Autoimmune diseases affect around 1 in 10 people in the UK. However, women are over 85% more likely to be diagnosed with an autoimmune disease than men. An autoimmune disease occurs when the body’s immune system attacks healthy cells, tissues, and organs. Common examples include rheumatoid arthritis, coeliac disease, psoriasis, and type 1 diabetes. The general symptoms of all autoimmune diseases include fatigue, inflammation and/or nerve damage, skin rashes, aching, swollen joints. The non-specific nature and commonality of these symptoms often result in misdiagnosis or dismissal.

With exciting new evidence of organic imprints, astrobiologists are hopeful that these could prove the existence of life on Mars billions of years ago. With NASA’s Perseverance rover, astrobiologists were able to analyse a rock called Chayana Falls, finding that it contains unusual materials associated with a biological origin – these life-giving minerals include carbon and could be the excretion left over from ancient organisms.

What if one day, nearly all of us had the same immune system – and one virus or disease arose that could wipe us all out? The human race; all life; Gone. What would happen?

French feminism in the 20th century was ever-evolving, so in this article, I will take you through the different waves, examining how it evolved across different historical moments, shaped by war, colonialism, intellectual innovation, and a growing awareness of intersectionality. There are some book recommendations throughout, too!

Virginia Woolf’s work demonstrates how, so often in literature, women are made rivals competing for the attention of the male gaze, thereby legitimising its supremacy. She demonstrates how, in ‘A Room of one’s own’, the relationship between Chloe and Olivia thus signifies some great change, wherein the two are allowed to simply exist together, momentarily undefined by their relation to men- “‘Chloe liked Olivia…’ Do not start. Do not blush. Let us admit in the privacy of our own society that these things sometimes happen, sometimes women do like women.” (Woolf, 1935, p. 123) Therefore, it is clear that the dynamics between women on a romantic scale should similarly undermine this literary tradition, providing a secluded space where rivalry is replaced with tenderness and male validation becomes insignificant to female appreciation for the female.