Issue 9: Lent 2010
Cambridge Editorials
UK Science: How do you justify “Blue Sky” research? 
If you are a Physics student and have been interested in research as a career, then you would have been gravely disappointed at the funding cuts that the Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) have introduced. Studentships and professorships in Physics and Astronomy will be cut by 25 percent and grants wil...
UK Libel Law: Suppressing Science?
An increasing opposition movement to current UK libel law is building from many quarters, not least the scientific community. While libel law exists to prevent reputations in the UK being wrongly defamed, some recent cases have centred around claims made by science writers, doctors and scientists regarding the efficacy of m...
International Features
The Rise of Cognitive Steroids: A Discussion on Fairness and the Need for Regulation
If you were offered a pill that would improve memory and concentration, would you take it? If the drug had no adverse side effects, then the discussion becomes an argument of fairness: would using the drug in order to out-perform others be considered cheating? When Major League Baseball outfielder Barry Bonds broke the home run ...
Thailand’s 100 percent condom campaign has been heralded as a major success in achieving a lasting reduction in HIV infection rates across the country [1]. The government’s prevention program began in 1991, targeting schools, the media, the workplace and brothels, which were believed to be at the epicenter...
Humans in a Cloud Forest: A Case Study on the Impact of Ecotourism upon Ecological Stability
The advent of ecotourism in recent years has had a huge impact upon the economies of tropical nations as well as the mindsets of tourists [1]. At first glance, the idea of ecotourism seems to have no down side. The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) describes ecotourism as “responsible travel to natu...
The African Bushmeat Trade: Triggering Disease Threats and Destroying Biodiversity
The trade of wild primates, or bushmeat, for the pur-pose of consumption has increased exponentially over the last decade, most notably in Central and Western Africa. Close contact with these animals poses a threat to both human and primate health. This phenomenon has originated from deforestation by timber industries, easing&nb...
Cambridge Features
Prions: From Dogma, to Mystery, to Benefit?
How do we get sick? Touching an infected door handle, walking through tick-infested areas, and kissing a sick person can spread viruses and bacteria, which use their own DNA or RNA to multiply within the body and cause infectious diseases. However, recent research has revealed a completely different type of disease transmis...
The Effectiveness of Flu Drugs
Albert Mitchell, a cook at Fort Riley’s Camp Funston in America, felt unwell on the night of March 10 1918 due to a bad headache, a runny nose, and a sore throat. The next morning, he was simply too sick to cook breakfast for the men. The doctor informed him that plenty of bed rest was all that he needed. The symptoms...
Although science has always been performed by a very small subsection of the public, science com-munication with the ‘educated layman’ has a well-established history [1]. Its importance is outlined by Thomas and Durant in nine key benefits [2]. These include; benefits to science, as the taxpayer often funds scientific res...
Are you Addicted to the Internet?
ReSTART seems to be just like any other residential treatment centre – located near Seattle, USA, it offers psychotherapy, exercise, counselling and other treat-ments to overcome addiction [1]. But there is one difference: ReSTART treats Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), defined as the pathological use of the internet to ...
Violence in Computer Games: A real link to aggressive youth or just a scapegoat?
On the 27th February 2004, 14-year old Stefan Pakeerah from Leicester was brutally murdered by 17-year old Warren Leblanc. According to Stefan’s mother, Leblanc was obsessed with the game “Manhunt” [1], where the main theme is to execute your enemies as gruesomely as possible [2]. This has been one of many...