Latest Stories from Jessica
Why we should all be reading more books
Scientists are constantly investigating the impact that reading has on the human brain. As it turns out, brain activity widely varies when you compare reading to watching television. After a long day at work, tucking into a book – no matter how good – is likely the last thing your brain wants to do. With numerous streaming services beaming from your television and Instagram prompting you to ‘watch some of...
Refactory tackles the complicated issue of cosmetic packaging
A UK-based firm is focusing on giving a second life to the most difficult-to-recycle items we throw away every day. Packaging used for health and beauty products are extremely difficult to recycle, mainly because they are comprised of various different materials. This is a problem, considering we throw away around 100 billion of these items each year, but the companies who produce them are also guilty of discarding entire pallets...
France will start paying citizens to repair their clothing
In a bid to reduce national textile waste, citizens in France will receive cashback payments in return for mending their clothes rather than throwing them out. If evidence of a heavily polluted planet isn’t enough to stop people from throwing away their clothing at the first visible sign of wear, maybe paying them in cold hard cash will? That’s what the French government had in mind when building a strategy to...
Scientists are scrambling to save Florida’s dying coral reefs
The waters off the coast of Florida have hit ‘hot tub levels’ of warmth. This has caused bleaching to occur on natural coral reefs and has completely obliterated those planted by reef restoration organisations. What happens next? It’s virtually impossible to ignore news about heat waves engulfing our planet right now. Although people have been coming up with creative ways to stay cool in unrelenting temperatures, a dip in the ocean...
Why is fan behaviour at concerts getting out of control?
In the last year or so, there has been a rising number of concert-goers throwing objects at artists while they’re performing. Some musicians are starting to retaliate – and can you blame them? A video of rapper Cardi B throwing her microphone at an audience member while mid-performance is currently trending. The ‘fan’ was attending her open-air performance in Las Vegas and had tossed a drink on her as she...
Opinion – Has the Threads hype died already?
The arrival of Zuckerberg’s text-based social media platform Threads brought a sudden and fleeting moment of excitement to the digital sphere. Now, over half of the 100 million users who signed up have already stopped checking in. It hasn’t even been a month since the social media app Threads was launched, but a look at its current userbase suggests the platform has already lost its appeal. The text-based app, which...
NASA’s new nuclear rockets could cut Mars journey in half
Getting to Mars typically takes more than half a year, but that time could be shortened by NASA’s upcoming nuclear-powered rocket project. It’s been a big month for the physics lovers out there, with Oppenheimer making its debut in cinema and NASA announcing plans to test the launch of a nuclear rocket in space. On Wednesday, the team announced that it would be collaborating with the Defence Advanced Research Projects...
Waste management has been overshadowed by recycling myth
Global recycling systems will unfortunately never be capable of keeping up with the growing amount of plastic humans dispose of each year. How did we forget about other viable options? ‘Reduce, reuse, recycle!’ Every kid was taught this iconic phrase. But the emphasis on recycling as a saving grace has seen society heavily rely on a waste management strategy that has been far too difficult to execute. Over the last few decades,...
How racism sparked the myth that MSG is unhealthy
Many people still believe that the umami-rich seasoning monosodium glutamate (MSG) is bad for their health. This longstanding myth was born out of anti-Asian racism and has since been disproven by science. Let’s investigate its story. Salt, salt, salt… who doesn’t love it? It brings to life the natural flavours of otherwise humble ingredients and satisfies our taste buds in a way that only its opposite – sugar – can compete...
Is social media causing us to self-diagnose?
A recent poll conducted by the tech-driven healthcare company Tebra has found that 30 percent of Gen Z participants had diagnosed themselves with a mental health problem based on information they’d gathered on social media. Although silly Vine-like videos still pop up on Instagram Reels and TikTok feeds from time to time, the growing conversation about mental health and a wider interest in overall well-being has ushered a new genre...
