The Looking Glass

STEFAN MAKHOUL Academia can often be an echo chamber, where the same (typically left wing) ideas bounce around and fester, while the rest of the country looks on with contempt. There is undeniably a certain amount of classism endemic to academia and the media which makes them naturally opposed to Brexit. Nationalist sentiments are often viewed as ‘simple’. However Brexit is, on a purely economic basis, a bad idea. As one would be hard pressed to find a way in which the UK is economically better of outside of the EU than in it, there must be more to people's views on the issue than simply economics. The past decade has seen a rise in (in many cases extreme) right wing sentiment in the UK. In the 2015 general election, a total of 12.6% of the United Kingdom voted for UKIP – a far-right nationalist party which harbours strong nationalistic sentiments. During its period of activity, the EDL ran small but vocal protests, decrying the increase in immigration and what they perceive as a f...

JAMES ELCOCK [This article is the second in a series on Quantum Technologies. For an discussion of the origins of quantum theory and its applications to physics, consider reading  You Cannot Understand Quantum Physics - Should You? . For a more in-depth look at the principles of Quantum Key Distribution, after reading this article, see James' next one,  Quantum Key Distribution ] The basics Privacy is a key part of the internet and modern communication. Who wants every little detail about themselves exposed and open to the world? To ensure privacy, communication over the internet is encrypted. Encryption is the process of hiding the contents of a message by applying an operation to the text. An example could be to swap every letter of the message with the letter next in the alphabet (this is called a Caesar wheel): \(encryption is cool → fodszqujpo jt dppm\) And then to read the message, the intended recipient uses a key (that they will have received through a secure channel) ...

  SANTOSH SHAH On 11th March 2011, just over 10 years ago, Japan experienced the strongest earthquake in its recorded history. The earthquake took place at a destructive plate boundary, a unique junction of 3 plates in a part of the world referred to as the Pacific Ring of Fire. Here the convergence of tectonic plates leads to the "subduction" of the denser plate, meaning it is being pulled under another plate. In Japan the complex situation of the Pacific Plate being subducted under the Phillipine Plate, itself being subducted under the Eurasian Plate was a fundamental reason behind the devastating catastrophe in 2011.  [Figure 1 - the Pacific Ring of Fire] As well as having a very shallow focus point (where the earthquake starts) of only 24km and an epicentre (the point on the surface above the focus) 72km off the coast of Sendai, the real severity of this 'quake was not caused by the actual ground shaking : usually buildings are said to kill humans in an earthquake rat...

  MAGADEV KUHA KUMARAN Afghanistan, also known as the Graveyard of Empires, has been almost impossible to successfully invade or occupy since ancient times. The Romans fell in 400AD, and more recently the British, the USSR and now the United States of America have pulled out. Just a few weeks ago, the Taliban re-took Afghanistan, after a messy evacuation of foreign troops left a power vacuum. Many consider it to be the worst foreign policy disaster in decades. Others foresee drastic changes in the future, with many remembering the first time the Taliban took over between 1996-2001. For one to understand what just happened we have go back a few decades. How did it all begin?- Origins -The Soviet-Afghan War 1979-1989. The rise of the Taliban began with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The USSR invaded to prop up a communist government in Afghanistan under Babrak Karmal, the leader of the Parcham faction of the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). In ret...

[Cover image by '18427938' on Pixabay] RISHI PARIKH Over the last two years, it seems as though the term most commonly heard has been ‘COVID-19’. With millions of people affected by the virus, there are many mixed sentiments surrounding this subject. However, most people would agree that the coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted healthcare organisations all around the world. Heavier workloads, increasing waiting lists and financial constraints are a few of the many difficulties faced in the past year. The aim of this essay is to understand the effects of COVID-19 on the NHS in order to steer the healthcare industry in a better direction. Otherwise, these issues could generate significant consequences in the coming years and for future generations, as suggested by hospital data and economists. In this research project, we will be taking into account the exponential demand of hospitals, methods of working, diagnosis of mental health problems, and financial support for the ...

JAMES NEVILLE-ROLFE In fact, nobody can. Our picture of a Newtonian universe, where objects move around intuitively according to logical conclusions that physicists can draw, simply does not seem to apply at a sub-atomic level. Mathematics might explain the phenomena that we observe in reality; but does not tell us why reality happens. At some point, it must be accepted that there is no intuitive explanation that we can reside our understanding on. Young’s “Magic Trick” I will begin by admitting that there is no magic involved in the “trick”.  The experiment, first performed by Thomas Young in 1801, involves a beam of light fired at a sheet of material containing two slits, both of which the light can go through. Beyond the sheet is a screen, where interactions with the light can be observed. Before I explain the result of the experiment, I ask that you predict what you might see on the screen. If light behaved as a particle, you would expect each particle of light to travel throug...