The Roar: Issue #5

MAGAZINE

THE ROAR

WINTER, 2022

ACS EGHAM

editor's note Hello again!

This is officially the fifth edition of ACS Egham’s newspaper! Carrying on the legacy of entertaining the ACS community, this edition will give you new perspectives, ideas, and enjoyment. The writers have worked hard to bring you a wide range of content and a few fun activities at the end, we hope that the Roar will continue onwards and upwards through this issue and everything that comes next! :) Thank you to the Roar team -- this issue would not have been possible without you!

A further special thank you to everyone who has helped design the issue and sent over exciting content!

We hope you enjoy the reading and our tribute to some very important members of the ACS community. If you have any inquiries about the contents of this issue or questions about the Roar in general, please feel free to contact one of us!

Happy holidays, ACS! See you next year!

- Daria, Ellyn, Veera, and Emily

Veera, Writer and Chief Editor Hello! I'm Veera. I love having very strong opinions on headphones with wires (they reign supreme), and having a chemical composition that is comprised of concerning amounts of oat-milk cappuccino. I’m qualified to do this because I apparently dress like your grandfather if he was also your English teacher ;-)

Daria, Writer and Chief Editor Hey everyone! My name is Daria and I am currently in 12th grade. I’ve been part of the newspaper for the past 4 years, usually writing articles about anything interesting.

Ellyn, Writer and Chief Editor Hi my name is Ellyn and I am currently in Grade 12, going through my fourth year at ACS. I’m a writer and editor for the Roar, and am interested in world issues, especially humanitarian crises which is something I love to write about as a way to raise global awareness.

Emily, Writer and Chief Editor Hi, my name is Emily and I'm in Grade 12. I joined ACS in January 2021, and I have previously lived in Switzerland, the US and Belgium. I'm very interested in politics, environmental issues, music and reading. When I'm not busy with school, I really enjoy knitting and crocheting.

Sreeja, Writer and Designer Hi! I’m Sreeja and I’m a writer for the Roar. I’m currently in 12th grade and this is my second year in ACS. I’ve lived in a bunch of places and now the UK. I've been promoted from just a lowly writer to designer for the ROAR, so you get the pleasure of reading the articles I wrote and appreciating the aesthetics of this magazine :)

Camilla, Writer Hi! I am a writer for the Roar and I absolutely love it. It gives me the opportunity to write about all sorts of things such as mental health, a book I may be obsessed with, and the possibility of ‘nanopsychiatry’ in the future. Time in which I do not use to focus on the IB or stress about the IB is dedicated to making my own jewellery and customising clothes.

Mags, Writer The average stem student. A passion for a painful subject, no grasp on English, and a concerning caffeine addiction.

I haven’t slept in 3 years and am the only person who enjoys reading about math

Jai, Writer Hello! I’m Jai, this is my second year writing articles for the roar. I am a 10th grade student. I have been going to ACS since I was in grade one, or 2013. Prior to living here, I lived in Singapore although to be honest I don't really remember it too well. I'm interested in a range of topics and would write about anything that interests me, my main interests being Physics, Chess and historical topics.

Sofia, Writer Hi! I’m Sofia and I’m a writer for the Roar. I am a Grade 11 student and have been at ACS Egham for 6 years. Before England, I lived in Miami and am still not used to the British weather. When I’m not writing for the Roar, you can find me reading a good book. Or procrastinating. Often by reading.

Lucy, Writer Hi! I’m Lucy. I am a Grade 11 student and this is my third year at ACS Egham. I am from England and Germany but have spent my life living around Europe. I love sports and spend most of my time advocating for equality in sports, particularly football and motorsport.

Spyros, Writer Hi, I'm Spyros. This is technically my second year of writing articles for the Roar. I have been an ACS student since 5th Grade. My main interests are engineering and space.

Octavio, Writer Hi, I’m Octavio. This is my first year of writing for the Roar. I have been an ACS student since 11th grade. I love playing sports.

WORLD AFFAIRS

THE TALIBAN'S CURSE

Written by Ellyn Leblay

ON AFGANISTAN AND CRUSHING INFLUENCE ON WOMEN

Afghanistan has long been a site of devastating

conflict,

chaos,

and

egregious loss of life. Since the American military intervention in October of 2001, in what the US called a response to dismantle the terrorist group known as al Quaeda and an imperative measure against the global threat of terrorism, it has been ravaged by violence and grief.

Following the 13 year war in Afghanistan which placed immense pressure and pain onto the generations of the Afghan population

caught

in

the

crossfire

between US military and illegal militia and terrorist group conflict, the Taliban officially took over the government in spring of 2021.

After a challenging year heading the nation,

the

Taliban’s

control

has

degraded the already devastated state of the nation and suffocated the liberty and hope of the population, already limited in a disruptive and merciless setting, as reported by the United Nations and the numerous NGOs trying to alleviate the pain of civilians. The main issue arises from

struggles

in

transition

from

insurgency to governance, which has promoted

one

of

the

world’s

pressing humanitarian crises.

most

The US led intervention in 2001, following the

THE TALIBAN'S

inimaginable

and

horrific

events

of

09/11,

introduced a brutal military offensive versus the regime. This permitted their fall from governance

CURSE ON

and introduced a short period of peace and freedom unheard of by the population since the

AFGANISTAN

1930s. However, the consequential effects of the military

intervention

were

the

reopening

of

previous wounds; the ones that triggered civil war in the 1970s. Taking advantage of the mounting With ever worsening of living conditions and access

instability,

to services, the population has been drained of its

themselves into a capable guerilla insurgency

vivacity and perseverance despite withstanding

group, allowing violence to persist until August

more than a decade of war. Historically, Afghanistan

2021,

has long been recognised as a beacon of instability

Afghanistan

and insurgency in the Middle East. Led by a

engagement in combat.

monarchy with a conflicted response from the

The disruptions caused by such a brutal and

population through the 1900s, the country was

unforgiving history of conflict have scarred the

unable to modernise and adapt to the requirements

Afghan population and rendered the possibility of a

of developing society, and approach a balanced shift

better future distant, especially with the Taliban’s

towards socio economic proficiency reached by

returned rule.

the

the

Taliban

moment and

of

ended

movement

US the

forged

departure US’s

from

longest

nations around the world. While the communists overthrew the regime of Daoud Khan, a successor of

From

the former king in the Saur Revolution of 1978, they

economy has never been able to strengthen itself,

only profited from a small base of popular support.

maximise use of resources, or modernise to reach

The Soviet invasion of 1979, a military intervention

the demands of today's context. With obsolete

veiled under the diplomatic reasoning of dealing

industry, outdated agricultural approaches, and

with ‘threats of internal aggression’, was successful

lack of government investment into essential

but fomented further societal tensions and conflicts.

infrastructure, the population became dependent

Religious leaders and tribe chiefs were the primary

on poppy cultivation for income. An incredibly

forces behind a mounting insurgency, especially

dangerous profession, not only damaging to the

following

imposed

reforms

emerging

from

war,

the

and

economy and preventing it from contributing to national and societal growth, its nefarious influence

modern industrialization to Afghanistan and allowed

has destroyed the lives of millions of civilians, with

for an exploitation of Afghan resources in a

the Human Rights Watch Organization unable to

beneficial economic manner, the cost came at a

keep track of its true reach. Today, the country has

decade of bloodshed and the arisement of the

endured a deepening and increasingly deadly

Mujahideen,

as

humanitarian crisis. Acute malnutrition is spiking

religious warriors and obtaining support from the

across the country and 95% of households have

United States. Unfortunately, the USSR’s departure in

been experiencing deadly food insecurity in a

1989 did not disrupt the relentless fighting occurring

sustained manner. At least 55 %of the population is

as the Mujahideen; now without a common enemy,

“expected to be in crisis or emergency levels of food

turned to fight each other amongst factions. These

insecurity” through March 2022, according to the

events created the conditions from which the

United Nations. Afghan children are starving to

Taliban emerged in the early 1990s, and whose

death nearly every day. Despite the warnings of

influence was quick to taint Afghan society with

humanitarian

sanguine violence. Through vanquishing opposing

about the sheer scale of the crisis and its potential

factions and tribes, they slowly gained control

for developing into an atrocious and irreversible

through the establishment of a harsh and repressive

situation, nations continue to ignore the echoing

regime of control, which has perpetually been

pleas for help emitted by the suffering people.

fighters

education

anarchy

marriage reforms. Despite the Soviet’s ability to bring

resistance

on

the

identifying

questioned by the UN's Human Rights Council.

organisations

around

the

world

In addition to these heart wrenching hardships no living being should have to experience, the circumstances exacerbated the sinister burden carried by women and girls in Afghanistan. With the Taliban's severe and authoritative regime, women and girls are now facing greater obstacles to obtaining food, health care, and financial resources. Taliban policies that have banned

THE TALIBAN'S CURSE ON AFGANISTAN

women from most paid jobs have had a swift and devastating impact on households in which women were the sole or main earners. Similarly,

. These individuals deserve more, more than they

they have slowly yet unforgivably been removing

have experienced through a scarring past; they

their hard earned freedom and basic civil rights,

deserve hope for a future in which they remain

such as access to education and enforced the

liberated from oppression and can rise into a

rigorous religious standards and moral obligations

promising and developing nation. To live in a

upon them. In an attempt to remain hidden while

world where such circumstances prevail and in

doing so and to prevent any future chances of

which little effort is made to address them is both

bettering female rights, the Taliban has closed the

cruel and inhumane, which is why taking action

vast majority of girls’ secondary schools, causing

must become a priority, in an attempt to address

an immense gap in the education system and

the worsening humanitarian crisis of Afghanistan.

destroying decades of efforts made by women.

This and escalating poverty have heightened the risk of child marriage. Humanitarian groups and the media have reported families selling girls – ostensibly for marriage – out of desperation to obtain food or repay debts.

Their

liberties

have

become

so

extensively

restricted, in ways such as but not limited to; the ‘laws’ that they may travel only with a male chaperone, cover themselves in public, and be subject to religious and societal reeducation on ‘what it means to be a women’ within society and the appropriate ways in which they are permitted to embody that.

The people of Afghanistan have suffered and continue to suffer while living under abysmal conditions and restricted freedoms that make a mockery of the basic tenets of humanity. This cannot go on. The needs of Afghanistan must be addressed by the international community and aid organisations, in ways such as the promotion of investment in infrastructure and direct address concerning the infringement on liberties imposed.

ISSUE 5

WORLD POLITICS

THE ROAR

HOW DID THE LIQUIDATORS SAVE EUROPE? WRITTEN BY SPYRIDON DRAKOPOULOS

The Chernobyl accident was what some considered to be the

Among the 700,000 men who contributed to the liquidation of

largest catastrophe of the late 20th century. On April 26th 1986, a

Chernobyl’s nuclear reactor, three of the plant’s workers offered

nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine had a major failure

to help with overcoming an issue that arose shortly after the first

during a maintenance test scheduled to test the turbine system.

explosion. After the first explosion of the reactor, nuclear

During the test, the power exerted by the reactor increased

scientists quickly discovered that water was still stored inside the

rapidly from its previous low-power state. As a result of the

plant to act as a coolant. Due to the reactor’s fire burning at

energy spike, the water used for producing steam boiled too fast,

incredibly high temperatures, the water could easily start boiling

causing a steam explosion that blew the roof of the reactor. In

- causing a second larger explosion. Scientists were more worried

the process of the explosion, graphite from the reactor’s cores

about this potential second explosion than the consequences of

ignited causing graphite fire. This released toxic radioactive

the first one. This is because if all of the water was to be used up

substances into the atmosphere along with launching highly

in another steam explosion, the other 3 nuclear reactors' caps

radioactive graphite around the site of the accident. 31 people

could also be blown off. This new explosion would destroy the

were killed at the time of the accident, but due to the radiation

town of Chernobyl and it would damage the city of Kiev. Most

spewed from the reactor, thousands more died of cancer related

significantly, the radiation consequences of the second explosion

deaths.

could make all of western and eastern Europe uninhabitable for thousands of years.

Days after the USSR confirmed the explosion, officials began asking for workers from different departments to conscript to help reduce the impact of the catastrophe. 700,000 men were ultimately conscripted into the Chernobyl area - the majority of which were firefighters, miners and soldiers. These workers were demanded to liquidate the released radiation from the Nuclear reactor’s core and were later known as the “Liquidators”. The term “liquidator” is used to describe the workers who entered contaminated areas in Chernobyl with the objective of blotting down and reducing the consequences of the explosion.

HOW DID THE LIQUIDATORS SAVE EUROPE? Along with the liquidators that emptied the water reservoirs, around one thousand other liquidators were asked to remove the contaminated graphite from the roofs of the Chernobyl Reactor. The graphite launched onto the roofs posed a threat to the reactor and the environment due to the material burning for a long time, while releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere. The graphite burning for so long posed a threat to the reactor cooling since it could kickstart the burning of the reactor once it cooled down. These graphite cleaning liquidators were sent to clean all three reactor roofs, with some of the roofs reaching radiation levels of almost 20,000 roentgens/hour. Due to high levels of radiation, electronic mechanisms were incapable of operating for too long on the surfaces of the roofs, forcing the entire procedure to be done by human hand. This cleaning procedure was done by sending subsets of Liquidators to the roof tops for a few minutes or less, using shovels to collect and throw the graphite into the reactor’s pit that was to be closed off with cement.

By the end of the cleaning process of Chernobyl, 350,000 of the liquidators that participated were tested to have received an average of 100 millisieverts of radiation. This is equal to going through around 1000 chest x-rays and is five times the maximum dose permitted for workers in nuclear facilities. Despite there being uniforms which could have reduced the dosage of radiation at the time of the accident, the Soviet Union could not afford to supply all of the liquidators with such equipment. As a result, some workers were forced to wear regular leather aprons with a lead sheet just 2-4 mm in thickness over their cotton clothing. Years after the catastrophe, it became difficult to monitor the health issues faced by liquidators, but one advocacy group, the Chernobyl Union, believes that 90,000 of the surviving 200,000 liquidators are facing major long term health problems.

ENTERTAINMENT

ISSUE 5

THE ROAR

entertainment reviews BOOKS, SHOWS, MOVIES

! THESE ARE ALL OPINIONS !

Set in Gorizia, a small town near the Italian-Austrian border, a farewell to arms follows Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American-born Italian soldier.

While working with the Italian ambulance service during World War I , Henry meets an English nurse Catherine Barkley. Over a period of time, their relationship was purely professional, however when Henry was brought in with a deep injury one day, their relationship blossomed into something greater. Throughout the book Hemingway provided a realistic and unromanticized account of war, specifically in the years 1916-18.

Although this book is an easy read, some ideas are abstract and hard to take a grasp on. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to everyone who is into historically-based novels as a lot of details and events that are mentioned in this novel are true.

AUTHOR: ERNEST HEMINGWAY GENRE: LITERARY FICTION STORY AGE RECOMMENDATION: 12+

A dystopian novel that focuses on Guy Montag who is a firefighter. His job is to find and burn books as the government that rules over the people is anti-information. The people are surrounded by propaganda, however Mr. Montag comes into possession of a book. Seeing the wrong in what he is doing he flees as he is hunted. He just escapes as the bombs drop and the job to rebuild falls to those like him. The book is reasonably short and sweet. It's a more subtle and far better execution of the all controlling government that 1984 tries to portray.

AUTHOR:RAY BRADBURY GENRE: LITERARY FICTION STORY AGE RECOMMENDATION: 12+

A heart-wrenching depiction of events from the perspective of Elie as a Jewish teenager living in Hungary, ‘Night’ recounts the autobiographical story of his deportation to the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War. With a plentiful childhood in which he pursued higher education and a devotion to Jewish Orthodox teachings, he soon fell victim to abuse from the Nazis during the 1940s occupation.After deportation, his experiences in the camp succumbing to darkness while caring for his father provide shattering insight into an obscure window of humanity. This book is must-read for all, bringing readers along on an emotional journey that emphasises the hardships of the past and the unbearable burden of those subjected to it. It permits the sharing of an unforgettable story through literary mastery from the author.

AUTHOR:ELIE WIESEL GENRE: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL FICTION AGE RECOMMENDATION: 13+

ISSUE 5

THE ROAR

entertainment reviews BOOKS, SHOWS, MOVIES

! THESE ARE ALL OPINIONS !

This show is the epitome of television as an art. With only 2 seasons and 8 episodes each, it takes you on a rollercoaster of the protagonist's life, Fleabag. Phoebe Waller Bridge beautifully plays the unnamed, deeply flawed character whose every decision is the wrong one. Despite her very obvious character flaws, you root for her. Whether it’s because she’s incredibly funny (and you have a crush on her) or you sympathise with her due to her inability to cope with her mother and best friend’s recent death.

We see her spiral in season 1 and dig her way out of the ashes in season 2, with the arrival of the Hot Priest. If season 1 didn’t make you cry, season 2 will. After watching it, there was a gaping abyss in my heart that was left by Fleabag. I wanted more episodes but I knew the beauty of the art was the limit of it. At the end, the show is a story of broken people finding the strength to rebuild who they are to a semblance of who they want to be.

GENRE: COMEDY AGE RECOMMENDATION: 15+ Glee is a musical comedy following the lives and stories of the members of a high-school choir club.

Glee is probably one of my all-time favourite shows, purely due to the character of Sue Slyvester. I would highly recommend the first 3 seasons of the show only for Sue Sylvester content. I would not recommend watching the show after season 3. It goes severely downhill. Even if you’re not a huge fan of musicals, I would still recommend watching it for a quick laugh at some of the ridiculous things that occur every episode.

GENRE: MUSIC/DRAMA/COMEDY AGE RECOMMENDATION: 14+

This is the best movie I’ve seen in my entire life.

Watch it.

GENRE: ROMANCE/MELODRAMA/COMEDY AGE RECOMMENDATION: PG-13

Written by Sophia Prudencio Over the years, dystopia has slowly transcended the bounds of genre and evolved into its own form of art. Whether it's the towering wave of young adult dystopias such as The Hunger Games that catapulted to pop-culture royalty in the early 2000s and 2010s, or older classics such as Fahrenheit 451 that have captured and perturbed the imaginations of generations, one thing has always been clear: these are worlds of fiction. They’re made up. Impossible. But are they really?

To start, it’s always important to have context. So what exactly is a dystopian novel?

Dystopia, especially in the world of novels, is an imagined, futuristic world in which conditions for the general population are less than optimal. This is quite a loose term as dystopia can encompass everything from an oppressive and totalitarian government, to a world that has been obliterated within an inch of its life. Suffering and injustice is also a common theme. It’s a bit of a ‘worst-case-scenario’ future– the direct opposite of a Utopia, in which everything is pristine, which frankly, seems more farfetched.

Sounds horrible, right? No one would willingly read about human suffering, would they? Well, they would.

And they do. So why is it that these stories so heavily capture our attention? It could be because they’re a way to escape the horrors of our own world. Now, at first thought this might seem like a drastic exaggeration. We don’t live in a dystopia, so how could we relate to one? But a closer look at the tropes shows our world may have more in common with these works of fiction than one might think.

Here are a few ways famous dystopian novels continue to parallel our everyday lives.

Orwell’s 1984 has long served as a warning for the dangers of digital surveillance. His predicted date of the mid-eighties may have been premature by a few decades, but in the twenty-first century, it is clearly a reality.

Being told that everything we say or do is on the internet forever is a horse that has been beaten into oblivion. But despite our near desensitisation to the sentiment, it’s true. And it’s not just what we say or do that the internet has access to. Everything from your address to your phone number to your criminal record can be found with the click of a button. Even browser data has become a commodity, bought and sold to third parties, something even Orwell couldn’t conceive of in his novel.

In the digital age, nothing is entirely private and every click is meticulously tracked. We are living the Orwellian nightmare.

Looking for a present-day comparison to Ray Bradubury’s Fahrenheit 451? Look no further than our world’s long history of burning books. In fact, Fahrenheit is already deeply rooted in real-world events, with Bradbury taking major inspiration from the Nazi Book Burnings of the 30s and 40s. Don’t let the date fool you– book burnings are far from a thing of the past. A quick scroll through Wikipedia will show over twenty documented cases of noteworthy mass burnings in the 21st century. Key word: noteworthy. This doesn’t even begin to account for the countless other cases that aren’t recorded. A book doesn’t even need to be burned for Bradbury’s commentary on censorship to relate to the modern world. Censorship takes many forms, not all of which consist of pitching a book into a raging pit of fire.

Last year, in the USA alone, around 2,000 books were challenged across school districts– in other words, there was an attempt to ban them. Although these challenges may not have all been successful, censorship finds its way into our lives regardless. It’s in just about every piece of media we consume, even down to history books used in schools which selectively choose which parts to show and which to not. Perhaps Bradbury’s vision wasn’t too far off from our own reality.

With two novels, a TV series, and a graphic novel, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has earned the right to call itself a modern-age classic. But the story borders dangerously close on the line between fiction and reality.

The recent overturning of Roe v Wade in the United States of America has made it clear that a person’s autonomy over their own body is no longer guaranteed. The decision of what someone can do with their own body has fallen into the hands of those in power, instead of remaining in the hands of those whose decision it is to make. In the USA, a country that prides itself on freedom and liberty, this overturning represents the exact opposite.

And that’s not to mention the countless other countries where reproductive rights are limited if not non-existent, and the thousands of lives that are lost every year and will continue to be lost because of unsafe abortions and high-risk pregnancies.

Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games has fascinated readers for almost 15 years and is often considered the king of Young Adult dystopia. Readers can’t help but fall in love with the ruthless and bloody story, which makes it all the more concerning that parallels can be drawn between the franchise and our modern day world. We may not have yet reached a stage where governments are sending children out to kill each other for people’s entertainment, but just as in Collins’s imagined futuristic America, the lives of the marginalised continue to be exploited. They become nothing but a passing fancy, a story on the news it's easier to scroll past than to read. People around the world are suffering yet we do nothing as it is not directly influencing our lives.

As for authoritarian governments, no explanation of the parallel is even needed. This is perhaps the least fictional aspect of the entire franchise.

Dystopian novels should be seen not only as a form of entertainment, but as cautionary tales– warnings.

They may be extremes, but even extremes have to start somewhere.

So the next time you pick up a shiny new dystopian novel and flip through its pages in hope of escapism, take a minute to think just how far you really are escaping. Dystopia may be closer than we expect.

SCHOOL NEWS

4TH OCTOBER, 2022 October 4th, ACS International schools teamed up with various STEAM (Science Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) related organisations to inspire a younger generation in the various disciplines. Organisations such as Mercedes F1, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the RAF, presented stalls that were targeted to inspire and create an interest in a particular field. To do so, thorpe park was reserved for the day, various organisations were invited to create stalls and provide experts in the given field such that students could ask questions regarding their areas of interests to a professional working in that field. Thorpe park was used to engage the students, and by going to the stalls you could collect stamps, 5 stamps gave a student access to a ride. In the weeks leading up to the event in our classes we were given the opportunity to obtain stamps to gain access to rides in advance.

Grade 10s were selected to help around the park. Before the day of the event, we were allocated different areas where we were to work for periods of 45m to an hour, at different times. After that hour was up we were free to wander around the park in groups of threes. Different places were selected to help out by organising this music show, making sure the classes that had booked it were given priority and that each child received stamps for visiting the stall. This was mostly primary school students thus they were going around in classes.

The teachers booked the show beforehand and our job was to guide them as to where to sit, where to exit, and stamp the card. Another place students had to help out was running the social media coverage of the event, this is Instagram, primarily.

At this stall students were tasked with organising and taking photos of the event. After grade 10 students were done with their job, we received stamps and were allowed to go on rides.

student council

This year was a time of new beginnings for many communities at ACS Egham. This includes our very own Student Council, which went through its first system reform in years. After a series of campaigns and elections, the 2022-2023 school year High School Student Council was formed with the primary goal of representing the Student Body at Egham.

Teaming up with the Middle School Council, we were able to host a successful first Spirit Week of the year. It was lovely to see so many people dressing up and taking part in a week of Halloween fun, and a collective realisation that there was nothing stopping us from wearing pyjamas every day of the year. We even had teachers and staff join us in dressing up for the different themed days. Seeing teachers and students twinned up showed real school spirit, which is exactly what we are trying to highlight.

A special thank you to our yearbook photographers for capturing the whole event.

We’ve also revamped our website and instagram to make sure that we are a clear and accessible point of contact for everyone at the school.

In the coming months, we hope to expand on the work we’ve begun. Although it has taken time for everyone to settle into the new school year, the following semester looks very promising.

Currently, we are working on reforming the House System and making participation more inclusive independent of one’s skills and strengths. This will be done with significant student input to make sure the House System is a true representation of what students desire.

The next semester has much in store for High School. Fundraisers, events, and presentations are all currently in the works and we hope to have them out as soon as possible. As always, we welcome your ideas and suggestions.

From all of us in the Student Council, we wish everyone safe travels and a relaxing three weeks off. We can’t wait to see you all in the new year.

ISSUE 5 - THE ROAR

ROYAL RUSSEL - MUN

15TH OCTOBER, 2022

MUN or Model United Nations is a club that takes place every Monday during lunchtime, open to High School students from grades 9-12. The club debates modern topics and issues from around the globe as the United Nations, taking up positions as representatives (delegates) from various member states (countries). Over the weekend starting October 15th, and Monday and Tuesday that week, a group of grade 9 and 10 students went to the Annual Royal Russell MUN Conference in Croydon, and participated as delegates and chairs (debate moderators). The conference was organised into various different United Nations committees, students were allocated committees and countries they had to represent and debate as. Something to note is in MUN, is that you adopt the stance of your country regardless of your own political views. Overall The experience was a positive one and below you will read interviews with first timers along with experienced individuals who went on the trip.

EXPERIENCE OF A DELEGATE JAI GUPTA This was my second year attending the Royal Russel conference. As such, I was more comfortable and prepared for the conference overall. This time around, I was the ambassador of the Chinese delegation, an ambassador is the leader of a particular delegation. ACS were assigned three delegations: China, Costa Rica and Belarus, meaning all the delegates (representatives) of these countries were ACS Egham Students.

I was on the Security Council committee, security council in the United Nations is a unique committee that handles matters of global security and urgency, the council holds more power than other committees, with the ability to call upon the UN peacekeeping force, which is a force controlled by the UN that can be called in to maintain peace, and halt conflict. Additionally, the UNSC (United Nations Security Council), has 16 total members, 5 of these members are permanent members of the security council and the other 11 are constantly rotating throughout member states. he 5 permanent members of the UNSC are Russia, China, France, UK and the USA, as these were the most prominent and powerful countries in the aftermath of world war 2, and thus when the UN charter was signed in 1945 were declared permanent members of the UNSC. Permanent members have special privileges within the security council allowing them to veto clauses within a resolution. A resolution is a document from one or more countries that provides a solution or a way to tackle the particular topic or issue, and it is what gets debated over. The 5 permanent members have the power to effectively strike the entire resolution or demand changes to be made to it, no other country other than those 5 have that power. Due to the complexity of the Security Council in comparison to other committees, most of the delegates within it were heavily experienced. Overall, I found the environment within the committee to be very professional and debating with other heavily experienced delegates allowed me to develop my skills as well.

What a way to start the year….

Since September, our Jaguars have been ‘aiming high and making it happen’, locally, nationally and internationally. With a ‘transformational’ focus to our coaching, we measure success through development and progress but, almost paradoxically, our teams have achieved some terrific results.

Our Middle School teams performed brilliantly throughout the London Schools Sports Association (LSSA) season, topping this off with stellar performances at the LSSA Endof Season Jamborees. No positions are awarded at these events, which are seen as a celebration of sport - but our Jaguars certainly had much to celebrate. Likewise, our High School teams achieved great success throughout the regular LSSA season, with our teams achieving the following positions in their respective End-of-Season Tournaments.

JV BOYS FOOTBALL 2ND/5 JJV BOYS FOOTBALL 3RD/4 JV BOYS VOLLEYBALL 2ND/5 JV GIRLS VOLLEYBALL 7TH/10 JV CROSS COUNTRY - SOME GREAT INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES Our Varsity teams travelled to Europe for their end of season International School Athletics Association (ISAA) tournaments. ACS Egham is the smallest school in this league, in terms of school population, so it is evident that our Jaguars are punching way above their weight. Boys Football, Girls Football and Girls Volleyball teams all qualify for Division 1 status next year, when tournaments are likely to be split into two divisions.

BOYS FOOTBALL 4TH/13 (GENEVA) GIRLS VOLLEYBALL 4TH/14 (EINDHOVEN) CROSS COUNTRY 6TH/11 (VIENNA) GIRLS FOOTBALL 9TH/16 (EINDHOVEN) BOYS VOLLEYBALL 8TH/10 (THE HAGUE)

GO JAGUARS!

Particular individual ISAA highlights: Nazari Olniek 1st and Julian Malta-Bey 2nd in JV Boys Cross country 1st place overall for JV Boys and Mixed Relay Cross Country teams Kristian Shevchenko - Player of Tournament Boys Football Tournament MVP selections: Alistair Bealer (Boys Football GK), Haydn Valley (Boys Football) Millie O’Brien (Girls Football), Lauren Chan (Girls Volleyball), Matthew Williams(Boys Volleyball).

As always a huge thank you to: Our amazing Jaguar athletes, each of whom proved great ambassadors of our school in every respect, their caring, passionate and supportive parents & our terrific coaching team of: Sophie Mazaz, Derek Wiggins, Vicky Williams, Geoff Mitchell, Shahnaz Malik, Gema Quintanilla, Ady Milne, Ben Sawyer, Toby Sheppard, Jordan Jermaine, Tyler Caton, Bob Pickens, Olafs Matjusenoks, Javier Bello, Matthew Williams, Tommy Paolucci, Max O’Brie. And our ISAA chaperones: Chatal Malta-Bey, Seremia Yavouli, Zhivko Tonchev Watch this space for further adventures with the start of our Winter Season.

CULTURE

THE EPITOME OF CAPITALISTIC GREED SREEJA ROY Smoking kills. The phrase is printed on almost every single cigarette box and anti-smoking campaign. The harmful effects of smoking is a well known fact in this day and age, with it being almost synonymous with the grim prospect of cancer. However, in the early 20th century, where safety regulations remained mere suggestions, almost half the population of the industrial world smoked, oblivious to the pernicious effects of the little sticks they held in their hand.

Unlike the unfortunate victims in this story, tobacco companies were well aware of the risk that smoking posed to people. They actively censored studies that showed the causal link between smoking and cancer, spread rampant misinformation which encouraged people to smoke and won lawsuits by blaming their consumers to have “known better”. There is perhaps no better example of companies prioritising profit over people than the existence of tobacco companies in the 1960’s.

In the glorious times of the 1950’s where smoking was the social norm, Ernest Wynder and Evarts Graham published their study titled "Tobacco Smoking as a Possible Etiologic Factor in Bronchogenic Carcinoma: A Study of Six Hundred and Eighty-Four [684] Proved Cases" in the New York Times, Reader's Digest and Life.

It concluded that lung cancer was more common in long term smokers compared to non smokers and set the foundation for proving the link between smoking and cancer. However, rather than the public outrage the two scientists prepared for, the reaction was underwhelming with scientific and medical sectors casting doubt on their findings, characterising the study as ‘controversial’. This response should have come as no surprise given the debilitating smoking addiction everyone had developed, nursed by their mothers from childhood and rendered a social accessory during adulthood, and the denial of sin is always better than acceptance. Furthermore, Graham, a co-author of that paper, an avid smoker and great pulmonary surgeon who operated on dozens of lung cancers every week required strenuous convincing from Wynder to recognise the connection between smoking and cancer. However, it wasn’t until four years later that smoking was established as a direct link to lung cancer.

Wynder published another paper titled “Tobacco as a Cause of Lung Cancer” and Richard Doll and Bradford Hill published a study which demonstrated that the risk of cancer was directly related to the number of cigarettes smoked per day.

One would think after all this, the public would acknowledge the fatal effects of smoking on their health, and tobacco companies would be hit with resounding losses. Finally, the day had come where tobacco companies would understand the impact of their product and decide that millions of human lives were more valuable than profit.

Ha! In a capitalist society? Never. Rather than admitting fault, tobacco companies spiralled down a path of bitter denial, and went on to convincing consumers that tobacco was in fact good for their health and professional scientists were nothing but people in debt playing dress up with coats. In 1953, the American Tobacco industry created The Tobacco Industry Research Committee in response to claims of tobacco smoking being linked to lung cancer and heart disease. In 1954, they released the infamous “A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers”. In this two page advertisement, which reached 43 million people, they adopted a technique known as social engineering. Instead of denying the health risks they simply stated that the results were not “conclusively known”. The statement went as far as saying that the Tobacco Industry Research Committee would utilise researchers of “unimpeachable integrity and national reput” to investigate the “possible” negative effects of tobacco. However, this research committee was far removed from its crystalline reputation as it actively worked to develop and disseminate false research that adamantly avoided that smoking was linked to health complications.

The committee employed sceptics of this research who were scientists themselves (and smokers) to debate the claims that smoking was linked to severe health complications. They became so reputable that they even gained academic support and received grants for their maliciously falsified research. However, they didn’t stop there, they created the “Tobacco Institute” to lobby the government, and disseminate information and print news related to the Tobacco Industry Research Committee’s ‘findings’. This institute was funded by 12 companies and had an estimated budget of $20 million, used for lobbying Congress to avoid regulations and distribute propaganda. They supported Congress members through their PAC and argued that the tobacco industry was a vital aspect of the US’s economy, up to the 1970’s. With capitalism being the foundations of American democracy. It’s always for the people until money is on the table.

Then the famous Surgeon General’s Report of 1964 was published. On a Saturday morning, the then Surgeon General Luther Terry made the bold announcement to a roomful of reporters that ‘cigarette smoking causes lung cancer and the government should do something about it’. The effect was monumental. The ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) was created with the founder John Banzhaf demanding to be given ‘free time for anti-smoking messages’ on TV stations. From 1967 to 1970, anti-smoking ads received around £75 million in free advertising, and while this seems like a lot, it pales in comparison to the £1 billion tobacco companies spent on advertising and propaganda alone. However, tobacco companies were not going to suddenly develop empathy, instead they asked Congress in 1969 to remove all tobacco ads from TV and Radio, effectively shutting down anti-smoking campaigns.

But people were still fighting. In the same year, Congress passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, which prohibited cigarette advertising on television and radio, as well as requiring each cigarette package to contain the label “Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Health”.

Along with this, lawsuits against Tobacco Companies started trickling in, with consumers accusing them of negligent manufacture and product liability. Where tobacco companies failed to act with reasonable care in making and marketing cigarettes and marketed a product that was unreasonably dangerous or came with inadequate warnings. The dystopianness of it all really kicks in as tobacco companies won all their early lawsuits.

Vehemently refusing to settle, refusing to acknowledge the harm they were causing, refusing to take any consequences. Because why would they value people over profit? Then came one of the most important lawsuits of the 1980’s, Cipollone vs.

Liggett.

Cipollone accused Liggett of knowingly selling a product that killed his wife and originally had won the case being awarded $400,000. But justice is a false narrative and the action was reversed. However, it was the first time someone had come close to winning against a major tobacco corporation and led to several actual wins in the decade following. In 1994, Mississippi, the state sued the tobacco industry, seeking reimbursement for the cost of medical programs, including Medicaid, that support victims of smoking-related illness.

After three arduous years, the state came back victorious. In the people vs corporations fight, the people had finally won. Following suit, 45 US states, the District of Columbia and 5 US territories transformed tobacco control, in the largest civil litigation settlement in US history. They came back with the Master Settlement, where four of the major tobacco companies agreed to pay $206 billion for their damage, and they will continue to pay this until 2025. Along with a large payout, tobacco companies had to disband the Tobacco Institute and create an association which actively prevented people from smoking.

Just when tobacco companies thought they were done, the Justice Department of the US filed a lawsuit against Big Tobacco arguing that tobacco companies deceived consumers. Six years later the American Cancer Society joined and in 2006, Judge Gladys Kessler ruled in the plaintiff's favour, marking a historical win for all victims of smoking.

Finally, more than 50 years later, Big Tobacco admitted to their lie. They are forced to place large warnings of the life threatening dangers of smoking on their products, websites and advertisements. Smoking has drastically decreased from the 1950’s with the percentage of Americans who smoked decreased from 42% in 1964, to 12.5% in 2020. However smoking still causes hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths every year, with the addiction of nicotine being stronger than any advertisement campaign. But one can hope.

Toxicity of the dance community Written by Lucy Schroeder Dance is one of the most cut-throat sports in the world.

Many dancers will begin their dance lives at ages as young as two, with anyone beginning dance at even eight being seen as an anomaly. Even within the variety of choice in terms of dance styles the common themes of the dance community, unfortunately, stay the same.

Dance is world renowned for many negative reasons, most prominently the mistreatment of young dancers.

Eating disorders, body dysmorphia, depression, sleep deprivation, and discrimination are all standard practice within the dance world. Due to the rigid nature of the dance industry, in most cases these issues aren’t being rectified - simply because they are so ingrained into the norms of the community.

If you ask most young dancers what they strive for, they will most likely respond with a single word: perfection.

Whether this be perfection in their movements, their memory, or their appearance. Perfection is not seen as something abstract or unobtainable, it is seen as a natural destination if you are worthy of such a result.

Anything less than perfection is viewed as a failure.

However, in actual fact, the vast majority of these ‘standards’ are impossible to obtain.

As mentioned previously, dancers are taught from a young age to regard dance as their life. Therefore, children are being encouraged to watch what they eat and become almost obsessed with any ‘imperfections’ they may have. In addition to this, role models within the dance industry often, from an outsider's perspective, meet these standards for perfection. This leads to talented but impressionable dancers being raised to idolise unrealistic and unattainable standards which has detrimental effects on the mental health of dancers across all styles. Studies such as Antonio Leandro Nascimento, et al. have shown that body dysmorphia and related eating disorders are more prevalent in dancers than in the wider population.

As previously mentioned, the dance community is composed of mainly young people. This is due to the constant churn of older dancers not being able to uphold their high quality. This means that dancers will often be going through some form of education at the same time as their dance training. Teen Vogue has done a series of two vlogs following a young ballet dancer attempting to balance school, dance, and friendships.

The key takeaway from videos such as these is that dance is her life, much like it is for countless others.

Sleep deprivation is common amongst dancers due to the lengthy travel days to reach dance classes, regular school workloads, and the dance classes themselves.

Passions and relationships outside of dance are seen as irrelevant and fundamentally a distraction from excelling. As a result of these countless sacrifices, satisfaction is something which is never achieved by dancers. They continue to push themselves far beyond a normal human’s limits and strive for unlikely goals.

Gender discrimination is also a major element contributing to the toxic atmosphere of the dance community. Society has been wired to regard dance as a ‘feminine’ sport. By extension, any male who does dance is seen as less masculine. This leads to an evident lack of male dancers within the industry simply because of unfounded societal norms - for instance, in 2019, a journalist named Lara Spencer openly mocked the prospect of Prince George taking part in ballet classes at school. This was seen to fuel the fire for toxicity regarding boys and men in dance and bring the topic mainstream once again.

So why has this toxicity not been rectified?

The reality series ‘Dance Moms’ follows a dance studio containing young dancers, their mothers, and their dance teacher. It also showcases the forms of emotional abuse and toxicity which is experienced by dancers everyday. However, to the outside viewer with little to no knowledge of the community as a whole, the show appears to be a fake dramatisation. Yes, there is no denying that ‘Dance Moms’ is excessively dramatised and edited. It does, though, have many underlying, truthful connotations. In my opinion, I see ‘Dance Moms’ as somewhat counterproductive if it had any intention of shedding light on the fundamental issues within the dance community. Many people consider that the storylines and emotions are entirely fake and orchestrated for the show. However, circumstances similar to this occur countless times within the broader dance community.

Many dancers have called for change to come in the dance community regarding the standards and toxicity that surrounds it. However, this movement has been progressing for several years and still very little progress has been made. This is as a result of the fundamental root of the dance community being built on this toxic atmosphere.

Cancel Culture

by Sophia Prudencio

Kanye West, Ellen Degenres, Adam Levine, Elon Musk. What do each of these celebrities have in common? They’ve all been ‘cancelled.’

In the age of social media, the term ‘cancel culture’ is always being thrown around. But what exactly does it mean?

In simple terms, to ‘cancel’ someone is to completely stop supporting them mainly through social media, after they have done or said something perceived to be offensive.

Essentially, cancelling is similar to boycotting a person.

It’s hard to pinpoint when exactly the idea first emerged, but the term began to circulate in the mainstream media around eight years ago, circa 2014. The expression initially found its way onto Twitter before reaching all far corners of the internet. Today, it is easily recognisable as part of our daily vocabulary, evolving beyond slang. However, regardless of its origins, for as long as cancel culture has been around, so has the question of whether or not it should even exist.

On one hand, cancel culture is a way of bringing awareness to offensive or harmful ideas and behaviours such as homophobia, racism, and other forms of discrimination. Cancelling someone holds that person accountable for their words and actions whilst simultaneously putting their behaviour into the digital spotlight. It is a clear and definitive charge of disapproval. And with the speed of virtual communication, that message gets across quickly to thousands, if not millions of people. In this effect, cancel culture can propel a necessary discussion as to why a particular action was wrong. This, in turn, can be an important tool to inform and educate people on the topic in question.

Additionally, ‘cancel culture’ creates a system of self-regulation. Others, especially those with influential digital platforms, may become more conscious and cautious of what they say and how they act after witnessing the backlash.

Although this may not alter their true views and beliefs, it can at least have a sort of positive impact on social media and maintain an amiable tone on platforms.

In some more extreme cases of cancellation, people have even been banned entirely from social media platforms. For instance, internet-personality Andrew Tate was banned from several social media sites as a result of violently misogynistic and discriminatory behaviour. In cases like these, removing someone’s platform altogether can keep harmful and potentially dangerous ideas from reaching people on such a significant scale. Again, this aids in maintaining a courteous tone across social media platforms.

On the other hand, though, there are also arguments to be made against ‘cancel culture’.

Cancel Culture

nuance

hate.

For starters, cancelling someone eliminates the chance for any form of redemption or explanation. The internet is saturated with stories of public figures having their distasteful past comments dug up and put on display. An offensive comment someone made years ago should without a doubt be acknowledged, and the commenter held accountable. But in the time since the comment has been published, is the individual not allowed to grow and change as a person? In holding the belief that people are not able to evolve from their past transgressions, a dialogue is stunted. There is no chance given for a person to grow or develop.

Should people not be allowed to atone for their actions?

Allowing for atonement or explanation isn’t a justification or forgiveness of these actions, rather a time for an open and genuine discussion on the matter. After all, isn’t educating an individual more important than banning them from future dialogue? Should we not aim to enlighten people rather than deleting them from open discussions? Perhaps creating a constructive environment, where people can move away from ignorance to insight, may prove more fruitful. Can a space exist for apologies to be heard?

Then again, if someone does apologise for their actions, their words are often taken with scepticism. It is impossible to be certain whether their apologies are genuine or if it is an attempt to preserve their status and influence. With celebrities constantly asking for forgiveness for what they fear might get them– or already has gotten them– cancelled, these begin to lose meaning. Speaking of apologies, does everyone deserve them? How far can someone go and still atone? Can heinous and hateful speech, especially if it's consistent, be forgiven with a couple of words on a Twitter post? How far can someone go and still be allowed a chance to apologise? These questions aren’t black and white, and likely never will be. But cancel culture removes them entirely, erasing the opportunity for apology before the world can make up their mind about whether or not they want one.

It should also be considered whether or not cancelling is even effective. It is unlikely that cancel

devout fans would even consider abandoning a celebrity just because they’ve been cancelled.

On the contrary, cancelling someone might just increase the hype and attention around that person, effectively doing the exact opposite of what was attempted. Think of just about any celebrity that has been cancelled. They haven’t disappeared. Most of the time, fuss fades and is forgotten. Other times, the cancelling simply does nothing at all. Take Kanye West, for example, who has dangerously toed the line between cancelled and not for years. Despite this, the rapper, who now officially goes by Ye, still has over 50 million monthly listeners on Spotify, 31 million followers on Twitter, and over 17 million on Instagram. The fact of the matter is, you can’t delete people. You can’t completely erase them from existence. And you certainly cannot easily change someone's entire perspective on an individual. So should we try to cancel people at all? Or is it futile?

When it comes to the debate of cancel culture, we’re really met with a double edged sword. On the one hand, it can be a way of raising awareness on important topics and beginning a dialogue that can help educate and inform people. Though at the same time, it restricts room for personal growth and atonement, and isn’t guaranteed to be effective. Regardless, cancel culture has become a prominent part of our society. But the question remains: Is it time to cancel cancel culture? Or is it here to stay?

LASTING IMPACT OF EURO 2022 Written by Lucy Schroeder Legacy. A word, we as a society, tend to overuse. What is our legacy? How are we able to change the world for the better?

As a young, female footballer myself, I have constantly found myself battling inequalities within the sport. For context, I have been surrounded by football my whole life.

Growing up as a “third-culture kid”, football is one of the few things that connects me to where I am from. Football brings my community together and divides my family apart, being from both England and Germany. Despite the fact that I, myself, have played football for many years now, as I was growing up, many of my footballing idols were men.

From 1921 until 1971, women were banned from playing football in England. However, even post the ban, women in football are never prioritised. Many of the current England Lionesses players began grassroots football in boy’s teams.

They were often encouraged to quit or were given so few resources that they were eventually forced to. The Women’s Super League (WSL) only went professional in 2018. Prior to that, the vast majority of players had second jobs simply because there wasn’t enough funding for them to live solely off football.

Even as little as a year ago, before the England vs Italy 2021 Men’s Euros Final, the chatter which surrounded the final was a sense of pride in this being the first time an England squad had reached the final of a major international tournament since 1966. However, this was simply untrue.

The England Women’s Squad had reached the final of the Euros twice since 1966, once in 1984 and once in 2009. This represents how women's football is seen as a separate sport almost as something inferior to the ‘men’s version’.

Inequality within the sport ranges from the lack of funding at grassroots levels for the women’s game, to the very fundamentals of the competitions. For instance, the men’s global competition is called the ‘FIFA World Cup’ but the women’s equivalent (which is identical in nature other than the gender playing) must be defined as the ‘FIFA Women’s World Cup’.

This is similar for the European championship. The men’s European competition is called the UEFA Euro while the women’s equivalent must be defined as the UEFA Women’s Euro. This adds to this unfounded belief that football and women’s football are two separate sports. I emailed FIFA about this issue, 3 years ago, and they responded with “We would like to make it clear that FIFA does not tolerate any form of discrimination. This attitude is firmly enshrined in the FIFA Statutes. We are aware that the explicit mention of gender in the tournament title is perceived as discriminatory.

FIFA's relevant committees and expert teams will address this issue.” Yet, still nothing has changed. #NotWomensFootball was one of the slogans used during the 2022 Women’s Euros, it truly embodies the spirit of how the 2022 Women’s Euros seeks to change attitudes towards women in football. The slogan's purpose was to highlight how the fundamental sport does not differ and therefore, the titles of events showcase the men’s game as superior unnecessarily. The men’s World Cup, Euros, Premier League, Champions League, etc were seen as the ‘normal version of football’ but things are beginning to change.

LASTING IMPACT OF EURO 2022 Euro 2022 set attendance records at every stage of the tournament for any Women’s European Football Championship. These records were set by 68,871 at the group stage (England 1-0 Austria), 28,994 at the quarter final stage (England 2-1 Spain), 28,624 at the semi final stage (England 4-0 Sweden), and of course at the legendary final.

The 2022 Women’s Euros Final at Wembley had the largest attendance of any Men’s or Women’s Euros Final in history, at 87,192. It also holds the record for the most viewed programme of 2022 so far at 17 million. The tournament also saw the previous ticket sales record for a Women’s European Football Championship from 2017 more than double, to over half a million.

This article begins with the word ‘legacy’. So, what is the lasting impact of the Lionesses’ win and the 2022 Women’s Euros as a whole?

The main goals of the tournament spanned more than just winning. They were rather, “to create equal access for girls to play football in schools and clubs, to secure 300 new FAqualified female coaches, and 350 new FA-qualified female referees, to establish an inclusive environment for every girl and woman to play, to ensure 120,000 more girls play football regularly in schools and to inspire 20,000 more women to play football for fun, friendship and fitness and 7,000 more to play competitively for grassroots clubs.” The legacy of the 2022 Euros is creating a platform for these goals to become a reality.

In a congratulatory message to the Lionesses, the late Queen Elizabeth II wrote “Your success goes far beyond the trophy you have so deservedly earned. You have all set an example that will be an inspiration for girls and women today, and for future generations. It is my hope that you will be as proud of the impact you have had on your sport as you are of the result today.” The legacy of the 2022 Euros is that a new generation can be raised in a world where equal opportunities are given to all.

The Lionesses’ win saw them send an open letter to (at the time) the two prime ministerial candidates, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. This letter called for support and funding of grassroots football. It also highlighted how only 63% of girls have access to play football in PE lessons. The Government has set out for this percentage to be increased to 90% by 2024. The Government will also invest £230 million into improving grassroots football and multi-sport facilities by 2025. The FA and Government plan to work together to create half a million extra opportunities for everyone to play football.

The 2022 Women’s Euro has begun a new age for football.

The competition has created an opportunity for progress to be made in improving equality for everyone in the world of sport. It has also created a platform for women in football to thrive and not live as ‘men’s football’s’ sideshow. The legacy of the Lionesses’ win in the 2022 Euros should be felt for generations to come.

SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS

The universe is something very few have more than

an

abstract

understanding

of

but

is

something very real and exceptionally intricate.

The universe is a vastly complex system that we know barely anything about, but how did it end up this way? With you, the reader sitting on a device reading this article. With the world as we know it existing in such a way? Scientists don’t and probably will never have a proven answer to that question but there will always be a number of

possible

hypotheses

and

explanations

THE BOLTZMANN BRAIN HYPOTHESIS The physics behind the likelihood we

regarding why the universe is the way it is.

live in a simulation

The universe and physics in general was just starting to be explored in its fullest in the latter half of the 19th century. The late 19th century was when a notable physician Ludwig Botlzmann made

his

most

significant

contribution

to

modern physics known as the kinetic theory of gases. This theory displays a model which connects the laws of thermodynamics, some of the most well known and fundamental laws of physics, to a system of gases. He used this model to explain one concept that was not greatly understood at the time and elaborate on it further.

The

concept

of

entropy

which

is

discussed throughout thermodynamics. Before Boltzmann's

discovery,

entropy

was

only

understood as “a measure of the proportion of energy in a system that can do useful work” ; this concept alludes to the concept known as thermal

For example the gas used as fuel in your car, is compressed in a piston, as this piston is depressurised the gas particles expand to fill up the space. However if you were to fill the air around this piston with gas particles of the same temperature and energy the gas would not expand.

This

state

is

known

as

thermal

equilibrium and it is where the amount of energy on the inside of a system is equivalent to the amount of energy on the outside of a system.

So in actuality entropy is the measure of how far a system is from said equilibrium, thus the energy able to do useful work. The lower the level of entropy the farther a system away from equilibrium it is.

equilibrium.

The second law of thermodynamics states in brief terms that any system left to its own devices will tend back to equilibrium, or energy will always tend towards a higher entropy (higher entropy means closer to equilibrium). Boltzmann found a proof to this law, he found an answer to the age old question: why does entropy always increase.

THE BOLTZMANN BRAIN HYPOTHESIS First off he defined entropy as the measure of randomness or the degree of order in an assortment of particles. Take a box full of air, where no air can escape whatsoever (a closed system), over time the system would undergo changes in entropy as the arrangement of air particles in the room changed. At most points the particles would be randomly distributed around the box and would be largely indistinguishable from other arrangements, however if the system is left for a long enough time (longer than the existence of the universe) the particles would eventually arrange themselves in a way which is not a standard high entropy (high randomness) arrangement. Instead all the particles could accumulate in an ordered pattern like fashion. Such a distribution would be a low randomness solution thus a point of low entropy. The most widely accepted theory for how the universe came to be revolves around how all the matter in the universe was compressed into a singularity which resulted in “Big Bang” such a singularity could be explained by a point of low randomness or entropy.

Boltzmann's theory on entropy does not prevent particles from breaking the second law of

Take the universe as one ever expanding system, with the condition of infinite time, the particles in that system would all tend to a state of high entropy but low entropy dips would result in the formation of points in space where matter is exceptionally high, like universes, planets and blackholes. Following the logic from the box analogy theoretically speaking any possible assortment of particles may form given enough time, like a smartphone that functions perfectly the way we know it or even more unlikely a brain. A brain is fully complete with memories

that

you

hold,

after

all

those

memories are just an assortment of particles in the brain. Meaning that you could be the product of such a brain and all of what you have lived to could be derived from that instance of a brain

formed

Boltzmann

from

brain

an

empty

hypothesis

void. states

The that

statistically speaking it is more likely for a low entropy anomaly to occur that results in the formation of a brain, then it is for the entire universe with all its particles to originate from a singular point. The big bang would be a state known as the state of lowest entropy which is statistically more unlikely than the proposed arrangement of particles into a brain.

However a proposed counterargument to this hypothesis revolves around the assumption that the big bang is a low entropy anomaly which has no evidence in itself and could be a result of something else. It is probably more useful pondering how the catalyst of the universe came into existence then whether you're living in a

thermodynamics, he observed that random dips in entropy occur all the time at a miniature scale but never on a macroscopic scale. If you look at the box

simulation. Furthermore the Boltzmann brain

analogy and count up all the arrangements of particles in that box you would realise the likelihood or probability of the particles arranging themselves in

interpretation is that there is some flaw in

forms of low entropy is exceptionally unlikely.

However such anomalies would only ever occur sporadically over a microscopic scale, hence the second law of thermodynamics still holds true as we should never witness a low entropy anomaly on a macro scale.

hypothesis is an interesting thought experiment backed up with logic and mathematics, a current modern physics that allows for this to work, but it has not been discovered yet. It is important to note that the theory is rejected, and modern science’s goal is to eliminate calculations from suggesting such an outcome is true.

lie Algebra

Written by Mags Hanson

The term Lie Algebra was first introduced by Hermann Weyl in

Furthermore if x=y then F(x,y)=0. Simply put,

1930, and refers to a vector space, g, together with an

if the vectors in the function are equal, then

operation known as a Lie Bracket. First, a vector space refers to

the value of the resulting vector is zero.

a set of vectors that can be added together, scaled by scalar

Notably, these vector spaces have to be over

values and are characterised by their dimension. A familiar

the same field for an alternating bilinear

vector space is the vector space of R3 which refers to the 3 -

mapping, which most often means that the

dimensional, real vector space, ie. the space our world exists in.

values defining the vectors exist as either

Second, a Lie Bracket is an alternating bilinear mapping ggg

real or complex numbers. Finally, the Jacobi

,which satisfies the jacobi identity. First we will define a bilinear

identity, which is defined in the context of lie

mapping, then explain what alternating means, and finish with

algebra as “[A , [B , C]] + [B , [C , A]] + [C , [A ,

defining the Jacobi identity.

B]] = 0”(Weisstein). The square brackets are

Bilinear mapping is a function F that has two input vector spaces (X , Y) and produces a third vector space (Z) as an output defined as F : X Y → Z, and if Y is held constant while X fluctuates it will produce a linear map f : X → Z. A linear map f : X → Z is a function where the conditions of additivity f(xi+xj) = f(xi) + f(xj) for any vectors xi , xj in the vector space X) and scalar multiplication (f(cxi) = cf(xi) for any vector xi in X and for any scalar constant c) are satisfied. To summarise, a bilinear mapping is a function combining elements of two vector spaces to generate elements of a third vector space.f you keep one of the input vector spaces constant and vary the other, it creates a linear mapping, which is a function from one vector space to another that preserves vector addition

the commutator (ie Lie Brackets) which means [X,Y] XY-YX. An interesting property of the commutator is that [X,Y] = XY - YX = - ( YX - XY) = -[Y,X]. This property is known as skew symmetry. Furthermore, since [X,Y] = -[Y,X], lie algebra is anticommutative over a field that has a characteristic not equal to 2. There are no relevant fields of characteristic 2, at this

level,

so

anticommutative.

consider

lie

algebra

Furthermore,

another

property of skew symmetry and the Jacobi identity is that Lie algebra is not necessarily associative. This means it's possible (and likely) [X , [Y , Z]] ≠ [[X , Y] , Z].

and scalar multiplication. Proceeding to alternating bilinear maps, “An n-linear map is called alternating, if f(x1, … , xn) = 0 whenever xi = xi+1, for some i, 1 ≤ i ≤ n-1.”

(Chapter 2 Determinants). For a bilinear n=2,the function is F(x, y) where x is a vector in X and y is a vector in Y.

application Lie Algebra was developed as a method of analysing Lie groups which are groups that are also differential manifolds. However, the important aspect of Lie groups is that they provide a model for continuous symmetry.

The original use for Lie groups was for continuous symmetry of differential equations which are prominent in physics. However, the groups have expanded further into more aspects of physics. Lie Algebra lets us analyse these physical systems that Lie groups model. These are common in quantum mechanics and particle physics.

The most well known application for Lie algebra is analysing the Lie group (SO(3)) of rotational symmetry in three dimensions.

THE STANDARD MODEL OF PARTICLE PHYSICS Written by Jai Gupta

What is particle physics? What is a particle? What lies beyond the subatomic particles, protons, neutrons and electrons? All fundamental questions that no one can really explain, and are more complex than most could possibly have imagined when you really look beyond the basics.

Particle physics is a branch of physics that describes the world at a microscopic level. Particle physics is the study of the interaction between different particles to form the world we know and see, particles are objects found on a microscopic level. The interesting fact about particles is that we can’t really observe them, this is due to the way sight works, light emitted or reflected from objects interact with your retina causing your brain to process the information. In the subatomic world, particles do not emit enough light to reach your eyes. So we are left with a cloudy, blurry image of a particle. For this reason, physicists came up with the heavily used idealisation of a particle known as a ‘point particle’, allocating a single point in space for particles to exist. Particles in physics are more commonly interpreted as waves, described in a concept known as ‘wave particle duality’. In brief terms, this concept states that particles act more like waves that move through space. This would mean that a particle, or the idea of a particle being a singular point is incorrect. A particle can be more aptly described as a point and time of a wave, found through the use of a wave function. Particles in the general world are the items that make up an atom. Atoms are the smallest unit of matter and as we all know an atom consists of an atomic nucleus made from protons and neutrons and organised in shells around the atomic nucleus exist electrons. Electrons stay in rotation to the atomic nucleus due to electromagnetism; the positive charge of the nucleus attracts the negative charge of the electrons.

An unknown question that is not really asked is, why do the protons and neutrons that make up the nucleus stick together? The force of electromagnetism cannot be applied, as neutrons and protons do not have opposite charges.

Neutrons are neutral and thus possess no charge and protons possess a positive charge. Another thought, what makes up protons and neutrons, can we go smaller and if so how? These questions are all answered when you look at them in relation to the standard model of particle physics.

The standard model of particle physics is a model proposed in the mid 1970s by Abraham Pais, and Sam Treiman in relation to the electroweak theory. This theory evolved into what is known as the standard model. The standard model is a model that puts together the fundamental forces in the universe and the most basic forms of matter in the universe together, describing their relationship. The standard model consists of a range of particles that are divided into two groups: the matter particles (known as fermions) and the force causing particles (known as bosons).

MATTER PARTICLES (FERMIONS) ELECTRONS Electrons have a very small mass, considered almost negligible at 9.10938356×10−31kg which is roughly 0.5 MeV/C2 (which is a more common unit of measurement for mass in the subatomic world) and possess a charge of -1. These are the particles that rotate the atomic nucleus in shells

UP QUARKS Up Quarks are particles that have a charge of +⅔ a 4.117x1030 which is between 1.7 and 3.3 MeV C2. Up quarks help make up protons and neutrons, three particles are found in the protons 2 of them are up quarks. One up quark is found in a neutron out of three particles. They are several times heavier than an electron.

THE STANDARD MODEL OF PARTICLE PHYSICS DOWN QUARKS Down quarks are similar to up quarks in the sense that they also make protons and neutrons. 1 down quark is found in a proton and 2 up quarks and 2 down quarks and up make up a down quark. They have a charge of -⅓

NEUTRINOS Neutrinos are matter particles that barely interact with anything, they are produced from high energy events like supernovas and many of the neutrinos in the world originate from the creation of the universe. They have the ability to move through space uninterrupted and unreactive with most objects, able to move through solid mass and space endlessly.

There mass is almost completely negligible and they seemingly don’t react with anything

An interesting point to note is that gravity and thus general relativity, is not included in the standard model for a few reasons. Gravity at the quantum scale has little effect that it is thought to be negligible as gravity is caused by mass.

Another reason general relativity which greatly discusses gravity is a classical concept and thus scientists haven't found a way to apply classical physics into the quantum world. This is one of the flaws of the standard model.

The most interesting and perhaps centrepiece of the standard model is the Higgs boson. Neither a fermion nor a force giving particle the Higgs boson emits a field. Matter particles within these higs field get prescribed a certain mass. In all capacities the higgs boson is considered to be the cause of mass. The Higgs field can be thought of as this layer in the galaxy that encompasses the whole galaxy which has higgs bosons scattered around like a net.

The standard model consists of the fundamental matter particles and the fundamental forces of the universe, each force has a particle prescribed to it, a way of visualising how the force particles and the fermions interact is you can think of fermions as constantly swapping bosons and passing bosons between each other.

Overall the standard model answers a lot of questions, but not all of them. It is by all means the most successful “theory of everything” we have to date and encompasses most of the interactions in our day to day lives. Contradicting this point, there is still a large amount of the universe left unaccounted for, matter and energy that is not explained in the standard model, in fact scientists predict that the model only accounts for 5% of the matter in the universe, explaining that 26% of matter in the universe is estimated to be dark matter and a further 69% of matter is known as dark energy. Lastly there are still questions behind why the standard model is the way it is, why are there three generations of the same particles that seemingly have no use? Why are the masses in these different generations so different? It’s like having the same lego piece and as you go along each piece gets several times heavier then the previous one. In conclusion while the standard model is one of the most successful theories we have to explain how the universe works, there is still a long way to go till we can fully tie everything together.

PHOTONS

So that is how the standard model came about, but what specifically is it?

FORCE PARTICLES (BOSONS)

The fundamental force of electromagnetism is attributed to the particle photons

GLUONS Gluons are particles that give way to the strongest force in the universe, aptly named the strong force. As previously mentioned 2 up quarks and a down quark mix together to make a proton and two downs and an up make a neutron.

The force that holds them together is the strong force; this is also why neutrons and protons stick together in the atomic nucleus. Due to the nature of the strong force and how it connects quarks together, we never see quarks alone.

W BOSON & Z BOSONS These particles are known to cause the weak force, which is one of the most intricate and interesting forces in the universe; it has the ability to switch the identity of quarks and by extension turn protons into neutrons and vice versa.

Written by Octavio Di Meo Perez

In popular belief, CSI is thought to be what a group of detectives is called, or the actions that they take.

This has occurred because of the numerous TV shows that promote CSI and make it look futuristic or as a mystery, where you not only analyse the scene of the crime but also get to catch the criminal.

The real, true meaning is Crime Scene Investigation, meaning that the actual thing that you do as a CSI agent is analysed DNA found at the scene of the crime, as well as the possible suspects and the victim's DNA, to see whose it is. If the analysed DNA isn’t from the victim, then it can either be from the perpetrator of the crime or a potential witness of the crime. This can help the detectives discover and understand what actually happened.

What you could possibly do on a day as a CSI: Preserve and protect crime scenes Attend a variety of crime and other incident scenes Record scenes using photography and video Find, record and recover evidence like DNA samples Give evidence in court Gather fingerprints and trace evidence Keep written records, produce statements and update information systems with evidence details The list mentioned above of things are those that you will have to be aware of if you are thinking of becoming a scene of crime officer.

To summarise, you’ll have to be available at any time of the day, be good at noticing small detail and paying attention to them, be able to function under stress and pressure, utilise tense situations in your favour, be able to move around at any point in time, be good at taking photography and the most important thing is that you will have to know how to be a customer service person and to be understanding of people in different situations.

If people think of CSI there are things that you must know: To be flexible and open to change (It isn’t a 9-5 job, this means that your hours on and off the job can vary depending on the type of case you are investigating or the needs of the detective, this can happen on any of the days.)

Get used to looking at dead bodies and doing autopsies on them. An autopsy is when you cut into a person or look for features in the skin which can tell you how that person has died.

To be thorough To have patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations To pay attention to the detail To have the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure Customer service is the ability to help customers and be kind to people with an issue.

Knowledge of public safety and security The ability to work on your own To be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently Legal knowledge including court procedures and governmental regulations

WRITTEN BY DARIA CHERNOVOLENKO

Biotechnology lies at the core of our modern society; most of the products on our shelves, today, are products of this technological innovation. To give a literal meaning to the term biotechnology, it is: “the exploitation of biological processes for industrial and other purposes, especially the genetic manipulation of microorganisms for the production of antibiotics, hormones, etc”. However, in simple terms, biotechnology is technology-based biology.

There are 4 types: medicinal, agricultural, industrial, and environmental.

Medicinal biotechnology: This is the use of living cells and other cellular materials to improve health, through means such as but not limited to, the prevention and treatment of diseases. Technology is a primary tool, used to find different methods for effectively targeting a specific pathogen or understanding cellular biology in order to innovate other revolutionary medicinal procedures. A common example of this type of biotechnology is vaccination. Vaccines are immune system stimulants that are used to fight diseases whenever they ‘attack’ the body; this is done by injecting a weakened version of the pathogen into a patient’s bloodstream. As if it was under a nonattenuated disease attack, the body will react and consequently combats the weakened pathogens this allows the body to create a ‘memory’ of the disease and its agents, allowing it to utilise gathered information in case a similar pathogen is to enter the body in the future. The attenuated disease is extracted by using biotechnological techniques (e.g. growing the antigenic proteins in genetically engineered agricultural species).

This biotechnological area focuses on the development of genetically modified crops in order to increase crop yields; it can also introduce characteristics to plants that will aid their growth in a specific area/ climate. This is commonly done by identifying the desired characteristic, finding the responsible gene, and then placing this gene into other plants so that other plants can have the desired property. An example of this would be the Bacillus thuringiensis genes in a fungus, that were transferred to crops, as the fungus produced the desired protein (Bt) that effectively fought European corn borer pests. As the crops began to express the fungal gene, they naturally produced a toxic against the pests - this saved the firm as they no longer needed to spend money on pesticides.

Biotechnology in agriculture allows farmers to grow crops or produce their goods at a cheaper cost as some plants can be modified to tolerate herbicides or other harmful chemicals. However, this genetic interference may decrease a crop’s nutritional value, and the research needed to do so is very costly.

This particular section is the usage of biotechnology for industrial purposes, such as fermentation.

Furthermore, this also includes the use of microorganisms or enzymes to produce goods in sectors that are industrially desired (e.g. detergents, textiles, biofuels, food, and biogas). An example of this would be the development of biocatalysts these are enzymes that essentially speed up chemical reactions by giving the reaction an alternative pathway (whilst remaining unchanged at the end of the reaction). As these biocatalysts are heavily demanded by industrial firms (as with them more goods can be produced in shorter periods of time), scientists use biotechnology to manufacture these enzymes in commercial quantities.

The final area of biotechnology is responsible for the treatment of waste and pollution prevention. It allows us to more effectively clean-up waste than compared to conventional methods; it also hugely reduces our (humanity's) dependence on landfill waste sites. All organisms ingest nutrients to function and hence, synthesise byproducts. As scientists have discovered, some bacteria live and thrive on the chemical components of some waste products. Consequently, biotechnological engineers introduced nutrients in order to stimulate the activity of bacteria that exists in the soil of waste sites or added additional bacteria to the existing soil.

This helped to digest the waste straight from the site and turned it into relatively harmless byproducts.

The bacteria typically die off or return to their population levels after consuming waste. An example of environmental biotechnology would be bioremediation; this describes the usage of biotechnical methodologies to help enzymatic bioreactors. This will help to both prevent industrial waste, but additionally allow effective removal of said waste through the sewage system, without the need for solid waste disposal mechanisms.

Agricultural Biotechnology

Industrial Biotechnology

The aforementioned descriptions of the four main biotechnological sectors are only the very beginning of this fascinating field of science, however, they hopefully gave you a brief overview of where you may see biotechnology in your daily life.

Environmental Biotechnology

The p-adic representation of a rational number

Written by Mags Hanson

What are p-adic numbers and why do mathematicians claim that they have value? The first part is not too complicated, however, the latter part is much harder to answer. To understand p-adic numbers, we first need to understand a concept known as “decimal expansion”. The decimal expansion of a real, positive number is of the and there exists a decimal separator. A where form, “decimal separator” is the mathematical term for a decimal point. Another notation for a decimal expansion is:

which is no less confusing than the first notion. If you are currently confused, that is understandable.

Unfortunately, decimal expansion is a concept that has been over-engineered, the concepts and notation used to define it are far more sophisticated and complex than what is required. Hopefully, with an example, that concept will become more clear. Let us do the decimal expansion for 11/7:

This shows that the decimal expansion of 117 is 1.571428. A decimal expansion is the process of putting a number (usually in fractional form) in decimal form. This process is well understood by everybody reading this, however a lot of the notion is probably new. The reason for the introduction of complex notation is that it is required for analysing p-adic numbers. P-adic numbers are similar to a decimal representation of a number with This can be formalised through a power series:

Similar to decimal expansions, p-adic numbers have a vague and confusing definition that becomes clearer upon completing an example. For our example, we let p = 5 and our starting number be 11/7. Lastly, the formula for calculating a p-adic number is:

Where KJ is the value that we are interested in. Now we can solve our problem

The p-adic representation of a rational number Since we have already solved for nJ = -2, we have found the point where the values start to loop, thus solving the problem. The common notation for p-adic numbers is n= . . .(KnKn-1. . .K1K0)P. This means that 117=. . .12032435. Any rational number can be transformed into a p-adic number in this manner as long as it is greater than |1/p|. If it is less than |1/p| multiply said number by pT where T is the smallest integer that would make the number greater than |1/p|. Upon converting the number to its p-adic form, add a decimal place on the end and move it T places to the left. An example would be 11175 as a 5-adic number would be 11175= . . . 4312032.543.

Now that we know how to represent a rational number as a p-adic number, we should discuss what they are good for. The representation of rational numbers as p-adic numbers form the p-adic number system which is a field, which is interesting. A field is a set that is closed under addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division while also possessing associativity, commutativity, and the distributive property. A well known field is the field of real numbers, denoted ℝ. However, the main two uses come from some utility in quantum mechanics as well as number theory. Number theory is the mathematical study of numbers, typically prime numbers - meaning that a new number system was invented to investigate the property of prime numbers. However, of note, is the fact that the p-adic number system, if properly understood, is a very powerful tool when computing problems with very large numbers (ie. 250 type large numbers), due to the property that conventionally small numbers are large in the p-adic numbers - while conventionally large numbers are small in the p-adic numbers.

roar, issue 5

WINTER EDITION

SHOULD WE BE WORRIED OF POTENTIAL ASTEROID COLLISIONS Spyridon Drakopoulos What do dinosaurs have in common with the inhabitants of Chelyabinsk, Russia?

Well, both looked up in the sky one day to see the magnificent glaring track of an incoming asteroid. The difference? Most dinosaurs did not live to tell the tale. This was to be expected, since the Chicxulub event that happened 65 million years ago was caused by an asteroid almost 15 km in diameter, whereas the 2013 Chelyabinsk asteroid did not exceed 10 m and exploded midair.

Nevertheless its shockwave damaged nearby towns and flying debris injured 1500 people. In 1908, an asteroid three times this size had exploded above uninhabited Tunguska, (Russia again- unlucky to say the least) levelling 830km2 of forest. Had that been London… it would be no more.

How scared should we be of asteroids and is there anything humans can do about this?

Asteroids are irregularly shaped - in some cases nearly spherical - rocky objects orbiting our sun. They range from a few metres to hundreds of kilometres wide. They are what’s left-over of our solar system’ formation 4.6 billion years ago. They never made it to planet “status", although the scientific community is arguing over the classification of some asteroids as dwarf planets based on their shape, gravitational effect on their neighbourhood and geological activity. Some asteroids were “captured” by planets, becoming their moons and some are big enough to have moons of their own.

Scientists classify asteroids by their location, with the majority (millions in number) orbiting the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. While Jupiter was forming, its gravity was so strong that it prevented new planet formation nearby. The remaining rocky objects collided with each other and formed various sized asteroids.

Another class of asteroids are Trojans. They orbit the sun and a planet, following the orbit of the planet about 60 degrees in front and behind it, at what are called the Lagrange points, where the gravitational force of the sun and the planet are balanced. Jupiter has more than 9,000 Trojans.

More relevant to our safety are Near Earth Objects (NEO’s), asteroids whose orbit is close to Earth. NEO’s approach Earth at less than 1.3 times its distance from the Sun, around 93 million miles. Jupiter’s and Mars's gravity usually keep most asteroids away from Earth, but these forces can also shift asteroids from the Main Asteroid Belt towards Earth. Not all NEO’s are dangerous, however larger ones that pass close enough to our planet are classified as Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHO’s), because the gravitational pull of other planets could alter their orbit to one that can cross with ours. PHO's are >150 metres, like a large skyscraper, that approach Earth's orbit to within 7.5million km, which is close, granted that the closest Mars comes to Earth is 53 million km.

Most incoming objects burn through Earth’s atmosphere - forming “shooting stars''.

However major impacts, as rare as they are, could cause tremendous damage.

International and national planetary defence systems have been put in place with the goals of identifying, tracking, characterising and if necessary deflecting asteroids.

Professional and amateur observations using ground and space telescopes such as NEOWISE and radars like Goldstone allow scientists to identify new asteroids, keep track of known ones, determine their size, surface and composition as well as track their orbits and velocities. This allows scientists to predict their future paths. In a hypothetical impact scenario it would make it possible to predict the location and impact force allowing disaster agencies to evacuate civilians in advance.

SHOULD WE BE WORRIED OF POTENTIAL ASTEROID COLLISIONS More optimistic are the programs aiming to deflect asteroids in an attempt to change their orbit before they become a hazard. Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was the first test used by NASA on September 26, 2022, that employed kinetic impactor technology to hit and redirect the asteroid Dimorhos, which orbits the larger asteroid Didymos. Neither of them pose a threat to Earth, but they provided the perfect experimental conditions for a 570 kg guided spacecraft to collide head on with 5 billion kg Dimorphos in order to bring it slightly closer to Didymos, thus shortening its orbit period.

Although impact on Dimorphos occurred, knowing whether it successfully changed its orbit will be determined after data on its orbit are collected from various ground observatories around the world as well as space telescopes.

In conclusion, as technological instruments keep developing, the efficiency and rate at which scientists will be able to discover and prevent probable asteroid collisions will increase significantly. As a result, the chances of humans sharing the same end as the dinosaurs will continue to decrease. Despite this, smaller, less destructive asteroids will remain a risk to humans since they are harder to detect and track unlike larger asteroids. Regardless of the difference in damage that the smaller asteroids can cause compared to larger ones, we should still be apprehensive about collision courses with smaller asteroids since they still pose threats of damage to cities.

MISCELLANEOUS

This really depends on what feels comfortable for you and what subjects you’re taking.

For example, for maths it's best if you take notes by hand because it’s difficult typing in equations. However, for a text heavy subject like history, if you’re faster at typing, it may be best if you type up your notes because there’s a lot of content to take in quite quickly.

But once again it depends on what you are comfortable with.

The other thing is that most teachers put up their presentations so that information will be available to you. So instead of copying everything down from the slides, spend your time trying to understand the information and taking notes on additional information your teacher is giving you.

But once again everyone is different and it's best to experiment with different note taking techniques to see what works best for you in different classes. A lot of people take notes on their ipads or laptops where they can physically write notes (either because its touch screen or with a pen tablet). I personally find this the best way to take notes because I can draw diagrams and write equations easily and type out my notes, which are neater for me. This also makes it easier for me to organise notes and refer to them as they are available digitally.

Apart from your teachers, different student forums have a lot of resources, but be careful when using them due to academic misconduct. But subreddits like r/IBO, r/IBDP and r/IBresources are great places to find resources and advice on the IBDP from actual IBDP students who have gone through very similar situations such as you and are usually more experienced. There are also several rules each forum has to follow which the moderators of the subreddits proactively make sure all users follow, this prevents most academic misconduct actions from happening.

There’s also a discord server for IB students where you can get specific resources and advice for the subjects you are taking.

No

WORDSEARCH AS AN ACS COMMUNITY WE ARE: INQUIRERS COMMUNICATORS CARING REFLECTIVE KNOWLEDGEABLE PRINCIPLED RISK TAKER THINKER OPEN-MINDED BALANCED

Across 2. a person who takes risks.

5. (of a person or their behaviour) acting in accordance with morality and showing recognition of right and wrong.

6. intelligent and well informed.

8. relating to or characterised by deep thought; thoughtful.

10. a person who thinks deeply and seriously.

Down 1. willing to consider new ideas; unprejudiced.

3. a person who asks for information.

4. a person who is able to convey or exchange information, news, or ideas, especially one who is eloquent or skilled.

7. keeping or showing a balance; in good proportions.

CROSSWORD

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