Russell's Teapot 2022

ROYAL RUSSELL SCHOOL PRESENTS...

RUSSELL’S TEAPOT Nature vs. Nurture Ria Patel

Can we create the Matrix?

Meenachey Niranjan

Dreams Natasha Kirmani

EDITOR’S NOTE The Student Team: Anna Clery Chief Editor

Molly Wicking Media/ Design

Jaishan Jethwa Editor

Serena Biju Editor

Amber Knibb Editor

Welcome back, This is now the fourth issue of the Russell’s Teapot, and we hope that you enjoy it as much than the previous ones.

A talented team has worked amazingly well on this magazine, and some key names are featured above, however there are so many other contributors that need their well-deserved recognition and gratitude. Articles in this magazine vary from galaxies and the universe to the psychological argument of nature verses nurture, and everything in-between. These articles have been chosen purely by the passion of the students, as people have contributed something in which they are really interested in. I hope this means that there is something in here that interests you.

This magazine has taken a lot of effort and determination from everyone involved, and I really think that the final result is worth our time. I am hoping that you enjoy the read, but I would appreciate any and all feedback to keep the next issue engaging for everyone.

Enjoy, Anna Clery

CONTENTS: Nature vs. Nurture How will the Universe end?

Artificial Intelligence Driverless Cars The Physics of Computing Can we create the Matrix?

Colliding Galaxies Resurrection of the Christmas Island Rat Dreams Are Pythons taking over the Florida Everglades?

The Joker: A diognosis for an Evil Clown COVID-19 Psychoanalysis Meet The Teachers The SATRO Competition Jokes and Puzzles

Nature vs. Nurture ~ A psychologist’s view ~

The nature-nurture debate is concerned with the contribution that influences human behaviour, such as personality, psychopathology, cognitive traits, and temperament.

The extreme nature position is called Nativism. For a long time, we have known that certain physical characteristics are biologically determined by genetic inheritance. For example, eye and hair colour, and even certain diseases are all genes that we inherit. This has led to discussion as to whether psychological characteristics such as behavioural tendencies and personality attributes are also wired into us before we are born. Those who adopt this extreme hereditary position are known as nativists. They assume that the characteristics of humans are a product of evolution and if people are different, it is because each person’s genetic coding is unique. An example of nature is Freud’s theory of aggression as being an innate drive.

Some may argue that we cannot say that our psychological characteristics are ‘wired into’ us as they are not observable at birth. However, others argue that they emerge later in life, due to maturation and puberty. Our ‘inner biological clock’ switches our behaviour on and off in a pre-programmed way.

At the other end of the spectrum is the extreme nurture position which is called Empiricism. Empiricists believe that at birth the mind is a tabula rasa; this is a blank slate. This is filled and nurtured through experiences. In psychology this takes the behaviourist view, from this view psychological and behavioural differences emerge through childhood.

One famous example in psychology is Bandura’s social learning theory and the Bobo doll experiment. Bandura stated that aggression is learned from the environment through the observation and imitation of role models. He devised the Bobo doll experiment to prove this. The results of his experiment were as follows: children who observed an aggressive model made a far more aggressive response than those who were in the non-aggressive or control group. This proves his theory that behaviour is observed and imitated, which supports the nurture position in this debate.

By Ria Patel

Photograph by Jaishan Jethwa and Molly Wicking - featuring Arthur and Aubrey Heath

There are countless mysteries surrounding the universe. We have a good idea of how it started (the big bang), but how will it end?

Scientists have not quite put their finger on how yet, but they have a few theories.

How will the Universe end?

In this article, I am going to go over three of these theories: the Big Rip, the Big Freeze, and the Big Crunch.

The Big freeze: The Big Bang and CMBR (Cosmic microwave background radiation) tell us that the universe is expanding, and the expansion seems to be accelerating. Astronomers believe that this acceleration is due to a mysterious dark force that is pulling galaxies apart; they are calling it dark energy. In the Big Freeze scenario, the Universe will continue to expand at this rate forever. Space between Galaxies will grow larger, and as time goes on, the stars in them will run out of fuel and stop shining. Clusters of gas will spread out and will not be dense enough to form new stars. This will cause the Universe to cool and grow darker. Galaxies and solar systems would separate, and black holes would eventually decay due to something called Hawking Radiation. Eventually, the Universe would reach thermodynamic equilibrium in which the whole Universe would have a uniform temperature. And no life would exist within it.

The Big Rip: The Big Rip is basically the Big Freeze but with extra steps. Let’s say that the Universe is expanding faster than in the big freeze.

All galaxies and solar systems would still separate, but it would not end there. This rapid increase in acceleration would be due to phantom energy, a form of dark energy, and as it causes this faster expansion. Stars and planets would begin to rip apart into smaller and smaller parts until there are only atoms left. Even the electromagnet-

ic and nuclear forces would be destroyed, causing atoms and other subatomic particles to break apart. At this point, the Universe would cease to exist.

The Big Crunch/Big Bounce: Now let us say that there is not as much of this mysterious ‘dark energy’ as we thought.

In this scenario, the acceleration of the Universe’s expansion would eventually start to decrease due to gravity overpowering dark energy. Eventually, the universe’s expansion would come to a stop and then start to reverse. This would cause galaxies to collide and merge, increasing their gravitational pull. As the universe gets smaller, its temperature would rise to the point where background radiation would be hotter than the surface of most stars. As the universe gets tighter, supermassive black holes will begin to devour everything.

Then, once everything has been devoured, these black holes would begin to devour each other until the whole universe is in a very dense hot state similar to its state before the big bang. That is the big crunch.

But what if this dense universe explodes causing another big bang? This is called the big bounce theory which suggests that the universe has undergone the process of expansion infinite times.

Hopefully, I have not scared you too much.

If any of these do happen, they will not start for trillions of years. Scientists currently believe that the Big Freeze is the most plausible out of the three. Which do you think is the most interesting?

By Oliver Tchum

-------Artificial Intelligence------Artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing into many areas of our modern society, and benefits us as a society. For example, research into medical fields, creating innovative technology, and in the entertainment sector.

computer to have so much data and information about us.

This is due to the increasing risk of AI terrorism. This is the use of AI in war to fight instead of using humans. Examples of this include Artificial intelligence is used in the medical autonomous drones, nanorobots and smart sector to improve accuracy of programs that bombs. In the hands of the wrong person, detect health conditions. AI technology is these could easily cause mass destruction. In used in the entertainment sector in programs addition to the above, social media through such as Youtube. AI will gather information on its autonomous-powered algorithms is highly what users like or dislike and will make receffective at target marketing due to the data ommendations based on your recent activity. they know about us. An example of where AI Banks use AI systems to monitor activity on socially manipulates people is in the 2016 US members’ accounts to check for identity theft, presidential election: by spreading propaganapprove loans and maintain online security. da about individuals to try and get more votes for a certain party. This can include spreading Artificial intelligence creates safe and efficient false rumours. work environments which can complement humans instead of replacing them. People arIn conclusion, the pros outweigh the cons, and gue that the introduction of AI in society leads that artificial intelligence benefits us more as to robots taking over jobs. However, AI helps a society rather than harm us. A strong point create safer and more efficient work environis that AI creates more jobs, as well as making ments which introduces more careers. The jobs our daily lives easier and more comfortable. for human workers that are being replaced are Life would be very different without the use of called ‘the four D’s of robotics’: Dull, Dirty, AI as we use it every day- our phones. AI helps Dangerous and Difficult. People are sceptical us grow as a society and further develop. on the introduction of artificial intelligence however, it helps us live our daily lives for

By Zayn Pajawani example, the introduction of the self driving car (Tesla) is especially useful in our everyday lives. It makes it easier for transportation and makes it safer for us due to the sensors in the car that help prevent accidents. In addition to the above, artificial intelligence can prevent crimes as criminals can be identified using biometric data such as fingerprints, facial recognition, and motion sensors.

AI can cause problems. For example, some may debate that it invades our privacy and our personal lives and that it is unsecure for a

Driverless Cars

When I was little, I remember reading stories about how transport was going to be revolutionised with flying cars and trains, high up in the skyline, zooming at incredible speed inside transparent tubes. I also remember watching the films with the first automated car, originally appearing in cinemas in 1968 as the loveable Love Bug, a mischievous Beatle VW. Who has not marvelled at the automated cars made iconic in the Bond movies? Automated vehicles have peppered our consciousness for decades, but are we really ready for them?

requiring human overdrive - Level four: High driving automation, performing all driving tasks with optional human override - Level five: Full driving automation with no human overdrive When we talk about driverless cars, we automatically think about level five, fully automated cars, but automation involving Artificial Intelligence sensors and cameras are already well within our reach.

Fast forward to 2021, it is clear that we are not ‘quite there yet’, but huge strides have been made towards automated modes of transport, and driverless cars are predicted as the next ‘big thing’.

By 2020, it was widely estimated that 10 million self-driving cars would be on the road. By 2030, the estimates are that one in four cars will be self-driving. It has been talked about reducing traffic congestion, lowering carbon emissions, In 2021, most have either driven these automated and improving road safety, as human error will vehicles or been driven in one. Does cruise con- be eradicated. trol ring a bell? Car automation comes in various levels and there are mostly five accepted levels Already, inroads in automation are being made which can be summarised as: in many sectors with driverless grocery deliver- Level zero: no driving automation ies, driverless buses and taxis being trialled in - Level one: Driver assistance like cruise control multiple locations. Between functioning proor adaptive cruise control totypes and mass market production, we are - Level two: Partial driving automation like vehi- looking at two to three years according to Carlos cle steering and accelerating control Ghosn, CEO of the Renault Nissan Alliance.

- Level three: Conditional driving automation

Driverless car dashboard - photograph by Molly Wicking

Photograph of a Tesla by Anna Clery

A few roadblocks remain in terms of infrastructure and a lot of anxiety remains when people think that ‘robots’ are taking over. Nitin Gadkari, who was the India’s Union Minister for Road Transport Highways and Shipping in 2019, was clear in the media when he declared that he “will not allow driverless cars in India [and he is] not going to promote any technology or policy that will render people jobless”.

It is true that millions of driving jobs could disappear as cars and trucks become more autonomous. Automation is always great until it known to cost jobs, and driverless cars are no exception.

The ethical issue surrounding driverless cars being able to make life or death decisions on our roads is still very emotive, and people are reluctant to give them free rein. They were proven right when, in March 2018, a driverless Uber car fatally hit a pedestrian and currently

research is being undertaken to better protect pedestrians from driverless cars. Another safety issue is that automated cars have a problem ‘seeing’ obstacles in certain weather conditions, like snow or rain.

The technology is undoubtedly evolving rapidly, and technical developments are working hard at keeping up with the most futuristic ideas: Tesla announced this year that they were considering launching, as soon as 2023, an automated car without a steering wheel. The near future will look quite different, and we might to adjust to rapidly changing habits. So, the question remains: not if, but when, will a driverless car be in your garage? When this becomes a reality, I will miss films like “Fast and Furious”.

By Emily Hayden

In today’s world we have many, many computers which can do a variety of things. From our phones, gaming consoles and to kitchen appliances, not many people know the physics and science behind the screen and buttons of the computer.

During the early days of computer processors, heat was not an important factor. Early, simpler processors had fewer wires. The technology was not available to have multiple wires on a single processor. However, even in these processors, electricity still passed through conductive material. Since these materials were not superconductors, they naturally possessed a certain amount of resistance. When electrical currents went through these wires, the semi-conducting material has a resistance. This resistance converts some of the electrical energy into heat, which is something that must be monitored. Today’s computers contain so many transistors, which is a material used to switch electronic signals, that the collective resistance creates a significant amount of heat. It is vital that the components stay cool, so heat sinks are installed with it. Air or liquid can be used to cool down the components for the most amount of efficiency.

CRT, Cathode Ray Tube, monitors, or televisions rely on three fundamental components.

The first is a source of electrons, a stream of electrons accelerated from an electron gun; the second is a way of directing the beam; and third, a target onto which the beam is fired. When the electrons are fired from the electron gun, they are focused into a finer stream by a set of focusing coils. The electrons then pass through a set of deflection coils before reaching the screen. By varying the magnetic field of the deflection coils, we can steer the electron beam in a certain direction. The electron beam then continues hurtling towards the phosphor covered screen. The phosphorescent material glows when electrons crash into it.

The Physics of Computing

Photograph by Anna Clery

Laser printers are another computer technology that uses certain basic physics principles to assist print documents on a computer. Laser printers, so named because a laser is used to help generate the picture to be printed in part, utilise the basic principle of similar charges repelling to help create the image to be printed. Laser printers work by charging a photoelectric drum’s surface and then accurately removing charges in certain locations. Except for where the laser “knocks” the charges off, what is left after this charge removal is a drum coated in electric charges which is negative. A reservoir of toner particles also comes into touch with the drum.

A negative electric charge is also present in these toner particles. Because like charges repel, sections of the drum that have not had their charges removed will repel the toner particles, but areas of the drum that have had their charges removed will have a positive charge, which will attract the toner particles. These toner particles that are attracted to the drum are subsequently transferred to the sheet of paper as the paper rolls beneath the drum, giving us a printed image.

The hard drive is one of the most widely used storage devices for computers today. Because all computer data can be converted to binary, which is merely a sequence of ones and zeros, storing this data requires only a medium with at least two states. Magnetic media are one of the cheapest options, and because the North and South poles of a magnet parallel the two states of a binary bit, one or zero, they are a sensible choice. We can make the magnet represent a zero bit or a one bit by changing the magnetic direction of the material. Similarly, we may use a sensor to determine which pole is closest to the read device and then interpret that information back into words.

By Jaishan Jethwa

For those who do not know, or who have not already watched the Thlm, the Matrix is a simulation completely run by AI where each human, in the real world, has their sense of reality completely controlled. ffis includes movement, which makes us think we are moving but, in reality, we are stationary. ffe movie was based ofi the idea that our perception of reality is determined through microscopic, quick impulses between neurons. If anything, humans work in equivalent way to how computers do, though humans do have other factors, such as common sense and cell growth. But is it possible for humans to create a simulation, or a Matrix, of a place we do not exist in?

A good starting point is with one of the few devices we have created that can translate electrical impulses: limb prosthesis. World War II marks the milestone of developing more modern prosthetic limbs. Before that, artiThcial limbs were basic and lightweight objects attached with straps and mechanisms that work in an equivalent way to a brake pedal. A prosthesis was a claw that we control separately, not as a part of our body. ffis changed in 1943, when a physics student, from Munich University, Germany, created the Thrst myoelectric prosthesis. His work was published in 1948 afler some redevelopment, but his research was not carried far. It was during the 1950s when scientists in the Soviet Union and England had ‘rediscovered’ this phenomenon. Reinhold had created a hand that can move accordingly using magniThed electric potentials generated by muscles (impulses sent to tell muscles of the hand to move) using a vacuum tube ampliTher. ffis meant the prosthesis he made was not portable, but he had hopes that his discovery would be developed further to solve this.

A point I have overlooked, however, is that recent prosthetics use microprocessors to translate these impulses into motion. Microprocessors consist of transistors and are the brain of a computer, with a pre-programmed ability to interpret electrical impulses sent by other components and make decisions out of them. ffis is how a prosthetic can convert electrical impulses into motion. Electromyography (EMG) electrodes read these electric potentials and transmit them directly to the microprocessor. ffe microprocessor then sends more electrical signals to other components in the prosthetic that cause movement. So, EMG electrodes can only read electrical impulses our body generates, but how could we

Matrix background made by Anna Clery

create components that can generate or manipulate these impulses to communicate with our brains to manipulate our sense of reality?

On the 4th of March 2019, a French society named the “Fonds de Donation Clinatec” announced that one of their volunteers named ffibault, a man who had been paralysed from the neck down, could walk (with the help of an exoskeleton). ffe exoskeleton is not portable, and the test had been conducted in the controlled conditions of a lab, so further development would have been needed. Initially, ffibault had undergone surgery to place two implants into the parts of his brain that control movement. ffe implants, altogether, contain 64 electrodes. ffese implants detect brain activity, which specialised soflware interprets into signals that causes the exoskeleton to move. ffis is similar to the idea of prosthetics, although it reads direct activity from the brain and, because the readings are sent to specialised soflware, this could easily be interpreted into a simulation instead of signals for an exoskeleton to understand.

We can certainly interact with a simulation, as we can already do that in Virtual Reality (VR). However, it is our understanding of electric potentials and brain activity that can help us work towards building components that can generate electric impulses like our Central Nervous System does. An understanding of this could allow paralysed people to move their limbs, but a more complicated understanding could allow us to reshape reality. Our brains receive signals from around 100 billion neurons at the same time. ffis means we would need at least 100 billion com ponents that can generate electric impulses in order to truly immerse a person into a simulation. Once in the simulation, you would have no indication of knowing whether the simulation is reality or not because everything, from your smell to your sight to your touch, is controlled – much like the Matrix!

Furthermore, with the evolution of technology and our understanding of brain activity improving, it will not be long before we can manipulate our sense of reality into something entirely difierent.

By Meenachey Niranjan

Colliding Galaxies

Based on a lecture at Gresham College by Carolin Crawford First, ‘Ordinary’ Galaxies: These have a massive range of both size, mass, and colour. They can vary from a few thousand to half a million light years wide. This being from dwarf galaxies all the way up to giant galaxies.

They can vary from mainly reds, yellows, and white stars to more blue coloured stars. This visually represents the age of the stars; red stars being older, and blue stars being younger and more recently formed. The two main types of ‘ordinary’ galaxies are elliptical galaxies and spiral galaxies.

• Elliptical galaxies: This name represents 60% of all known galaxies in our universe and is therefore the most common. They are symmetrical and consist of red, yellow, and white stars which are older stars.

• Spiral galaxies: Of all the galaxies in our universe, spiral galaxies take up 30% of them. Spiral galaxies have a large ball of stars in the centre, with tails of stars reaching all the way around. They are flat, apart from the ball in the middle, and some people say they often look like two fried eggs placed against each other. In comparison to the elliptical galaxies, they have a larger range of colours, varying from reds and yellows in the middle, to younger, bluer stars on the outside.

Both ‘ordinary’ galaxies are symmetrical.

‘Unordinary’ galaxies have a one in a million chance of occurring. This is when the shape of the galaxy doesn’t conform to the pre-defined shape of either spiral or elliptical. These shapes are random and have more bluer stars as they have more active star formations. These types of galaxy shapes occur when two galaxies get so close to each other that they are affected by each other’s gravitational pull. Professor Carolin Crawford explained this process in three stages: 1. The First Pass. This is when the galaxies first come into range of each other, and we start to see mild asymmetries between them. As simulations show, this is when the tidal tails begin to develop.

2. The Mice. This is the name for the second stage of colliding galaxies, after the first encounter.

This is when the tidal tails are ‘thrown outwards,’ stretching the galaxy, and increasing its length.

3. The Final Collision. The final stage is the completion of the collision, where are new galaxy starts to form. This new galaxy is bigger and holds the mass of both smaller galaxies put together.

These new galaxies are much bluer in colour as there is a higher rate of star formation. The spaces between the stars in each galaxy are called gas clouds, so during the collision they are pressed against each other and compressed. Under high pressure, this leads to the formation of newer, bluer stars. This is called high starburst activity.

Scientists have predicted that this simulation will come true with our galaxy, The Milky Way, and out ‘twin’ galaxy, Andromeda. Due to their remarkably similar sizes and masses, both galaxies will, eventually, be equally affected by each other’s gravitational pull, although this is only supposed to happen in eight billion years, give or take.

By Anna Clery

The Resurrection of the Christmas Island Rat

Approximately 120 years ago, a disease brought

by European ships led to the demise of Australia’s Christmas Island rats; Rattus Macleari is the scientific name for these species of mammal. However, scientists are now investigating whether this extinct creature could possibly be resurrected.

Resurrecting mammals that died millions of years ago, like dinosaurs, may seem like something far from reality, however the examination of resurrecting a more recently extinct creature offers insight into the extent to which this is possible.

A team of palaeontologists researching the limitations of what technique is possible to resurrect the Christmas Island rat, said that the whole point of de-extinction work is defined by the vast unknown out there. This ensures the process works and it is very much dependent on how degraded DNA is rebuilt. A characteristic of degraded DNA is that it do not contain all the genetic material required to reconstruct the full animal genome. An example would be the carcasses of mammoths found underneath layers of ice in Siberia – as the freezing of the ice has usually damaged the DNA. Fortunately, with the Christian Island rat, which became extinct in the early 20th century, the team said they “lucked out”, as they had managed to obtain all of the rodent’s genome. This is a critical step in ensuring the possibility of resurrection of these rats remain promising. As 95% of its genome is identical to the Norway brown rat, this provides the perfect case of genome sequencing as a really good modern reference comparison was needed.

While the sequencing of the Christmas Island

rat was mostly successful, a few key genes were missing. These genes oversaw the olfactory system, which allows the sense of smell, meaning that without these crucial genes, a resurrected Christmas Island rat would likely not smell in the way that it had done originally. Professor Gilbert from Copenhagen University in Denmark said that “with current technology, it may be completely impossible to ever recover the full sequence, and therefore it is impossible to ever generate a perfect replica of the Christmas Island rat”. Though a replica may seem like a long way off, the key is that scientists can edit the DNA that defined what makes the extinct animal fundamentally different from the living rat. Therefore, Professor Gilbert said that purely editing an elephant’s DNA may lead to them growing fur and being able to live in a cold climate.

The only problem is whether this is ethical or not, which can only be decided when the Professor Gilbert and the team of palaeontologists involved in the project discuss it with other scientists and the ethics committee. A good step forward would be to take it incrementally.

For example, we could change existing animals’ DNA, like male lions to not have a head so furry, but to look more like its female counterpart, or as Professor Gilbert plans to do, changing a black rat genome to a Norway brown rat. The professor has raised some doubts as to whether it is the best use of money to undertake a project that goes about reviving extinct species, when more should be placed on keeping existing animals alive i.e., the snow leopard, sea turtles, rhinos and saola.

By Kinshing Huo

D R E A M S Dreams are hallucinations that occur during REM sleep, the deepest state of sleep. They usually reflect someone’s mood or events throughout their life, or any trauma that the person may have experienced. Some people even believe that their dreams can tell the future. But what do dreams actually mean, and why do they exist?

One theory is that we dream in order to confront any unconscious emotions that are locked in our brain. Objects in dreams sometimes have symbolic meanings, usually those you remember when you wake up. For example, being in an embarrassing situation in your dream may be your brain confronting any shame or anxiety buried deep in your unconscious. Confronting these emotions in dreams is convenient because when we are asleep the brain is in its most vulnerable and emotional state, which leaves the dreamer relieved after they wake up.

Another theory is that dreaming helps memory; a study that was conducted investigated how dreams can assist memory. A group of people were told that they were going to partake in a maze: those who took a nap and dreamed about the maze were more successful than those had not slept or had not dreamed about the maze. This leads researchers to believe that there are some memory processes that only take place while we are asleep, causing our memory to be stronger and more successful.

levels of stress and anxiety, particularly right before you go to sleep. However, there are several foods that can also contribute to nightmares due to the chemicals that are in them. Cheese is a quite common (and well known) factor of nightmares. Sometimes it depends on the type of cheese, for example blue cheese is believed to cause vivid dreams or nightmares, while cheshire cheese can cause someone to have no dreams. However, if you regularly suffer from nightmares, you may have a sleeping disorder.

Being afraid to go to sleep or regularly waking up in the middle of the night due to dreams can both be signs of sleeping disorders.

Lucid dreaming Lucid dreaming is the idea of being fully aware and alert while you dream. Many people do this to practice skills, for psychological reasons, or even just for fun. In all fairness, the majority of people spend approximately one third of their life in the dream state, which is a lot of life that could be potentially spent experiencing things that may be more difficult to experience in the material world, such as flying or going into space. There are several methods to lucid dream, one of them being regular reality checks throughout the day. Clocks do not work properly in dreams: time moves much faster in dreams than they do in real life. Things may also be significantly more blurry than usual, or you might have too many fingers on each hand. However, you could also simply fall asleep with the intention of lucid dreaming and wake up in an unknown world. These things are all part of dreaming, just one more normalised yet extraordinary phenomenon of the brain.

Another theory is that dreaming keeps our brain working; this is because we believe that the brain always needs to be active or creating memories in order to be healthy and functional. Theoretically, this is done by dreaming so that the brain can create memories even while we are asleep. This could explain why we sometimes feel like we are falling as we are drifting off to sleep. We still are not

By Natasha Kirmani sure why the body can sometimes jerk right before we fall asleep, however doctors theorise that when we go into the deeper stages of sleep, the brain misunderstands the situation and thinks that we are falling or dying, causing it to startle the body. This happens to the majority of people every now and then, so it is perfectly normal.

Nightmares A nightmare is a dream that is unpleasant or frightening and many people experience nightmares from time to time. There are several factors that could individually affect dreams, such as events that have happened or foods that we eat. Nightmares are usually causes by elevated

Every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance. ~ Sigmund Freud

Are Pythons Taking Over the Florida Everglades?

Burmese pythons were first seen in the Everglades National Park, in South Florida, in the 1990s. Burmese pythons are native to SouthEast Asia and are on the IUCN Red List as Vulnerable. Originally, these snakes were brought to Florida as exotic and exciting pets and sold to people looking for a new animal to show off. However, Burmese pythons can grow to 20 ft long, and feast on animals such as rabbits and birds. This meant that a lot of irresponsible owners took to abandoning their snakes in the Everglades. Another factor as to how these ginormous snakes ended up as an invasive species was in 1992, when Hurricane Andrew destroyed a nearby python breeding facility, which let loose a myriad of pythons into the forest.

With no natural predator in the Everglades, these snakes have been able to roam the woodland unharmed for years and continue to do so. Given that snakes will eat any form of rodent or mammal, Burmese pythons have an endless supply of wildlife to consume. Despite their large sizes, the brown and black colouring of their scales allows them to take cover beneath the shrubbery and hide from hunters looking to help aid this problem.

Burmese pythons can give birth to up to 100 eggs a year, and they can live for twenty years, so the numbers are rapidly rising. There are an estimated 100,000-300,000 pythons living in the Everglades, and the figures don’t seem like they will be decreasing any time soon.

To combat this issue, hunters and Florida citizens have tried a multitude of control methods to try and exterminate the pythons. There haven’t been many successes in bringing down the numbers, despite the measures brought in.

Dogs were thought to be able to better hunt the snakes, however the results from the detection dogs, 73%, was not much different compared to the human searches, 69%. Traps are also inefficient as snake movement is hard to predict, and snakes can easily escape from spaces, therefore meaning a python is not likely to be caught in a trap. It also poses the risk of trapping another animal.

Additionally, Burmese pythons are widely spread across the Everglades, meaning that a large number of traps would be needed. In 2013, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission held a month-long Python Challenge, encouraging locals to hunt these snakes for cash prizes.

Despite this, only 68 snakes were caught by over 1,500 participants. In 2016, another event was held, which ended with 106 pythons caught by over 1,000 participants.

Hunters are encouraged to kill any pythons they may come across in the Everglades. In spite of these attempts to manage the number of Burmese pythons in the Everglades, the numbers have not dropped.

Burmese pythons are showing a severe ecological threat to the area. The snakes have been causing issues with the wildlife numbers, such as a study in 2013 showed 77% of rabbits tagged with radio transmitters in the Everglades were killed by a Python. Birds, raccoons, even deer have been found in the stomachs of Burmese pythons. Another study, which took place between 1997 and 2012, showed that the bobcat population dropped 87.5%, the raccoon population fell 99.3%, and the opossum population declined 98.9% in the Everglades.

The Everglades habitat is perfect for these snakes to thrive, with its marshes and swamps, and warm temperature, meaning the land they live on is not going to flush them out any time soon. And with a constant supply of food, and no predators out to get them, the Burmese Python problem will only continue to grow in the upcoming years.

By Daisy Morrissey

The Joker: A diagnosis for an evil clown ‘The Joker’ film follows Arthur Fleck, a fictional character, living with a mental illness. The film details his thoughts and feelings as he turns into a serial killer - this raises many questions into what caused Arthur to turn into The Joker.

Arthur Fleck (The Joker) had many traumas, starting in his early childhood. As seen in the film, Arthur was physically abused and assaulted on numerous occasions: outside the music shop when he got ‘jumped;’ on the subway by the three young men; and the film mentions that he was abused by his mother’s boyfriend from an incredibly early age (being beaten and chained to a radiator). However, this was only his physical trauma. Sociologists use the term ‘socialisation’ to describe the process by which people learn about their culture and is an essential process that must take place in order for a society to form. A strong source of socialisation for most people is the surrounding family they grow up with. For Arthur, his family at an early age consisted of an adoptive mother, Penny Fleck, who was hospitalised due to her mental instability and unable to protect Arthur from her abusive boyfriend.

This had a significant impact on Arthur’s socialisation at an early age, which continued as he got older. Arthur was psychologically abused by his own mother. However, she also shielded him from the nightmare that was the world they lived in, which gave him a reality distorted by fantasy.

His mother nicknamed him “Happy,” and constantly told him he was “bought here to bring joy and laughter to the world,” further distorting his naive outlook on life.

The caring responsibility for his sick

mother, when she never properly cared for him, and the way that he was illegally adopted by his ‘mother,’ slowly drove him ‘crazy.’

Penny used this in her protection when she claimed, “I never heard him [Arthur] crying, he’s always been such a happy little boy,” to defend herself from Social Services. His mother also convinced Arthur that Thomas Wayne (Batman’s dad) was his real father, which caused him to confront Thomas Wayne and get punched.

Arthur’s ‘insanity’ and his own mental disorder led to numerous acts of violence, assault, and murder. The first encounter we had with ‘The Joker’ was during the scene on the subway. After his mental disorder caused him to burst out in uncontrollable laughter, three young, drunk men thought it would be funny to physically bully him. They began to assault him, but he pulled a gun, and these three “Wallstreet men” became his first victims. This continued when he smothered his own mother while she lay in hospital after having a stroke, angry about the secrets she had been hiding regarding Arthur’s real father, and the fantasy she created for him.

The Joker’s character was created through Arthur’s need to hide behind face paint and a ‘fake smile.’ He was the embodiment of the phrase ‘putting on a happy face.’

His job as a clown reflected his need to keep others happy and smiling despite his own life shattering into a spiral of depression.

He constantly refused help from his friends, especially when his colleagues visited and he murdered one and traumatised the other. This was reported on the news, and the media portrayed him as a riot-starter, which only fuelled his narcissism. The riots erupted

further after Thomas Wayne publicly announced all ‘lower-class’ citizens were “clowns.” Arthur’s journey as the Joker climaxed when he stood against the teasing and bulling from Murray Franklin – the talk show host who he murdered live.

Despite the extent of Arthur’s struggling being clear, he is repeatedly failed by the system created to help him. Arthur had previously been psychiatrically hospitalised, which led to him receiving a mixture of different medications. Arthur also has therapy sessions with a state funded service which encourages him to keep a journal of his thoughts and feelings. The service provided does not fit his needs and they fail to notice several passages in his notebook which could be seen as ‘cries for help.’ There were magazine clippings of girls with their heads cut out of the photo, disturbing drawings and even phrases such as “I just hope my death make more cents than my life.” and “The worst part of having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don’t.” These clear warning signs were ignored which stopped Arthur getting the help he needed, which could have prevented the deaths of many. Not only were the warning signs ignored when in therapy, the funding was eventually completely cut which resulted in Arthur being unable to get the medication he needed.

Although there is no excuse for Arthur Fleck’s murders and violence, there was an explanation.

It is thought Arthur suffered with an Involuntary Emotional Expression Disorder called the Pseudobulbar Affect (PBA). Medical researchers describe the symptoms of this disorder as periods of time when a person is unable to control their facial muscles which can appear to others to be episodes of intense laughing of crying. This could also explain why his emotions are ‘all over the place’ and his reactions are disproportionate to the action. His mental illness also separates Arthur from society due the stigma surrounding it. Arthur was severely abused and neglected during his childhood, leading him to constant suffering and him developing a sense of a ruthless and depressing universe.

By Anna Clery and Molly Wicking ~ Artwork by Cynthia Ding

COVID-19

VACCINES

Since the news that an effective vaccine had been developed to protect people from contracting Covid-19, the world became fascinated by how it was done. Many people questioned how the developers managed to condense a process that would usually take years into just 10 months.

To understand how the vaccines were made so quickly, we need to understand the human immune system. When a person is infected by some kind of pathogen, the body responds by sending three diverse types of white blood cells to stop it from becoming a serious threat.

Macrophages digest germs and leave behind antigens, B-lymphocytes produce antibodies and attack the left-over pieces of the virus, and T-lymphocytes attack the infected cells. A vaccine gives people immunity without having to develop the disease, by providing the white blood cells with a weakened protein of the virus. The white blood cells will therefore try and destroy the foreign substance. They remember the shape so that in the event that the virus infects the person, it will be easier to fight off.

Some are sceptical; it still seems like a short amount of time to develop a vaccine as well as passing it through trials. However, the vaccines have been tested in three phases: testing for safety, testing if the vaccine’s response is correct and testing that it actually provides protection. The Oxford vaccine has been tested on 30,000 volunteers in the third phase, and Pfizer have addressed some of the concerns, confirming that their mRNA vaccine, a relatively new concept, does not change human DNA or have the ability to cause someone to contract Covid-19. Overall, the vaccine has passed through the same clinical trials as other licenced medicines.

A potential consequence of having the vaccine developed this quickly is that we have not seen how well the vaccine protects against the new variants from Kent, South Africa or Brazil and the question was raised of whether they could render our current vaccines ineffective. Although this is a possibility, the proteins in the vaccines are quite large, so for the new variants to be unaffected, they would have to have mutated a lot. However, this does not change the fact that the vaccine does not protect people against the newer variants as effectively. There is still the possibility that the vaccine could be redesigned by synthesising a new piece of DNA or RNA and inserting it into the original vaccine so it is unlikely that the work put into the current vaccines will have been for nothing.

An area of concern for the corona vaccine is how the process of making a vaccine takes an exceptionally long time, so it is difficult to feel secure when there is the fear that the development stage has been rushed. However, after having experiences with several types of coronaviruses (the Sars coronavirus and the Mers coronavirus), scientists have been more prepared for the outbreak of Covid-19. Witnessing By Katie Pietroni the effects of having such a slow response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014-2016, prompted scientists to develop a plan for the next big outbreak of a disease by taking a cold virus from a chimpanzee and engineering it to become the backbone for a vaccine that could be manipulated to fight off various kinds of diseases. Now, it has been modified to prevent people from contracting Covid-19.

~ Psychoanalysis ~

Humans are complex beings. It is common knowledge that everyone is diTherent and made up of diTherent psyches. We yearn to be understood by parents yet keep information and emotions hidden.

We look towards astrology and personality types to ffgure out ourselves and the people around us, to ffgure out if they can feed our ego and have mutual interests.

But what if that was all rendered useless? What would be lefi of us?

Our behaviour is motivated by desire whether that is a conscious or unconscious decision.

It is the emotion of longing or hoping for a person, object, or outcome. fle same sense is expressed by words such as “craving”. When a person desires something or someone, their sense of longing is excited by the enjoyment or the thought of the item or person, and they want to take actions to obtain their goal no matter how big or small. Yet according to Jacques Lacan, who was dubbed the most controversial psychoanalyst since Freud, this is our downfall.

Because of these desires, you can never be yourself and are instead stuck in a desire loop.

‘But the things we strive to get make us more ourselves! How could I be anyone but myself?’

Well, our desire is always pointing out of us, the next step we want to take to be better, therefore what’s not you are a fundamental part of you because we think our desires will make us more ourselves.

Due to this, humans are always naturally longing for more, ergo never being yourself. flis psychoanalysis is compiled of a few theories that will be explained in more depth.

One of the ffrst instances of these ideas appearing in humans is ‘the Mirror Stage.’ flis occurs when ‘the subject’ is a mere child or tod dler and has their ffrst interaction with themselves through a mirror consciously. It is the moment you recognise the reftection in the mirror as yourself.

Fundamental but tragic, it is the root cause of anxiety of being a subject and never getting the things you desire.

Artwork by Leah Clery

Meet the Teachers

Mr McKenna

Questions: 1. Favourite memory of teaching at Royal Russell?

2. Worst/ funniest thing to happen in your classroom?

3. Favourite subtopic to teach, and why?

4. Kiss, Kill, Marry - Albert Einstein, Issac Newton, Bill Nye the Science Guy

Teacher of Chemistry The funniest is in S5 where if you look at the ceiling you can see the yellow stain where we got a bit over enthusiastic with the elephant toothpaste and the bubbles shot out of the flask and hit the ceiling and the iodine has never come off I think for the planet we are going to have to keep Einstein and Newton and Kill Bill Nye the poor guy. Probably marry Einstein because he is more fun and kiss Newton.

Teacher of Physics

Another time was when one student connected a power pack to a circuit and did not do a thorough check (as they were supposed to) and the circuit shorted and created a large mushroom cloud, although it was extremely dangerous, it was also quite funny.

I quite enjoy teaching particle physics. I like how it explains the nature of understanding of everything, looking at the fundamental nature of existence.

Kill Newton, because he was not a nice person, really quite evil.

Kiss Einstein because he looks like a fun guy.

Marry Bill Nye for his stability and because he would look after you.

Background made by Anna Clery

Mr Pattison

During a year 11 class, when they managed to fully complete the lesson by themselves with great critical thinking skills and I was able to sit there and watch them complete the experiment very successfully.

Mr Turner

Teacher of Physics Something that happens every day when students thank you for your lessons, and when you start talking about an interesting topic, they like the fact that you can go off on a tangent and get carried away in the stuff that is not on the syllabus.

I was teaching the life cycle of a star recently, using the analogy of people as stars are born, they live, and then die. One student genuinely asked him if stars have intercourse. As he believed stars and humans were more similar than they actually are.

Without any changes to the past, Kiss Newton, because he would be horrible to live with long term. Marry Bill Nye for being genuinely funny and interesting. Kill Einstein because he was a little but weird like marrying his cousin.

I really like teaching the real fundamentals of chemistry because once you know that you can build on anything so atoms and periodic table and ions and how all that relates, so you can then move on to other things like bonding, electrolysis, and other more complicated topics.

I would say kiss Isaac Newton, marry Albert Einstein and kill Bill Nye the science guy.

Ms Porteous

Teacher of Biology & Chemistry

Ms Hornby

Teacher of Biology The worst thing that ever happened was that I was doing a dissection and demonstration to a class, and I was going really over the top about how the scalpel was very sharp and then proceeded to put the scalpel into my own hand.

My absolute favourite topic to teach is genetics because are lots of patterns you can identify in results and outcomes from breeding different things together.

You should have Darwin in there, I would totally marry Darwin! I think Einstein would have been impossible to live with, he would be very tricky, so I would kill him. I would kiss Newton because without those three laws what would we be doing, and I would marry Bill Nye the science guy because if I could write a song that would be an ear worm to every student for every topic you would not have to do anything else.

SATRO Competition In the evening of the 24th of January, myself and a select few from key-stages 3,4 and 5 were chosen to compete in the Surry SATRO problem solving challenge. After a half hour journey and looking at intense competition, we were quite nervous for what was about to begin. We were given 90 minutes to design a contraption that would turn on a lamp using a marble dropped by somebody from the group after exactly 10 seconds.

After spending 10-15 minutes planning, us (the KS5 group) decided as a collective that the best course of action was to give ourselves as much time as possible for testing. As the clock ticked closer and closer to 0, we spent more and more time adjusting our contraption until it was as well as we could design it. After an extremely tense testing period, we were second to last out of the KS5 teams to be judged. Entrusting Oliver Tchum to drop the marble, we clasped our hands together and prayed. 10.2 seconds. Although we have gotten better times in our test runs, we decided to refrain from doing a rerun in order to get a 20-point bonus afterwards. After a few more minutes, the results were to be announced. The KS3 group’s winners were up first. Our group came in second place, losing out from first by only a few points. KS4’s group weren’t so lucky and just barely lost second place to our competitors. The KS5 groups were last, but certainly not least. With 167/170 points, we came in first place, and broke both our school’s records, as well as SATRO’s. Both the KS3 and KS5 groups are invited to the finals, where we will aim for nothing but the top. Many thanks to Mr Endersby and Mrs Cook for organising this, and we hope that we’ll be able to do this even better next time.

By CJ Coleman Benjamin

Image taken of the team in action

WORD SEARCH

CROSSWORD

Elemental Jokes 1. What two elements are the most agreeable together?

2. What elements are trying to scare you?

3. What elements would surprise you the most if they were dating?

4. Which single element is the most polite?

5. What element laughs easily when it meets its twin?

6. What two elements could you find on a farm?

7. What three elements are friends but can never agree?

By Emily Hayden

ANSWERS

Elemental Jokes:

1. Oxygen and Potassium OK 2. Boron and Oxygen BOO 3. Oxygen and Magnesium OMg

4. Tantalum Ta 5. Helium HeHe 6. Molybdenum and Oxygen MoO 7. Nobelium, Bromine and Oxygen NoBrO

Cartoon, wordsearch, and crossword made by Anna Clery

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABOUT THE FRONT COVER On the 18th of June 1983 Sally Ride took to space and became a global icon.

She was the first American women in space and was also part of the LGBTQ+ community, setting a great example for those who admire her to follow in her footsteps. After earning her physics degree at Stanford University in California, she joined Nasa and became the person responsible for working the robotic arm on board the space shuttle mission. The robotic arm was used to put satellites into space. After leaving Nasa she became a teacher at the University of California and dedicated her life to helping women and girls study maths and science.

By Molly Wicking

Russell’s Teapot is entirely student made, and it allows students from all years groups to express their interest in whatever aspect of science they like. This is done through research, articles, artwork, podcasts, and a lot of hard work.

HTTP://RUSSELLSTEAPOT.ORG

EDITOR IN CHEIF Anna Clery GRAPHIC DESIGN Anna Clery, Molly Wicking CONTRIBUTORS Ria Patel Oliver Tchum Emily Hayden Jaishan Jethwa Meenachey Niranjan Anna Clery Kinshing Huo Natasha Kirmani Daisy Morissey Molly Wicking Katie Pietroni Iris Nuredini Serena Biju CJ Coleman Benjamin EDITORS Anna Clery Jaishan Jethwa Serena Biju Amber Knibb ARTWORK/ PHOTOGRAPHY Cynthia Ding Leah Clery Molly Wicking Anna Clery

RUSSELL’S TEAPOT