Labour in early modern England

It’s 7am. Your alarm rings and you promptly force yourself to get out of bed to prepare for work. On your commute, you are confronted with continuous advertising: on the tube, on the street, or even as you check your phone whilst waiting for the bus. Conscious of it or not, materialism surrounds you. You work to consume, not simply the items that you need, but those that you want.

Oil Tankers: Equations and Answers

Here’s the thing, oil tankers are causing ecological problems. According to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited (ITOPF) annual report, 15,000 tonnes of oil was lost into the environment in 2022 [3]. Three oil spills are over 700 tonnes of oil. This isn’t a current problem after having grown up in Cornwall and seeing the impact of the Torry Canyon oil spill nearly 60 years on from the wreck. The Torry Canyon spill was and still is one of the worst wrecks in history [4] and is remembered very well by many locals.
The spread of oil was unheard of; fifty miles of the French coastline and eighty miles of the Cornish coastline were coated in a slick of oil[5]. Fifteen thousand seabirds were killed, many environments were destroyed, and
the ecological climate was forever ruined. The authorities tried to solve the issues caused by the spill with more chemicals and tried to bury the oil, causing the problems we still see today on many cornish beaches [2].

A Planetary Journey from Hellscape to Elysium

Hades, according to Greek mythology, is the God of the Underworld and last regurgitated son of Cronos. He is also the namesake for the earliest geologic period in Earth’s history. The Hadean era earns its name from the fiery, molten state of the Earth 4.5 billion years ago. How did we go from hellscape to a lush planet with oceans? Planetary scientists from all over this planet are trying to answer this question by building a framework to understand terrestrial planet histories. To date, there are 5,307 confirmed exoplanets. An exoplanet, shortened from extra-solar planet, is a planet orbiting a star outside of our solar system. With so many planets, we are able to look at snapshots of planets throughout their lifetime. These population studies may give us the necessary insights to better understand the formation history of our own planet.

Post-Pandemic: What will happen to cash?

The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on consumer payment habits, affecting the payments sector through expediting transitions from cash to digital or electronic payment sources. Let that be through a sharp shift in purchasing towards online platforms, or credit cards being preferred as a method of payment over cash at physical stores; the change is imminent, and principally in the UK.

What is a Lump?

I encountered the term ‘lumphood’ in 2016 when reading through ‘Substances and Universals in Aristotle’s Metaphysics’ by Theodore Scaltsas. Unfortunately the book provided no further insight into ‘lumphood’, and so I began sifting through various texts which also utilise the word ‘lump’. From Marx’s lumpenproletariat to Virginia Woolf’s short stories, from parenting books to Biblical teachings, from Ontology to Oncology, a lump transcends disciplines and refuses classification.
What exactly is a lump?

Enzyme Hijacking 101

Nothing ruins your morning appetite faster than the stench of spoiled milk as you open the refrigerator door to prepare breakfast. Yet, a fresh glass of cold milk, a heaping scoop of colourful ice cream, or a hearty tub of fruit-filled yogurt are sure to satisfy even the pickiest palates. How do these mouthwatering delicacies become inedible, and potentially poisonous, soups of primordial sludge?

21st Century Challenges Facing the Chemical Weapons Convention

In 2020 António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, asserted that ‘the use of chemical weapons anywhere, by anyone, under any circumstances, is intolerable’. However, in the past decade there have been notable uses of chemical weapons (CW) by individuals, terrorists, and nation states, including in Syria, Malaysia, and Salisbury. Since 1997, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) has been in force to fight against the proliferation and use of CW, but these incidents suggest that there are some shortcomings in the present legislation.