After finding I was owed nearly £30 from April, I am advising everyone working for the University of Exeter to look through their payslips. It’s nobody’s fault as approvals just got misplaced in the system. But if I hadn’t seen something amiss on my bank statements, and then checked my payslips, I would have lost […]
The ‘slapping law’ – domestic violence legislation in Russia
Violence forms a part of quarter of all Russian families: 14,000 women a year die from injuries caused by their husbands or relatives. It is estimates like these, quoted by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2008, that hint at what a Russian Exeter student calls ‘a serious problem in Russia.’ The 2010 report […]
Brexit vote begins to affect British Science research
Research groups around the country have started picking apart the effects of the UK voting to leave the European Union. Scientists for Britain, a group who aimed to “counter the political narrative of many pro-EU campaigners”, quickly thanked those who saw a positive future outside of the EU. They called upon the scientific community to […]
Government retreats over anti-lobbying clause
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills recently helped celebrate British Science Week with its hashtag #scienceisGREAT paired with patriotic tweets about Britain’s “world beating scientists”. Yet just days after the Science Minister Jo Johnson gave the speech “Making Britain the best place in the world for science”, a new research grant clause was announced, […]
Psychoactive censorship
Starting this April the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 will prohibit production, supply and importation of legal highs. Substances that have similar effects to illegal drugs such as cocaine but are chemically different enough to remain legal have caused dangerously unpredictable effects amongst users. The new laws aim “to end the trade in harmful psychoactive substances” […]
Review: No. 1 Polsloe Café
With the top quality food, chic décor, and lightening quick service, breakfast at No. 1 felt like a true indulgence. Add to that a value-for-money menu, and you’ve got the city’s best new dining spot. Last week, Emma and I jumped at the chance to experience food at the café given 5* by every TripAdvisor […]
Tech that seems too futuristic to be real
The Hyperloop Can you imagine speeding between cities through low-pressure tubes at 760 mph in a driverless capsule? Elon Musk did in 2013. A team from MIT last week won his design competition with an aluminium and carbon fibre pod levitated 15mm by magnets and thrust forwards by induction motors. The journey would be controlled […]
ExTunes at the Old Firehouse, 24/01/16
Opening the Old Firehouse’s bolthole stage last Sunday was Kathy Giddins. Bringing just a ukulele and her confidently soaring voice onto stage, she had the respectable-sized crowd captivated in no time. Her massive vocal range took us through her own songs, covers and parodies, including One Direction’s ‘Perfect’ in which she changed the word “perfect” […]
Belching black holes
The public opinion of black holes might be one of destruction and mind-bending physics but, in the words of Marie Machachek, “this shows that black holes can create, not just destroy”. Machachek co-authored a study revealed last week which showed two huge cosmic shockwaves emerging from a supermassive black hole. The images, captured by the […]
What housing crisis?
“Two bathrooms between seven of us? That’s just not going to work.” “Ugh. What is with Exeter’s housing crisis?!” DH1 is a great place for eavesdropping. Committee arguments, essay meltdowns, Tinder hilarity: you name it, I’ve overheard it. But housing crisis? That’s a new one. Just because you can’t get a double en-suite with all […]