BlueMoon | Weird & Wonderful by Trident Media

WEIRD

Wonderful

BLUEMOON Your free student magazine

Laura Noakes | Deputy Print Editor

Kealie Mardell | Print Editor Following the success of our Sex, Love and Relationships issue I knew we’d be up for some tough competition to keep things interesting. For this issue I put our theme to a vote, and “Weird and Wonderful” took the top spot. I shouldn’t be surprised, as we’re a pretty weird but wonderful team! As always, I would like to thank everyone who contributed, and you for taking to the time to read this. A lot of hard work goes into BlueMoon and what makes it worth it is hearing what you think, so make sure to get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter @TridentMediaUK!

Brad Johnson | Deputy Print Editor

I am a massive fan of all things weird and wonderful, and I think this edition of BlueMoon does a great job of celebrating that! We have some wonderful articles on recipes (I for one CANNOT wait to cook the Coca Cola Chicken Drumsticks) and some seriously weird articles on sex positions (oo-err), habits and words! So put your feet up, grab a cup of tea and get on with reading this kooky issue of BlueMoon - you know you want to! And if you have anything weird or wonderful that you simply have to tell us, you know where to find us!

Shannen Rock | VP Comms & Media

We all love things a bit weird and wonderful! Our team have got into the nitty gritty of the weird and wonderful things both on campus and off campus. We have looked into what happens to those interesting Big Brother contestants and even got deep into some students weird habits. This edition of BlueMoon also showcases some of the best in student photography and we would love to hear what you think!

I am such a huge fan of things that are a bit weird and I think this issue is just brilliant! I feel I relate to quite a lot of the content, is that weird? I’ve just got into RuPaul’s Drag Race and I am tempted by the chocolate and chilli cupcakes! As always this issue is a true credit to the wonderful print team, thank you for picking it up and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

CONTENTS

ENTERTAINMENT

INNOVATION

LIFESTYLE

SPOTLIGHT

DESIGN BY EMMA LANGSCHIED & KEALIE MARDELL

PRINT EDITOR Kealie Mardell

COPY EDITOR Sean Howlett

CONTACT vp.comms@hertfordshire.su

DEPUTY PRINT EDITORS Brad Johnson Laura Noakes

CONTRIBUTORS Melissa Nadarajan Aiden Perrins Chloe Burrowes Marie Anderson Kat Clements Oliver Price

VP Comms & Media Hertfordshire Students’ Union College Lane Hatfield Herts, AL10 9AB

SUB EDITORS

Emma Langschied (Design) Rebecca Harding (Photos) Shelby Loasby (News) Mercedes Brazier (Sports) Taveena Atsu (Features) Krystyna King (Events)

EDITOR IN CHIEF Shannen Rock

TridentMedia.org Facebook.com/TridentMediaUK Twitter & Instagram @TridentMediaUK

4 Cover artist: Lily Rankine 5 ENTERTAINMENT 6 Weird & Wonderful words 8 Weird & Wonderful novels 9 BB: Where are they now? 10 WTF Did I just watch? 12 RuPaul’s Drag Race 13 LIFESTYLE 14 Students weird habits 15 Body modification 16 Food so wrong it’s right 18 What’s in your bag? 19 Weird sex positions 20 Hatfield’s graffiti 21 SPOTLIGHT 22 Elizabeth Cahil 24 Liberty Heath 25 Rachel Prior 26 Mia Dobson 28 INNOVATION 29 Just ask Google 30 Facts about your body 31 DIY Science experiments

Image by Mia Dobson

From the cover... Our cover image was from Lily Rankine (pictured right), a first year Fine Art student from the Creative Arts school. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I guess there is a common theme throughout my work. When I am in the studio giving birth to all these little creations I tend to think about using stereotypical child materials like glitter, sequins and very poor stitching skills... I use these materials to portray an underlying dark matter, sometimes to do with sex, feminism and adult conversations. I think the contrast between the subject matter and the actual material and process used to create these pieces is the most striking aspect in my work, although a lot of people are drawn to my work due to the extremely bright colours and some what explicit and strange content. My work tends to come together as I go, if I am enjoying myself and having fun then I know the piece I am making will be interesting.â&#x20AC;?

ENTERTAINMENT

WEIRD AND WONDERFUL WORDS Did you know there are now one million words available to us? Apparently though, a working vocabulary these days stands at 7,000 words. However, the majority cope with only half of this number. Researchers discovered fifty years ago the most popular words were ‘gentleman’ and ‘modesty’. The words most used today are ‘sex’ and ‘celebrity’. Oh look at how much we’ve changed. Over time words change their meanings, such as ‘gay’ and ‘bimbo,’ and new words are constantly being invented or reintroduced. We use slang words and abbreviations as a common part of our communication. But have you ever wondered that if some of us can’t understand William Shakespeare now, then one day in a few hundred years, people may not be able to understand the way we conversed in the 21st century? It’s a scary thought. So here is your A-Z of weird and wonderful words, to uncover those long lost gems. I dare you to use one once a day and see how many strange looks you get. Perhaps then we will no longer be lost for the right word, whatsitcalled, or thingymajig.

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Abligurition: Spending an excessive amount on food. This comes from a Latin word meaning ‘to spend freely and indulgently on luxuries.’ Acrasia: The state of mind in which you act against your better judgment, lack of self control. From a Greek word meaning ‘no strength’.

Carked: To be annoyed or alarmed. ‘I am so Carked!’ I feel other stronger, censored words are usually used here. Calamistrate: An infrequent verb meaning to ‘curl the hair.’ This word comes from the latin word for curlingiron -‘Just off to calamistrate my hair.’ Weird.

Eustress: Good stress, such as promotion or a new baby. Who knew there was good stress? Echpraxia: The meaningless imitation of the movements of others, probably including the trick where you yawn and watch the movement make its way around the room.

Gymnologising: Having an argument in the nude. Yes there is even a word for this. I’m shocked too. Groak: To stare longingly. Apparently this word is described as what dogs do if you have a sausage on your fork. Gubbertushed: Having projecting teeth, bucktoothed.

Igry: Painfully embarrassed by someone else’s poor behaviour. Perhaps this will make a come back to describe some people the morning after a night out? Infucate: To use make up Illecebrous: An outdated word meaning ‘attractive, alluring’. From a latin word meaning ‘to entice.’

Kalokagathia: Nobility and goodness of character. From Greek words meaning ‘beautiful’ and ‘good.’ Karoshi: A Japanese term which means death caused by overwork or job-related exhuation. ‘Please look after your health while writing those essays…’ Kench: an obsolete word meaning ‘to laugh loudly.’ Could this take over ‘LOL’?

Borborygmus: Long-winded word for a tummy rumble. Brabble: To bicker, quibble, wrangle. ‘Stop brabbling!’ Blatherskite: Someone who won’t stop talking utter rubbish. ‘We all know a Blatherskite…’

Dactylonomy: The science of counting on your fingers. ‘I’m a dactylonomist’…Well at least it sounds fancy! Deipnophobia: A morbid fear of dinner parties - Yes. There is a phobia for just about anything.

Fadoodle: Means silliness or nonsense. The word even sounds silly! Fudgel: An eighteenth-century term meaning "Pretending to work when you're not actually doing anything at all." I’m going to start saying "Stop fudgelling" to all my friends in the LRC.’

Hedgehoggy: Having a prickly nature, of a forbidding appearance or manner, leading to distaste. ‘A hedgehog can’t change its spikes!’ Houghmagandy: Sexual intercourse with a person one is not married to.

Jentation: A rare word meaning ‘breakfast’. Also jenticulate is the verb, meaning ‘to breakfast.’ Jocoserious: Half jocular, half seriousblending jokes and serious matters. Banter?

Limerence: The initial rush of falling in love; the state of being in love. Luculence: An obsolete and rare adjective meaning ‘fineness, beauty,’ or ‘clearness, certainty’ From a Latin word meaning ‘Light.’

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By Krystyna King

Q U Y

Octothorpe: The telephone keypad symbol; ‘#’ also called hash or crosshatch. This could change the world of Twitter; no hashtags but octothorpes? Maybe not. Onolatry: A very rare word meaning ‘the worship of donkeys or asses.’ Greek word. Let this one just sink in for a minute. There is a word for worshipping donkeys.

Quomodocunquizing: ‘Making money in any way that you can.’ Or should also be known as ‘student life’

Smellfungus: Someone who always finds fault in things. The least articulate word I’ve heard. Don’t be a smellfungus! Spanghew: To cause a frog or toad to fly in the air. Oh yeah, theres a word for that too because we all know how common it is…*No animals were harmed in the making of this article*

Ultracrepidarian: Giving opinions on a subject you know nothing about. Uhtceare: Means “waking up before dawn and not being able to get back to sleep because you're worried about something.” People have been suffering from uhtceare for over a thousand years. ‘Study. Eat. Sleep? Repeat.’

Wabbit- a Scottish word meaning ‘exhausted or slightly unwell.’ Winebibber- a person who habitually drinks a lot of alcohol ‘I wonder how many students are winebibbers?’

Yabber: To talk. ‘Yabber dabber do!’ Yerd-hunger: An overwhelming desire for food. Yaply: An adverb meaning ‘eagerly, hungrily’.

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Methysis: A rare word meaning ‘addiction to drink’ or ‘habitual drunkenness.’ Not sure if going to the Forum every week counts as ‘habitual drunkenness? Mouton enrage: Literally ‘mad sheep.’ A term for an angry person who is usually calm. Mad sheep? Wow...

Ninnyhammer: A piffling fool, better known by its abbreviation ninny. ‘You’re a ninny.’ Nimfadoro: An effeminate fellow, especially one who is well dressed and popular with women. Noncency: An obsolete word meaning ‘guilt.’ Something that is nocent is harmful or criminal. ‘I feel noncency for not studying…?’

Persiflage: Slight mockery or banter. ‘Calm down its only persiflage!’ Pavisande: To flaunt opulent or expensive clothing or jewels; Apparently its the Edwardian synonym for bling. Peenge: To complain in a whining voice.

Ramfeezled: Exhausted by overwork, a synonym for the equally lovely word, forswunk. ‘Assignment season? Bet you’re ramfeezled!’ Rhathymia: The state of being cheerful, merry, and optimistic. This is the feeling you have while writing the conclusion to your essay. ‘The end is near!’

Testudineous: Slow. As in “my computer is ridiculously testudineous, especially when I’ve got to do important work.” Theoplasm: An uncommon word meaning ‘the stuff of which gods are made.’

Vappa: A rare word meaning ‘flat or sour wine’. That would be a sad day. Vagarious: Meaning ‘erratic and unpredictable in behaviour or direction.’ The origin is a Latin verb meaning ‘to wander.’

Xeno/a: Greek word meaning ‘Foreigner, stranger or guest’ Xenagogue: Fancy word for tour guide. Think I’ll stick with saying tour guide-much easier! Xenization- The act of travelling as a stranger

Zamzodden: Overcooked or stewed, eg. school dinners. Zazzy: Flashy; stylish. Zedonk: The offspring of a male zebra and a female donkey. If you haven’t seen one you’re missing out!

By Laura Noakes

Five weird and wonderful novels

For this month’s BlueMoon, we’re celebrating all things Weird and Wonderful so if you’re currently in a reading slump, and need something weird, wonderful or both to spruce up your bookshelf, read on!

1.Wonder by R. J. Palacio Our first book is definitely on the side of wonderful. Wonder tells the story of August, who is a ten year old boy with a facial abnormality. If you like John Green, Wonder is for you - this is a heartwarming, tearjerker of a debut novel that will make you appreciate the little, wonderful moments in life. Narrated by August, and various members of his family, Wonder shows the difficulties this kind-hearted little boy faces and the outside world’s horrifying reaction to his facial abnormality. The insight into how his family deals with August’s difficulty is fascinating, and the frank and honest style of writing allows the reader to fully appreciate August’s first furore into the world.

2. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente The best way to describe this book would be The Wizard of Oz meets The Chronicles of Narnia. It follows September, a twelve year old girl, whose father has gone off to war and whose mother has gone to work.

She finds herself in Fairyland, and this Fairyland is the most magically, strange, weird and wonderful Fairyland that I’ve ever encountered in literature. Whilst Valente has definitely been inspired by the great fantasy novels, her Fairyland seems original and full to the brim of imagination. The plot itself is also full of exciting twists and turns, and September is a wonderfully developed kickass female character. This book is for you if you are a fairytale and fantasy nerd!

3. The Invention of Hugo Cabaret by Hugo Selznick This book is book weird and wonderful for the unique format it takes. Part written novel and part graphic novel, it tells the touching story of Hugo in both pictures and words. This pairing makes the reading experience almost border on magical. The Invention of Hugo Cabaret is set in Paris in the 1920’s, and follows orphan Hugo on a mission to fix his late fathers mechanical robot. The story is both sweet and engaging and the pictures are beautifully drawn. If you are a reluctant reader, this one is definitely for you.

4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a cult classic, and it’s easy to see why. It is laughout-loud funny, cleverly written and above all

very, very weird. It follows Arthur Dent, who is journeying through Space after narrowly escaping Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a galactic freeway. What follows is a series of hilarious misadventures, culminating in the discovery of the answer to the the ultimate question of life (SPOILER ALERT: It’s 42). Confused? Why not read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to find out more?

5. Coraline by Neil Gaiman Neil Gaiman is the king of weird and wonderful stories, but I have to say, Coraline really takes the biscuit with the weird. It follows a girl who moves to a new house with a locked door in the drawing room that leads to nowhere. Soon Coraline finds herself in an alternative world, with her ‘other’ mother and father. At first, this world is spellbinding and magical, but something sinister comes for Coraline and she and her family are put in danger. This is a wonderfully creepy story that will never let you look at buttons the same way again! So there you have it, those are my top five weird and wonderful book picks! I hope you enjoy reading them, and if you do, let us know what you think on Twitter @TridentMedia and on Facebook.com/ TridentMediaUK.

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Where are they now?

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By Brad Johnson

The weird and wonderful Big Brother winners Since the experiment started in 2000, there have now been 253 contestants through those Big Brother House doors. There have been 15 winners of Big Brother UK, 19 walk outs, 8 ejections and 177 evictions. It is true to say that Big Brother has had it’s fair share of weird and wonderful characters. BlueMoon is now going to take you straight into some of their lives and try and find out where some of the most weird and wonderful housemates are today. Starting with series five winner, Nadia Almada, the first transgender winner of Big Brother. Nadia caused a bit of a storm in the Big Brother house and won the British public’s heart securing a massive 74% of the final votes. Following Big Brother, she released a single called ‘ A Little Bit of Action’ reaching the dizzying heights of 27 in the UK Singles Chart in 2004. She has also made appearances on Hollyoaks and has taken part in Celebrity Fitness Videos Not Fit For TV which lead on to a Latino inspired fitness video. Sadly, Almada has stated that “that the show has made her consider suicide.” Little is known about Almada since 2010 but she is

still active on her Twitter account @ nadiaofficial with over 44,000 followers. Jumping to series seven, we say hello to Pete Bennett from North Wales. Pete was famed for his tourettes and his fleeting romance with fellow contestant Nikki Grahame.

Their relationship blossomed in the last week of the series but in 2006, they called it a day. In 2010, Bennett and his new girl Gemma Costing featured in the Living programme, Four Weddings, but in 2014, they were filing for a divorce.

The poor guy has not had the best run in love since featuring on the Channel 4 show. Bennett today is trying to become an actor but exclusive interviews have stated that Bennett was a heavy LSD user and that Big Brother was effectively rehab for him. His famous twitches have been reported to have faded considerably and he is now drug-free and pursuing his acting career. Big Brother 14’s socialite Georgina ‘Gina’ Rio was very public with her £10,000 a month allowance from her businessman dad. She formed a close relationship with Dexter, a publicist. Rio’s image was subject to a huge media frenzy and it was reported prior to entering the show that she was “Britain’s most spoiled girl” after it was leaked that she even lived in the luxurious Savoy Hotel in London. Rio is still in the public as a “Columnist turned author”. Her Twitter account @IAmGinaRio attracts over 75,000 followers for her riveting and engaging content. Whoever enters the Big Brother House next is sure to get their five minutes of fame, but if they can sustain their fame is the true Big Brother test. Bring on the next series!

By Melissa Nadarajan

9 movies that make you ask... WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF

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1. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Year: 1998 Director: Terry Gilliam Starring: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro Ludicrous, irreverent, surreal but ultimately hilarious, Fear and Loathing is the prince of drug fuelled films. Adapted from the writing of journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, the manic, disjointed plot follows Raoul Duke (Depp) and his ‘attorney’ Dr. Gonzo (Del Toro) on a hedonistic and hallucination filled road trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to cover a motorsports competition in the Nevada desert. Along the way they encounter bars filled with giant drunken lizards, moray eel receptionists, imaginary flying bats and their own demented selves in lurid hotel room after hotel room. Best enjoyed intoxicated.

2. Stalker

Year: 1979 Director: Andrei Tarkovsky Starring: Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatolly Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko A slow moving, yet tense and atmospheric film, Stalker follows three men on a clandestine journey to a sealed off and heavily guarded area known only as ‘The Zone.’ Buried deep inside The Zone is a room that allegedly grants those within their deepest desires. However The Zone, possibly but unexplainably sentient, can only be traversed by a skilled Stalker, who has an innate sense that can avoid the area’s deadly traps. The nature of The Zone changes with every minute and the safety of each path is determined

by the bizarre technique of throwing a metal nut attached to string at it. The film, a partial influence for S.T.A.L.K.E.R game franchise, has deep religious and philosophical undertones, an ethereal and unnerving soundtrack, and never fully explains itself.

3. The Fountain

Year: 2006 Director: Darren Aronofsky Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weiss When the director of Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan sets out to make a love story, he could hardly be expected to create something straight forward now could he? Three intertwining storylines spanning centuries, continents and outer space, featuring the same actors playing the samebut-not-quite characters in each of the samebut-not-quite storylines unfold to tell a tale of love, devotion and mortality. The dreamlike space scenes, while beautiful are bewildering, nonsensical and the conquistador segments are just as trippy.

4. Being John Malkovitch

Year: 1999 Director: Spike Jonze Starring: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, John Malkovitch Bizarre comedy in which a struggling puppeteer (Cusack) takes on a job on the 7 ½ floor of an office building, a cramped crawl space wedged between two floors. While working there he discovers a portal behind a filing cabinet that leads in to actor John Malkovitch’s (playing himself) mind. The portal

allows the puppeteer to experience life through Malkovitch’s eyes before it unceremoniously spits him out on the side of a road. He introduces his wife (Diaz) and his co-worker to the experience and together they start charging people to use the portal. However, the relationship between the three becomes mired in jealousy, betrayal and unrequited love, while the real Malkovitch, believes he is going insane and is determined to find out why.

5. Donnie Darko

Year: 2001 Director: Richard Kelly Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, James Duval, Jena Malone A modern cult classic blending supernatural, coming-of-age and science fiction genres. Donnie (Gyllenhaal) plays an American teenager troubled by nightmares, sleepwalking, and visions of a terrifying looking giant bunny rabbit who instructs Donnie to commit acts of vandalism. The convoluted ending left audiences confused and grasping for answers. The end of the world is coming, plane engines fall out of the sky, senile grannies hold the secret to time travel, and your commitment to Sparkle Motion is severely doubted.

6. 2001: Space Odyssey

Year: 1968 Director: Stanley Kubrick Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, Douglas Rain A legendary science fiction masterpiece exploring human and technological evolution,

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WTF did I just watch?

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Space Odyssey’s retro-future aesthetic has influenced countless films for decades since its release. However, it is its bizarre Star-Gate sequence that lands it in this list. Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea) flies his spacecraft through a surreal and disorientating, yet visually spectacular series of coloured lights accompanied by a truly terrifying soundtrack of distorted choral voices. The sequence ends abruptly to reveal the astronaut in a building with an entirely white interior, where he witnesses several versions of himself, each increasing in age. No explanation and no soundtrack enter this part of the film, and the very last shot will leave you perplexed and running for the nearest search engine, demanding answers for the last three hours of your life.

7. Enter the Void

Year: 2009 Director: Gasper Noé Starring: Nathanial Brown, Cyril Roy, Paz de la Huerta This film is an epileptic’s nightmare. Labelled by its own director as a “psychedelic melodrama,” Enter the Void follows the life of a young American drug dealer and user living in Tokyo. We see each moment through his eyes, with each scene shot from a point-ofview perspective, including blinking and drug-induced hallucinations. Nor does this stop when the protagonist is shot by police, following his spirit around

the streets of the Japanese underworld, watching the psychedelic, dream-like chain of events that unfold after his death; featuring questionable moments that include incest-y vibes, flashbacks, love hotels and glowing genitals…glowing genitals everywhere…

A Scanner Darkly

Year: 2006 Director: Richard Linklater Starring: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downy Jr. Winona Rider, Woody Harrelson Yet another drug fuelled, scifi escapade set in the not so distant future; a star studded cast and a visually exciting animation technique make this film really stand out. An undercover policeman is ordered to infiltrate a group of junkies addicted to a drug known as ‘substance D.’ He too becomes addicted and loses his grip on his identity and reality. Hallucinations, conspiracy theories, paranoia and delusions feature heavily with twists and turns that only increase the claustrophobic atmosphere. Also boasts some great, rambling comedy moments, especially from Harrelson and Downy Jr.

of WTF movies, with past specimens including Brazil, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and Twelve Monkeys. Zero Theorem, his latest offering, is no further down the WTF scale and is set in a neon-bright, fantasy future world. Qohen Leth, played by Christoph Waltz, is a drab, insular being, harassed by the extroverted nature of his world in which his only job is to ‘crunch entities.’ Nightmares about black holes, virtual reality beach dating and a quest to find the meaning of existence intrude into Leth’s life until his world collapses around him. The bizarreness of this film firmly sits in its overall aesthetic, a bubble-gum parody of modern consumerism where billboard advertisements follow passers-by along the street, and the current fashion is shower curtain/plastic/fancy dress/rave. The result is a modern sci-fi film that looks like it was made in the 80’s. Seen a film that made you say WTF? Let us know @TridentMediaUK!

Zero Theorem

Year: 2013 Director: Terry Gilliam Starring: Christoph Waltz, Lucas Hedges, Mélanie Thierry The second film on the list by this director, Gilliam is possibly the king

By Sean Howlett

Hunty. Eleganza. Gagging. Hieee. Fish. Realness. Werk. Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent. All phrases that have quickly become staples in my vernacular, and I only have my (slight) obsession with RuPaul’s Drag Race to thank. Based loosely on America’s Next Top Model, but for Drag Queens, the show features RuPaul as the Tyra Banks of the show (similarities aren’t coincidental), a superstar of the LGBT community since the early 1990s. S/he (Ru says either is fine, just as long as you’re talking!) hosts the show, which sees a number of queens competing against each other in certain challenges. The icing on this incredibly camp cupcake is the final challenge of each episode, where the bottom two contestants have to Lipsync For Their Life against each other in order to stay in the competition. Sounds fun and hilarious, right? The show, now seven seasons in, has captured the hearts of fans across the world - gay, straight, male, female, both and neither!

So what is it about Drag Race that makes it so interesting? It comes down to the fact that there are these insanely creative individuals being tasked with an incredible amount of things - sing, dance, act, style, create, sew, design, pose, brand - the show has it all, and these queens aren’t given much time to do it. That’s what makes it so awesome; seeing people turn out three new outfits after having acted in an infomercial the week before, a task that followed performing in a two-part musical. Every challenge is different and these wonderful and weird creatures that inhabit RuPaul’s Drag Race are endearing and warm, as well as incredibly talented. Take Sharon Needles, winner of season four, as an example. She walked down the first runway challenge in a body suit complete with skull cap and nails to high heavens, with fake blood pouring out of her mouth. The artistry and effort that went into that outfit was insane, introducing viewers to a sub-genre of drag called Gender Fuck, looking oh, so amazing, doing so.

On the other end of the lacklustre contributions that spectrum there is Courtney week. These two should be the Act - can we just take a second next Ant & Dec, in my opinion. to appreciate how punny these There’s a heart that names are - who, after carving runs deep amongst the show; a career out on Australian Idol, as cliched as it is, everyone came third in the last season there forms part of the weird and looks not only incredibly and wonderful community that convincing but also absolutely people, both in and out of the stunning as a woman. LGBT community, have taken It all comes down to the real joy in denying legitimacy leader of this tribe of misfits until now. Drag Race has - Ms RuPaul Charles. Former certainly gained popularity in supermodel, singer, actor and recent years, possibly due to actress, with legs for days, Ru the hysterical nature of the encapsulates everything the memes that come out of the show is about with the motto show and the dedication of its’ ‘if you can’t love yourself, how fans. I embrace it, all of it, from in the hell you gonna love every sequin to false eyelash Sharon Needles | Drop dead gorgeous somebody else’. Above all, to poorly hemmed dress line. everything on this show comes No TV show has ever brought from a place of love; of wanting people together in such a way to see talented people do well. that creates a real collective Of wanting to see the underdog identity. Well, all until RuPaul rise up and show off their utters the famous words ‘good talents, whatever they might luck, and don’t f*ck it up’. be. Alongside Ru, of course, is Michelle Visage, whom some of Have I convinced you you may know as the woman that the weird and wonderful who challenged and befriended world of drag is your next Katie Hopkins on Celebrity Netflix addiction? Well, you’re Big Brother back in January. in luck! Seasons 1-6 are on She brings more of that sass Netflix, and the latest season the show is known for; calling has just started airing over in contestants out when they look the States. too manly, ‘reading’ queens for bad make up, awful dresses or

The weird and wonderful world of RuPaul’s Drag Race

Images © Logo TV

By Aiden Perrins

People are weird. Some people do odd things like try to sing a song backwards, and some people put the milk in a cup of tea before anything else, like some sort of psychopath. Being weird is the same as being wonderful from my point of view. We have our small moments of individuality which can seem weird to others, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what makes us all excellent. A weird habit is often a difficult thing to think of on the spot, but I guarantee if you ask anyone close to you they could write an essay on how weird you are, references and all. If anything, the weirdest thing of all would be if you had no weird thing about you. I am a very weird person, as you can see I dislike anything that is asymmetrical, which includes the leaning tower of Piza and people who eat an odd number of weetabix. That is not a normal thing, that is a crazy, OCD thing. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not a crazy sociopath, (probably) but my point is that we should embrace our weirdness because it is sometimes brilliant as demonstrated by these students.

. . . M R E AT?! H W Photos by Aiden Perrins

By Kealie Mardell

BODY MODIFICATION Body modification. This might sound intense and scary to some, but it’s a weird term for something truly wonderful. For many, it’s a cultural tradition seeped in history, for others it’s an expression of art and individuality. The act of altering one’s appearance, body modification holds countless possibilities, although two of the most common are tattoos and piercings. On a more extreme level, there are practices such as skin stretching, branding and surgery. With options such as snake tongues and elf ears, it can be shocking. It can be stunning. It can break society’s standards of beauty. Piercing is one of the oldest trends of body modification, and can be traced back thousands of years in cultures across the globe. While piercing can be for a traditional reason, its increasing popularity can be purely aesthetic. Tattooing also appears throughout ancient history, with even Egyptian mummies discovered with tattoos of animals and symbols – although this was probably a much different process to the mechanics of the modern tattoo machine! Once a mark of difference, tattoos are also becoming increasingly commonplace. According to the PEW Research Centre, 36% of 18-25 year olds are tattooed, increasing to 40% in the 26-40 age groups. Other studies suggest that in America 42% of people have tattoos and 61% have piercings. The stats for England fall slightly below, but still represent the most tattooed country in Europe. As someone with tattoos and piercings of my own, the ink I have so far holds a personal meaning. For my last tattoo, I called on artist Elliott Wilkie for the design. “I often start by trying to understand the reasoning behind the tattoo (if there is one),” he said. “Learning as much as possible about WHY they want

a specific piece on their body is important to me, I love being able to convey those personal notes to the best of my ability.” For many people, deciding on a tattoo, and factors such as design and placing, can be a long process. While the meaning of a tattoo can be an important element, it’s a personal decision, and doesn’t give onlookers the right to demand an explanation from everyone they see with a tattoo. “I’ve designed many tattoos for numerous clients, some friends, bloggers, YouTubers and everyone in between,” he said. “I’m primarily a graphic designer by profession, I love painting but there’s something so unique about tattoo design. I love experimenting with different mediums and designing something that’ll be on someone for the rest of their lives is certainly one of the most prominent things an artist can do.” There is often a lot of speculation and criticism over whether visible piercings and tattoos can affect your employability, but with nearly half of the population partaking in some form of body modification attitudes are changing. The STAPAW movement (Support Tattoos and Piercing at Work) aims to stop the discrimination of piercings and tattoos in the workplace. Their findings suggest while 76% of job seekers feel tattoos and piercing could hurt your interview chances, 73% of people say they would hire someone with visible tattoos, and only 4% of people had reported facing discrimination in the workplace. “Luckily in my profession most graphic agencies don’t frown upon body art or modifications,” said Wilkie. “I find it unfortunate and ‘old fashioned’ when companies choose not to employ the individual with body modifications. It does, however, make me relived to see most industries are now looking past a candidate’s exterior, employing

them for what matters – their ability to work. Like a person’s skin colour, body modification should never define someone.” Professional piercer Laurel Woodward said: “A few decades back it was a rare thing to see heavily tattooed or pierced people but nowadays it is becoming a thriving industry, as a new generation is beginning to grow… If you carry yourself well and are polite and professional, I don’t think tattoos should have any involvement on your ability to be a professional in any industry.” Currently based at Hot Steel in Welwyn Garden City, Woodward has aspired towards the piercing profession from the age of 18. “I worked hard to get an apprenticeship at my local shop,” she said. “I knew if I could give people the same happiness I got from getting piercings and to have an opportunity to share my passion with clients, it would be very rewarding.” Alongside piercings, Woodward is also tattooed and describes her first tattoo as ‘a life changing moment’. When asked whether she had faced negative reactions because of her body modification, Woodward expressed that it comes with the territory. “I have to expect some negative reactions but recently I am quite refreshed at how much society is beginning to accept body mods and tattoos, even in older generations, and the positives are what I hold onto,” she said. “I think body modification is a really personal journey for those who want to find different parts of themselves…Being able to just go out and change your body to something that appeals entirely to yourself and to give you that self-satisfaction, to adorn your body and make your personal ideals of beauty a reality, is an amazing thing for people.” I for one am itching for the buzz of a needle and am already planning my next creation!

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THE ART OF

By Elliott Wilkie

Laurel Woodward

Chocolate and Chilli Cupcakes Sweet and savoury never tasted so good, and these chocolatey cupcakes are a perfect treat for any day of the week. 200g Caster Sugar 200g Melted Butter 3 x Eggs 200g Self-Raising Flour 100g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper Few drops of milk Melt butter and combine with caster sugar in a bowl and mix Combine flour, cocoa powder and cayenne pepper in a bowl Add to the other bowl and fold Add a few drops of milk and fold Preheat a oven to 200c and grease a muffin tin Spoon the mixture in and leave in the oven for 20-25 minutes Have you tried any of BlueMoon’s recipes? We’d love to know what you think! Let us know @TridentMediaUK!

By Chloe Burrowes

Lloyd Henley and I are back again to bring you some daring new recipes. These strange food combinations are ingredients that usually would be kept apart but when put together produce tasty dishes. So dare to be different and try these oh-so-right recipes.

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Food so wrongâ&#x20AC;Ś Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s right! Coca Cola Chicken Drumsticks

This dish is perfect with chicken wings, drumsticks or thighs; the soy sauce gives the dish a Chinese twist! Serve as a snack or as a meal with our side dish option. 2 cloves of garlic 6 Chicken Drumsticks 1 tbsp of soy sauce Coca Cola Chop two cloves of garlic Season drumsticks Put chicken, garlic and a tbsp of soy sauce into a saucepan or wok Add coke until chicken is fully covered Leave to simmer for approx 1 hour or until most of the coke has reduced Great as a tasty side dish or to make it a meal; why not add some tasty sweet potato fries? Peel a sweet potato and cut into fries Preheat to oven to approx 200c Coat the fries evenly in oil and season to taste Pop in the oven for roughly 30 minutes or until crispy

Broccoli and Peanut Butter Soup This changes up an ordinary vegetable soup with the peanut butter twist; perfect for a starter or as a filling lunch. 1 white onion 2 cloves of garlic 1 head of broccoli 200ml of milk Peanut Butter Chop one onion and 2 cloves and garlic and fry Boil one head of broccoli including stem in 400ml of water Add the milk and simmer Pop in large mixing bowl Add 1 tsbp of peanut butter (or to taste) Blend till smooth

By Marie Anderson

“What’s in your bag?”

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The author of this contribution to BlueMoon’s Weird and Wonderful edition stumbled across the work of photographer Jason Travis during her nightly internet roaming on her smartphone whilst she’s technically supposed to be trying to sleep. Travis set out to capture the persona of strangers on his travels by asking to photograph what they carried in their bags and/or pockets. There doesn’t seem to be a lot more to the art project than that, but whilst scrolling through the captions, Farhad Qurashi, a 1st year Mathematics student, emptied his bag for me enthusiastically and the content can be seen below: I noted that there was a Play Station controller among his items, and he stated it was because he wanted to be prepared for a virtual showdown with his friend. Besa Terholli, a 3rd year Advertisement and Marketing student, was not afraid to show me her’s and poured out the content of her bag onto a sticky Ele House table. She remarked that even though there were two eyelash curlers in there, she actually never used them and we couldn’t quite reach a conclusion as to why she’d bother carrying them around.

a theme seemed to emerge where there seemed to not be a single condom, old receipt, tampon, or pocket lint in sight! Whilst I will not go so far as to say that the whole thing was staged, I will point out that it is rather unusual for someone to walk around carrying a machete, and yet the photographer managed to find two who just happened to walk around with a rusty sword in their shoulder bag. This is not to mention the guy who had three different generation vintage GameBoys, (which I am Luke Heudebourck also stepped up to the plate. He’s a Computer Science student and Crush Radio Presenter, and was kind enough to spread his belongings out in a corridor near Prince Edward Hall for my photographing! As we can see, the lovely young man is a fan of our very own BlueMoon, and also one of those kind people who carries around a deodorant, just in case! I also managed to convince the sweet Gunjan Grover to empty her stuff out on the floor and pose for me. Among her belongings were three “bribery coins” that had been in play during a Murder Mystery charity event previously that evening, in which she was an actor.

absolutely not knocking – personally I used to walk around with a Gameboy Advance I bought off of Ebay and a Donkey Kong cartridge) but what kind of situation is that man expecting to encounter that requires having three vintage GameBoys, is what I want to know. So, I took the liberty of re-creating this project, and approached a few people and asked them to empty their bags (in a non-threatening, non-robbery kind of way, of course!) for me to photograph. Our very own Kat Clements also agreed to be part of this little project and emptied her pockets for our curious inspection. As you can see, there’s suspiciously little amongst her belongings that look suspicious. Perhaps that is the most suspicious thing of all! Cassandra Gjermundbo, a Graphic Design student and lovely fellow Norwegian, also participated when I ambushed her in the hallway, and spread her things out on a nearby table. As we can see, she is helping bringing back the awesome Troll Dolls (yay 90’s!) and also health and safety conscious, carrying around a head light for those dark and pesky Hatfield roads.

If you ever need a plaster, I’m your girl, same goes for amateur manicures, a loose button (note the sewing kit), dirty fingers or a match.

As you may have noticed, I’ve captured no illegal (or legal – wait, is there even such a thing?) weapons and only one GameBoy as far as I could tell.

lint (well, I do!). Well, there wasn’t really one, other than aiming to discover the weird and wonderful that we all carry each day.

Now, you may wonder what the point of this little project was, other than to prove that most people don’t walk around with swords in their day to day lives (though I will admit I have a rather small and slightly skewed sample size to actually conclude with this) and that people do in fact carry around tampons and pocket

What’s the weirdest thing in your bag? Let us know @ TridentMediaUK!

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And, because it just wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t contribute, I have also emptied out my things for your perusal. My name is Marie Land Andersen, and I’m a final year Psychology student from Norway.

5 weird sex positions to try at your own risk... Want to spice up your love life with some new, crazy positions? Willing to use every muscle in your body and stretch like never before? Then this is the list for you. Warning! Some of the following positions may result in cramps, muscle damage and an embarrassing story to tell on the way to A&E. We would say don’t try this at home, but where’s the fun in that? For the sake of explaining the positions we will refer to our lovely cartoon people as Blue and Yellow.

By Shelby Loasby

Pair of Tongs The name is probably as exciting as the position, and just as strange. Blue steps over Yellow’s leg, holding the other leg up. Meanwhile Yellow is left hanging in the air, being held up by the strength of their arm and holding on for dear life. It’s not comfortable for Blue and Yellow so nothing particularly excites them. The Gateway Arch This looks, sounds and probably feels very weird. Blue bends over touching their toes. Yellow does the same, and the two align themselves accordingly to ensure maximum pleasure. Blue then thrusts, however, both Blue and Yellow find it hard to support themselves and fall over.

The Waterfall Whilst this drawing is awful, the position isn’t that bad. Blue lies back with their head and shoulders on the floor, and body hanging off the edge of the bed. Yellow straddles Blue. The blood rushes to both of Blue’s heads making it a mind-blowing experience. Reverse Wheelbarrow As a kid you would have played wheelbarrow races. This is similar, but this time the ‘barrow’ is the other way round - and for consenting adults only. Blue stands and holds Yellow’s legs, Yellow bends back and hoists themselves up with their arms. Yellow gets light-heated, passes out and they don’t try it again.

The Butter Churner Yep, it literally refers to the ancient method of churning cream into butter. Sounds weird and looks weird but is a killer in the bedroom. Yellow lies on their back and curls up into a ball. Blue then sits on top and thrusts away. Whilst it can cause back and neck ache, Yellow will still experience extreme pleasure. So there you have it, five weird sex positions that could do wonders in the bedroom, or scare your partner off forever. These positions are for couples engaging in safe consensual sex, and communication is certainly a must. We’ve showed you the benefits and the failures, so the rest is at your own risk!

By Kat Clements

Hatfield’s graffiti

Hatfield has many great features. A thriving street art scene has never been one of them. But there are many hidden gems around the area - here are some of our favourites. The Demon Businessman can be found in the Galleria underpass. Evil of corporate unity? Perils of capitalism? Who knows? Neatly stencilled and repeated a number of times, it’s likely the work of the artist who painted the portraits in the same subway and maybe even the Mario Mushrooms. The little red icons can be seen all over Hatfield – these ones came from the College Lane road sign. Drugs? Probably. These portraits can also be found in the Galleria subway. Pop-Art is back – although we can’t work out the subject. Maybe it’s a self-portrait?

Meanwhile, over in the Asda underpass, graffiti is getting meaningful. Half-removed cursive reads – well, we’re pretty sure this says “Balls to la vie en rose”. (What does it mean? Who knows?) Sounds way too classy for Hertfordshire, though. In the same handwriting, you can also see “We’re watching you… so read books.” At least this vandalism is concerned with your education. Also down in the network of underpasses under that roundabout, you can find this outline of a bull’s head, maybe by the same artist. It could also be a donkey. Your call. And lastly, back in the Galleria underpass, you can read “Power corrupts even the best intentions – look at the Catholics”. Sounds like someone’s dissertation got the better of them.

SPOTLIGHT

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Elizabeth Cahill First year Fine Art My work is very sculpture based and having grown up with horses they are big a big part of my life and a big inspiration for me. I tend to use the form of the horse as an alter ego to express my emotions or my voice. I like to work in a figurative way but also be playful and combine found, everyday objects to be subversive. The horse head with the towel came about when I was working on the clay, trying to keep it wet to eventually create a cast from it. I was reminded of sculptures I'd seen wrapped up for winter at Waddesdon manor during Christmas to protect them from the cold so decided to photograph it in various positioning. This was my favourite of the shots as I liked how the towel began to look like a head scarf. The figure on the toilet is a small wire sculpture which was intended to be a person sat in deep anguished thought however I couldn't help but find it comical as when looking at him he constantly reminded me of a man sat on a toilet and so put it into play. My foam sculptures are currently

being displayed in the exhibition 'Talk Amongst Yourself' in the gallery cafe in Todd building. I was given the idea of foam filler by my tutor and had great fun playing around with it. I first built the wire structures to contain the foam and the sprayed to the foam into them. I loved the effect it gave and the uncertainty of where the foam would grow and expand and was especially excited with the horse as it grew a swollen stomach as if pregnant. The sculpture shown here is another foam sculpture along with the pregnant horse. I have named this piece 'mothers burden' referring here to a mixture of the pack horses used in the Far East which are sadly so often mistreated and neglected along with on a more personal note my own mother and the strain I feel I put on her. Lastly, the picture shown in the background was an intentional piece I created to mirror a series of drawings I had previously made. Again I thought I made an interesting photograph with the dark silhouette wire with elongated legs against a white background.

By Linu George

4th Year BSc Hons Mathematics I like to create art that draws attention and tells a story, where each person can have their own interpretation of what that story might be. In this piece I enjoyed drawing the serious elements such as the cyclopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye, the wires and ear pieces, then pairing them with light hearted images like the fluffy cardigan and the ice cream. On their own they might be simple, but together they do seem weird and wonderful.

Liberty Heath

Photo by Kealie

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Rachel Prior

Final year Fine Art - Internal Intervention Through the medium of photography, Internal Intervention depicts a shot of a brain held up by a hand, with the text ‘Do you love me?’ layered over the top and enclosed in a white box. Throughout our lives we are faced with choices, some of which require the logical thinking associated with the brain, and others which are impulsively decided by what we feel in our hearts. One will rarely agree with the other, and an intervention is needed in order to come to a final decision.

“Your head will rationalise things that your heart will never understand.”

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Mia Dobson, Third Year Photography Student. My interest within photography predominantly lies in photographing people- beauty, fashion, portraiture. This series was taken as part of my Final Major Project for which I chose to produce a magazine. This particular set was shot as a feature for the magazine, and is to document personal style of other â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;creativesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; within the university. (In this case a musician).

By Shelby Loasby

N O TI VA O N IN

Just ask

Google is the most popular search engine in the world and you have all searched a fair few things by now. Some people use it to look for recipes, to find out information for essays, or to cautiously ask the online doctors if their perfectly normal symptom will kill them. Others will search some very strange and unusual things and poor old Google remembers them all. There are too many bonkers examples out there, ranging from; ‘What would happen if i put my cat in the microwave?’ to ‘I think Aliens are watching me.’ So here’s our list of seven of the weird things people have searched. 1) What if there was no Google? Starting off tame...What if there was no Google? Oh no! How would we survive? How would this article exist? There are 1.8 billion answers to this question. It is apparently a serious concern so lets not mock the weirdos who searched it.

3) I think rhinos are just obese unicorns Yep, you’ve spotted it. ‘I think rhinos are just obese unicorns.’ You’d be surprised, when actually searching that sentence there were 7,700 results ranging from serious polls, to Tumblr and Pinterest. It’s an interesting observation, but it is probably best kept in your crazy little head.

5) What would happen if I hired two investigators to follow each other Yes this is weird, but also very philosophical and intriguing. At first, you think; What? Why would anyone think or do that? Then you start thinking about it yourself. What would happen? Let’s try it! This example shows you just how easy it is to convert to weirdism. You would have probably also noticed the other result here; ‘What would happen if I had a baby with my cousin.’ Well…. no explanation needed. You know its weird.

7) How to make a human centipede medically possible So we’ve saved this one till last. Pretty self-explanatory why. If you’ve ever been unlucky enough to see the film(s), then you know exactly how absolutely mental, disgusting and wrong the ‘human centipede’ is. What is even more disturbing is the fact that people have searched how to make it possible. This is off the weirdo chart and heading towards insanity. Whilst there is a level of humour in ‘how to make a human centipede costume’, you would still want to avoid any association with it.

2) Have Penguin biscuits got smaller? This is the question of the century. We shouldn’t be surprised to see this really, with Freddo bars getting more expensive, the sky’s the limit. According to the sheer amount of results to this question it is clear to see that we are all slightly weird, and extremely concerned about our chocolate bars.

4) How to get away with murder How to get away with murder’ has been searched, on average, 1.7k times a month, according to Search Factory. To be honest, this is more worrying than weird. If every person who searched that last year, did actually follow through, there would have been over 20,000 murderers who got away with it. That being said, it really isn’t that easy. Rest assured, you are safe from the stabby weirdos.

6) Why do men have nipples? Granted, searching ‘why do men have nipples’ is very weird. However, it is such a good question, and at some point in your life it has definitely crossed your mind. Why are they there? What do they do? Google knows. Google has over a million results explaining why.

We are pretty certain you have searched even weirder stuff on Google so now its your turn to share with us the weirdest things you’ve asked the poor old search engine. Tweet us @TridentMediaUK!

By Kat Clements

WEIRD FACTS ABOUT YOUR BODY

You have a lot of little friends.

Humans carry many parasites, one of the weirdest of which is eyebrow and eyelash mites. These little critters, as you can guess, hang out in your eyebrows and eyelashes and are 100% harmless. They’re too small to see, but nearly everyone has them – they cling on to the roots of your hairs.

Your world is upside down.

The way that your eyes refract light and make it into images means that you’re actually seeing the world upside down. You don’t notice because your brain automatically inverts the image, interpreting things the right way up.

Your heart can squirt blood up to 30ft.

You need germs to eat. Your guts are full of bacteria – some of them are going to make you ill, but most of them are your friends. Studies have shown that a lot of food digestion is done by these foreign microorganisms – without them, you can’t digest and process your food efficiently.

Icky as it seems, this is pretty impressive – if a central artery, like the carotid, is severed then the pressure of the heart’s beats will pump the blood up to 30 feet. That’s how much pressure your heart is putting your blood under.

Sixth Sense

Well, almost. The sense you never hear about is called proprioriception; it’s how you always know where your body is. Close your eyes and touch your nose; you knew where your hand was in relation to your nose because of proprioriception.

Goosebumps

When you’re cold or scared, the muscles around your hair follicles contract to make the hairs stand on end. That traps a layer of heat, warming you up – and in our evolutionary past, when we were a whole lot hairier, it also made you look bigger.

You are made of stardust

You’ve probably heard it before, but it’s still awesome: every atom in your body once burned in the heart of a star. While elements lighter than iron, like hydrogen, can be created outside of stars (as they were in the big bang), all of the heavier elements can be made only by the fusion processes in stars, and lighter elements all go to make up suns.

Image by Kat Clements

The wonderful world of physics

Experiments you can try at home There’s a common myth about science that it’s inaccessible, that only boffins with three inch thick horn-rim glasses and lab coats can ever actually do it. You’d be forgiven for thinking this, considering the massive publicity of multi-million pound projects such as CERN’s Large Hadron Collider and the many stories from a certain tabloid newspaper about what does and does not cause cancer. But hope is not lost for those of us without 12 PhDs or million pound budgets. There are some experiments you can do at home (or in the garden if you don’t want to make a mess) to demonstrate some basic scientific principles.

constant throughout the universe. Therefore, irrespective of the mass of the falling objects, any object will fall at the exact same speed. “ But a feather falls a lot slower than a golf ball!” you may say. This is true, but only because of the air resistance produced by the feather, whereas a ball would have very little air resistance. If you dropped a feather and a bowling ball in a vacuum (somewhere with no air), they would hit the ground at the exact same time.

Did you know that you can retrieve spilled wine back into the glass?

Did you know that you can build yourself an electromagnet?

Everyone can do science, and understand it. It’s not a giant monolithic abstract concept. All science is done in the exact same way as these experiments. You have an idea, and test it to see if it’s true. That’s why science works, so when you hear about an amazing scientific discovery, you know that the people responsible for it have tested it, and that other people have tested it, and even more have repeated it and got the exact same result, just like you will with these experiments!

Did you know that all objects fall at the same speed? This one is fairly easy to prove. Get a light ball and a heavy ball, and drop them from the same height. They should hit the ground at the same time. Why? Because on planet Earth we have a constant acceleration due to gravity (g) of 9.81 m/s2 which is the result of by the mass and radius of the Earth, as well as Sir Isaac Newton’s gravitational constant (G) which is

Images by Oliver Price

N O TI VA O N IN

By Oliver Price

Grab yourself a battery, an insulated copper wire with stripped ends, an iron nail, and a few paper clips. You need to wrap the wire around the nail and attach the ends of it to either end of the battery. Watch out for the battery getting hot. Your nail will become magnetic and be able to pick up the paper clips. Try adding more coils to the nail and see how far away you can attract the paper clips. This works because electricity and magnetism are two intrinsically linked forces. An electric current can induce a magnetic field, and a magnetic field can also induce an electric current. This is actually how electric transformers on the National Grid work; a coil induces an current in a differently sized coil to step the voltage either up or down.

To do this, you will need your spilled wine (or water, if you don’t want to waste precious booze) on a paper plate, a book of matches, a lighter, and a glass. Stand the book of matches up on the plate of liquid with the matches showing. Light the matches, and put the glass on top. The liquid will be, as if by magic, sucked into the glass. Alcohol saved! And smokey. It’s probably not a good idea to drink it. So why does this happen? When you light the match it burns the oxygen in the air in the glass creating a partial vacuum. This means that the pressure inside the glass is a lot lower than the pressure outside the glass, which essentially sucks the wine in so as to replace the volume where the air used to be. It’s essentially a makeshift vacuum cleaner. And you can use it as a bar trick to get free drinks!