33 minute read
Academic
Review Academic
COULD WORMHOLES EVER BE USEFUL FOR HUMANS?
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For a wormhole to be traversable, it must be sufficiently longlived to be passed by a causal curve, it must not possess an event horizon, and must be macroscopic rather than Planck length.
Some scientists predict that when traversing a wormhole, a spaceship would encounter huge forces that would kill the people on board as they would become spaghettified. This is because violations of the weak energy hypothesis are guaranteed to occur at the throat of a traversable wormhole, causing a dilemma as the weak energy condition ensures the fact that you cannot travel faster than light. Violations would therefore create a causality problem. However, some geodesics like using ultrastatic wormholes, with the exotic matter confined to a thin layer, would be such that the traveller feels no forces – tidal, acceleration, or otherwise – during the trip. One of the most promising solutions would be Lorentzian wormholes in diatonic Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory in four spacetime dimensions, which do not even require the presence of exotic matter, instead using a phantom field, and have been shown to linearly stable with respect to radial perturbations. Not all wormholes have to have a single tunnel either, some versions allow multiple exits, as shown by one of the newer theories proposing that Hawking radiation escapes by lots of individual wormholes. The ER=EPR conjecture states that two entangled particles called an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen pair are connected by a wormhole. This is a revolutionary way of thinking, which could lead to a unifying theory of quantum gravity in the future. To answer the question of how wormholes could be of use to humans, we must include the possibility of space travel and time travel, making history an experimental science. Because of time dilation, a manufactured wormhole as according to the Twins paradox could potentially have one mouth on Earth and another on a spaceship that has accelerated to velocities approaching the speed of light through the universe, meaning that time will have dilated and so travelling through the wormhole will involve travelling through time. In terms of backward time travel, theoretically, the laws of classical physics will remain consistent. This links to wormholes in that their creation must be accompanied by closed- time like curves and/or a noncontinuous choice of the future light cone, and by a violation of the weak energy condition. This is theoretically and mathematically possible as the Cauchy horizon remains stable. The multiverse theory (derived from quantum entanglement) states that if something is physically possible, there is a universe where it has happened, and this is allowed by the wavefunction collapse in quantum mechanics. If this is correct and closed time-like curves exist, then travelling in time could mean travelling to a different universe. With wormholes, we could gain information from galaxies that we would not have even known existed because, for example, of singularities blocking our view, or due to the expansion of the universe separating galaxies. Wormholes also offer the possibility of extracting energy and mass from specific regions called ergo regions surrounding the throats of wormholes. To extract rotational energy from this region, the Penrose process could be used. In addition, the impact of wormholes on black holes can be huge. For example, the small wormhole-induced perturbations in the geometry can lead to massive non-perturbative shifts in the event horizon, progressively eating away at it to the extent that it almost “disappears”. Further, vacuum polarisation effects near a singularity may lead to a “punch through” into another asymptotically flat region, effectively transforming a black hole into a wormhole’. Travel through a wormhole is mathematically equivalent to quantum teleportation, a process which is needed for quantum cryptography. Therefore, if ‘transporting’ qubits through black holes, information can be recovered from a black hole, meaning unitarity is maintained. It also rescues black hole complementarity, so the interior and exterior of the black hole are two quite different, complementary ways of looking at the same system, not different ones. To conclude, the overall uses of wormholes to humans could be huge, not only on a physical level, but on the level of knowledge and insight into a theory of quantum gravity. However, the lack of evidence and limited research gone into this area of theoretical physics has placed enormous constraints on the impacts that wormholes could have.
Martha Richmond U6, Carr
FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION – BAUHAUS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
In this extract Finn Karp explores the enduring influence of the Bauhaus style and its contemporary relevance.
The term “Bauhaus” refers both to an architectural style that found great appreciation worldwide between 1925 and 1932, and also a movement that began with the founding of an art school in 1919 in Weimar Germany. The initial thoughts of Walter Gropius, the director and founder of the Bauhaus, were of shaping post war modernity through art, design, and dance by teaching about the use of materials, which was the foundation of all arts. The philosophy that Gropius pursued was that craftsmen and artists should work together to redesign people’s everyday life. He also followed the phrase “form follows function” which is a phrase that was coined by the American architect Louis Sullivan (1856–1924), who was the developer of one of the first skyscrapers, and emphasised efficiency to appearance. From 1926 to 1928, Walter Gropius built the “Dessau-Törten Housing Estate”. The tour guide who showed me around stated, “This was the first implementation of his idea “houses of mass construction”: standardising the housing construction seemed necessary in the Weimar Republic to overcome housing shortage. This corresponded with the desire to develop an adequate and contemporary design for everyday objects.” The various design steps – from planning the estates to designing household appliances, fabrics, and wallpapers – expressed the search for an aesthetic of a modern industrial society. In the eyes of efficiency, the realisation of the mass-produced settlement was a great step in architecture, especially because of the fabrication-line-system. Drawing inspiration from the industrial assembly line, specialised work brigades built several houses simultaneously in one construction phase. For this purpose, components such as beams were made of concrete on site, which were transported by a small railway and moved by cranes. All these measures led to a necessary lowcost construction method that became a great advantage for the future inhabitants of the settlement. Under these circumstances it was possible to construct up to 60 identical houses along a road which extends over 190 metres. The “Törten-settlement” is still in use to this day. The Bauhäuslers’ focus was to break away from all levels of everyday life to realise their social utopias. They also had the opinion that the historical constructions and heavy furniture were unbearable. By discussing and reflecting on the modern daily routine of an individual they produced the question: “How do I actually want to live?”. This is where the principal “form follows function” came from. To implement this, as the Tate Art magazine writes, Bauhaus “replaced the traditional pupil-teacher relationship with the idea of a community of artists working together. Its aim was to bring art back into contact with everyday life, and architecture, performing arts, design
and applied arts were therefore given as much weight as fine art. The name is a combination of the German words for Bau (build) and Haus (house) and may have been intended to evoke the idea of a guild or fraternity working to build a new post war society.” A good example of the application of Bauhaus concepts is the Kornhaus Restaurant, which was built on the Elbe River. The architect, Carl Fieger, applied the methodology of developing architecture from the movement of functional processes and even though he included cubic and simple shaped segments in the construction plan, the building was characterised by a semi-circular corridor that connects the restaurant’s kitchen and the guest room. Bauhaus has had an impact on generations of artists, designers, and architects in Germany, China, North and South America and beyond. All over the world one can see the central values replicated: Bauhaus has become both a symbol of functionality and has come with a focus on creating a sense of community. Along with the important Bauhaus tradition of function and community, contemporary architecture and design in this style offers fresh achievements and knowledge that works well with the current politics of sustainable development and emphasises social, as well as economic, integration. Its invention of new forms for representing human values – based on aesthetics and technology – in both architecture and design, is still significant in the twenty-first century. Nowadays, Bauhaus influences the culture industry and the movement towards “eco-design.” As such, Bauhaus continues to play a significant role in upholding tradition by bringing together aesthetics, efficiency, and technological progress.
Finn Karp U6, Paley
ROSA LUXEMBURG: REVOLUTION AND CAPITALISM
Rosa Luxemburg lived from 1871-1919; she was Polish, Jewish, and a woman, in a society that was racist, anti-Semitic, and patriarchal. As a Marxist she lived a very intense, dramatic, and romantic life.
Rosa spent a lot of time in prison in Germany, including most of the duration of the First World War due to her anti-war views. This did not daunt her though – she often remarked that going to prison allowed her time to write and saw prison a necessary component of her writing. She is widely admired and read today by
Marxists and socialists alike for her critique and predictions on both revolution and capitalism, and is viewed as an important figure in 20th century economics and politics. Her famous works include ‘The Russian
Revolution’, ‘The Accumulation of
Capital’, ‘Mass Strike’ and ‘Social
Reform or Revolution’. Her unique views on Marxism were inspired by her background in
Poland. Marx said that there were 5 distinct epochs in his stages of a communist revolution: slavery, feudalism, capitalism, socialism and then communism. Therefore, the areas in Poland that were capitalist and industrialised like Germany would be able to have a proletariat revolution, but the agrarian feudal parts would no doubt be left behind. Marx felt that the nearer one is to Germany, the closer one is to revolution. Luxemburg thought this idea was nonsense and in her writings she rhetorically asked
Marx “Have you ever been to Poland?” because in actual fact it was East
Poland that was industrialised – the part that was in Russia. Therefore, not only did this theory annoy her, but she also felt that the opposite was true and was shocked by the idea that
Russia and Poland would have to wait for revolution and go through Marx’s stages before they could become communist states. As the political scientist David Runciman put it “what she hated was the idea that societies had to pass through stages to become revolutionary”. For Luxemburg the 1905 Russian revolution proved her views correct, that Russia was indeed ripe and ready for a revolution. Despite this, many orthodox Marxists sat the revolution out, feeling that it was the ‘wrong revolution’; it was the liberalbourgeoise’s revolution, much like the earlier European ones that had transformed their societies from agrarian to industrial. This was a revolution to get rid of the Tsars, or at least gain some concessions, as well as reducing the bourgeoise’s taxes, and so Marxists held back. Luxemburg thought that this was asinine, and Lenin agreed. The idea of picking and choosing your revolution as a revolutionary was pointless, and instead of sitting it out, one should join in and make the revolution one wants. Lenin compared it to falling for a flea powder advert that on the side of the bottle the instructions were as follows: 1 – catch your flea. 2 – pour on the powder. While they agreed on joining the available, rather than the ideal, revolution, Luxemburg and Lenin disagreed about why the 1905 revolution failed. Lenin felt it lacked a centralised government to point it in the right direction – it lacked a controlling elite. Luxemburg instead thought that what it missed was spontaneity and a failure from the intellectuals to listen to the proletariat. As she put it, if you walk into a factory and they aren’t arguing for the same thing as you, don’t tell them they are wrong, try to understand them and then you are in a better place to lead them from. In 1905 both felt their ideas had been proved correct: “Lenin felt it was a failure of leadership and Luxemburg a failure of learning.” The idea of spontaneity was key in Rosa’s revolutionary writings, partly some suggest, due to her romanticism, which led her take the idea of spontaneity due to heart. She was always a rebel; in school she was refused the gold cross because she was too rebellious (as well as a Jew). Similarly, in one of the many letters she wrote from prison she described how there was something in her that “ignores all rules and regulations.” Her concept of spontaneity and nurturing the revolutionary spirit rather than crushing it, is one of her main legacies. When it came to the 1917 February revolution in Russia, Marxists once again sat it out as it was still seen as a liberal movement, with the provisional government that overthrew the Tsar continuing in the war. When Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized power in a coup in October 1917 they took Russia out of the war. Rosa hailed Lenin as a revolutionary hero – she was elated. However, in her work ‘the Russian Revolution’ she both celebrated him and tore him apart. In this essay, once again written in a German prison, she swaps from loving to hating Lenin and his Bolshevik takeover. She criticised his centralised power and his rule of terror. Lenin felt that elections would not stabilise the backward Russia, and he felt that he and other intellectuals needed to teach the revolutionaries
“Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.” - Rosa Luxemburg
and call the shots; the anthesis of Luxemburg’s ideas of ‘walking into a factory and understanding’. For Luxemburg, one of Lenin’s huge mistakes was to take away freedoms like the franchise and the press as it halted the revolution before it had properly begun. She accused him of lacking the courage needed to listen to the people, rather than centralise control, despite calling him a brave hero earlier on. However, “the Russian Revolution” furthers its “double argument” when she finds fault with Lenin cutting ties with the Baltics and allowing the old Russian empire to break apart. This is because she never believed in any political theory or identity based on nationalism. Therefore, she felt that these “false states” were bad, as they would form their own new nationalist feelings. Rosa hated any concessions that allowed nationalism to grow, as it was tied to capitalism. She was an Internationalist Marxist, and in her eyes if one weren’t this, one was nothing. Luxemburg describes how Lenin should have kept all this territory instead of breaking the social structure into nationalist parts and should have given the people as much say and freedom as possible. She predicted that Lenin’s goal to allow these new nations to break away, and for him to then eventually bring them back into his centralised power was never going to happen for 2 reasons: 1 – because he had made concessions to internationalism and 2 – because she believed that you could tell what a revolution or government was going to be from its origins, and the Bolsheviks began with terror, allowed nationalism, and took away freedom. So, for Luxemburg to later pull these new states back would create the need for more suppression and coercion than there already was. Luxemburg hated compromising on principles to achieve these stages and the communist utopia. The idea of using compromises, like terror or allowing the growth of nationalism, to achieve something where everything will make sense again, was barbaric to her. Luxemburg departed from Marxist thought and action in other ways. She criticised Marx’s views on capitalism, especially on the question: Can capitalism expand infinitely? Something which Marx never really answered. She didn’t think so because for her capitalism needs “societies that do not engage in capitalism”, and she predicted that there would eventually be no societies left to expand into. She felt if capitalism could expand infinitely through imperialist wars then “socialism was a utopian pipe dream, not a historical necessity”. Before capitalism will end on a global scale it will go through “seizures” as it sees the complete destruction of indigenous people, exhaustion of resources, increased imperialist wars, and events like climate change – as she wrote “capitalism is willing to let the world burn”. From her view, capitalism can be seen as a bulldozer that drives overproduction and consumerism, which can easily be seen in the contemporary world as a cause of climate change and global warming. If her predictions are correct, which they seem to be, we find ourselves near the end of capitalism, so what are our options? For Luxemburg, the choice is simple – “socialism or barbarism”. Economic growth no longer helps developed societies provide better living standards, but reducing income difference will. Developed countries with the highest income differences within them, like the UK and the USA, have the highest levels of social and health inequality (this includes mental health, crime rates, prison levels, and education) as proven in ‘The Spirit Level’. To reduce these increasing problems we face today, reducing the income gap is crucial. Therefore, socialism and redistributing wealth to reduce income differences appears as a logical solution. Living a life of revolution is no easy task, and in 1919 Luxemburg was murdered by the GKSD Freikorps in Germany following the Spartacist uprising, with her body was dumped in a canal and only found months later. However, she left an important legacy, especially within the world of feminist Marxism, where she led the way for many, including Sylvia Federichi. Her concept of spontaneity and fostering the revolutionary spirit, as well as a fierce rejection of nationalism, are significant still to this day.
HOW FASHION HAS MIRRORED SOCIETY’S VIEW OF WOMEN THROUGHOUT HISTORY
Year 11 student, Lily Whewell gave this presentation as part of her GCSE English Language.
Tudor England was a time of extremes where we saw both a significant divide between the upper and lower classes of society, and a great divide between the privileges and societal expectations of men in comparison to women. Throughout our history the idea has been prevalent that women were seen as inferior to men, and in Tudor England we saw this mindset embedded into society by both the church and the indoctrination of children with these ideas, with girls being openly taught that they were the inferior gender, and their primary role entailed bearing a son for their husbands. In light of society’s views and expectations for women, women’s fashion mirrored their expected role as obedient wives to their husbands with the monarchy influencing the way women dressed. The typical Tudor outfit would have reflected a woman’s status in society with highly embellished decorative garments reminiscent of the upper classes and simple linen shifts which were kept clean by being changed daily being worn by all manners of Tudor society. As a rule, the more dramatic the silhouette, the more highly embellished and decorative the fabric, the more elaborate and exquisite the dress, the more desirable the woman would be as a wife due to her high status. Often, fashion trends for Tudor society came from the influence of the monarchy. To create these dramatic silhouettes, women would wear a farthingale which was introduced by Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife. This was an undergarment which was conically shaped to add structure to the women’s skirts. Similarly, an English hood was also worn and made popular by Catherine of Aragon. It had a triangular shape to frame the face, arguably drawing attention to the woman’s face for the purpose of attracting a husband. However, even wearing a hood became a political statement when Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour reverted back to wearing an English hood in defiance of Anne Boleyn who was Henry’s second wife, who wore a more softly shaped French hood. Dresses were made from exquisite fabrics which were decorated with jewels, lace and ribbons and would sit on top of a linen shift. The act of exposing elements of the shift such as around the neck and cuffs to reveal black-work embroidery was also popularised by Catherine of Aragon and followed by the aristocracy. The colour of a woman’s garments also helped to portray her desirability. Elizabeth I developed the wearing of black and white as a symbol of her chastity and innocence. As we can see, the importance of fashion for Tudor women was significant as it extended beyond an expression of their social status but to enunciate their role as an obedient wife for
her husband, with society and the monarchy dictating what women would wear to appear desirable yet also inferior to men. In contrast, in 1920s America we see an open defiance to society’s expectations by liberated women who were called ‘Flapper girls’. Flapper girls did not conform to society and their domestic ‘duties’ as housewives; instead, they found freedom in illegal pastimes such as drinking alcohol, dancing and jazz. We did also see progress in the way women were viewed in society, with a greater prevalence of equality in sports and in the law – such as getting the vote – which represented a drastic change from the violence and abuse women faced from their husbands under no legal protection in Tudor England. This gave Flappers a newfound freedom to subvert the expectations of society and to embrace pleasures, such as smoking in public, that would have usually been reserved for men. This freedom of expression was echoed in the typical flapper dress and enunciated by certain designers such as Coco Chanel. A flapper dress would redefine the typical hemline, as women embraced shorter skirt lengths. Like the trend of exposing blackwork embroidery in Tudor England, the flapper dress would expose elements such as the calf and neck through revealing cuts. The fit of flapper dressers and the lack of the use of the corset was also in juxtaposition to the dramatic and defined conical shape with a straighter and slimmer silhouette being considered as more fashionable, with the dress itself being highly embellished with fringing, sequins, and beads to maximise the impact of the dress whilst dancing to jazz music. It also became highly fashionable to adopt the more boyish style of a bob haircut, which was the most flattering when embellished with a highly decorated headband. The new movement of women who subverted society’s expectations was therefore mirrored in the establishment of fashion trends such as: the straighter silhouette that echoed the Flappers’ defiance of traditional societal expectations, embellishments like fringing which created a statement when women danced and participated in illegal activities, and the bob haircut which it could be argued paralleled the greater equality we saw in the 1920s in sports and the law. Throughout history, it is apparent that as society’s views of women have progressed, women’s fashion has also moved with the times, from the influence of the monarchy in Tudor England to the liberation of ‘flapper girls’ in the 1920s, suggesting that the impact of society on the fashion industry is great and is an excellent source of reference when looking at how society has viewed women throughout history.
GREEK TRAGEDY
The L6th student Jemimah Allmand-Smith wrote and recorded this talk as her submission to the MASSOLIT Video Lecture Competition.
Tragedy is a literary genre dealing with tragic events and the unhappy consequences of human actions, especially concerning the downfall of the hero. Greek Tragedy reached its most significant form in Athens in the 5th century BC. The most acclaimed Greek tragedians are Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. These tragedians often explored themes surrounding human nature, mainly to connect with the audience but also to bring the audience into the play. Aristotle explored the nature of Greek Tragedy in his treatise “poetics.” He stated that the purpose of tragedy is to bring catharsis - the purgation, purification or cleansing of emotions. According to Aristotle, tragedy evolved from the satyr dithyramb, an ancient Greek hymn, that was sung along with dancing in honour of Dionysus. Dionysus was the Greek God of wine, theatre, and fertility, called Bacchus by the Romans. He was a central figure in the evolution of Greek tragedy, and most theatrical festivals were held in his honour. Tragic plays were performed at the state-run festivals for Dionysus, called the Dionysia (in Spring) and the Lenaia (in Winter). These were religious festivals and thus the atmosphere surrounding the performances were more like that of a religious ceremony than entertainment. There were altars to the gods, with priests in attendance, and the subjects of the tragedies were often heroes of legend, religious myth, and history. Playwrights would apply to the archon (leader) for a chorus. The state selected the competitors as well as sponsors (choregus) and judges (10 citizens.) The choregai was a wealthy citizen chosen by the archon to pay for the training, costuming, and production of a play. An open-air théatron (literally a “place for viewing”) brought together as many as 15,000 philosophers, politicians, poets, artists, and scientists from Ancient Greece’s independent city-states, many of whom had very different views on politics and culture. At the Dionysia, playwrights pitted their work against one another in competition. Each presented a trilogy of tragedies followed by a comic ‘satyr’ play. These festivals therefore became an opportunity for Greek playwrights to voice their political opinions and present new ideas in their tragedies. For tragedies to shock and evoke emotion in an audience the plays would have to resonate with the experiences of the people; if the audience felt detached from the play it would not carry the same significance. In a sense tragedy was an expression of the establishment, fundamentally different from modern theatre. It did not necessarily voice political dissent but invited the audience to political reflection. In this way the Dionysia was a political organ which allowed the audience to reflect on issues and problems relevant to the Athenian polis. The heterogeneity of the festival meant these tragedies could proclaim their messages to people from all over Greek and the surrounding provinces. Tragedies would depict the consequences of tyranny, such as Aeschylus’ “Prometheus Bound” which presents Zeus as the ultimate tyrant. Euripides wrote a number of tragedies in response to the events of the time. He explores the consequences of war in his play “Trojan women” where he presents the tragic fates of the Trojan women after the Trojan war. One example of where contemporary politics affected playwrights is Euripides’ “Hippolytus.” In this tragedy, the protagonist, Hippolytus, is cursed by Aphrodite for remaining chaste and not giving in to desire. She makes his stepmother Phaedra fall in love with him and when he finds out about this from her nurse, he gives a misogynistic speech condemning “women” in general. In response, Phaedra takes her own life. Before she dies, however, she writes a note accusing Hippolytus of attempting to seduce her. Upon reading this note, Theseus (the father of Hippolytus) orders the exile of his son who eventually dies. This injustice is explored in a scene between Hippolytus and Theseus, where Hippolytus attempts to prove his innocence. He gives a persuasive and dramatic speech, alluding to the style of Athenian trials, and Euripides reflects on the “Polis” by depicting the consequences of injustice. Even specific events, such as the siege of Melos, have been reflected in Greek Tragedy. Although modern classicists have begun to object to this notion, it has been widely believed that Euripides based his tragedy “Troades” on the savagery at Melos. Overall, the contemporary politics of Athens at the time had a significant impact on the creation of Greek Tragedy, as playwrights began to reflect upon the climate of war, and how important democracy was. Moreover, using relatable and well-known circumstances meant that tragedies could resonate and evoke emotion in the audience, and Dionysia soon became central to the politics of Athens.
Jemimah Allmand-Smith L6, Style
YOUNG ENTERPRISE
Business Studies Teacher Mrs Rigarlsford and Year 12 students discuss the learning experience and success of this year’s Young Enterprise Group. Giggleswick students have benefitted from participating in the Young Enterprise for several years now and are supported in this endeavour by Old Giggleswickians
Young Enterprise (YE) is a national charity set up to motivate young people to succeed in the changing world of work by equipping them with the skills, knowledge, confidence, and experience that they need. Each year, our year 12 students have the opportunity to participate in the YE company programme, giving them the chance to engage with over 482,000 young people and helping them to develop their business, financial, and entrepreneurial capabilities by setting up and running their own business. This year Giggleswick Students created Giggsaw, a Young Enterprise company that provides a range of jigsaws with beautiful images of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The jigsaws support mindfulness and wellbeing, which was particularly relevant as the company was formed during the Pandemic. The Giggsaws feature images of the school and of Malham Cove, which is nearby. They are
made of recyclable and sustainable materials sourced from local suppliers. The jigsaws are available in varied sizes and are accessible from age 3 upwards. The Giggsaw images are photos taken by staff and pupils, so also work to show off the photographic talents of this school. Facing the challenge of designing, producing, and selling their product, Giggsaw worked together brilliantly as a team by allocating roles including Managing Director, Finance Director, and Sales Director. They secured sales through online marketing, newsletters, and, at their first ever trade fair in Harrogate, face-to-face – which is where they developed the confidence to engage and sell to members of the public. As well as returning a healthy profit in their fledgling business, students benefitted in many other ways. All the students emphasised how much they enjoyed taking part in the programme and below they tell you a bit more about why they took part and how they found it useful. Emily Hutchinson, HR Manager said “I learnt the importance of working as a team and encouraging others. We took part successfully in the local inter-team competitions and developed our skills through workshops such as the presentations skills training before the ‘Dragons Den’ competition.” Jemimah Allmand-Smith, Design Manager said “I have learnt many new skills and together we had to overcome multiple challenges to produce this successful product. I enjoyed designing the company logo and found the interactive elements of the competition especially fun.” Harry Cook said “This year I was honoured to be Managing Director of the Giggleswick YE team. I can confidently say that as a team we have grown and developed massively. I am going to miss YE as it has helped me develop my leadership skills, and seeing the team grow and flourish has been really satisfying. Our product was a remarkable success, I certainly enjoyed doing my Giggsaw and I going to miss saying, ‘grab a piece of the countryside!’ Darcey Millsted said “As sales director I have learnt the importance of effective communication and negotiation between the team, suppliers and consumers. I have enjoyed every part of it including the trade fairs and the competitions we entered.” Mrs Rigarlsford, Business Studies Teacher said “The students taking part in this programme have significantly developed their skills because of the experience. Upon arrival at the first trade fair, they were shy in engaging with the public, but what a difference a day can make with confident engagement and polished sales techniques emerging as the day went on. The experience of working together as a team, writing company reports, negotiating with suppliers and designers, and delivering professional marketing and presentations has been invaluable to them. They have really grown in maturity and confidence because of their participation. It is fantastic to be able to offer such valuable opportunities to our Giggleswick Learners.”
CHEMISTRY OLYMPIADS
The chemistry Olympiad is designed to push and challenge the most able upper sixth students across the country. It focuses on difficult topics in application questions based on areas of chemistry you have never even heard of, never mind thought of before.
Applying your understanding to unfamiliar concepts requires problem solving and perseverance. With many of the pupils having covid around the date we took the exam, there was little time to prepare, if any, and so we were very pleased with the outcomes. Kian Schmidt and Martha Richmond achieved a silver award, and Zoe Lenka, Alison Fry and Emma Belshaw achieved a Bronze award. Many interesting and timely scientific contexts were covered in the 2022 paper. The first question was based on E10 petrol, a grade of petrol which contains up to 10% renewable ethanol (a biofuel). Retailers transferred their stocks to E10 petrol during the petrol shortage in October 2021, so this is a current topic. Other questions covered quantitative chemistry in lateral flow tests, and explored a technique which allows vaccines to be stored at room temperature. Students also answered questions about the world’s smallest Chinese knot, cubane and nitrous oxide. The Olympiad was a great experience, pushing your ability above A level and attempting a completely new style of examination. Chemistry covers so many aspects of modern life and so I enjoyed seeing the breadth of its importance.
Martha Richmond U6, Carr
2022 CAMBRIDGE LOWER 6TH CHEMISTRY CHALLENGE
We ended last term eagerly awaiting the results of the 2022 Cambridge Lower 6th Chemistry Challenge. We would like to congratulate all students who took part and are delighted that Eleanor Curtis, Alistair Styler and Jason Yang achieved a Silver award, and that Lily Coward and Vingo Fong achieved a Copper award.
The competition is designed to stretch the most able students and we are proud of how hard they worked and their passion and enthusiasm for chemistry.
WRITTEN ON THE HEART - A COMING TOGETHER OF ENGLISH AND BIOLOGY
Having taught The Heart and Circulation to Year 9s in Biology, Mr Burrows suggested a collaborative project to English Teacher Mrs San Jose.
Pupils write with the language and terminology learned in the science laboratory and blend it with figurative and emotional concepts and phrases relating to the topic of the heart and blood. All members of the class contributed their lines and words and then helped each other to edit and structure a long poem which they then performed in Chapel in front of an audience. The result is an original, powerful piece of creative writing with excellent sound and pace when recited.
WRITTEN ON THE HEART
It rages like fire; roars through the vena cava. Beaming, beating, bragging, boasting: Warm thick blood, red rushing river, Enters the atrium, comes to seek oxygen. Muscular, magnificent, the heart rules supreme.
Magical ventricle, biological ventricle, Sloshing, spilling, filling, flowing, My heart is like a drum, beating aggressively, beating faster, beating progressively; It beats like a drum, over and over again.
Bursting with pride. Heartfelt, hearty. Pulmonary artery. Heavy heart can’t be heard over loud hard beats and rattling strings. It tries to bellow through a snapping song. My heart is like a singing bird whistling and whistling.
Pulmonary artery? pulmonary vein? Cradled by capillaries: never love again. Captive to cupid, it beats in my body. Fill and flood with life’s rich blood. Follow your heart. I follow my veins.
Capillary-covered: creeping ivy on an oak. Secrets kept hidden, promises locked away. The ventricles trickle with sadness and hurt. My heart plays games, nurturing my pains. Brimming in the chamber, running through my veins.
Boiling blood rushes into right atrium. Gated valves open and it waterfalls through. A charging herd of rhinos pulses to the finish. Blood splits everywhere… Blood moves and flows . Blood comes and goes.
You made my life hard; now I have just half a heart. Once full with warmth and strength. Cut in half – it has fallen apart. You were my everything; now you are my enemy. I may never love again. I may never love again.
Cells surf and slide to the putty pink lungs. Warm thick blood travels the rugged landscape, Visiting the landmarks of the human form. The intertwining brain, the tall sky-scraping bones, Past the slimy long oesophagus. Oxygenated, energised, back into the atrium. My heart feels like a ton of bricks sinking to the river bed. The lungs give the blood so the heart can be the giver: Raging like a fire, beating like a drum. Rhythm of love or rhythm of loss, heart stays strong.
My heart is broken, you left me too soon. A gaping hole has opened in my empty heart. I wasn’t ready, but neither were you. My heart is more empty than the void of space. Why did you leave me?
My heart yearns for your return, but that is no more likely than a new planet entering our solar system. I will see you again. Not for a long time. I will see you again, one day.
It bleeds out life and explodes with love. It supplies my body with ambition and desire. It beats like a drum; it echoes like a cave, My heart strings are pulled in every which way. My heart is broken. You left me too soon.
Pumping, circulating, igniting, reviving, My heart is like a beatboxer, constantly working hard like an A and E doctor. The heart is a power-house, a busy house: Defibrillator jump start in a cardiac arrest.
Loud as a gun, the rhythm of a drum. My heart strings strum. I can’t even speak. My heart starts to leak as my eyes begin to weep. My heart is scarred. Exploding like a gun. Bleeding, longing, aching, waiting…
From head to toe; from arm to arm; Hand to heart; lungs to heart; Vena Cava circulating to aorta: Back again and round again, over and over, The power and the glory, for ever and ever, Until the oxygen stops and the fire is over.
