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Day: 19 March 2012

‘Twisted’ waves to ease radio-band congestion

Written by Aryan Safavi on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

St Mark’s square in Venice will forever be marvelled as the scene of one of the most important moments in science. The place of Galileo’s inspired telescope display some 400 years ago has now witnessed a rival remarkable demonstration in the exact same spot. The demonstration of a radical new technology has unknown repercussions for the future of wireless communications.

Using the electromagnetic spectrum for data transmission has become so vast and pervasive in scale that the number of available frequencies to transmit data is dwindling. In wireless data transmission, a range of frequencies is assigned to a specific channel and these frequencies have a limited bandwidth (a limited data-carrying capacity).

This new technology involves ‘twisting’ radio waves; a technique that could resolve the pressing worries over increasingly congested communications traffic. This seminal approach to enhancing the data-carrying capacity of radio waves has the potential to ease these anxieties; concerns wrought by ever expanding wireless traffic.

The demonstration, held in such an auspicious setting, was the result of research from Bo Thide, of the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, and a team of colleagues in Italy.

“For me it was obvious this would work” Thide said. “Maxwell’s equations that govern electromagnetic fields are… the most well tested laws of physics that we have.”

The demonstration showed two waves transmitted on the same frequency, but encoded using different states of orbital angular momentum. This quantum physics topic is comparable to the sun-earth system: the earth spinning on its axis is its spin angular momentum, whilst the earth rotating round the sun is its orbital angular momentum. So far we only modulate the spin momentum of waves, but Thide theorised that the orbital momentum of waves could be modulated in a “radio vortex”.

Thide and his Italian colleagues have transmitted two signals at the same time, on the same frequency, over a distance of 442 meters (1,450ft).

By varying the twist, many data streams can fit in a single frequency spread, as opposed to just the one with current-day techniques. A twisted wave, which can be visualised as a corkscrew, can be created by simply employing a twist in the dish that transmits the data.

This technique could be applied to Wi-Fi, television and radio; allowing more data channels to fit on one frequency range.

The technology’s potential impact has lead to fast-paced demanding research, as discussions have begun with industry to develop a more advanced system that can transmit more than two bands of different angular momentum. With overcrowding in the airwaves becoming increasingly concerning, the research team might hope their research can have an impact as profound as that of Galileo’s telescope.

What will the future Earth look like?

Written by Victoria Root on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

Scientists at Yale have recently identified a new supercontinent, which will form in the next 50 to 200 million years. The Americas and Asia will meet over the North Pole, causing the Pacific Ocean to disappear, forming a supercontinent named as Amasia.

The last such supercontinent to exist was Pangaea (Greek for “all lands”), which came together 300 million years ago. Pangaea was located around the position of modern day Africa and broke apart to form the seven continents of today, with the birth of the Atlantic Ocean 100 million years later. Over a billion years ago there was an ancient supercontinent called Rodinia and another called Nuna 1.8m years earlier. The forming and breaking apart of supercontinents has been a cyclical process in the Earth’s 4.6 billion year history.

The original term of ‘supercontinents’ was coined by Alfred Wegner in 1915, who proposed that at one point in the past, all of the Earth’s continents had formed a single continent known as Urkontinent. This explains how the shape of Earth’s major landmasses resemble jigsaw pieces that fit together.

Amasia was discovered by scientists at Yale through a process called orthoversion. This is where latitude and longitude can be found using the magnetic properties of rocks. The theory states that each succeeding supercontinent forms at a 90 degree orientation to preceding ancient supercontinents. This theory contrasts with the ‘old theory’, which stated that supercontinents form either 0 – 180 degrees away from the previous supercontinent; a theory that would place Amasia on the opposite side of the globe instead of the North Pole.

Dr David Rothery, a geologist from the Open University, believes this new research offers us a better insight into the history of the planet. He concluded by saying, “predicting into the future is of far less of a concern than what happened in the past”.

 

Asthma in premature babies- the chicken or the egg?

Written by Rebecca Brading on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

A recent study has found that the more premature the baby, the higher the increase in the chance of the child developing asthma. The number of children diagnosed with asthma is on the rise. On the face of it, this may not seem that surprising, but dig a little deeper into the study and you find that babies just a few weeks early (usually considered to be a safe time to deliver) actually have a 2 percent higher risk of asthma than those born at full term.

Experts were keen to stress that this modest increase in risk should not be a cause for concern to parents. However, what this study really highlights is that the health risk to babies increases with increasing prematurity and this risk continues right up until full term. This contradicts the widely held belief that babies born after 37 weeks suffer no more health problems than those born at full term.

But is the fact that these babies are a few weeks early really causing these asthma issues? The study also showed that babies were more likely to be born earlier if the mother was of low socio-economic status, or if she smoked. Smoking during pregnancy is strongly linked with both asthma and prematurity in babies.

If smoking is, in fact, the cause of the increased rate of asthma; then perhaps the real message to come out of this study is that doctors and midwives need to do more to help mothers-to-be with giving up smoking. It was recently reported that in Scotland there has been a massive 10 percent drop in the premature birth rate since the smoking ban was introduced in 2006, with the number of pregnant women smoking dropping from 25 percent to 19 percent. If this number could be reduced further, both in Scotland and the rest of the UK, then there is a real chance that the number of babies born prematurely, or with asthma, would drop significantly.

Possible benefit of prolonged drug use for Alzheimer’s patients

Written by Samantha Lawrence on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

Research has shown that the continued use of medicinal drugs in the late stages of Alzheimer’s may help to slow down the disease in patients.

Alzheimer’s disease reaches out and affects many of us, whether it is through family or friends, or hearing about it through the media. Statistics show that approximately 500,000 people in the UK are currently living with the disease, with only 10 percent currently receiving drug treatment.

Alzheimer’s is a progressive condition most common after the age of 65, affecting areas of the brain important for memory. Over time the disease progresses and the level of cognitive decline increases, leading to serious memory loss and changes in personality.

The study, released in the New England Journal of Medicine, monitored the memory and performance in everyday tasks of 295 subjects suffering from the disease that had previously taken the drug Aricept and found a slower rate of decline in the memory of these patients.

Aricept is usually prescribed during the early stages of the disease, with its use discontinued as the disease progresses into the later stages.

The funding of drugs to treat dementia has been subject to much debate in the past. The medicine regulatory body NICE set restrictions on the use of drugs for the treatment of dementia in 2006, a restriction that has recently been over-turned.

Guidelines now support prolonged treatment so long as it is beneficial to the patient. This follows the end of the patent on Aricept, allowing more cost-effective versions of the drug to be developed, costing as little as £12 a month to prescribe.

This trial provides clear evidence that treatment with these drugs can be beneficial in slowing down the disease in patients in the later stages of Alzheimer’s. Patients taking Aricept were four months better than those patients not taking the drug, in terms of their memory and their ability to carry out daily tasks.

This study will help to improve the quality of lives of the many people suffering from the late stages of Alzheimer’s and so provide a way forward to the generation of further treatments in the very near future.

For a Budget we can all be proud of, build a moon base

Written by Cat Hanson on . Posted in Opinion.

Speculation over what might be included in this week’s Budget has been rather sombre; peppered with discussion of ‘revenue’, ‘sustainable growth’ and other economicksy expressions of a similarly depressing vernacular. The build-up to the biggest day in ‘Boy’ George Osborne’s calendar has, frankly, been moribund in the extreme, but just as I was beginning to lose hope for humanity and pondering making the necessary preparations for a new life in Svalbard, a lightning bolt of hope struck me from the blue: a moon base.

That’s right, a moon base. Critics have scoffed at Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich’s promise to dedicate efforts towards populating this great Babybel in the sky, but perhaps they weren’t tuned in to the gravity of his intellect. Think about this for a moment. Currently, our little island has few exciting prospects on the horizon – nothing says ‘clutching at straws’ like the synthetic excitement about our upcoming Olympic Games – so what could be more of a boost to industry, employment, innovation and national pride than a Budget announcing the creation of a British moon base? Certainly, a passport bearing the name ‘The United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Lunar Territories’ would be the kind of passport you would be proud to slap on the surface of the Heathrow check-in desk.

The plan (which will surely be firmly ensconced in that battered red briefcase come Wednesday lunchtime) is simple but effective, ready to put in place just as soon as the country’s financial responsibilities have succeeded in ending poverty, strife and creating eternal peace. The moon base would effectively form a strategic outpost for fighting off possible invasions from arachnids, Decepticons and other hostile extra-terrestrial life forms. However, Her Majesty’s County of Moon-shire would also enjoy a space exploration programme with surplus housing for workers, funded by a privatised police force that uses the Nokia ringtone for sirens and advertisement. It is a project which both Marx and Thatcher could be proud of.

On a serious note – one that is attempting to claw itself to the surface – countries thrive on working towards tremendous goals. Nations such as China, India and Brazil motivate the masses with the promise of improved quality of life, political change and economic prosperity. The population works together, works hard and believes in a sense of purpose. It can almost be guaranteed that whatever George Osborne frantically sketches out this week will no sooner halt the national inertia and boredom than encourage your average Joe to drop his kebab, suit up with more gadgets than the Israeli army and join the shiny Moon Base Corps.

Speaking of other nations, I understand that the British occupation of the moon may cause some regrettable international controversy. Sean Penn would be furious, again accusing the UK of “archaic colonialism”, while only Russia and China would veto our expulsion from the UN Christmas party. It would be a most unpleasant business, remedied only by a fantasy budget-funded conference where the Prime Minister arrives via jet plane carrying a plate of state-owned Ferrero Roche and auctioning off plots of moon dust to the G20. This lunar investment would, however, provide the UK with some disposable income to pay off an enormous national debt, fix the windows smashed by rioters and buy the Queen ten dozen Diamond Jubilee commemorative yachts.

Without an idea as grand as the moon base, the 2012 Budget will be as bland as a rice cake. Unless, just for once, the government thinks outside of the box – thinks big and surprises us all with a brand new idea – Thursday morning will be occupied by commentators lamenting the Chancellor’s fundamental lack of imagination.

Society under siege

Written by Joe Earle on . Posted in Opinion.

My instinctive response to David Cameron’s parroted claim that “we’re all in this together” is one of disbelief. Has he been made redundant lately? Have his salary or working conditions been affected by the recession? Perhaps if our Prime Minister was not one of the ‘1 percent’, he could justifiably claim some affinity with the rest of us; in fact, David and Samantha Cameron’s combined wealth is estimated at £4 million, and they will inherit another £30 million from their parents – an extraordinary financial safety net.

Of the 29 ministers in Cameron’s cabinet, 23 have assets and investments worth well over a million pounds, so it would seem that the majority of his government are equally alienated from the electorate’s experience. Cameron claims to sympathise, even if he cannot empathise – yet if he and his government truly and honestly feel the pain of the broke, the hopeless, the destitute and the unemployed, why are they systematically and remorselessly dismantling our society?

Here in Britain, we have the building blocks of a society to be proud of; one that is built upon the principle of state provision of integral services such as health, education and social security. Our public services are funded through a progressive tax system, and in return everyone is afforded a minimum quality of life, or so the theory goes. But in 2012, Britain is the fourth most unequal country in the developed world as measured by the gap between the richest and poorest 20 percent. These societal provisions act as a constraint on that inequality. They are at the heart of what is good about our country. These provisions ensure that no one has to sell everything they own to pay for a their parent’s illness or their child’s education, and mean that people who lose their jobs through no fault of their own can still afford to feed their family.

But this arrangement is being stealthily undermined, as somewhere along the way the values and principles that underpinned state provision of these key services have been discarded. Behind the painful rhetoric of the ‘Big Society’ and ‘Making Work Pay’ lies an almost compulsive desire to extend privatisation and further roll back of the state. Cameron promised “no more top-down reorganisations of the NHS”, whilst Nick Clegg swore that he would not raise tuition fees. And yet, and yet.

The Health and Social Care Bill has been the most widely publicised attack on our society in recent times and is currently the subject of a heated debate that is forcing the government to amend its original plans – although to what extent is difficult to tell through the fog of war. A key element of the original Bill was the removal of the Secretary of State’s “duty to provide” or secure the provision of health services. By removing this vital responsibility and handing it over to unelected officials, GPs and private companies, the NHS becomes entirely unaccountable to the public, despite it ostensibly existing for the benefit of everyone in society.

A further major issue is that the Bill contains a number of measures that will encourage competition and almost inevitably open the NHS up to European Competition Law. This gives the health service watchdog Monitor the power to eliminate ‘anti-competitive’ behaviour which could result in services currently provided by the NHS being contracted out to private companies.

This Bill amounts to privatisation through the back door. Already we are seeing private healthcare firms cherry picking the most profitable services such as knee and hip replacements, which can be bundled neatly into commercial packages, whilst leaving costly and complex operations to an increasingly impoverished NHS. If and when the Bill is passed, the disparity will only be exacerbated.

The government attack on state education is equally terrifying, though far less publicised. There are now 1,529 academy schools, operating outside of local government control, compared to just 200 when the coalition came to power. There are also 24 so-called ‘free schools’ set up by parents, charities and other unelected groups. In January, the for-profit Swedish company IES UK was awarded a £21 million ten-year contract to manage a free school in Suffolk, the boldest step yet in the on-going stealth privatisation of the British state education system. Meanwhile, bodies such as the General Teaching Council have been scrapped as part of the plan to make England’s school workforce more manageable and cheaper for future private providers. The education services sector in the UK is worth close to £2 billion – a figure that is set to soar once the coalition’s changes to school structures have fully kicked in.

Arguably the most distasteful dimension of this offensive on all fronts has been the vilification of the out of work to pave the way for a series of major changes to the functioning of the welfare state. I don’t defend the services that our society entrusts the government to provide as perfect; I understand that the benefits system can trap people in poverty and that there are serious problems with our health and education systems too. However, it is absolutely indefensible to use these defects as a pretext to withdraw our hand from the most vulnerable in society. The rate of unemployment currently stands at 8.4 percent – that’s 2.67 million people out of work – and combined with a very high number of long term claimants we find ourselves in a situation that the welfare state was never designed to cope with. The government’s proposed solution? A Welfare Reform Bill that will squeeze benefit claimants even more and which will surely increase poverty in the UK. Furthermore, changes have been made to disability benefits with the express intention of reducing the disability budget by 20 percent; it is widely recognised that disabled people will be hardest hit by the Bill.

I am not making a party political attack; this is a critique of our political establishment as a whole. Though the Conservatives seem to hold a fervent ideological commitment to destroying the fabric of our society, New Labour hardly fared any better. The Blair government set the wheels in motion by creating internal markets within the NHS – a necessary first step on the journey towards the privatisation that is being implemented as you read this very article.

Society is under siege. The NHS is in the most perilous situation since its establishment in 1948, whilst the instruments of the welfare state are in grave danger. When were we consulted about these changes – changes to the very essence of our society that were decided for us, not by us? This is a war on many fronts but we must defend ourselves against further assault if we wish to preserve our future. Principles of trust, equality, community and mutual cooperation are at risk of extinction. Individuality, distrust, competition, profit, poverty and isolation will replace them. We have to see that we really are all in this together, though not according to David Cameron’s edict. Society is easier to break than it is to mend – we must see through the deceptive words of government and take action before it is too late.

Students depict scenes of violence to protest killing of Syrian civilians

Written by Khalil Secker on . Posted in News.

60 students held a flashmob on one of Manchester’s busiest shopping streets on Saturday 10 March to protest against one year of violence in Syria.

The Islamic societies from the University of Manchester, Salford and Manchester Metropolitan University worked together to put on a week of action in response to the killing of civilians. The week of protests mark one year after the ‘Arab Spring’ erupted in Syria.

The students stood still for five minutes on Market Street depicting scenes of violence that civilians in Syria have faced in the year since the Arab Spring. Some were dressed as soldiers, holding toy guns to the heads of people acting as protesters. Two men carried a ‘body’ on their shoulders – wrapped in sheets soaked with fake blood. Two young girls stood silent clutching a sign which read ‘We lost our mother’ whilst a man dressed as a doctor tended to victims of police brutality.

Leaflets were handed out to Saturday shoppers explaining the protest and many seemed bemused by the scene, stopping and staring, others filming the protest on smartphones. The protest ended with a basket of white doves released to symbolise Syrian freedom.

Amin Astewani Vice-Chair of the University of Manchester Islamic Society helped to organise the event; his father was imprisoned and tortured in Syria for two years because of his religion. He had been told by his dad that Guantanamo Bay is like a ‘children’s playground’ compared to Syrian prisons.

Amin said, “As students, we don’t want another genocide like in Bosnia or Rwanda, where the whole world sees what is happening but no one does anything about it.”

Security forces have killed thousands of Syrians since protests began in March 2011, though exact figures of fatalities are not known. Humanitarian aid agencies have been denied access and doctors within the country have been attacked for giving medical treatment to protesters.

Russell Group expands again

Written by Hannah Tosh on . Posted in News.

The elite group of the UK’s top research universities, the Russell Group, has accepted four new members.

Exeter University, University of York, Durham and Queen Mary University of London were all invited and have accepted invitations to join the group last week.

The Russell Group represents some of the most prestigious universities in the UK and now has 24 members, including the University of Manchester.

They hold a considerable influence on government education policy and over 80 percent of the UK’s doctors and dentists attended universities that were part of the group.

Professor Michael Arthur, chairman of the Russell Group, said: “We are delighted to announce that the Russell Group board has invited four more members to join the group, all of whom have accepted. Durham, Exeter, Queen Mary and York have demonstrated that – like all other Russell Group members – they excel in research, innovation and education and have a critical mass of research excellence across a wide range of disciplines.”

The increase in tuition fees next year has meant universities have had to work harder to sell the prestige of their courses and their institution to prospective students. Holding the Russell Group label could be seen as adding value, especially to students from overseas.

The list of universities in the Group is now made up of: Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial College London, King’s College London, University College London, Leeds, Liverpool, London School of Economics, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Queen’s University Belfast, Sheffield, Southampton and Warwick.

Further education colleges awarded undergraduate places while universities face a cut

Written by Ellen Conlon on . Posted in News.

While many Russell Group universities are having their places cut, over 10,000 undergraduate student places have been awarded to further education colleges.

With an aim to encourage the growth of a low-cost alternative to traditional universities, 20,000 places have been taken from higher education institutions and auctioned off to universities and colleges who are charging average tuition fees of £7,500 or less this year.

Around 9,600 of the places have gone to universities, the biggest winners being Anglia Ruskin, London Met, Nottingham Trent and Staffordshire.

But further education colleges, including Newcastle College and Hartpury College in Gloucester have gained over half of the places.

Last year many universities chose to charge the highest fee of £9,000 to students starting their study this September. The offer of additional places to institutions charging less than the maximum was intended to put pressure on others to reduce their fees.

At the end of last year, 25 higher education institutions brought down their average fees in order to have a chance to gain more student places.

Universities Minister David Willetts said that this redistribution of places would put “pressure for quality and value for money” on universities.

But institutions that have chosen to keep the highest fees are disappointed with their loss of places.

Plymouth University Vice-Chancellor Wendy Purcell is outraged that her university stands to lose 10 percent of its undergraduate places despite having big increase in applications.

She said: “We are at a material disadvantage of losing 868 student places. This is against a backdrop of increased student demand for the Plymouth experience with our undergraduate applications for 2012 entry increased by 6 percent.”

A second reform introduced by the coalition government is allowing institutions to expand to take on more students who achieve grades AAB or higher at A-Level. This is expected mainly to benefit elite universities.

But Professor Purcell says that this policy will have a negative impact on many students from non-traditional backgrounds seeking places at Plymouth.

A third of the university’s places are with partner colleges, where students start off studying a foundation degree. They then hopefully progress to an honours degree in their final year with Plymouth.

Purcell said: “Last year the University had over 500 applications from pupils taught at schools in deprived areas of whom just two who went on to enrol fell in to the AAB+ category, the remainder of those potential students are competing for a significantly reduced number of reduced places at Plymouth University.”

Although the government says it wants to put “students at the heart of the system,” there will be “many hundreds of local students planning to attend Plymouth University who will be refused a place,” she said.

She has called for a greater understanding of the role universities play in raising aspirations, transforming lives and educating students from non-traditional backgrounds.

Facebook ‘better measure of job performance than personality tests’

Written by Rachel Heward on . Posted in News.

A recent study from Northern Illinois University has showed that a person’s Facebook profile predicts job performance better than current personality tests used by prospective employers.

The study showed that Facebook can reveal a lot about key personality traits such as conscientiousness, agreeability, extroversion, emotional stability and openness. The social networking site was found to be better at predicting an applicant’s likelihood of succeeding in a job because it is harder for a person to “fake” a personality on Facebook, especially in front of their friends.

However, many people are aware of the fact that employers use social networking sites to research and compare applicants. Because of this a large number of people, especially students, are privatising or changing their Facebook profiles from anything which may be deemed inappropriate.

When students at the University of Manchester were asked whether they would change their online profiles when applying for a job, almost everyone The Mancunion spoke to said that they would make it appear private.

Dani, a first year Spanish and Chinese student said, “I would make it private and un-tag any horrible photos”. Andy, a third year Chemical Engineering student, also said that his profile was private and that “they could only see my name and profile picture”.

Don Kluemper, professor of management at Northern Illinois University College of Business, assured that partying photos didn’t necessarily count against an applicant. He said that it could show a person to be extroverted and friendly. The study also showed that people gained favourable evaluations if they had travelled, had a lot of friends and showed a wide range of hobbies and interests.

There are concerns about the legality of using social networking sites to screen job applicants. Kluemper said that the study does not advocate that existing tests should be replaced as this is the first study of its kind. He said, “before it can be used as a legally defensible screening tool, it has to be proven valid. This research is just a first step in that direction.”

The study has been published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

Blind date: Sol and Annaliese

Written by Lily Howes on . Posted in Lifestyle.

Sol, Third year, Philosophy

What were your expectations for the evening?

I didn’t know what to expect, to be honest…I was hoping for a tasty meal with someone good to chat with, and that’s basically what I got (which was nice).

First impressions?

She looked a little nervous as she came in, which was reassuring because I wasn’t feeling all that confident about the situation myself.

What did you talk about?

My hippy mum, corporate law, the speed limit in Guernsey, coxing and AU social, gourmet coffee, what lies beyond the Arndale centre, my little brother (possibly slightly too much – who knows), her childhood, Desperate Housewives, previous jobs, festivals…whatever came to mind, really.

Best thing about them?

She was easy to talk to, and she laughed at most of my jokes – that was a plus.

What did you eat?

I went for the steak with sweet potato chips, and a couple of pints of Brooklyn Lager to go with it. Was really tasty – I thought it could’ve done with a sauce, but I suppose they wouldn’t have been able to serve my meal on a little piece of slate if they’d done that…

Any awkwardness?

Not so much, I don’t think. Although in retrospect I wish I’d waited until we’d finished eating before musing about what 5th Ave would smell like if they didn’t have those smoke machines.

How did you part ways? (Mouth-to-mouth action/heavy petting/friendly hug?)

I waited with her at the bus stop and we hugged before she left.

Out of 10?

For the date? I’d say and 8.

Would you see them again?

I’d say so, yeah.

 

Annaliese, First year, Law

What were your expectations for the evening?

I didn’t really know what to expect other than a possibly very awkward meal with a complete stranger!

First impressions?

A nice, friendly guy.

What did you talk about?

Everything uni related; course, nights out, interests. Also talked about where we came from and why we came to Manchester.

Best thing about them?

Interesting to talk to and lots to talk about!

What did you eat?

He had steak, I had a burger. He also talked me into dessert since it was a free meal so I had the sticky toffee pudding.

Any awkwardness?

At the beginning as to be expected but we didn’t run out of things to talk about so it was fine.

How did you part ways?

We walked to the bus stop and hugged before departing our separate ways.

Out of 10?

Was a really nice dinner with good company, 7.

Would you see them again?

Quite possibly, as friends, who knows!

 

Sol and Annaliese ate at The Deaf Institute, Grosvenor Street, Manchester. Thanks to the guys down at Grosvenor Street for getting involved. To check out their menu, gig listings and have a look at what club nights are coming up visit their website www.thedeafinstitute.co.uk

To sign up for blind date please e mail your name, year of study and course to [email protected] with ‘blind date’ as the subject

Why Manchester is too alternative for it’s own good

Written by Mia Edwards on . Posted in Lifestyle.

There’s no question that Manchester University and the surrounding city is wonderfully diverse in all aspects of life thanks to the wonderful people of this place who aren’t afraid to push the boundaries: we have an amazing music scene, great places to wine and dine and some amazing sites of cultural interest. All of these, I’m glad to say, many of my fellow students are happy to dabble in. But what happens to our fellow students when this dabbling goes too far?

And this sounds like an all too familiar routine for many. The day you pick up this paper, you will probably sit in a lecture surrounded by girls with the unformed look of unwashed hair and studded noses, and boys in wax jackets with curly hair adorning the top of their otherwise shaven heads.

You will probably witness many having lunch at a vegan café, telling everyone there how they hope the next Pangaea features this great proto-Ska brass-rap outfit they found online. Personally, I can’t understand why this appeals to so many students around campus.

If I were to recall one of my fondest memories from higher education, it involved sitting in a field in tracksuit bottoms, Subway in hand, deep in some inane conversation with four other lads. And that all happened at a different uni’s open day.

But is our university’s fear of being easy-going actually a problem? In some aspects, yes. Student politics will remain being avoided like the plague, Pangaea will never feature any acts you’ve actually heard of, our union will always fail to be the social hub for students that it desires to be, and we will all continue to walk around campus with that niggling feeling that you’re just not ‘cool’ enough to be there.

The message (hidden here somewhere) quite simply is: chill out, Manchester! Don’t get me wrong, I will be the first one to say how much I enjoy now and then seeing new bands, shopping in the Northern Quarter and a hidden cocktail bar or two. All the same, give me a casual outfit, a cheesy DJ and some unpretentious students in a bar, and I will be a happy man.

Ask Keir: Ear wax

Written by Keir Stone-Brown on . Posted in Lifestyle.

Ask Keir is a column aiming to answer all your health questions. If you want to know about that funny looking lump that won’t go away, why that student doctor keeps poking you or anything at all to do with health get in touch at: [email protected]

All questions will of course be kept confidential and anonymous.

Question of the Week

I’ve had blocked ears for ages now and they just wont clear up. I’ve put a drop of olive oil in them for over two weeks like my GP suggested and it still hasn’t got any better. I use to use cotton buds but she said that might make it worse. Any suggestions?

Having blocked ears is such a common ailment that over 2 and a half million people seek help per year. It can be persistent, painful and just plain annoying but there are many ways to treat it and most of the time it either resolves itself or the treatment works.

First off here’s a quick low down of the basics. Blocked ears are most commonly caused by earwax. Although it can be a right nuisance and it may not be the prettiest thing it is however pretty darn useful. It’s properties somewhat surprisingly include cleaning, lubricating and protecting your ear from dirt, bacteria and water.

However as with all of the bodies systems sometimes something can go wrong. Some people end up producing more earwax than they can get rid of and this increases the likelihood of a blockage.

Also as you get older your ear wax becomes drier and this also increases the chance that your ears will get all blocked up. Another risk factor is some people just have very curvy ear canals and that causes them to get blocked more regularly because the wax has difficulty getting out.

There are also things that you can do that make it worse. One being the use of cotton buds. These are surprising accomplices in the crime of blocked ears and make up one of the main causes.

Now the treatment options. As you’ve said olive oil drops are one of the first line of treatments and prove very successful in helping people.

Another great healer is time (sorry about the cliché) but more often than not nothing is needed to be done other than let your body sort itself out. However if the problems persist a treatment called ear irrigation may be used. This involves a specialist who will use pressurised water to ‘flush’ out your ear and they may pull your ear to straighten the ear canal to assist.

Although it sounds slightly daunting it shouldn’t be painful but it might feel a little strange as the water is squirted around your ear. There are a few other treatments as well but they are rarely used and not really worth going into.

Remember if you have any further problems or anything you’re worried about just check in with your GP.

The rise of hypochondria

Written by Lily Howes on . Posted in Lifestyle.

Doctor’s appointments more often than not involve getting up at the crack of dawn to then be put on hold and endure Westlife’s Greatest Hits before you’re eventually through to Barbara who can only offer you an appointment in the next fifteen minutes. Cue running around like a headless chicken just to arrive at what resembles a TB ridden hell hole and have to wait around for a further 40 minutes. Cheers Barbara.

Why put yourself through all of this when you could stay in bed for an extra hour or two, click on to Google and diagnose yourself? Who needs a Medicine degree when you’ve got NHS Direct?

Having two parents that work in the NHS, a mild obsession with American hospital dramas and an over active imagination has led me to become a self confessed hypochondriac, much to the despair of my poor friends and family.

Past hypochondria induced episodes have included the predictable ‘“this isn’t a headache it’s a brain tumour” panic as well as a day spent in A&E for a “broken arm” – what turned out to be a swollen elbow from a drunken stumble the night before. I will forever be indebted to my dear housemate who accompanied me to the MRI on that Sunday afternoon (but in my defence it really did hurt quite a lot).

It’s not totally our, or rather my, fault that illness related anxieties have become so out of control. With countless health forums and search engines at the click of a button it’s a wonder we haven’t all lost our minds and convinced ourselves we have flesh eating bugs that are consuming our bodies from the inside out.

Irrational as it is we all do it. Don’t tell me there wasn’t an inkling inside you that thought you might have Swine Flu during the 2009 pandemic or that appendicitis hasn’t crossed your mind when you’ve experienced an identifiable stomach pain.

As much as trawling the web for answers can add fuel to fire, at the same time, it can also put many of your worries to rest and be less of a drain on NHS resources. So next time you’re sure your body has become the site of a medical mystery get yourself on symptom checker and think rational thoughts – nine times out of ten it’ll save you from a needless and rather embarrassing visit to your GP, trust me.