This is the place where WHS students write about the issues we care about, challenge existing academic discourse, and ignite debates of our own. We invite people to remember the joy of learning for the sake of learning and encourage the broadening of academic horizons in both students and adults alike. This blog also acts as a part of our inspiring Scholars’ Programme linking in with the idea-sparking Explore Talks and Rosewell Lectures, from which much of our writing finds inspiration. From Physics to Art to English, we have something to say about everything. We hope you enjoy reading our pieces.
The academic scholars in Year 10 recount their day in Oxford, edited by Evie M and Holly M.
Our first
lecture was given by inspirational Julie Arliss, a renowned author and teacher.
We explored the themes of justice, truth, and beauty, analysing the connections
between these dimensions. First, we considered the meaning of justice and its origin,
linking it to the history of law. She explained Plato’s definition and
thoughts: he argued that our view of justice could not be acquired by
experience as we have never lived in a perfectly fair world, suggesting it is a
quality of the soul. This is directly linked to how we envision the notion of
truth – a moral instinct in ourselves, similar to beauty, the innate ability to
judge someone or something.
The second exciting activity of the day was a lecture informing us on Oxbridge interviews. It was very interesting to see how the interviews were structured, and how much they varied from your expectations! They told us to prepare for the unexpected, such as French and Spanish students being asked ‘Can statues move?’. The presenter talked us through more unique angles you could answer the question, not just a ‘no.’ She explored examples such as ice sculptures melting, or the statues’ atoms moving around.
After a short break, we were fortunate enough to receive a talk from Dr Christopher O’Neill a fellow of Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford, about the psychology of outstanding achievement. Dr O’Neill focused on four aspects that actually produce a life of outstanding achievement contrary to popular belief regarding genetic profile and IQ, including the ‘stickability and marshmallow effect’ – a person’s ability to persevere with something. He delivered the talk with great enthusiasm and passion, and we definitely feel inspired to strive in all walks of life, knowing that outstanding achievement is entirely within our control.
The debate
began with introductory arguments from professional speakers who summarised the
argument in support and opposition of the statement: “This house believes that
it is never ok to comment on someone’s body”. The debate was then opened up to
the students, who all had insightful and thought-provoking comments. Each
student brought to the table their own perspectives, taking into consideration
the experiences of not only themselves but their friends and family. The
variety of complex answers and thoughtful responses were received positively by
the community of students, who all came to the day with open minds and an
eagerness to learn something new and expand their knowledge. These varied
opinions helped to emphasise the importance of being able to adapt to new
information and listen carefully to the perspectives of people in different
positions from different backgrounds.
The very last talk of the day was Dr Mark Lewney. Dr Lewney is a physicist, but he teaches in a very distinctive way – using the electric guitar. It was like our own private concert as he discussed concepts such as string theory, the Big Bang, the speed of light and many more, through the power of music. Even though some of these are generally difficult to comprehend, the engaging and amusing way in which it was presented to us made it easier to understand. He rounded it off with a rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody adapted to explain these concepts. The format, his sense of humour and educational aspect made it an unforgettable experience!
Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed the day as we felt it gave us a good insight into the different ways of interlinking subjects. In particular, the debate was incredibly engaging as it provided us with different perspectives from that of just our own school: a true example of academic collaboration. We would definitely recommend attending similar events as it was a unique opportunity for academic expansion.
In this week’s WimLearn, Thandi (Y10) explores the options for humans beyond planet Earth.
For many
years, people have wondered if the Earth is the only planet with such variety
of life, if any life at all. Surely, we are not the only ones out there?
While we may not know if there is extra-terrestrial life, we know that there
are many planets that are earth-like, found in the project Kepler, which was
launched in NASA on March 7, 2009. The name of the project is from Renaissance
astronomer Johannes Kepler, who gave us the Three laws of Planetary Motions.
By the time
Kepler was closed on the 15th of November 2018, two thousand, six
hundred and sixty-two planets had been found. Some being more earth-like than
others. A few examples are Kepler-186f, Kepler-69c and Kepler-1649c, but one
planet that stands out from the others is Kepler-452b.
Earth 2.0?
Kepler-452b,
also known as KOI-7016.01, was discovered on the 23rd of July 2015.
It is known as Earth 2.0 because its traits, from orbital period to estimated
atmosphere, are similar to earth. More similar than most other planets spotted
within the project. One of the main attributes being that it is the smallest
planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a G2-type star, just like our sun. Its
orbital period is around 384 days, which is only 19 days longer than Earth’s,[1]
and its star- Kepler-452, is 6 billion years old, which is 1.5 billion years
older than our sun.[2] Considering that the oldest star discovered
is Methuselah, which could be as old as 14.5 billion years old (which clashes
with the universe’s calculated age of around 13.8 billion years, mind you),[3]
those two stars are very close in age.
Similarities and differences:
When stars
get older, they increase in surface area, their temperature rises and the light
waves’ amplitude increases, which makes the star brighter. All this has a big
effect on its planets and Kepler-452b is no different. It gains 10% more stellar radiation flux from
Kepler-452 than the earth does from the sun. Looking at its atmosphere, Earth
2.0 may be too hot to be habitable depending on how much silicate weathering
there is. If too small, then there would be too much carbon dioxide for us to
breathe.[4]
The
composition of the exoplanet is similar, however, but its levels of nitrogen
and hydrogen are greater, making the air denser. And, despite the planet being
in the habitable zone, meaning that water can exist in liquid form, we do not
know if Kepler-452b could have retained its water storage after 6.0 billion
years.[4]
In terms of
size, Kepler-452b is certainly larger than earth, making it one of the
‘super-earths’ where the planet is larger than earth but smaller than the ice
planets of our solar system- Uranus and Neptune. Its radius is about 1.5 times
bigger than the earth,[1] and the diameter is, therefore, around 60%
larger.[5] Because of its small radius, there is a big chance that
the planet is a rock planet. We do not know its mass exactly, but it is at
least 5 times bigger than the earth, making the planet even more likely to be a
rock planet when comparing the mass to the diameter.
EARTH
KEPLER-452b
Radius
6,371
km
Around
9,500 km
Mass
5.972 x 1024kg
52M Earth
Age
of its star
4.5
billion
6
billion
Distance
from its star
150.86 million
km
156 million km
But
can we go there?
Now that we
have gone through most of the physical facts, you may be wondering if we could
ever live upon that planet.
Firstly, we
do not know if we would be able to breathe on the earth because it is very
unlikely that the ratio of oxygen-hydrogen is the same.
Secondly, it
is very far away. So far away in fact that we are unable to use telescopes or
next generation telescopes to work out its true mass or determine its
atmospheres, though some next-gen telescopes such as TESS and CHEOPS, will be
able to do so with other, nearby planets.[1]
Thirdly,
because of the point above, it would take ages for us to get there. The average
rocket would take 28440 km/h to get into space alone.[6] And if we
wanted to get there by a quicker, more specific mode of transport- for example,
the New Horizons spacecraft which goes at 59,000 km/h, it would take
approximately 30 million years to get there because the planet is about 1800
light years away from our solar system.[1] Unless we stopped
ourselves from ageing, for example freezing our bodies, we obviously would not
make it there alive.
So perhaps we are currently unable to live on another planet. But, despite the end of the Kepler telescope, the search for Earth 2.0 continues. And who knows? In the future, we may be able to travel for one planet to another like a trip to Disneyland.
In this week’s WimLearn, Lara K in Year 11 explores the ethical dilemma authorities face when regulating the dark web.
What is the Dark Web?
Often, the internet is thought of as one large, online platform. In actuality, the internet more closely resembles an iceberg with 3 layers: the surface web, the deep web, and finally, the dark web. The surface web is what you probably visit every day; accessible through a standard browser, this is where you find public pages like Wikipedia, YouTube and my Grandmother’s food blog. The next layer, the deep web, consists of web pages that are access-controlled (so not fully accessible to the public). For example, emails or bank records require a login, JSTOR has a paywall, even our school firefly website is on the deep web. The third layer, the dark web, exists on dark nets which requires special software to access. These dark websites take many forms: both small friend-to-friend peer-to-peer networks and popular, sprawling networks like Tor and I2P1. Many people, including academics and law enforcement agencies, have struggled to formulate an opinion on the dark web and- crucially- whether or not it should be allowed to continue.
Why Should We Shut Down the Dark Web?
Activity on the dark web is completely anonymous and very
difficult to trace2. As a result of the anonymity, it’s becoming a
cancerous hub for criminal activity that is near impossible for governments to
regulate. In a 2015 study, researchers at King’s College London studied 2723
dark websites over 5 weeks- 57% of these sites hosted illegal content3.
Recently, studies have placed this percentage even higher4.
Prevalent crimes on the dark web include illicit (particularly child) pornography,
publication of private/sensitive information, marketplaces which sell illegal
materials: drugs, weapons, slaves, information (e.g. Netflix passwords or
social security numbers), and services (e.g. hackers)5.[1]
This use of dark web markets means that terrorists, in
particular, can undermine UN and governmental measures which aim to stop
weaponry and other such resources from reaching them6. Furthermore,
the use of encrypted communication (via the dark web) means that authorities
are unable to intercept terrorist plans- potentially putting countless lives at
risk. Evidence of this encryption was acquired in 2013 by the US National
Security Agency which intercepted communications between the leaders of
al-Qaeda6.
Why We Should Not Shut Down the Dark Web?
There are ethical concerns about whether removing the dark net
would be justifiable. Contrarily to public perception, the dark web hosts
numerous legal activities7– simply giving users access to private,
surveillance-free communication without the anxiety of an accumulating digital
footprint. For example, many dark web activities resemble the surface web (like
Facebook8). As a result, some argue that attempts to terminate the
dark web are authoritarian and impede freedom of speech.
Furthermore, dark websites can provide invaluable platforms for
advocacy and whistleblowing- allowing people to overcome censorship or taboo.
To illustrate, ProPublica is a Tor publication which gives readers access to
journalistic content that their governments may have censored9. In
fact, Human Rights Watch, in a statement to the UN Human Rights Council,
declared:
“we urge all governments to promote the use of strong encryption technologies and to protect the right to seek, receive and impart information anonymously online.”10
So Should We Shut Down the Dark Web?
Despite ethical concerns, many countries have concluded that the
criminality of the dark web outweighs any benefits of its existence. For
instance, the UN- supposedly representative of the international body- has
expressed concerns over the dark web11. Furthermore, the Centre for
International Governance Innovation surveyed people across 24 countries: 71% of
the respondents believed in dark net termination12.
Can we shut down the Dark Web?
In short, no; it is probably not feasible to shut down the whole dark
web. Like the surface web, it consists of thousands of private websites- to
shut each of these down, and ensure new websites don’t emerge, is simply
impossible with current technology13. As with the internet itself,
the dark web is not a centralised operation with one big red button to shut it
all down.[2]
Instead, countries/organisations have attempted to shut down
specific dark websites one-by-one- somewhat unsuccessfully. Even if a dark website
is terminated, there is a sprawling network of pages from which another site
will spring up in its place. For example, when the FBI shut down The Silk Road
(a notorious dark net drug market) in 2013, dozens of similarly harmful
replacement sites emerged4.
Other solutions?
Whilst shutting down the dark web is not feasible, there are
several other approaches which may prove more fruitful. For example, many law
enforcement agencies have tried rooting illegal activity out of the dark web.
This has proved a challenging endeavour. Typically, authorities collect a range
of evidence about cyber criminals (like IP) to catch and eventually prosecute
them14. However, the dark web encryption means that tracing
criminals is a technically complex, often futile process. Additionally, illegal
dark web marketplace transactions can’t be tracked as the use of cryptocurrency
(typically Bitcoin or Monero) renders both distributors and customers anonymous6.
Another method is for law enforcement agencies to go undercover
on the dark web. For example, in 2013 the FBI arrested Ross Ulbricht, the
leader of the aforementioned Silk Road, after acting as an undercover agent on
the site15. Similarly, the “honeypot trap” method has also
proved successful, but deeply unethical1. In this method, law
enforcement agents also go undercover on the dark web but partake in illicit
activity with the aim of catching those who try to access the illicit content.
Infamously, in 2014-2015 the FBI obtained a search warrant on
“Playpen”- a dark website hosting child pornography. Instead of
closing down the site, the FBI operated “Playpen” and received a further
warrant to send malware to the devices of those who accessed the content. The
malware searched their computers for child pornography and, using IP addresses,
the FBI was able to locate criminals16. As a result, by May 2017,
548 related arrests were made17. However, by not terminating
“Playpen”, the FBI was actively enabling the further spread of child
pornography for nearly two weeks- allowing thousands of people access.
Additionally, the malware used invaded the privacy of thousands16.
It could be argued that the sweeping warrant issued to the FBI to use the
malware breached the fourth amendment:
The
right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation,
and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things
to be seized.18
Indeed, the malware “violated” thousands with
surveillance- many of whom did not possess child pornography. In spite of this,
the remarkable outcome of “Playpen” (shown below in the bar chart17)
proves the effectiveness of undercover operations.[3]
Alternatively, countries have dealt with the dark web offline-
drawing on the principle that the dark web is merely a platform to enable and
display criminal activity; the actual crime happens in the real world
with real people. Hence, organisations- like the UN- are
working to improve regulatory measures which prevent crime before it reaches
the dark web. To illustrate, the International Tracing Instrument (2005)19
legally requires small arms to be marked with identifying information (like
serial number, country of manufacture and more) and record-keeping be kept on
all weapons. With refinement and stricter adherence to the policy, this could
enable law enforcement agencies to track down where dark web marketplace
weapons are produced, supplied, and sold. Therefore, efforts to target relevant
offline crime would be more targeted. The principle could be similarly applied
to other dark web crimes.
Furthermore, increased social support could avert people from
the dark web. This may include education about the risks and consequences of
cybercrime. In the UK, cyber security/crime and ethics feature in computer
science curricula20 and PSHE. Also, protecting and supporting those
vulnerable to various aspects of dark web crime could curb illegal activity.
For instance, the UK Prevent Strategy (2011) aims to prevent the radicalisation
of people susceptible to terrorist recruitment using various methods21.
From 2015-16, 7,631 people were referred to Prevent; 7,631 potential dark web
terrorists had there been no intervention. Whilst Prevent was not ideal- facing
allegations of institutionalised Islamophobia22– similar policies
tackling each of the numerous dark web crimes could prove fruitful. For
example, perhaps intervention could be provided to those vulnerable to
trafficking, illicit sexual activity, drug abuse, illegal arms possession, and
more.
Finally, many organisations have researched specific issues
surrounding the dark web- aiming to increase the efficiency of tackling crime.
For instance, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) collects
data about dark web drug sales, publishing this in their annual world drug[4]report23
Developing knowledge and increasing transparency around the dark web can
help guide international efforts against cybercrime and enlighten the public
about the all-too-often misunderstood layer of the internet.
Perhaps, although there may never be a ‘lights out’ for the dark
web, there may be a ‘lights on’ for our understanding and our capability to
fight back.
11 Secretary-General
Calls Cyberterrorism Using Social Media, Dark Web, ‘New Frontier’ in
Security Council Ministerial Debate. UN Press. 25-09-2015. https://press.un.org/en/2019/sgsm19768.doc.htm (Accessed
2022-22-08)
18 J. Madison. US Constitution. Pennsylvania, 1787,
amendment 4.
[4]19 International
Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable
Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons, New York: United Nations, 2005
In this week’s WimLearn, Alba G in Year 12 looks at the science behind antioxidants and whether they are all that marketers claim them to be.
A Marketing Dream
If you have ever found yourself walking
down a food aisle, or flicking through a health magazine at the hairdressers,
or stumbling across health and fitness media, you will have almost certainly
come across boxes of, adverts for, or articles selling the virtue of
antioxidants. They’re everywhere – the trendy health miracle.
You may be aware of antioxidant rich
foods such as goji berries, citrus fruits, and even dark chocolate, branded
clearly as ‘healthy’.
The media has become obsessed with
grouping foods into ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’, ‘good’ or bad’, ‘beneficial’ or
‘harmful’ categories. But how far is this scientifically accurate – are
antioxidants really anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, do they protect against
cancer, or are they a marketing con backed insufficiently with scientific
research?
The benefits of antioxidants seem
endless – I have already picked only a few ground-breaking claims. An article
from ‘live science’ explains the science behind antioxidants with claims laced
in terminology using words such as “research”, “free radicals” and “oxygen-reactive
species,” to give their article more weight due to a scientific foundation, yet
says ‘this article … is not meant to offer medical advice.’ So what is
the science behind this media frenzy?
What are antioxidants?
To understand antioxidants, we first
need to know about free radicals. Free radicals are highly unstable reactive
atoms in your body as they have an unpaired electron. They are made by your
body (e.g. when converting food to energy,) and you can also be exposed to them
(e.g. cigarette smoke.) When reacting with each other they create a chain
reaction, as they produce more free radicals. When they react they can cause
cell deterioration, a process called ‘oxidative stress’, which can lead to
cancer.
Antioxidants react with free radicals
preventing further production of free radicals. Therefore, many concluded that
antioxidants get rid of harmful chemicals in the body, so eating more
antioxidants will increase this positive effect and further improve health.
What do scientists think?
Analysis by NCCIH (National Centre for
Complementary and Integrative Health) says ‘most clinical studies of
antioxidant supplements have not found them to provide substantial health
benefits’, and that ‘the relationship between free radicals and health
may be more complex than has previously been thought.’ Free radicals are
not entirely bad – they help to destroy bacterial infections, so the media has potentially
oversimplified the roles of free radicals and antioxidants.
Ben Goldacre claimed in his book ‘Bad
Science’ that we should be ‘wary of blindly following hunches based on
laboratory level and theoretical data’ after discussing a Cochrane review
that found an ‘increase in risk of lung cancer in participants taking
B-carotene and retinol together.’ Feedback mechanisms within the body
complicate theory, which is why research trials are so important.
Why is there a gap between public understanding and science?
This research is not new – antioxidant
benefits are highly contested, yet the ‘live science’ article I referred to was
published recently, and antioxidants are still advertised very positively by
many companies playing on public fear and paranoia of diseases such as
cancer.
Corporations and advertising companies
look for eye catching headlines and desire, for a healthy life, to instil confidence
in the public that their product will work. They want certainty – they feel the
need to box foods into ‘good’ or ‘bad’ categories to prove their product is
effective. Science isn’t always so black and white – new research is conducted
all the time stretching our understanding, yet I believe public opinion is
based on emotion and trust as well as facts, hence it struggles to adapt as new
knowledge emerges.
So next time you’re walking down a
food aisle and see expensive products advertising antioxidants promising to ‘prevent
cancer’, think twice before buying – it may be more complex than it seems.
In this week’s WimLearn Lucy D. in Y12 explores whether it is enough to just be listened to, to have someone hear your opinions and concerns? Or does someone have to act on them in order for us to feel satisfied?
In April 2019, David Kestenbaum reported on a study that he’d conducted called ‘The Tattle-Phone’. The premise of the study was that children in a pre-school class at Woodland Hills Private School, California, were given a fake phone that they could use to tell their problems to. For example, if they’d been pinched by one of their friends, the child could go to ‘The Tattle-Phone’ and be able to tell the phone what had happened.
After a month of the study,
Kestenbaum then interviewed the children and asked them what they thought of
‘The Tattle-Phone’. “One girl told me
talking to “The Tattle-Phone” felt like eating ice cream.”[1] The general consensus from the study was that
the children felt better after voicing their frustrations, because they felt that
they were being listened to. However,
there is another side to this. Towards
the end of the month, Kestenbaum noticed that the number of times the phone was
used decreased. Part of this was the
novelty of it wearing off, but there was also the fact that talking to ‘The
Tattle-Phone’ didn’t prompt any action.
The children had noticed that nothing was being done to allay their
concerns, and so had stopped using the phone as often, because they’d lost
trust in it.
The relevance of this study
is that it highlights a very interesting question surrounding the idea of
having a voice, of being able to complain to somebody about your problems, no
matter how big or small. Is it enough to
just be listened to, to have someone hear your opinions and concerns? Or does someone have to act on them in order
for us to feel satisfied?
Within a democracy,
everybody’s voice is heard and everybody gets a chance to make their views and
concerns known, but not everyone will get their views acted on all of the
time. On the whole, people can be
satisfied with the knowledge that their voice has been listened to, even if the
person who they supported has not gained power or if the views of another group
of people are the ones that have been acted on.
Within companies this is also often true, as case studies collated by
the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development) in 2021 showed: when
employers wanted to increase inclusivity and job satisfaction, their policies
focussed on improving the systems which employees used to suggest ideas and to
voice their worries, showing how these employers felt that making employees’
voices a priority was key to improving the satisfaction of people who worked for
them.[2]
However, like the children
becoming disillusioned with the telephone, sometimes people or populations
cannot accept that just having a voice is enough. They need to see some action. Examples of this range from coups in Ancient
Rome, to the Chinese Civil War in the 1940s, when people have been expecting
action from those in power and have not got it, so they have changed their
leader for one who will take action. In
these cases, and in the cases of many other uprisings throughout history, it
becomes clear that often it is not enough to simply tell someone your opinions
and concerns, these views have to be acted on in order for you to be satisfied
with the outcome.
It’s paradoxical, because
sometimes the knowledge that your voice has been heard is enough, with no
action required, and sometimes what you want is for someone not just to hear
your concerns but to take action because of them. But this produces the problem that not
everybody’s voices can be acted on all the time, particularly if their views
contradict each other. The choice of
whose voice to act on in any given scenario is difficult at all levels, from
Student Councils, to employers, to Presidents and Prime Ministers. Perhaps simply having our voice heard and
listened to has to be enough, and this is what Barack Obama offered in November
2008 after being elected to serve his first term as President of the USA: “I
will listen to you, especially when we disagree.”
In WimLearn this week, Year 11 student Laura K researched the Convivencia, a lesser-known part of the Spanish history.
During a visit to Toledo in Spain I noticed part of the Toledo Cathedral was a mosque and thought that this was unusual. Only later did I realise that this was a remanent of the Muslim presence in the city during what I now have learnt is a period known as the “Convivencia”. It was interesting to learn that there was a significant Arabic presence in Toledo and that their history and cultural contributions to Spanish culture are not widely discussed or recognised. This is also the case for Jewish culture. This topic was a fascinating topic to research, and I was lucky enough to attend a lecture by Dr Vidal on the Convivencia.
The Convivencia refers to a period of Spanish history in
which all three Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) cohabited
together. Spreading mostly over a region referred to as “Al-Andalus”,
(including modern day cities such as Seville, Cordoba, and Toledo in Spain)
this 400-year period marked a distinct change in interfaith relationships and
culture. Although the beginnings and ends of this history are filled with
persecution and forced conversion, there existed a time in between, of centuries
of peaceful coexistence and cooperation, with mutual cultural exchanges that
benefited Muslims, Jews, and Christians.
Beginnings and interactions: The Convivencia began with
Arab armies entering the Iberian Peninsula in 711 AD. The peninsula was
previously held by Catholic Visigoths and was a region which, at the time, was
very politically unstable. The region also contained many scattered Jewish
communities who had arrived in the region roughly in the fourth century. Following
the Muslim conquest of the peninsula, the majority of the Visigoths fled the
region to Europe. However, the Christians who did not leave slowly adopted
Muslim culture, including elements of the Arabic language. These Christians
were referred to as Mozarabs and essentially adopted the customs and styles of Muslims,
without converting. Over time relationships began to form between all three
religious groups creating a unique and complex culture and society where all
three functioned togther.
The migration of Christians and Jews into the thriving heart
of Al-Andalus lead to exchanges in faith, language, and philosophy. As the
communites lived in such proximity, interaction became unavoidable, leading to
both inter-religious violence as well as peaceful cohabitation. There are
records of Muslims allowing Christians to pray in their mosques, along with records
of forced conversion and violence between the groups. These interfaith
relationships did not exclude marriage or friendships, with several records of
marriages and relationships between all faiths, even though it was forbidden. There are even records of shared business
interactions where Jews and Muslims had partnerships in a store and divided
the profits equally in accordance with their respective sabbath days (the
profits of sales on Friday went only to the Jew and those of Saturday only to
the Muslim).
Religious tolerance was probably at its highest in 912 AD
when Abd Al-Rah Man III ruled over the Cordoba region. During his reign he was
referred to as the “prince of all believers” and he encouraged reconcilition
between all religious groups and brought about a period of relatively peaceful
cohabitation.
Religious tolerance: Naturally, certain cities were
more tolerant. Although these communities cohabited, they did not necessarily always
exist in harmony. Many historians argue that the narrative of the Convivencia
has shifted towards a utopian fallacy. Many records of this period give
contradicting images of this period. Where there was harmony there was also
mistrust between the other religions and converts. For example, a riot broke out against the Jews
of Cordoba in March of 1135. ″because of a dead Muslim found among them.”
Jewish houses were attacked and robbed, and a number of Jews were killed. Religious
tolerance began to drastically decline towards the end of this period when
Christian strongholds in the north began to slowly advance south. Christian –
Muslim relationships specifically, were already strained due to religious
differences, and laws were developed to segregate the communites further. In
Valladolid, Muslims were required to wear long beards “as their law commands” to
identify themselves as Muslim and no Christian woman was allowed to nurse a
Jewish or Muslim child, and vice versa.
Downfall of the Convivencia: As the Christian
kingdoms progressively expanded south taking over Muslim territory (in what is known
as the “Reconquista”) the Muslim armies faced losses and retreated. When the
Christians ultimately took power over the region, the Muslim and Jewish
populations were faced with either forced conversion, exile, or death. While
the Reconquista was ongoing, Muslims and Jews who came under
Christian control were allowed to practise their religion to some degree, but this
all ended in the late 15th century with the fall of Granada in 1492.
In 1492, with the Alhambra decree, those Jews who had not converted to
Catholicism were expelled and forced to abandon their homes, communites and
businesses. With the expulsion of the Jews the Convivencia was over.
Impact
and legacy: The Convivencia led to a great cumulation of knowledge from
these respective communities, both linguistically and philosophically. The
impact that it had on Spanish culture, language and architecture is often not
very recognised. The Mozarab Christian population began to either speak Arabic
or interchange it with Spanish during the Convivencia. The impact this had
linguistically on Spanish can still be observed today with almost any words
beginning with al- coming from Arabic roots e.g., Algodón (cotton)
coming from the Arabic word Al-qutn. As a Spanish student it was very
interesting to learn the linguistic roots in the language that can be traced
back to this specific period. I also noticed that several common Spanish words come
from Arabic, for example barrio
(neighbourhood) comes from the Arabic
word barrī , and the Spanish ojalá
(I hope/maybe) comes from the Arabic inshallah. There are many other
examples of this. Interestingly Spanish also influenced Hebrew which was
the language spoken by the Jewish population in Spain at that time; the
language Ladino was a Judeo-Spanish language which was entirely developed by
Sephardic Jews who lived in the peninsula during this period and is still
spoken today by diaspora communities. In addition to the blending of languages
the merging of cultures was reflected in other ways. For example, Spanish Christians began to
mirror Islamic geometric patterns, ornamental metals, and brick work. Some of
these features are still present in the current Spanish architecture. The Muslim
population also brought with them crops such as silk, cotton and satin leading
to a very successful textiles industry within the region. Along with this the
Arabs introduced the Arabic number system which compared to its roman
counterpart included the number zero.
Conclusion: Sadly, due to the largely violent end of
this period and the general resistance to Islam and Judaism from the newly
Catholic country the existence and impact of their cultural, architectural and
linguistic contributions from these groups were slowly and deliberately
forgotten. The expulsion of the Jewish people meant that a Jewish presence in
the region did not return for hundreds of years and the communities who
converted to Christianity were constantly under the gaze of the Spanish
inquisition. While elements of Muslim and Jewish culture remained, it largely
evolved and assimilated into Spanish culture leaving only remnants behind. Overall,
this topic has given me a greater understanding of Spanish culture and its
history as well as giving me a deeper understanding of the Spanish language.
I gathered most of my information from articles such as
Convivencia: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Medieval Spain by By Lindsey
Marie Vaughanm and Convivencia in Islamic Spain by Sarah-Mae Thomas as well as
the talk I attended by Dr Vidal from Queen Mary University of London in April
2022.
Pheoebe C in Year 12 explores the evolution of the kirtle, from its origins to its more modern form, the dress.
A kirtle is a one-piece garment that was popular in Western Europe from the early Middle Ages up into the 17th century. Mentions of the kirtle date back to as early as the 10th century[1], and painted depictions survive from throughout the 17th century[2]. Initially worn by both men and women (although men’s kirtles are often referred to as ‘cotehardies’ in modern scholarship, they are fundamentally the same[3]), men’s fashion gradually shifted away, towards the shirts and trousers we see in menswear today. However, the basic concept of the kirtle still survives in modern-day dresses, making it perhaps the most influential garment in the entire history of Western fashion.
The
kirtle was the first western ‘dress’, so to speak. Although clothing had also
previously consisted of one long garment draped over the whole body, the kirtle
was made to fit around the human body, rather than be wrapped and manipulated
with folds and belts until it fit. Additionally, it needed no extra closures
such as pins or brooches, as previous garments had done. Examples of the
kirtle’s predecessor include Roman togas (and other robes), as well the
Anglo-Saxon peplos[4].
These garments were loose-fitting and tended to be made of just a large
rectangle (or two) of fabric, pinned or tied around the body, and often
sleeveless. The kirtle was also one of the first Western garments which
required no extra undergarments (although they were often worn in combination
with other garments for warmth or practicality anyway). They had sleeves and were
long enough to also cover the legs, circumventing the need for several additional
items of clothing, and instead combining them all into one.
Kirtles
started off as both under and outerwear, and it wasn’t uncommon to wear both an
under-kirtle and an over-kirtle. The under-kirtle would have been made from a
cheaper fabric that could survive frequent washing, whereas the outer-kirtle
would be finer or decorated in some way. Kirtles were usually woollen, however,
linen was sometimes used depending on environment and availability[5]. As time
went on, the upper classes progressed to only wearing kirtles as undergarments,
whereas the lower classes used them as main outer-garments for much longer[6].
Of
course, since the popularity of the kirtle lasted over half a millennium, some
evolution and change in style was inevitable. Early kirtles were loose-fitting
and didn’t have waist-seams. However, by the 15th century they were skin-tight
and then evolved to consist of separate skirts that were pleated or gathered
before being attached to the bodice[7]. Kirtles
were closed using lacing along the front, sides or back of the garment,
although earlier examples of kirtles have no lacing at all. Since early kirtles
were loose-fitting and had relatively wide necklines, lacing was unnecessary as
they could just be put on over the head. Later, tighter kirtles also acted as a
kind of prototype for the corset; they provided the kind of support we now
receive from a modern bra.
For
example, here is a reconstruction of a 14th-century kirtle that I made a few
years ago, versus the 17th-century one I made this summer.
Notice
the stark difference in styles. Although, visually, they appear more different
than similar, the fundamental and defining feature of the kirtle remains: a
one-piece skirted garment.
Eventually,
the kirtle fell out of fashion in favour of separate skirts and bodices among
all classes. By the 18th century, there are barely any depictions of kirtles in
art, even among lower-class and rural communities. While this development was
inevitable since aristocratic fashion had long abandoned the kirtle in favour
separate skirts, and working-class fashion has always followed upper class
fashion- just at a delay of several decades- practicality was likely a major
factor in this evolution. Combining a skirt with a separate jacket or bodice
(still over the top of a shift) allowed the wearer to have more freedom in what
they wore and saved unnecessary washing. It reduced the total number of
garments someone needed to have a varied and adaptable wardrobe. It was also
cheaper and quicker to make smaller individual pieces as required, rather than
entire dresses. Additionally, as structural undergarments became more
commonplace (providing bra-like support and shaping the torso, either in the
form of early stays, as a pair of jumps, or as boning sewn directly into the
bodice), the need for tight-fitting kirtles as supportive garments declined.
The
dress did come back into mainstream fashion eventually (after over a century-
and even later in upper-class fashion). Although it looks unrecognisable from
its medieval ancestor, the concept of the dress as a one-piece flowing garment
originated with the kirtle in European fashion. Modern dresses also share this
heritage, although construction techniques and style conventions have
progressed significantly. In fact, the closest modern-day equivalents to the kirtle
are various forms of European folk dress. The legacy of the kirtle lives on
through garments such as the German Dirndl, a type of folk dress based off
rural Alpine clothing in the 16th-18th centuries[8]. The
modern Dirndl bares striking resemblance to the 17th century kirtle, and it is
fair to presume that this is because one was based off the other, seeing as the
kirtle was a very common working-class garment throughout Western Europe
(including the Alpine region) at the time. Although it seems modern society has
largely forgotten about the kirtle, its lasting impact is undeniably still
evident in fashion today.
Taking a cue from
Henri Bergson’s theory of time, Hafsa in Year 10 examines the science behind
our sense that time speeds up when we are enjoying ourselves
Time is the most used noun in the
English language and yet humans are still struggling to define it, with its
complicated breadth and many interdimensional theories. We have all lived
through the physical fractions of time like the incessant ticking of the second
hand or the gradual change in season, however, do we experience it in
this form? This is a question that requires the tools of both philosophy and
science in order to reach a conclusion.
In scientific terms, time can be
defined as ‘The progression of events from the past to the present into the
future’. In other words, it can be seen as made up of the seconds, minutes, and
hours that we observe in our day-to-day life. Think of time as a one
directional arrow, it cannot be travelled across or reversed but only and
forever moves forward.
One philosophical theory would
challenge such a definition of time. In the earliest part of the 20th
century, the renowned philosopher Henri Bergson published his doctoral thesis,
‘Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness’, in which
he explored his theory that humans experience time differently from this
outwardly measurable sense. He suggested that as humans we divide time into
separate spatial constructs such as seconds and minutes but do not really experience
it in this form. If Bergson’s theory is right, our sense of time is really much
more fluid than the scientific definition above suggests.
If we work from the inside out, we can
explore the different areas of our lives which influence our perception of
time. The first area is the biological make-up of our bodies. We all have
circadian rhythms which are physical, mental, and behavioural changes that
follow a twenty-four-hour cycle. This rhythm is present in most living things
and is most commonly responsible for determining when we sleep and when we are
awake.
These internal body clocks vary from
person to person, some running slightly longer than twenty-four hours and some
slightly less. Consequently, everyone’s internal sense of time differs, from
when people fall asleep or wake up to how people feel at different points
during the day.
But knowing that humans have slight
differences in their circadian rhythms doesn’t fully explain how our sense of
time differs from the scientific definition. After all, these circadian rhythms
still follow a twenty-four-hour cycle just like a clock. If we look at the
wider picture, what is going on around us greatly affects our sense of time. In
other words, our circadian rhythms are subject to external stimuli.
Imagine you are doing something you
love, completely engrossed in the activity, whether it be an art, a science, or
just a leisurely pastime. You look at the clock after what feels like two
minutes and realise that twenty have actually passed. The activity acts as the
external stimulus and greatly affects your perception of time.
When engrossed in an activity you
enjoy, your mind is fully focussed on it, meaning there is no time for it to
wander and look at the clock. Research suggests that the pleasurable event boosts
dopamine release which causes your circadian rhythm to run faster. Let’s
take an interval of five minutes as a basis for this. In this interval, due to
your internal body clock running faster you feel as though only two minutes have
gone by; time feels like it has been contracted.
By contrast, when you are bored, less
dopamine is released, slowing your circadian rhythm, meaning your
subjective sense of time runs slower. If we use the same example, in an
interval of five minutes, you feel as though ten minutes have gone by and time
feels elongated. This biological process has the power to shape and fluidify
our perception of time.
So, the next time someone says ‘Wow,
time really does fly by when you’re having fun,’ remember that there is much more
science and philosophy behind the phrase than they might realise!
Verity in Year 12 looks at how the pre-Raphaelites
interpreted the tales of King Arthur and his court for a nineteenth century audience,
emphasising their splendour as well as the challenge they could express to
Victorian materialism and industrialisation
The tales of King Arthur and his knights have been popular for
hundreds of years and have been reworked and re-interpreted by different groups
and cultures. Thought to have originated in Celtic, Welsh, and Irish legends,
the figure of Arthur appears as either a great warrior defending Britain from
both human and supernatural enemies, or as a magical figure of folklore.
Though the tales were drawn from different sources – many of
the most famous coming from French writers such as Chretien de Troyes – the
story’s international popularity largely came from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia
Regum Britanniae (History of the King of Britain), Thomas Malory’s Morte
d’Arthur and most importantly Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poems. These works
inspired the second phase in Pre-Raphaelitism. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
was a group of men (and a few important women) in the 1850s who challenged the
artistic conventions of genre painting to instead ‘go to nature’ and work with
the idea of realism.
Their principal themes were initially religious, but they
also used subjects from literature and poetry, particularly those dealing with
love and death. King Arthur’s knights of the Round Table presented the idea of
an all-male community collectively devoted to a reforming project, and the
brotherhood’s collaborative working patterns also reflected that.
The Arthurian Tales do not focus on one particular person,
genre or event but they encompass numerous people and places – from the
Guinevere and Lancelot scandal to Sir Gawain and his encounter with the
mystical Green Knight; the sorceress Morgan Le Fay and Nimue; Arthur’s wizard
advisor, Merlin, to Arthur’s son, Mordred, who brought about the legendary king’s
ultimate downfall. Some of the most well-known paintings of the movement were
the paintings depicting the The Lady of Shalott by William Waterhouse.
I
am Half Sick of Shadows, The Lady of Shalott looking at Lancelot and The
Lady of Shalott – William Waterhouse
These paintings tell the story of a woman who is forbidden
to leave her tower and who can only see the outside world through a mirror, otherwise
she will suffer a curse. The first part of the poem was depicted in the 1915
painting I am Half-Sick of Shadows Said the Lady of Shalott. The lady,
trapped in her tower, spends her days weaving the images she sees in the mirror
and at the moment captured in the painting, there are two lovers.
When
the moon was overhead,
Came
two young lovers lately wed,
‘I
am half sick of Shadows’,
Said
the Lady of Shalott.
In the painting there is a poppy
in the reflection of the mirror but not in the foreground which foreshadows the
lady’s death since poppies symbolise eternal sleep. Also, the weaving shuttles
are shaped like boats which predict the final part of the poem. The next part
was shown in the 1894 painting The Lady of Shalott Looking at Lancelot. The
Lady sees Sir Lancelot in her mirror and falls instantly in love. She turns to
properly look at him and the mirror shatters fulfilling the curse.
Out
flew the web and floated wide;
The
mirror crack’ d from side to side;
‘The
curse come upon me,’
Cried
the Lady of Shalott.
The lady is painted looking
directly at the viewer with a defiant stare. She is tangled in the threads of
her tapestries holding a small wooden shuttle, preparing to flee in order to
find Lancelot. Within the context of 19th century Britain,
Waterhouse may have implied that she is a woman of agency, defying her
confinement and going after what she desires most. One could also say that
Tennyson’s poem captured many artists’ ideas, especially the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood, about whether they should capture nature truthfully or give their
own interpretation. The Lady’s actions could reflect an artist breaking away
from imagination and seeing the world in real life.
The final instalment of the poem
is captured in The Lady of Shalott painted first in 1888. The lady moves
downstream in a boat inscribed with her name on the prow holding the chains
that tether her. On the boat is a crucifix symbolizing sacrifice and three
candles, two of which have been blown out suggesting that her death will come
soon. The woman’s lips are parted showing how she is singing her final song
before her death.
For
ere she reach’d upon the tide,
The
first house by the water-side,
Singing
in her song she died,
The
Lady of Shalott.
The
Beguiling of Merlin –
Edward Burne-Jones
Another favourite is The
Beguiling of Merlin painted in 1872 by Edward Burne-Jones. It shows
a snake-crowned Nimue enchanting Merlin with his own sorcery by binding him
into a tree in the forest. Merlin’s helplessness and entrapment is conveyed by
the serpentine lines of the drapery and tree branches that imprison the wizard
and deprive him of his power. This fluidity of line also captures the ebb and
flow of magic. Furthermore, his droopy hands and glass-eyed demeanour reinforce
the sense of paralysis. Like a lot of his work, Burne-Jones explores power
relationships in which a man falls victim to a hidden threatening female power.
Guenevere – William Morris
The character of Guinevere and
the scandal with Lancelot is also repeatedly depicted. Guinevere is the
legendary Queen and wife of King Arthur and in French romantic interpretations
she has a love affair with her husband’s chief knight and friend, Lancelot.
William Morris’s painting Guenevere or La Belle Iseult is a
portrait of the model and wife of Morris, Jane Burden in medieval dress. She
was discovered by Morris and Rossetti when they were working together on the
Oxford murals and she later became a model for several different artworks like
Rossetti’s Proserpine, Sir Launcelot in the Queen’s Chamber and more of
Morris’s work.
In both Morris’ and Rossetti’s
paintings Burden is cast not only as a queen but as an adulteress. The way life
later imitated art has an uncanny force, particularly considering Burden later
became the lover of Rossetti in the 1860s. The rich colours, the emphasis on
pattern and details such as the missal reveal where Morris’s true talents lay.
He was less at home with figure painting than with illumination, embroidery,
and woodcarving, and he struggled for months on this picture. Most people will
know him as a key figure in the Arts & Crafts Movement having probably seen
his wallpapers and designs.
The
Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon
– Edward Burne-Jones
Six and a half metres wide The
Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon marked the culmination of Burne-Jones’
fascination with Arthurian legend. The painting, which took 17 years and
remained unfinished, depicts a moment of rest and inaction. Mortally wounded,
King Arthur rests his head on the lap of his sister, the fairy queen Morgana,
who took her brother to Avalon after his defeat in battle. At the centre of the
Arthurian tales is the idea that he did not actually die, but sleeps in Avalon,
waiting for the moment when the nation will most need his return.
From its earliest roots the
story of King Arthur has been changing hands and remoulded to fit the cultures
and society of the time. For the Pre-Raphaelites and the Victorian era, the
legend resonated with them. In part they found splendour in it – sparkling armour
and swords, flying banners and beautiful maidens in flowing robes. On the other
hand, Arthur became a symbol of their crusade against the mundane and the crude
materialistic era that was Victorian industrialisation. They reshaped Arthur to
become a means to convey the morals and the monarchical society of the time.
Edward Burne-Jones – Alison Smith
The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites – Elizabeth Prettejohn
Helen S reveals
how the pharmaceutical industry hides unfavourable results from medical trials.
She warns of the risks to human health, and proposes how we can make medical
research more robust and trustworthy
Have you
ever questioned the little pills prescribed by your doctors? I had not, until I
began working on this article – and the truth is, we know less than we should
about them. It is scary to think that, though these medications are supposed to
heal us when we are feeling poorly, in reality, that it is not always the case.
Clinical
trials are experiments or observations done for clinical research that compare
the effects of one treatment with another. They may involve patients, healthy
people, or both. Some are funded by pharmaceutical companies, and some are
funded by the government. I will mainly focus on the phenomenon of hiding
negative data in industry-funded trials.
Research
done in 2005 by Evelyne Decullier, Senior Research Fellow at Hospices Civils de
Lyon, compared registered trials that have failed and those that have succeeded,
and which ones appear in the medical journals and academic literature. They
consistently found that only half of trials are ever published and that positive
results are 2.5 times more likely to be published than negative results.
Now, you might say, ‘how can those trials possibly affect me or other ordinary people?’ Well, read on…
Why this
matters for your health
Lorcainide is
an anti-arrhythmic heart drug and was tested in clinical trials in the 1980s.
The results showed that patients given Lorcainide were far more likely to die
than patients who weren’t. But those
results were not published until 10 years later, and during that time, doctors
had been prescribing the drug to patients. According to Dr Ben Goldacre,
director of DataLab at Oxford University, it has been estimated that more than 100,000
people who had taken Lorcainide died in America as a result. And Lorcainide is not a single case. Similar
things may be happening to other clinical trials relating to drugs such as anti-depressants
or cancer treatment.
The lack of
transparency can also affect decisions on government spending. From 2006 to 2013,
the UK government was advised to buy a drug called Tamiflu which was supposed
to reduce pneumonia and death caused by influenza. The UK government went on to
spend £424 million stockpiling this drug. But when the systematic reviewers tried
to gather up all the trials that have been done on Tamiflu, they realised that
the government had only seen a small number of the trials. They battled for
years to get the trials from the drug company, and when they had finally got
all of them, they found that Tamiflu was not sufficiently effective to justify
that large a cost. If companies continue to withhold trials, similar expensive
trials are going to be repeated, putting the volunteers, patients and doctors in
danger.
Pharmaceutical
companies have failed us, so what about the law? In America, it is required
that medical trials held in the US need to be registered and have their results
submitted within one year of the trial finishing. However, when scientists
looked back at the data in 2015, they found out that only 20% of trials were
submitted and reported.
Industry-funded
research is not the complete villain in this situation. During these types of
research, discoveries are more likely to occur (Adam, 2005; Adam, Carrier,
& Wilholt, 2006; Carrier, 2004). And thanks to funding from industry,
scientists are less pressured to present something that is directly linked to real‐world use, compared to public or
government-funded projects (Carrier, 2011). And as we all know, new
technologies all start with discoveries.
Finding
remedies
Here are
some suggestions from scientists for improving the current situation: to
increase the transparency, to increase reproducibility and the most doable one,
effective criticism (Elliott,2018). Out of these, the criterion that is the
easiest to modify is to have more effective criticism. It is important to
acknowledge that criticism doesn’t need always to be negative. Though the
agencies that are usually responsible for evaluation can be limited by a
variety of reasons, such as understaffing
or political issues, “they can get more involved in designing the safety
studies performed by industry in specific cases,” suggests Philosopher of Science,
Kevin Elliott. (A safety study is a study carried out after a medicine has been
authorised, to obtain further information on a medicine’s safety, or to measure
the effectiveness of risk-management measures.)
Luckily we have
the technologies in our hands. Alpha Fold is leading the scene: it has done
some amazing and accurate predictions on predicting the 3D shape of proteins,
meaning scientists can facilitate the design of stable protein. It can also help
to make sense of X-ray data to determine crystals structure; before Alpha Fold was
invented, determining the structure of proteins to do structure-based drug
design could take 3-4 years. Now they are presented in front of you in less
than an hour.
Everyone is
different, some people might have allergies, and some drugs might not even work
for some people. To avoid these situations, technologies such as AI could make
your prescription personalised to you. By analysing your DNA information sent
to your pharmacy, AI would analyse the dosage and the drug suitable for you. The
3D printed “polypill” is a single pill that has all the personalised medication
you need in one day in one pill, which is remarkable.
Hopefully,
now it is a little easier to understand the importance of transparency in
clinical testing. Trial results were never just numbers – they are directly
linked to the lives of millions. Pharmaceutical companies were not simply hiding
data – they were hiding the deaths of the volunteers and patients, and the
money of families wasted on more expensive but less effective treatments. There
must be, without doubt, serious consequences if companies don’t follow regulations.
I believe there will be hope if the scientists
use technology effectively and if a better research environment is created for
future generations.