solve this hypothesis. In fact so many have tried to solve this problem that there is a website which houses all of the proofs which have turned out to be wrong. The most recent attempt of a proof was from Sir Michael Atiyah, an 89 year old british mathematician, who on Monday 24th September, at the 6th Heidelberg Laureate Forum unleashed his proof into the world. When Atiyah announced that he had a proof, many expected it to be a long and complex one which only a genius could have come up with; however, what Sir Atiyah actually presented was a proof by contradiction where the crux of his argument was … one powerpoint slide long. You read that correctly: one slide. Naturally, with Atiyah's proof being relatively "simple", the excitement held 28

THE COLLATZ CONJECTURE HENRY ROSKILL

This diagram shows how different inputs tend to reach 1 under the Collatz algorithm

to happen many times through computing the algorithm. However, we are still lacking a formal mathematical proof, which is why the greatest mathemathical minds are still trying to crack the problem. Let’s suppose a number never reaches 1 - this number shall be our “least counterexample”. If this least counter-example (k) is even, then

k 2

has to be a counter-

example as well. This is a contradiction, as we already defined k as the smallest number of this sort. Due to their divisibility by 2, even numbers cannot, by definition, be least counter-examples.

Lothar Collatz (1910 – 1990) The Collatz Conjecture is one of the most famous problems in number theory. Firstly, what is a conjecture? A conjecture is simply a statement which is considered to be true, but hasn’t yet been proven formally. This article attempts to describe the problem and discuss possible methods to solve it. The underlying algorithm is as follows: - Pick any positive integer (n). - If it is even, divide it by two. - If it is odd, times it by 3 and add 1 If we followed this algorithm for long enough, we would expect every input to reach 1. It seems overwhelmingly likely that this is the case - it has been shown

By this logic, k is always an odd number, meaning that the next number in the Collatz sequence (3k + 1) must be even. In the next step, we halve the previously generated number according to the rules of our algorithm, which gives us

3k+1 2

If this number was even, the next number we generate would be

3k+1 4

. However,

this number is less than k, leading to a contradiction again.

3k+1 2

can, therefore,

only be odd. The result we get from the next round of applying the algorithm is where it gets interesting: 3

3k + 1 9k + 3 2 9k + 5 +1= + = 2 2 2 2

This is where everything comes to a halt. We can’t deduce whether

9k+5 4

is odd or

even anymore. So how do we go about proving the conjecture? There are 2 situations which would allow us to disprove it: a divergence trajectory and a repeating cycle. By definition, if the sequence always converges to 1, there cannot be a number which would make the algorithm shoot off to infinity or create a loop.

This might look slightly scary, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just fancy notation. If anyone can prove that this equation has no solutions, along with showing that the Collatz sequence cannot diverge, he has proven one of the most challenging maths problems of the century.

I will focus on loops. By proving that there isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t such a cycle, we are effectively half way there. To show what can happen to the Collatz conjecture, we will consider a similair cycle: n , n â&#x2030;Ą 0 (mod 2) C1 (n) = { 2 đ?&#x;&#x2018;đ??§ â&#x2C6;&#x2019; đ?&#x;?, n â&#x2030;Ą 1(mod 2) Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s take 5 as our number. What do we get? 5 â&#x2020;&#x2019; 14 â&#x2020;&#x2019; 7 â&#x2020;&#x2019; 20 â&#x2020;&#x2019; 10 â&#x2020;&#x2019; 5 â&#x2020;&#x2019; 14 â&#x2020;&#x2019; 7 By creating this loop, we have disproven the 3n-1 conjecture. The same is a possibility for the 3n+1 problem. Suppose a cycle does exist. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s call its least possible value k. Being a cycle, it must eventually take us back to where we came from. Therefore, if we keep on applying the same algorithm, we can generalise the cycle through the following expression: aâ&#x2C6;&#x2019;1

3a k + â&#x2C6;&#x2018;i=o 3i â&#x2C6;&#x2014; 2bi 2c

MATHS PROBLEMS PROBLEM OF THE ISSUE: HILBERT’S HOTEL KIM SANGYEON

Hilbert’s Hotel There is an interesting mathematical problem called ‘The Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel’. It is a thought experiment on the counterintuitive properties of ‘infinite sets’. Imagine a hotel which has a countably infinite number of rooms labelled 1,2,3… to infinity, all of which are occupied. We define countably infinite as having the same degree of infinity as integers, whereas the real numbers are an example of an uncountably infinite set (it is a larger infinity).

Suppose new guests arrive and wish to stay in the hotel. Let’s say the number of guests arriving to stay is n. What do we do? We can continuously move all the guests from their original room number k to a room with a number k+n. For example, if 3 people came to stay, the guest currently in room 1 would be shifted to room 4, the guest from room 2 would be sent to room 5–– and so on indefinitely, resulting in every guest being moved from his initial room k to a room k+3. This is allowed because there are an infinite number of rooms, so everyone can still fit. The hotel is also capable of accommodating a countably infinite number of new guests. This is done by moving the guest in room 1 into room 2, the guest in room 2 into room 4, and so on–– in general, the resident of room k is sent into room 2k. This leaves all odd numbered rooms empty for the infinitely many new guests. 32

It is also possible to accommodate infinitely many tourist buses which are transporting infinitely many guests by using a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;prime powers methodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Euclid proved that there are infinitely many prime numbers over 2000 years ago, allowing us to pull off yet another neat trick. Firstly, we empty the odd numbered rooms by sending the guests from room i into room number 2i, the powers of 2. Then, we put all the guests in even numbered rooms into the rooms which are powers of 3, so 3n for all n.

The first busâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; load will go into 5n rooms, and so on. For bus c we send the tourists into pn rooms, where p is a cth odd prime number. Why does this work? Simply because each prime has an infinite number of powers as well, and because primes share no factors, there will no room with two guests. Unfortunately, some rooms remain empty, but we have successfully accommodated everyone (which was our goal)..

Problem 1 Hannah and Marcus are both infinitely intelligent, meaning that they can reason through anything. They are given a different positive 1-digit number (excluding 0). They make the following statements, in order: Hannah: "I don't know whose number is bigger." Marcus: "I don't know whose number is bigger." Hannah: "I don't know whose number is bigger." Marcus: "I don't know whose number is bigger." What is Marcusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s number? Problem 2 đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;&#x2018;

What is the last digit of đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;&#x2018;đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;&#x2018; Problem 3 Find the sum of all positive factors of 137. Problem 4 Find an expression for â&#x2C6;Ť â&#x2C6;&#x161;đ??ą + â&#x2C6;&#x161;đ??ą + â&#x2C6;&#x161;đ??ą + â&#x2039;Ż đ???đ??ą

RADLEY COLLEGE ACADEMIC JOURNAL

THE CLASSICIST THE ILIAD IS NOT EPIC, BUT TRAGIC ANGUS PARKER

The Trojan war Shamefully, it took until this summer for me to finally read the Iliad. I, like many people, had a wealth of preconceptions: it was a glorification of war; Achilles avenges cathartically; and many die. Only the final one proved true (so many men die in fact that a river tries to fight Achilles because of the enormity of the slaughter), but I was surprised to read a book not in praise of war but in

protestation: Achillesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; despair is only worsened by revenge. Indeed, the Iliad is not epic but tragic. Although it is not a tragedy by all the traditional paradigms, such as having only five acts, it has a tragic core. This is not because the gods have a more befouled family tree than Oedipus, but because it is a story filled with fate, anger, and hubris.

Fate is a constant presence in Greek tragedy, and so the audience knows what will happen, whether that be Agamemnon’s murder or Dionysus’ revenge. Nowhere was this truer than with the Homeric epics—they were better known than the Bible is today. Who is surprised when Jesus dies? Not only does the reader know what will happen, but so do the gods, as Zeus himself promises to Thetis that Achilles will kill Hector; Apollo sees the balance of the fates weigh against Hector. Therefore, we have a hero who is destined to kill his nemesis and even has the epithet, ‘most swift-fated of all’. We have a hero destined to succeed in his mission. Where is the tragedy? Achilles does not make his fate easy. He does not delay his destiny for a desire for peace or fear of death but a sex slave. Agamemnon steals his, causing him to sulk and despair for 18 books, which leads to death of his best friend Patroclus (no more will be said of their relationship in this article). His grief cannot be lessened even by the desecration of Hector’s body. Thus, we find the true tragedy. Achilles is so hubristic that even when offered an immense amount of money, land, and concubines to return, he refuses. Much like Creon in Antigone, he finds out too late that he should have changed course, and so loses Patroclus, just like Creon lost his wife and son.

Achilles loses his best friend, but he gets revenge. So, everything should be rectified, and Achilles satisfied? No! Instead, he is far angrier because he realises no massacre can sate his ire and all that is left is a livid character, who continuously drags Hector’s body around in some futile attempt to make himself happy.

The death of Achilles Now Priam, Hector’s father, offers the real catharsis and the genuine message of the Iliad, because he sneaks out to the Greek camp and begs for his son’s body. The king of Troy and the killer of so many of his sons sit in a camp together and cry for their father and son. In this image, we have a pure moment of amicability. Homer portrays a meeting not of enemies, but of a father missing his son and a son missing his father.

TRANSLATION AS A FORM OF CONQUEST DECLAN MCCARTHY Translation is a problem as old as language, and yet one that, over time, appears to have been further removed from its solution. This is understandable, since the development of language runs at a pace that far exceeds the progress of scholarship. The translation of a modernist work, for example, T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is an almost insurmountable task. Critics argue enough about the translation of the poem’s foreign language sections into English, let alone the main English body into a foreign language. The poem’s epigraph comes from a partially surviving Latin poetic satire, the Satyricon of Petronius, which Eliot has cunningly left in Latin and Greek. It reads:

Roughly rendered into English, it reads: “For I once saw with my own eyes the Sibyl at Cumae hanging in a jar, and

when those boys said: Sibyl, what do you want? She replied: I want to die”. Already, in briefly rendering this short line into English, I consciously decided to use English syntax and a fairly basic vocabulary, effectively ignoring the tone or style of the original and focusing solely on the explicit meaning. But, almost subconsciously, I maintained the original’s punctuation. It is hard now to recall why I paid close attention to a seemingly insignificant detail, yet ignored such key elements of the lines’ spirit and rhetoric. This is probably down to time and effort—in doing a brief translation, I paid little attention to what might take a lot of time. The punctuation, on the other hand, was a simple matter of copying. Another translator, P. G. Walsh, translates Petronius’ lines thus: ‘And as for the Sibyl, I saw her with my own eyes at Cumae, suspended in a bottle, and when the boys asked her, “Sibyl, what is your wish?”, she would reply, “I want to die.”’1 Walsh’s rendering is fairly different, most obviously at the very beginning where, since Walsh is translating in context with the rest of the work. He begins “and as for”, possibly reflecting “quidem” in the 36

Latin, which I almost ignored. His register is higher; he has paid more attention to the Latin and the context, in which sounding high-flown is key. He has also reflected the imperfect tense’s continuousness much better with “she would reply”, but has strangely left this out with “asked”. Walsh has clearly put much more consideration into his translation than I have, and so has come out with one both more reflective of the Latin and with more interesting uses of English to solve its problems. However, this raises two questions: if translation is not a simple case of referring to a dictionary for each word, how much attention must be paid to reflecting every element of the original, and, more importantly, how far can the translation stray from the source in order to best capture its spirit? The book The Classical Tradition: Art, Literature, Thought outlines three main schools of translation: Metaphrasing (literal translation), Paraphrasing, and Imitation (the loosest of the three). Each has its own keen and distinguished followers.Lawrence Venuti argues “translation is in essence colonization”, a sentiment reflected by Nietzsche, who claimed “translation is a form of conquest”. Both, therefore, argue that, if translation is essential, then it must be done under the rules of the first school. Cicero wrote that translation should “save the overall

character and force” of the original, demonstrating his support for paraphrasing. Alexander Pope’s version of Homer’s Iliad is, controversially, an imitation, but Ezra Pound said it had “the merit of translating Homer into something”, but Hawkins, another critic, commented “you must not call it Homer”. More widely, the French tradition of reworking Greek tragedies into works such as Phèdre dominated 17th century theatre. Each of the three schools, then, has fervent followers. However, each person mentioned seems to have read or translated works different reasons. Pope’s Iliad, in heroic couplets, is an exercise in English verse, Homer being almost simply source material (Venuti and Nietzsche were maybe not so far off). Cicero, an oratorical icon, would certainly defend the importance of rhetorical flourish. In each case, the style of translation fits the translator, their purpose, and also the culture. Most translations set out to convey the meaning to an audience lacking the original language, but that audience has a huge effect on the translations nonetheless. Anthony Verity, translating Homer’s Odyssey for the Oxford World’s Classics series, conveys Book 5, line 290, thus: ‘Nevertheless, I think I can even now fill him full of torment.’3 37

Whereas E.V. Rieu’s version, jokingly said to be aimed at “boy scouts”, originally published in 1946, has: ‘Nevertheless, I mean to let him have a bellyful of trouble yet.’4 Both convey the same line of Homer, and, though Verity is translating into verse, Rieu into prose, in this line it makes little difference. And yet these translations are very different, the most noticeable difference being the idiomatic translation of Rieu–certainly not Homer’s original words, but an attempt by the translator to capture their meaning and be exciting, following the style of 40s adventure stories. Verity is far more formal. His own translator’s note points out that his text varies in terms of register, style and formality, but he does this solely to capture Homer, as, he interprets, Homer has written it. In this way, Rieu’s translation has a distinctly different priority to Verity’s. Verity writes for serious readers of the text and so follows the Greek strictly, its tone and natural beat being important factors. Rieu translates for the public (his Odyssey was, for a long time, the bestselling paperback in the world) and so ignores versification and careful stylistic imitation. He writes Homer’s meaning with his own style. Pope’s Odyssey is similarly free: ‘...Is then our anger vain?

All the companions of Odysseus perish during the storm (Jan Styka, 1901) No; if this sceptre yet commands the main.’ He has very little of Homer, but much of his meaning. His is certainly an imitation, more a rewriting than a typical translation. Thus, he is not constrained by a need to follow Homer word for word, but to write a good English poem. Finally, Chapman, so loved by Keats, has: ‘But I hope he shall Feel woe at height, ere that dead calm befall.’ Again, very far from the original, Chapman rewrites Homer as an English poem. This looseness made him very unpopular when he wrote his translation in the early 17th century, but when Keats discovered him 200 years later: clearly it was Chapman’s writing that so engaged him to proclaim, “Yet never did I breathe its pure serene/Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold”. Thus, the audience found the translation and Keats, without a word of Greek, was able 38

to appreciate Homer.

Homer,

Chapman’s

A blanket rule for translation would miss the point. If being literal is all that matters, then the best translators are GCSE students. If it is all about spirit, then Milton’s Paradise Lost can be considered one of the best translations

of Virgil’s Aeneid there has ever been. The nature of translation depends on who is doing it and for whom, if not for themselves. How they interpret the piece, and how they wish for it to be interpreted, is equally important, and if you want to interpret it for yourself, then it’s time to pick up a dictionary.

RADLEY COLLEGE ACADEMIC JOURNAL

BOOK REVIEWS

“THE END OF TIME” BY JULAN BARBOUR DOMINIC WOOLF

One common criticism I hear of physics is that it is a ‘box subject’: it has definite answers, no room for interpretation and therefore no flare. Whilst this is possibly

true at school level physics, one book I read over the summer proves that this is absolutely not the case.

In ‘The End of Time’, Barbour presents the revolutionary hypothesis that time has to be cut out of physics. He hopes that his new theory of time will prove to be the next revolution of physics, and his defence of his idea proves how far physics is from being a ‘box subject’.

of what he calls ‘Platonia’. This would encompass everything in space, and whilst vast, would only be finitely big. However, in Platonia one could find every Now conceivable. This means every possible event in past or future would be contained within Platonia.

As most physicists know, Quantum physics and General relativity contain incompatible descriptions of the Universe, and Barbour believes that their unification can only be solved by the abolition of time as a fundamental part to physics. His idea originates with Leibniz, a 17th century philosopher, who suggested that the world may be made up of a series of ‘Nows’ (effectively snapshots of the world), instead of atoms and space. Leibniz argued that humans are given the impression of time as these Nows are simply strung together to create a timeline. The core of Leibniz’s thinking is that nothing about the understanding of time in the 17th century could explain why time had an arrow.

After introducing his idea, Barbour defends it against the three major theories of physics. He first describes how it would work in terms of classical physics. He argues that Newton’s three laws are too limited, and considers the ideas of Ernst Mach. Machian physics does not require time to accurately predict the location of particles. Moreover, time in Machian physics is simply the change in the system, and nothing more. Expanding on Mach’s theory, Barbour explains how rotating systems can be seen as relative, a problem both Newton and Einstein failed to resolve. As long as we take objects to be relative to the whole universe (Platonia), the maths works. He describes this as the idea of configuration space.

Barbour uses current research, such as that into memory to prove that all memories and experiences of the past can be found in the present. The configuration of atoms in our brain explains our memory. Therefore, all detail about the past can be found in each particular Now, removing the need for time. Barbour argues that time should only be thought of as change.

Barbour then defends his idea against general relativity. He demonstrates how space-time can be constructed using his theory of Platonia and configuration space. Barbour proves that using these Machian ideas, the fusion of space and time no longer appears so fundamental to it. Next, it is explained how his view of Platonia, a world made up of Nows, would fit into the current of the present, which Einstein proved was never absolute.

He then expands his idea, claiming that space-time should be absolved in favour

In the last section, Barbour explains how Platonia would fit into Quantum physics. He explains how Schrodingerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s equations would determine the probability of each Now occurring, meaning that every event in Platonia would have a Quantum wave function in accordance with this, which would be the only change in Platonia. The theory explains why humans perceive motion at any moment, there are several Nows

with a high probability whichh our brain perceives. Although this book is entirely speculative, I believe it shows how fluid physics can be. It demonstrates how it is entirely open to interpretation and is far from the box subject people consider it to be.

“WATCHMEN” BY ALAN MOORE AND DAVE GIBBONS GIORGI GVARADZE

In the years 1985 to 1986, a 12 series comic was published by the British creative team of Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and colourist John Higgins. This series was titled “Watchmen”, and to the average person, it was just another piece of the everyday pop-culture comic book canon, and perhaps many of you would have never heard of it. It documented story of a superhero group called Watchmen,

banned by the government and largely despised by the public, as we can see from the very start. This once celebrated, government sponsored group was outlawed by several acts which were passed against it. The story picks up twenty years on, after a suspicious murder of one of the members. There is no denying that this graphic novel is a true great, pushing its medium to new heights with philosophical issues, political debate and the discussion of the right

moral judgement (is it right to punish evil actions, even if they may lead to a positive outcome?).

able to disintegrate anything to being aware of powers which act outside our will pose the question of “what does it mean to be human?” His utter indifference to the human race with which he grows tired throughout the book doesn’t exactly make him a superhero, rather a god, an entity way above anything that we could imagine. Dr Manhattan, however, does not see the world the way we do. In order to ground the story to a more brutal but familiar base, Moore introduced someone more recognizable by an audience.

Dr Manhattan Part of what has come to define this piece of literature are the now iconic and enigmatic array of characters each experiencing their own mid-life crises in alternate history 1985 New-York. You see, in this world, Nixon is still president, and tensions with the Soviet Union are running higher than ever, after America actually won the Vietnam War. In Fact, the world is spiralling down to a nuclear war. Here is where one of the pivotal characters comes into play. Dr Manhattan - a man transformed into a god-like creature in typical comic book fashion (an accident in a research laboratory). His persona acts as a war deterrent to the world, a diplomatic tool for the US, like nuclear warheads today, and his abilities, which stretch from being

Rorschach The character who is as human as anyone but as unflinching in his actions as a judge, jury and executioner is Rorschach, with a true name of Walter Kovacs. An unflinching idealist. His 44

brown trench coat, rash voice and a mask of white cloth with constantly moving black stains (similar to the Rorschach test) earn him an immortal place in pop culture. His ideology does not ever bend, along with his total hatred of the modern liberalist movement and brutal treatment of criminals. Through flashbacks along the story, we learn of his traumatic childhood in poverty and his gruesome encounters with people like childmurderers and rapists that lead him to completely lose faith in human kind. He believes there is good and evil in the world, and the evil must be punished, even if it may lead to the greater good. Rorschach is so persevering in his ideas that he ultimately dies for what he stands for. Perhaps this is what makes him the only character to respect the person whose murder sets the main plot of the story going, which brings us to The Comedian, or Edward Blake.

The Comedian This character, more than any other, can be compared and contrasted to Rorschach. He is a hero that has seen the true face of the world. Although unlike Rorschach, he comes to enjoy killing. We

witness several events of his moral corruption throughout the story, including a rape attempt and a murder of a Vietnamese woman carrying his son, in this case out of anger. He would never die for his morals though, being a nihilist and comparing life itself to a joke. Moreover, his murder at the beginning of the novel is really only noticed and investigated by Rorschach, leading us to believe that maybe not only were the two quite similar, but also that The Comedian was respected in some way only by Rorschach, and we can only ponder as to why. Even is these three characters are pivotal to the story and drive the philosophical dilemmas of the plot forward, we cannot forget about the characters we will most be able to connect with - Nite Owl and Silk Spectre, otherwise known as Daniel Dreiberg and Laurel Jane "Laurie" Juspeczyk. These two come to develop a romantic relationship later on, but for the moment, they are the definition of the mid-life crisis. Daniel misses his role as a superhero, not really being able to find a purpose in his life after Watchmen were banned. He is a total juxtaposition to Rorschach, never really taking himself to be able to kill. He prefers to live in the lie of safety. This contrast brings humorous aspects to the pairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eventual cooperation. So, while Daniel misses the job he lived for, Laurel breaks up with Dr Manhattan, finally realising how utterly pointless he finds human life. She is a character who was forced to follow in

her mother’s footsteps and isn’t particularly troubled by the ban on crimefighting, a job she was trained for since early childhood. As you can tell, when published, Watchmen presented a captivating array of personalities, each representing their own view on the world in which they live. Not only did the adult themes of the plot solidify the book for older audiences (revolutionary for the mainstream comic industry at the time), but new liberties were taken in regard to character building, reinforced by the fully typed pages expanding on the rich history of the sometimes disturbing relationships between the Watchmen, and their predecessors, the Minutemen. This really is a treasure trove and example for any modern novelists looking to engage their reader and to build a believable world. Perhaps this outstanding depth of field in world building and characterisation is what helped to influence the whole genre, along with such grounded ideals which each character pushed, coming into play at the climactic finale. Which leads to a crucial aspect of the story itself. Adrian Veidt, once a member of Watchmen himself, is the world’s smartest man. His name, or the one he prefers, is Ozymandias (the Greek name for Ramses). However, not only is he the world’s smartest, he is also the world’s richest. And this, is where his contrast to the previously described Rorschach starts. Adrian is elegant, a philanthropist and with flexible morals. Hearing the

damning prediction of nuclear war from The Comedian at a meeting, he becomes also aware of the inevitable truth – the world really is about to be destroyed. Billions will die. With his immense wealth, he sets out to save the world. And how will he do that? By killing millions. In his eyes, the outcome is worth the cost, and idea with which many of you may agree. Millions will die so that billions will live. His plan is carried out, in ways which I won’t spoil for you, although caught on to by Dan Dreiberg and Rorschach. This is where the main philosophy plays out. For a world at peace there must be a price and this we know. But know, we can think about ourselves and what we believe. Do you think that absolutism is futile? If given an opportunity to stand up for your beliefs which contradict the path to the greater good, would you do it? Would you die for them, given that the situation is serious enough? Or would you bend your ideology to what everyone expects of you? And greater still, would you lie to conceal something horrible, but if that something has led to the wellbeing of the world? But most importantly, do you think the ends justify the ends? This clash of modern ideology and utilitarian views is really what elevated the novel and its thought provoking nature is something that a writer of any kind should try to achieve. Coupled up with this are rich characters and a mind bending narrative. In hindsight, there is no wonder that Watchmen is the only graphic novel which made the Time’s

100 Novels of all Time list. I thoroughly recommend this read to everyone.

RADLEY COLLEGE ACADEMIC JOURNAL

INTERVIEWS MEET DR CHOROBA – THE NEW HEAD OF CHEMISTRY

RADLEY COLLEGE ACADEMIC JOURNAL I completed an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University of ErlangenNuremberg before carrying out graduate research (MPhil and PhD) in the field of bioorganic chemistry at the University of Cambridge where I was a member of St John’s College. After another four years as a Research Fellow at St John’s, I embarked on a teaching career at Charterhouse where I taught IGCSE, A-level, PreU and IB Chemistry and also became Head of Chemistry, Master i/c Rowing and was involved in Oxbridge applications. Whilst at Charterhouse I completed a PGCE at the University of Buckingham and an MA in Philosophy from Birkbeck College, University of London. After a brief stint as a Housemaster at Gordonstoun I rejoined the academic side of school teaching to be the Head of Chemistry at Radley College in 2018. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a member of the International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry and SCI.

INTERVIEWS

Dr Oliver Choroba

Which books have you been reading lately?

Which area specialise in?

I’m mostly reading philosophy books at the moment. I’m also reading an economics book called The Nudge Theory. Depending on where you put your sweets in the super market (or your healthy food for that matter), people will go and buy more of it. It’s all about strategically placing things in the shop to encourage people to either do the good thing or the bad thing.

My PhD was on enzymes and how they function – I studied a particular enzyme which is involved in antibiotic biosynthesis. I used techniques like NMR, GC and mass spectrometry to analyse how reactions on an enzyme level work. I used my chemistry knowledge to study biological systems.

What do you think is the most promising area for chemistry research today? Certainly batteries and photo-voltaics, I think. Sunshine is cheap and converting sunshine into energy is the future. Wind might be quite good as well, but Sun really is the thing. The next step is transporting the energy around. This means capturing sunlight in hot countries and then transporting the energy using batteries to where the Sun doesn’t shine as much. The oil-rich countries will soon be selling sunshine instead of oil. Material science is quite promising for efficiently converting energy into usable forms. When it comes to biochemistry, this new method called CRISPR is, I think, very promising. One day, we will eliminate a lot of inheritable diseases using this technique – it might be slightly ethically controversial, but if it’s done properly, it can be really big.

What are chemistry?

your

chemistry

current

did

interests

you

Lately, I have been shifting my emphasis from biochemistry and organic chemistry to atomic structure, quantum mechanics and thermodynamics (which I’ve neglected in the past). For example, I’ve been reading about entropy and how it connects to information theory and chaos – 2 different theories which use the same concept. Who is your favourite scientist and why? Chemists? Quite a few actually. As an organic chemist I like E.J. Corey, who discovered marvellous reactions – very clever and simple. Physical chemists? Probably to do with kinetics, people like Herschbach and Porter. Inorganic chemists? I can’t think of one on the spot. Then you’ve got people like Feynman and Einstein who revolutionised science. Fred Sanger I admire as well – he is a 2 times Nobel prize winner, discoverer of amino acid and DNA sequencing. He was the first 49

one to solve the amino acid sequence of insulin, for example. Later on, he also developed a method to sequence DNA (which isn’t very useful anymore, but it has been for many years). Nowadays, it’s all more sophisticated.

What is your compunds?

favourite

family

done now because there is no space, but it will be there next year in the new science department. It could be used for doing field work – for example, finding some rocks and analysing them, or analysing water composition, or the rates of reaction of a particular process – or even organic synthesis.

Quite small molecules – small natural products can do a lot of useful things inside the body. For example, I’m interested in psychodelic drugs and how they work on the brain – that’s an interesting concept which tells us a lot about the interactions of molecules inside the body. I also like inorganic clusters of metal atoms put together in a network – they’re quite cool. Do you have any plans for changing the chemistry department? Yes, I’m already putting in a grant application for a UV spectrometer and an FTIR spectrometer. I would like to make a big project lab for people to work in in their spare time. This would be for independent work (with help from the dons of course), but it would allow them to do something they would be interested in doing. Sadly, it can’t be

How are you planning to encourage super-curricular academics in school? We now have the Sixth form Natural Philosophy Society (NPS). Also, by bringing people in and going to lectures. I would like to promote extracurricular project work as well. It doesn’t have to be an EPQ by name, but something similar. Whether or not it’s an EPQ is irrelevant, I don’t care about that. The big thing is to do it and to try out something interesting. It’s gaining the understanding and the experience – that’s all that matters. As a chemist, what do you think about Breaking Bad? I’ve never actually seen it, mainly because I haven’t got Netflix. I mainly watch BBC and channel 4. People say it’s quite good though, I will watch it one day, I’m sure.

RADLEY COLLEGE ACADEMIC JOURNAL

MEET THE GRADUATES Cristiana Vagnoni, DPhil Neuroscience, Christ Church

RADLEY COLLEGE AC

creating the award winning short science movie "Just a Touch" and A D E M I to C Soapbox JOUR A LScience contributing ArtNand 2017.

MEET THE GRADUATES

Hannah Guggiari, DPhil Mathematics, Merton

Cristiana is a DPhil student in Neuroscience working in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on brain development, in particular on how the brain forms connections after birth to allow the perception of the surrounding world. Outside the lab, she is a passionate science communicator: she organised several outreach activities in the main museums in Oxford and collaborated with multiple artists, co-

Hannah is currently studying for a DPhil in Mathematics at Merton College, Oxford. Her research is in Graph Theory, a branch of maths that looks at the connections between objects. Graphs are really useful with applications in computing, transport, biology, sociology,… The list is endless! When she is not doing maths, she likes to spend her time ringing church bells, cycling and swimming. Rachael Griffiths, DPhil Oriental Studies, St Hilda’s Rachael is studying for a DPhil in Oriental Studies at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She completed her undergraduate degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies and her Master’s at Wadham College, Oxford. Her research focuses on the autobiography of Sumpa Khenpo; a prodigious writer, historian and a powerful religious figure of eighteenthcentury Tibet. In particular, she is 51

interested in the multitude of roles assumed by local lamas â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from performing rain-making rituals to mediating local disputes to practicing medicine â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in order to elevate their status (and the status of their monastery) and secure much-needed patronage. Outside of the library, she plays a lot of board games, and is also an avid rugby fan as well as enjoying a panoply of sports. James Matharu, DPhil Philosophy, New

requisite for mental processes to happen. A philosopher of mind, instead, is trying to articulate the criteria for ascribing any mental processes at all to creatures, by studying what it makes sense and does not make sense to say of thoughts, seeings, imaginings, remembering and so on. We cannot study our concepts of mind by the use of microscopes, petri-dishes or lazers. Rather, we have to examine our languages of the mind, how we identify minds, and therefore our practices of making sense to each other - in all their nitty-gritty strangeness and plurality. Robert Hortle, DPhil Development, St Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

James is a DPhil in Philosophy of Mind at New College. His work tries to understand what thought is, and what it is to perceive things of different kinds or natures, real and unreal; vivid and vague; concrete or indeterminate. This certainly concerns the project of mapping the physical changes that take place in the body when people think or perceive. But it is not the same thing. A cognitive neuroscientist, for example, has the (demanding and vital) task of modelling the chemical processes

International

Robert completed his BA in International Relations and Indonesian at the University of Tasmania, then came to Oxford for the MPhil in Development Studies. He is now reading for a DPhil in International Development at St John's College, studying the human 52

development performance of hybrid regimes (states that combine democratic and autocratic characteristics). Rob is a 2014 Rhodes Scholar, and recently won the Golden Key Asia-Pacific Postgraduate Study Award. Outside academia, Rob has worked as a Junior Dean at St Antony's college, bowls vicious (slow) in-swingers, pretends to be a football striker, and helps entertain the masses as half of the covers duo 'Keep Off the Grass'. Sarah Burns, DPhil Development, Linacre

International

Sarah Burns is a 2016 Canadian Rhodes Scholar who is completing her DPhil in International Development at the University of Oxford. Her research looks at how to ensure that investment into local business in post-conflict Africa can help with the economic recovery and peace process. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Canada in Economics and political science and then worked for the Bank of Canada as a researcher. She then completed her masters of economics for development at Oxford. She has worked and lived in Rwanda, Kenya, India, Nepal and Liberia. She is currently in Liberia for her DPhil research.

past on topics such as Realism vs. Constructivism. He has a wide range of teaching experience at numerous universities, and currently teaches several courses in introductory philosophy. Marc Howard, DPhil Development, Exeter

International

Marc is reading for a DPhil in International Development with a particular focus on reconstruction in Africa. He has previously been an Information Analyst with the British Army and completed an MSc in African Studies, also at Oxford. His work regularly takes him to Zimbabwe and South Africa, which he finds both exciting and exacting in equal measure. He is a keen rugby player and rower, as well as taking part in several running events.

Calvin Chan, DPhil Philosophy, Balliol Calvin is studying for a DPhil in Philosophy, having previously completed a Master’s degree at Brandeis University and his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Sydney. He is particularly interested in questions about Free Will, and he has given talks in the 53

PLEASE SUBMIT ALL ARTICLES TO matija.conic2014@radley.org.uk