Issue 1 Volume Five KING’S EYE ON THE WORLD 00 12 September 2014 Editors: Anna Devoy Martha Mulliner Journalists: Max Wood Adam Preston Jasmine Denton Saffron Nathan Saffie Mehra Eve Jawara CURRENT AFFAIRS ENRICHMENT………………READ ALL ABOUT IT! Dylan Riley McNeice This week’s magazine is the first of the academic year. All but Jack Ramsbottom one of our journalists and editors are new to the King’s Eye Alistair Smellie on the World, but we have dived right into the deep end to give you some of the juiciest current stories. We have Alchemy Lucas worldwide news including: The Scottish referendum, GCSE Georgia Spender results in Britain and the Oscar Pistorius verdict. For a contrast we are taking you back to the future with an out of this world article about future space exploration and finding out about the recently discovered, only known, aquatic dinosaur. We hope you enjoy our first edition of this renowned magazine. The Future of Space Travel Max Wood ShLB In the news as of late many stories have been related to space travel. I am going to explore the future of this multi-billion pound industry. To talk about the future we must start in the past. The first successful private space flight took off on June 21, 2004. It may surprise some of you that it took off ten years ago. This occurrence sparked the start of the Private Space-Travel Sector or PST, as I will refer to it. In the years between the 2004 and now, the PST has expanded beyond all expectations. More than 20 companies have been founded in this sector. Perhaps the most famous is SpaceShip 2. This is the second generation of Virgin Galactic’s TSTO or Two Stage to Orbit craft that started with SpaceShip 1. Tickets for this historic craft are valued at $250,000 and are available from the Virgin Atlantic website. However, not all the future craft will carry people into space. Many companies, most notably Stratolaunch Systems, will be able to use a similar technique to fly cargo and satellites into space. These carriers are more powerful than Boeing 747s and actually have been known to use parts from that aircraft to give this six-engined behemoth enough lift. Perhaps the militaries of tomorrow will used these to send weaponry into space. However, the Outer Space Treaty prevents the positioning of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons in the space around the Earth or on the Moon. Despite this, the treaty does not prevent the use of laser weapons or kinetic bombardment weapons. Kinetic bombardment is the idea of firing weapons from space to hit the ground with devastating effect. Though one needn’t worry; the USA is already instigating a project called ‘Project Thor’ to tackle this threat. Ebola Crisis Saffron Nathan ShCM The Ebola crisis is occurring in West Africa and it continues to spiral, claiming more and more victims. From the dates of the 21-23 of July, 96 new cases of Ebola and 7 deaths have been recorded in Liberia and Sierra Leone. During the same period in Guinea, 12 new cases and 5 deaths occurred. The total number of people currently infected is 1,323; so far this is the biggest Ebola outbreak ever. At least 1,550 have died from the disease in three countries. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s Tom Frieden said that the disease was ‘spiraling out of control.’ The situation is bad and it looks like it's going to get worse quickly. ‘There is still a window of opportunity ... but that window is closing, and we need to act now,’ he also said. On Tuesday, Joanne Liu said that the authorities are ‘losing the battle’. ‘Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it. Leaders are failing to come to grips with this transnational threat,’ she said. The Sierra Leonean government has announced this weekend that on 19 September there will be a three day country-wide shutdown. Citizens will be unable to leave their home while health workers go from home to home looking for missing cases. This is not the first time Ebola has forced a shutdown of the country. The first time it was more loosely enforced, the whole country having to stay at home for just one day. Ebola is an infectious and generally fatal disease. The symptoms of Ebola are high fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, sore throat, weakness, stomach pain and lack of appetite. The normal host species is currently unk now n. Should Young Girls Be Allowed To Compete in Beauty Pageants? Alchemy Lucas ShAR A recent article in The Times Magazine, and the commotion in France last year, prompted me to ask this question. Is it right to allow girls as young as two years old to compete in cut throat competitions, putting their all- important self confidence on the line? Many people seem to think so. In 2013, the French senate voted to ban child beauty pageants, the former sports minister said, “Let us not make our girls believe from a very young age that their worth is only judged by their appearance.” I believe that allowing young girls to enter beauty contests is very wrong- parents may argue that winning is a boost to their child’s confidence, but to those who lose multiple contests, how can it be anything but a large knock to their confidence? In sports, it is one thing to criticize a player’s skill and technique, this is very changeable, but to insult something as unchangeable as a child’s appearance (many girls involved in beauty pageants develop eating disorders) I believe is morally wrong. It is not just confidence that is a problem, personality is effected as well. In The Times Magazine, a girl as young as two was described as “checking out competition”, when meeting a competitor. If a toddler views playmates as rivals, and feels that they are better than all other girls because of their looks, what can we expect of them when they are adults? Another problem is the message that the beauty pageant for children sends to the world. The problem of sexism is still at large, and many parents try to educate their sons and daughters to have a view that both genders are equal. But how can we expect children to rise above stereotypes, when two year olds are decked in eye shadow, mascara and lipstick? Is there another way? Some people argue that pageants are the only outlet left for “academically suffering girls” and that to stop girls from taking part in these contests is like “taking boys away from football”. I would suggest that it is much more beneficial to these girls to allow them to join clubs like gymnastics and dance, which can still involve performance and be fun, whilst looking after their fitness and health. They can also make friends and learn useful life skills, improve their self esteem by finding a hobby which they can excel in, without being sexualized and taking blows to confidence by being involved in pageants. Amphibious Dino Alistair Smellie 3RL A giant fossil, found in the Sahara desert, helped scientists discover the Spinosaurus, the largest carnivorous dinosaur. This 95 million year old fossil also confirms the beliefs about the first-known amphibious dinosaur. Scientists say the dinosaur had flat, paddle-like feet and a long head like a crocodile that would have allowed it to dive with ease. SPINOSAURUS remains were first discovered about 100 years ago in Egypt, and were moved to a museum in Germany. They were destroyed during World War II, however, when a bomb hit the building. The new fossil, which was found in the Kem Kem fossil beds in Morocco, has provided scientists with a more detailed look at the dinosaur. The research team says that SPINOSAURUS was a scary beast and may even have been bigger even than the mighty TYRANNOSAURUS REX. Nizar Ibrahim, a dinosaur expert from the University of Chicago, said: "It is a really bizarre dinosaur. It has a long neck, a long trunk, a long tail, a 7ft (2m) sail on its back and a snout like a crocodile. The one thing we noticed was that the proportions were really bizarre. The hind limbs were shorter than in other predatory dinosaurs, the foot claws were quite wide and the feet almost paddle shaped." Researchers say that SPINOSAURUS lived in a place they describe as "the river of giants", an area of water that would have stretched from Morocco to Egypt. They believe the creature would have feasted on giant sharks and other car-sized fish called coelacanths and lungfish, competing with enormous crocodile-like creatures for its prey. The Spinosaurus will feature in a new National Geographic exhibition in Washington D.C which will attract many visitors from around the globe. All 4 one and none for 4oD Eve Jawara, ShCI Channel 4 has declared that its on demand service, 4oD, will be replaced. There is going to be a new online centre. It will be home to all of their channels, content and assistance. The centre will be called All 4 and will show all of Channel 4’s networks including: Channel 4, E4, More4 and 4-7. All 4 will be available on devices such as tablets and smart phones. All 4 is designed by the Channel 4’s chief executive, David Abraham, to appeal to a younger generation of viewers. It will be a ‘first for television’.