Junior Project Prize - 2022/23 by Radley College

Junior Project Prize 2022/23

Introduction At the start of 2022 Shell and Remove boys were challenged to complete a short project on a subject of their choice and submit their work in the Summer term for Prize consideration by the Warden. The purpose of this annual event is to celebrate students’ individual interests and passions. Work must be scholarly and of use and interest to others. As before, the task was purely voluntary and the mode of submission up to the boys. Academic Prefects and top 6.1 students mentored Junior submissioners and had the job of selecting and judging the best work. Chosen projects were then sent up to The Warden for his appraisal and Prize consideration. The 2022 projects were stellar and of extraordinary variety and quality. This lengthy document celebrates just the best work. It comprises the Prize Winners and those Commended in the two year-groups. Included are documentary films and original musical compositions –quite alternative – as well as more traditional projects on topics ranging from the Classical World, to Biology and Philosophy. Where possible, the original formatting has been preserved and work has not been edited.

Ralph Woodling Master in Charge of Junior Scholars

Foreword Once again, it was a tremendous pleasure to receive the selected Junior Project Prize submissions. 2022 was characterised by work of considerable endeavour: lengthy and complicated submissions that must have taken many weeks to complete. As in past years, it was good to see the projects spanning all kinds of format and topic . . . the competition is a true celebration of the boys’ academic passions. It is pleasing to see two boys who were Commended as Shells featuring again as Removes but this time winning Prizes. Mikolaj Rutka’s philosophical (and practical) thesis on Universal Basic Income, and Max Dawson Paul’s fascinating treatise on War in Afghanistan really were highlights. The effort and commitment the Junior boys have shown in participating in and celebrating this annual event sets them apart and provides sure foundation for progress in scholarship as they mature as young men. My thanks to Mr Woodling, Mr Barlass and to the Academic Prefects for overseeing this great competition.

John Moule Warden

Contents Max Dawson Paul – The War in Afghanistan (2001 – 2021)

Boris Shippey – Is Digital Art the First Chapter in a New Story? Commended

Kelvin Lam – Prime Number and its Uniqueness Winner

Will Rose – The Easter Island Story: What Lessons can be Learnt? Winner

Fintan Murphy – The Evolution and Classification of the Sideneck Turtle

Freddie Douglas Pennant – Digital Music

113

Ned Chapman – Investigating Fluidisation of Granular Solids Commended (Shell)

115

Mikolaj Rutka – Should Universal Basic Income by the Future of Society?

121

Aaron Li – The Marine Fish Tank

134

Rex Singlehurst – The Relationship Between NFL and Rugby Commended

150

Ed Mackaness – King Mithradates: Murder or Defender of the Hellenic World? Commended

171

Tolu Olanipekun – Colonisation and its Effects

194

Max Dawson Paul The War in Afghanistan (2001 - 2021)

The War in Afghanistan (2001-2021)

A political map of Afghanistan Contents: 1. Brief history of Afghanistan and Afghanistan before the war 2. Reasons the m,2awar started 3. Early stages 4. Mid stages 5. Later stages 6. Effects on Afghanistan 7. Effects on the Coalition 8. Was it worth it? 9. Bibliography

1. Brief history of Afghanistan and Afghanistan before the war Although archaeologists have found evidence of human inhabitation in Afghanistan from as far back as 50,000 years ago, the first notable group of people to settle in Afghanistan were the Persians under Darius the Great in 552 BCE. Alexander the Great also led the Greeks to the land called Afghanistan today in 356 BCE. In fact, many of the foundations of modern day cities and towns are Greek. Buddhism flourished from the end of the first century CE until an Arab raid on Kandahar in 699-700 brought Islam to the land which makes up modern day Afghanistan. This was reinforced by the Turks as they gained power in India, Afghanistan and Iran. The founder of the Mongol Empire Genghis Khan invaded in the 13th century and for the next few hundred years, the piece of land today known as Afghanistan was fought over by multiple Indian and Persian empires. However, in the 18th century, a group of Pashtun tribes under Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the Monguls and the Persians and consolidated its own empire. Throughout the 19th century Afghanistan was caught up in the Anglo-Russian power struggle. This was known as ‘The Great Game’. Britain attempted to bring Afghanistan under direct rule but was defeated in the first Anglo-Afghan war (1839-1842). Britain attempted to takeover Afghanistan again in 1878 and by 1880 Britain had taken over a significant quantity of Afghan territory and its external affairs. In order to protect its colony of India and keep Russia at bay, Britain provided weapons and an annual subsidy to Afghanistan’s rulers. One of these rulers was Abdul Rahman Khan who ruled between 1881 and 1901. He is known as the ‘Unifier of Afghanistan’. In 1893 the Durand line fixed the border with British India, however tribal areas were split, leaving half of what is now known as Afghanistan. After his death in 1901, Khan was succeeded by his son Habibullah.

Genghis Khan After the First World War, pressure was mounting for full independence from Britain. Following Habibullah’s assassination in 1919, his son Amunullah seized the throne and declared independence. Britain was then defeated in the third Anglo-Afghan war in 1919-1921. Mohamed Zahir took power in 1933 when he was just 19 years old. However, he was controlled by his two uncles who were successive prime ministers. In 1973 the King’s cousin, Daoud staged a coup, declaring Afghanistan a republic and himself president. The USSR and the US gave lots of monetary aid to the country, $2.52 billion and $533 million respectively between 1955 and 1978. Daoud confirmed more women’s rights and Afghanistan benefited from gas and oil revenues. On the 27th of April 1978 Daoud was overthrown and killed in a communist coup, known as the Sawr Revolution led by Afghanistan’s People’s Democratic Party (PDPA). However, internal

conflict split the party soon after the coup. The leaders of one faction called Parcham, meaning ‘banner’, were expelled while the other group called the Khalsa meaning ‘the masses’ which was headed by Noor Mohammed Taraki, took power. The Khalsa attacked Islam and enjoyed little popular support. Radical reforms led to local rebellions and ]soldiers defected to resistance groups. The USSR increased aid to Taraki’s regime while the USA actively supported resistance groups. The Soviets urged the Taraki regime to change its unpopular policies, but they refused. The USSR feared that the USA would take advantage of the increasing chaos, so the president of the USSR, Leonid Brezhnev sent in soldiers in December 1979. He believed that Soviet troops would be able to withdraw from Afghanistan after six months. Taraki was overthrown and allegedly suffocated by party rival Hafizullah Amin, who was killed after Soviet troops entered his palace. The Soviets installed the leader of the Parcham group, Babrak Kamal, into power. He declared allegiance to Islam and reversed Taraki’s unpopular policies. However, the presence of Soviet troops in the country sparked a national uprising in Afghanistan and the Soviet forces responded by destroying livestock and agriculture to cut off supplies to the resistance. Nearly one million Afghans lost their lives to the Russian bombings of villages. The secret police organised by the KGB spread terror in urban areas but resistance grew further, and became international. Mujahidin groups, exiled in Pakistan but supported mainly by the USA, Saudi Arabia and China supported the Afghan resistance. The USA poured lots of money and weapons into the arms of Afghan resistance in order to try and make Afghanistan the Russian ‘Vietnam’. Anti-communist support also came from Pakistan and Britain. By the end of the 1980s, support from the USA and Saudi Arabia reached around $1 billion per year in total. Meanwhile between 1986 and 1990 around $5 billion worth of weapons went to the ‘holy fighters’ of the Afghan Muhahidin. The occupation of Afghanistan costed the USSR a minimum of 14,000 lives and just over $5 billion per year. The new president at the time, Mikhail Gorbachev prepared to withdraw Soviet troops and wanted to leave behind a friendly government. The head of the Afghan Intelligence Service, Dr Najibullah was installed as president. The last Soviet troops were withdrawn in February 1989, leaving one and a half million Afghans dead, five million disabled and five million refugees. The Mujahidin were able to capture large parts of Afghanistan, continuing to fight against the Russian puppet. In April 1992, they took Kabul and declared Afghanistan an Islamic state. Burhannaudin Rabbani was elected President, but a power struggle ensued as the Mujahidin victors were not united. Commanders Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid Dostum entered Kabul to try and prevent a takeover of the city by rival warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his allies. There were four main groups who fought for control over Kabul, each receiving foreign backing from different countries. The United Nations (UN) reported that over 1,800 civilians had been killed and that 500,000 were fleeing the city. By the end of 1992 Kabul was completely devastated due to the actions of the warlords. Other cities suffered in the same way as Kabul. By 1994, at least 20,000 people had died but the warlords still refused to meet. It was at this point that a new force appeared. A small group of religious students (or ‘Taliban’ in Pashto) living near Kandahar criticised the behaviour of commanders controlling the area. This group was supported by various people in Pakistan and with this support, they launched a military campaign which aimed to create an Islamic state, based on strict Sharia law. The first city they took was Kandahar, the home of their leader Mullah Mohammed Omar in November 1994. The war-weary population put up little resistance and the Taliban imposed order and seized weapons. Their perception of

Islam was extreme and harsh. Women especially and educated city-dwellers were affected the worst. The Taliban began relying on foreign fighters and torture, killings and other human rights violations became more frequent and intense. Mullah Mohammed Omar

The Taliban received lots of Pakistani and Saudi support. An estimated 100,000 Pakistanis trained and fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan between 1994 and 2001. Saudi Arabia provided funds, diplomatic support and various goods. Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi who had funded and trained Arab Mujahidin recruits during the Soviet occupation renewed his support and returned to Afghanistan in 1996. By the year 2000, the Taliban controlled about 90% of Afghan territory but were only officially recognised by Pakistan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Relations with the USA were particularly hostile.

2. Reasons the war started The relations with the USA were hostile because the USA accused the Taliban of harbouring Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam. This in tandem with international concern over the extreme oppression of women and the country’s opium production prompted two rounds of UN sanctions which shows how poor the relations were between each other. Soon after 9/11, the US National Security Council agreed that military action would most likely have to be taken against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. On the 14th of September 2001, President Bush decided to give the Taliban an ultimatum to extradite Osama bin Laden and told the Taliban to “Close immediately every terrorist training camp, hand over every terrorist and their supporters, and give the United States full access to terrorist training camps for inspection”. On the same day as Bush’s announcement, religious scholars met in Kabul and decided that bin Laden should be surrendered. On the other hand, Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban disagreed and stated: “turning over Osama would only be a disgrace for us and for Islamic thought and belief and would be a weakness”. In the end, the Taliban refused the ultimatum, saying that bin Laden was protected by the traditional Pashtun laws of hospitality. On the 4th of October, NATO invoked Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty for the first time in its history. Article V states that an

attack on one member of their alliance is considered to be an attack on all members. On the 7th of October the US aerial bombing campaign began, this was the official start of the war.

3. Early stages of the war (2001-2008) Even though Operation Enduring Freedom, i.e the invasion of Afghanistan had begun on the 7th of October 2001, covert operations had begun several weeks earlier. Only 15 days after 9/11, the US covertly inserted members of the CIA’s Special Activities Division into Afghanistan. They brought a metal case containing $3 million to buy support. This formed the Northern Afghanistan Liaison Team. Their job was to link up with the Northern Alliance in the Panjshir Valley to the north of Kabul. The Northern Alliance was a military alliance of groups operating between 1996 and 2001. It fought a defensive war against the Taliban regime and was mainly supported by the USA, India, Iran and Russia. In 2001, the Northern Alliance controlled less than 10% of the country and was cornered in the north-east and based in Badakhshan province. The US invasion of Afghanistan provided support to Northern Alliance troops in a two-month war against the Taliban which the Northern Alliance won. As the Taliban was forced from control of the country and the new Afghan Interim Administration was put in place, the Northern Alliance was dissolved. At the start of October, 12-man Special Forces teams began arriving in the country to work with the CIA and the Northern Alliance. Within a few weeks of the start of Operation Enduring Freedom, the Northern Alliance with the assistance from US ground and air support had captured multiple key cities from the Taliban. Two major cities captured by NATO forces were Mazar-I-Sharif and Kabul. Mazar-I-Sharif was important because it is a significant transport hub with two major airports and a major supply route leading into Uzbekistan. Taking the city would enable humanitarian aid into the country to help with alleviating the food crisis. The crisis was so bad it threatened six million people with starvation. About 2,000 members of the Northern Alliance attacked Mazar-I-Sharif on horseback and using pickup trucks. The USA provided close air support to destroy Taliban vehicles. After a bloody 90-minute battle, the Taliban withdrew. Moreover, on the 12th of November 2001 the US military tracked and killed al-Qaeda’s number 3, named Mohammed Atef with an air strike in Kabul. On the very same day, the Taliban decided to completely withdraw from Kabul and regroup in Jalalabad and Kandahar. By the end of the 13th of November, Taliban forces had evacuated the city and Northern Alliance forces arrived the following afternoon and took control of the city. While they were retreating, the Taliban took the Shelter Now prisoners with them but abandoned them in a prison in Ghazni on the 13th of November. Shelter Now is an international charity, focused on bringing shelter to the vulnerable. However, anti-Taliban Afghans found a satellite phone and called the American embassy in Pakistan. SEAL Team Six was able to extract the prisoners from Ghazni on the night of the 14th of November with the help of Chinook helicopters and evacuate them to Pakistan.

Northern Alliance troops attacking Taliban held Mazar-I-Sharif Having driven the Taliban from power, the USA and its allies began building military bases close to major cities all over Afghanistan. However, most al-Qaeda and Taliban were not actually captured and fled to Pakistan or remote mountainous regions within Afghanistan. On the 20th of December 2001, the UN authorised an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) with a mandate to help the Afghans maintain security in Kabul and in the surrounding areas. The mandate did not extend beyond the area in and around Kabul for the first couple of years. By February 2002, 18 countries were contributing to the ISAF. At the Bonn Conference in December 2001 in Bonn, Germany, the leader of an Afghan Interim Authority was to be chosen. Hamid Karzai was selected. Omar then disappeared leaving either for rural Afghanistan or Pakistan. Most leaders and thousands of fighters went to Pakistan, although many gave up their arms. However, some Taliban fighters remained in the four rural provinces of Kandahar, Zabel, Helmand and Uruzgan. By the end of November, bin Laden was at a fortified trading camp in Tora Bora, 20km from the Pakistan border. Signal intercepts and interrogation of captured Taliban fighters suggested there were large numbers of foreign fighters and senior leaders in the area. This led to the start of the battle of Tora Bora which began on the 6th of December. CIA teams were used to advise eastern anti-Taliban militias under the command of two warlords, Hazrat Ali and Mohammed Zaman. Lots of air strikes were called to clear the mountainous camps. The Afghan soldiers were not very capable though, and on the 9th of December special forces were deployed. 40 operators from A Squadron Delta Force deployed and assumed tactical command of the battle from the CIA. 12 members of the British SBS were deployed alongside them. These soldiers looked for bin Laden but did not find him. Two weeks into the battle, on the 12th of December, Zaman begun negotiating with the trapped Taliban and al-Qaeda in Tora Bora. Zaman called a temporary truce to allow al-Qaeda to surrender. However, hundreds of alQaeda members were able to flee to Pakistan and bin Laden was able to flee Tora Bora during the night of the 12th of December and go to Kunar province with 200 Saudi and Yemeni jihadists. An estimated 220 al-Qaeda fighters were killed and 52 prisoners were taken. No American or British personnel were killed. The invasion of Afghanistan had been a success for the west, 10 US soldiers were killed between the start of the invasion in October 2001 and March 2002. Comparatively, this was a lot better than the Taliban did, 15,000 Taliban were killed or taken prisoner in the same time period. Special forces had done most of the work with the

assistance of Afghan allies so reasonably few NATO soldiers had been required. Karzai was also liked and respected.

Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014 Following their initial success, the USA did not have an obvious goal other than finding senior Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders. The Bush administration originally opposed nation-building but it became one of the reasons to stay. Bush made a speech in April 2002 where he made his desire to rebuild Afghanistan clear. The USA wanted to bring democracy and women’s rights to the country. The wider international community contributed to the nation-building effort in Afghanistan too. The US largely funded and supported the creation of an Afghan army. This was not done with much urgency though, as the USA believed that the Taliban did not pose much of a threat to them anymore. The army became very much an afterthought and was poorly equipped and trained which benefited the Taliban. Various Taliban members tried to negotiate with Karzai repeatedly between 2002 and 2004. The US was very against this though and did not allow the Afghan government to negotiate with the Taliban at all. In April 2002 the first attempt to form a larger, more organised group of Taliban occurred. This happened in the south of Afghanistan. This was organised by former mid-level Taliban officials near the Helmand border in a refugee camp. The organisation was made up of 23 groups of 50 jihadists. The organisation had a total of about 1,200 jihadists in it. They operated in the four core southern provinces of Kandahar, Zabel, Uruzgan and Helmand. Operation Jacana is the codename for a series of operations carried out by coalition forces to try and flush out and destroy these Taliban groups. The operations were most notably carried out by 45 Commando, Royal Marines. The Australian SAS and US special forces also participated. The operation is named after an African bird type, Jacana which is described as being ‘shy’ and ‘easily overlooked’. Coalition forces did not come across many insurgents but the main event was on the 9th of May when Royal Marines discovered a cave system, previously used by the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Although few insurgents were found, 30 truckloads of anti-tank and anti-air weapons were discovered as well as an abundance of other heavy military equipment, such as mortars. On the 10th of May the Royal Engineers destroyed most of this weaponry in the largest controlled explosion British forces had carried out since the Second World War. 45 Commando were specifically chosen for this operation due to their expertise in high-altitude warfare as they train quite regularly in the Norwegian mountains as the operation was conducted between 6,000 and 8,000 feet above sea level.

Royal Marines waiting to board a chinook shortly before the start of Operation Jacana Between 2002 and 2005, the Taliban reorganised and planned a resurgence. The Taliban generated some support after Coalition troops would go on missions to hunt down jihadists with poor intelligence. The Taliban received support from this as many civilians were killed, an example of this is a wedding which was misinterpreted by Coalition forces as a Taliban meeting. Few new high level al-Qaeda or Taliban leaders were caught. Taliban recruitment increased following the repetition of Coalition mistakes. Most Taliban leaders had fled to Pakistan by 2004. Until 2005, the Taliban did not undertake many actions, meanwhile, Western attention was diverted when the US military invaded Iraq in March 2003. A very cruel and violent man, Mullah Dadullah was put in charge of the grand offensive the Taliban were planning. He introduced suicide bombing as a Taliban technique. In the summer of 2003, many Afghan government soldiers, humanitarian aid workers and Coalition soldiers were killed as a result of Taliban guerrilla attacks. This was because in 2003, the Taliban leader Mullah Omar launched an insurgency against ISAF and the government. During the second half of 2003 and 2004, assassinations and kidnappings of government officials were quite frequent. The village elders also began collaborating with the Taliban in 2005 due to fear of the consequences if they did not. The Taliban also burnt down schools run by the government. In late June until mid-July 2005, US Navy Seals carried out Operation Red Wings to disrupt local Taliban led by Ahmad Shah. This was to try and bring stability to the Kunar Province for the Afghan Parliament elections scheduled for September 2005. Although the operation was a success, it came at a great cost for the Coalition, only one soldier survived and 19 died. Operation Whalers finished the job Operation Red Wings started. Taliban activity dropped a lot and Shah was wounded badly. The Taliban regained control over many villages in the south of Afghanistan by the end of 2005. This was mainly because the villages felt that they were not receiving enough support from the government and hoped that life would improve under the Taliban. The government was deemed to be weak, which it was and the police were heavily underfunded, some districts had no government presence at all. The army was also underfunded.

British troops patrolling through poppy fields in Helmand province Insurgent attacks increased fourfold between 2002 and 2006. Afghanistan was said to be in ‘serious danger’ of falling into Taliban control, even though there were 40,000 ISAF troops in the country. From January 2006, an ISAF contingent begun to replace US troops in the south of Afghanistan. The UK formed the core of the force with the assistance of Estonia, Australia, the Netherlands and Canada. Canada wanted to deploy in Kandahar so the UK deployed in Helmand province. This was the centre of poppy production. The UK should not have deployed in Helmand province, but to another province because Pashtun Helmandis had not forgotten the Battle of Maiwand in 1880 near Helmand province. A popular rumour among locals was that the British sought to avenge their loss in the battle. This was a significant source of resistance among the Afghan population in Helmand. Local intelligence suggested that the Taliban intended to start a brutal campaign in the middle of 2006. This was ignored by politicians as the US was distracted in Iraq and Secretary of State Rumsfeld wanted to make the Afghan army cheaper rather than effective. This meant that of the 70,000 troops the Afghan army was supposed to have, only 26,000 had been properly trained. The Coalition had largely defeated the Taliban, but not entirely. On the 29th of May 2006, a US military truck in Kabul lost control and ploughed into civilian vehicles, killing one and wounding six. This led to a riot killing 20 and injuring 160. When about 400 men started throwing rocks and shooting at the soldiers, US troops had to ‘defend themselves’. This emphasised the growing hostility the Afghan people had to foreigners which had been building since 2004. In the beginning of 2007, the UK’s Ministry of Defence announced plans to increase the number of British troops in the country up to 7,700. The Shinwar massacre occurred on the 4th of March 2007 after US Marines killed 12 civilians and injured 33 more in response to a bomb ambush. The Afghan National Army (ANA) was the main fighting force in the Battle of Musa Qala in December 2007, supported by British forces. The Taliban were forced out of the town successfully. A major embarrassment for NATO occurred on the 13th of June 2008. Taliban fighters showed their strength by freeing all 1200 prisoners in Kandahar jail, 400 of which were Taliban fighters.

Infographic from the BBC on the Kandahar jail escape Throughout the early years of the war, Pakistan was seen as an ally of the Taliban, even though they assisted in the capture of multiple top al-Qaeda leaders, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who was the ‘principal architect of the 9/11 attacks’ in the 9/11 Commission Report. However, Pakistan provided significant funding, safe houses and political support to the Taliban harboured in the country. In the summer of 2008, President Bush authorised raids against jihadists in Pakistan. Pakistan said it would not allow foreign forces into their territory. On the 3rd of September 2008 US commandos attacked an enemy stronghold in Pakistan. Pakistan condemned the attack and called it “a gross violation of Pakistan’s territory”. On the 6th of September, Pakistan announced an indefinite disconnection of supply lines to NATO forces and even shot at NATO aircraft which entered Pakistan’s airspace on the 25th of September. Tensions between Pakistan and NATO ran high but never led to any major military actions.

4. Middle stages of the war (2009-2015) In June 2009, a British led operation called Operation Panther’s Claw begun in Helmand province. Its aim was to secure multiple river crossings in order to establish a more permanent ISAF presence in the area. Helmand province was deemed to be “The centre of Taliban insurgency”, British forces faced heavy combat regularly from the Taliban. Panther’s Claw was conducted in “one of the main Taliban strongholds” by Lt Col Richardson. The Ministry of Defence described the operation as “one of the largest air operations in modern times”. Just over 350 soldiers from The Black Watch, Royal Regiment of Scotland were transported by 12 Chinook helicopters, accompanied by 13 other aircraft. These included Apache attack helicopters and Harriers. British troops were able to establish a strong foothold in the area and were able to kill multiple insurgents. The Ministry of Defence also announced on the 23rd of June that 1.3 tonnes of poppy seeds, used to make various synthetic opioids had been destroyed. Numerous Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were also discovered and disabled. On the 1st of July, Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe was killed by the Taliban during Panther’s Claw while being part of an 18 vehicle convoy when an IED exploded under his BvS 10 armoured vehicle. The explosion killed one other and wounded six others. Lt Col Thorneloe is the highest ranking British officer to be

killed in action since Lt Col Herbert Jones in the Falklands War. Lt Col Thorneloe was also the highest ranking British officer to die in the whole war in Afghanistan. It is also worth mentioning he was educated at Radley College and his picture is outside the chapel there.

Lt Col Thorneloe, pictured in Afghanistan During the Kunduz Province Campaign, involving mainly the USA and Germany, a devastating NATO raid occurred on the 4th of September 2009. It happened roughly seven kilometres southwest of Kunduz where Taliban fighters hijacked civilian supply trucks. 179 people were killed, including just over 100 civilians. In June 2010, Germany announced it would be paying $5,000 dollars to each of the families of the 100 or so civilian victims. The Afghan Commerce Minister at the time, Amin Farhang, described the sum as laughable. On the 1st of December, the recently elected President Obama announced that he would send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. This was met with hostility from anti-war organisations. Many US cities saw protests the day after on the 2nd of December. Many protestors compared the decision to deploy more troops to Afghanistan to the expansion of the Vietnam War under the Johnson administration. Anti-war protests outside the White House on the 2nd of December 2008.

In the 2009 Afghan presidential election, Karzai’s win of 54% received accusations of fraud and so over 400,000 Karzai votes had to be disallowed. In southern Afghanistan where the Taliban held the most power, there was sporadic violence directed at security personnel and voters. As the number of US troops deployed surged, so did Special Forces operations, increasing sixfold. Furthermore, 700 air strikes took place in September 2010, versus 257 throughout the entirety of 2009. The general consensus by 2009 suggested that the war should end. Karzai wanted to make peace with the Taliban but this was undermined by Obama’s increase of American soldiers in the country. In February 2010 planning began for Operation Moshtarak. This was heavily publicised by ISAF as they wanted the Taliban there to flee. It involved 15,000 coalition troops and its goal was to capture the town of Marjah and destroy the last Taliban stronghold in the centre of

Helmand province. The operation failed and even though Coalition forces originally captured the city, the Afghans and ISAF failed to set up a working government in the town. This meant that the Taliban had a successful resurgence and took over the city after NATO troops withdrew. Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban cofounder and second in command at the time was one of the leading Taliban in favour of talks with the US and Afghan governments. Karzai’s administration held talks with Baradar in February 2010 but later in the same month he was captured in a USPakistani raid in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. Karzai was angry as he suspected the arrest occurred because Pakistani intelligence did not like the idea of Afghan peace talks. On the 2nd of May 2011, US officials announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Operation Neptune Spear, conducted by US Navy SEALs. Pakistan received lots of international scrutiny and was accused of sheltering bin Laden. Pakistan claimed however that it had been sharing intelligence with the USA on bin Laden’s compound since 2009. Almost all NATO countries announced troop reductions after the killing of bin Laden, even though Taliban attacks continued at the same rate they did in 2011. On the 11th of January 2012, Karzai and Obama met and agreed to transfer combat operations from NATO to Afghan forces by spring 2013. This left NATO in a “training, assisting, advising role”, according to Obama. He insisted that any US mission beyond 2014 would focus solely on counterterrorism operations and training. After 13 years, the USA and the UK officially ended their combat operation in Afghanistan on the 26th of October 2014. Around 500 UK troops remained in the country in non-combat roles.But the withdrawal of troops did not mean the withdrawal of a military presence. The US troops leaving Afghanistan were replaced by private security companies hired by the USA and the UN. Many of these private security companies consisted of ex-Coalition troops which meant the US and the UK could retain a presence in combat on the ground, without risking the lives of men and women from their own forces. The Taliban was strengthened by the weaknesses of Afghan security forces, such as their lack of air power. The Taliban also capitalised on the political infighting in Kabul and the diversion of attention on Afghanistan to crises in countries such as Syria and Ukraine. On the 22nd of June 2015, the Taliban launched an attack on the National Assembly in Kabul. A car bomb was detonated and fighters attacked the building with RPGs and assault rifles.

5. Later stages of war (2016-2021) At the start of February 2016, Taliban insurgents renewed their assault on Sangin. Therefore, the USA chose to send extra troops to boulster the Afghan forces there. However, on the 14th of March 2016, Khanneshin District in Helmand Province fell to the Taliban and Afghan troops were retreating back to urban centres in Helmand. On the 22nd of September 2016, the Afghan government announced plans to sign a draft peace deal with Herb-i-Islami, a violent militant group who attacked coalition forces. Herb-i-Islami agreed to stop hostilities, cut ties to extremist groups and respect the Afghan Constitution in exchange for government recognition of the group and the removal of UN sanctions against its leader. On the 23rd of March 2017, the town of Sangin was overrun by Taliban. During the primary phase of the war, almost a quarter of British casualties were caused by fighting for the town and hundreds of Afghans had lost their

lives trying to defend it. On the 29th of April 2017, the US deployed 5,000 Marines to the Southern Helmand Province. This brought the number of US troops in the country up to 11,000. By January 2018, the Taliban were openly active in 70% of the country. Following attacks by the Taliban such as the Kabul ambulance bombing killing 100 people, US President Donald Trump ruled out any kind of talks with the Taliban. However, on the 27th of February 2018, Afghan President Aschraf Ghani proposed unconditional peace talks with the Taliban offering to release their prisoners and recognise them as an official political party. This was the most favourable deal the Taliban had been offered since the start of the war. The Taliban carried on however with violent fighting and offensives and did not publicly respond to Ghani’s offer. By August 2019, the Taliban controlled more territory than at any point in the war since 2001. The US were also close to reaching a peace deal with the Taliban at the time and was preparing to withdraw 5,000 troops from the country. However, these negotiations were cancelled in September.

Ashram Ghani, the Afghan president from 2014 until 2021 On the 31st of March 2020, a three-person Taliban delegation arrived in the capital Kabul to discuss the release of prisoners. They were the first Taliban representatives to visit Kabul since 2001. The talks came to no avail though. The Taliban begun its last major offensive on the 1st of May 2021. In the first three months of the offensive, the Taliban made significant gains in the countryside increasing the number of districts under its control from 73 to 223. On the 13th of April the Biden administration announced the remaining 2,500 American troops would be withdrawn by the 11th of September 2021, the 20th anniversary of 9/11. On the 6th of August 2021, the Taliban captured their first provincial capital and over the next 10 days they rapidly took control of many other capitals. By the 15th of August, the Taliban had reached the outskirts of Kabul. They faced no resistance and took the city by the end of the same day. The war was even declared over by the Taliban on the same day. For the next 15 days, the Coalition forces worked tirelessly to airlift the vulnerable people out of the country, such as people who had worked as translators for the Coalition forces.

6. Effects on Afghanistan The war killed 46,319 Afghan civilians. However, realistically the death toll is probably much higher when you count unaccounted deaths by disease, loss of access to food and water and/or other indirect consequences of the war. In fact, the IPPNW stated that 106,000-170,000 civilians have been killed as a result of the war in Afghanistan. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) attributed about 41% of civilian casualties to government and coaliton forces until 2008. This percentage lowers to 15% by 2015. Afghanistan was one of the deadliest places to be a child. 7,792 were killed during the war and 18,662 injured. Many of those injured or killed will have been the victims of IEDs or air strikes. At least 2.7 million of Afghanistan’s 38 million population have been forced to flee the country due to the war. The UN also estimates that about four million people are internally displaced in the country. The percentage of people living below the poverty line increased from 33.7% at the start of the war to 54.5% in 2016. Opium production also more than doubled between 2002 and 2019 in order to raise funds for the Taliban. This has had significant effects on particularly western countries even creating a socalled “opioid crisis” in the USA which accounted for 46,802 deaths in the USA alone. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 80% of the global opiate demand is supplied by Afghanistan, showing the war has had a major effect on countries not even fighting in the war. The Afghan military and police who fought alongside Coaltion forces are estimated to have lost between 66,000 and 69,000 soldiers. 84,191 opposition fighters lost their lives, roughly 33,000 of these deaths occurred in Pakistan.

7. Effects on the Coalition The war killed 136 journalists and media workers, 549 humanitarian aid workers and 3,936 US contractors. 2,442 US military personnel lost their lives in the war and 1,144 other allied troops lost their lives. The Pentagon’s near-final estimate of the cost of the war in 2020 was $825 billion. Another estimate, recognised by Joe Biden puts the cost at the end of the war over $2 trillion. Since 2013, the UK’s contribution to the war in Afghanistan added up to £37 billion ($56.46 billion). In 2011, the average cost of deploying one US soldier in Afghanistan was just over $1 million per year. Since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, opium production increased hugely, and by 2005, Afghanistan produced just over 80% of the world’s opium, the majority of which was processed into heroin and sold in the west. According to a report from 2018 by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstrucion (SIGAR), the USA spent $8.6 billion trying to stop Afghanistan’s drug trade since 2002 and deny the Taliban a revenue source. A SIGAR report published in May 2021 estimated that the Taliban earn 60% of their annual revenue from the drug trade, while UN officials estimate that roughly $400 million was earned by the Taliban from the trade between 2018 and 2019.

8. Conclusion/was the war worth it In conclusion, having looked at the evidence, I cannot say that I believe the war was worth it. However, there were successes in the war for the coalition. For example, Osama bin Laden was

killed, as well as many other senior Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders. Many more insurgents were also killled than coaltition troops. On the other hand, the coalition spent a lot of money, particulourly the USA, on a war they did not win. The coalition did not win, in fact, the Taliban now possesses and controls the entirety of Afghanistan, more than what they started with in 2001. The Coalition also lost a relatively large number of troops, not to mention the appalling number of people who were wounded or lost limbs, especially to IEDs.

Bibliography • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

https://newint.org/features/2008/11/01/afghanistan-history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_history_of_Afghanistan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%932021) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Alliance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Jacana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Musa_Qala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Panther%27s_Claw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Watch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Thorneloe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Kunduz_airstrike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan%27s_role_in_the_War_on_Terror https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Ghani_Baradar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Omari http://thewarinafghanistanhchs.weebly.com/effects-of-the-war.html https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2021/afghanistan-visualising-impact-ofwar/index.html https://www.worldhistory.org/Genghis_Khan/ https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/context-culture/who-was-kinghabibullah-ii-a-query-from-the-literature/ https://www.thoughtco.com/the-mujahideen-of-afghanistan-195373 https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/30/asia/ashraf-ghani-flee-afghanistan-intl/index.html https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mohammad-Omar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarposa_prison_attack_of_2008 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13184920 https://www.foxnews.com/story/northern-alliance-takes-mazar-e-sharif

Commended

Boris Shippey Is Digital Art the First Chapter in a New Story?

Is digital art the first chapter in a new story of art? Art is a constantly changing human activity, emerging from Palaeolithic art by the cavemen to more modern day detailed and exciting artwork. Art has allowed humanity to learn about the past, what people were like, what life was like and what people did. As a species we have been creating since the beginning using whatever we could find to make art. But has this all changed? I don’t think so. But Mike Winkleman will most certainly disagree, almost a year after selling his NFT (Non Fungible Token) for over $69 million. What’s an NFT you ask? Forbes defines it as a digital asset that represents realworld objects like art, music, in-game items and videos and are generally encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos. They are a digital asset which is available only to you. Some may say I have out of date thinking when I propose that this is completely and utterly bizarre! However recently the world would clash with my view. NFTs are gaining notoriety because they are becoming an increasingly popular way to buy and sell digital artwork. A staggering $174 million has been spent on NFTs since November 2017. But, regardless, surely the whole point of art is to obtain something tangible, to know that your physical creation is unique and alive, rather than a collection of pixels on a screen which can be copied in a flash. If I have not convinced you with my short history of art summary, (which I hope I have not!), perhaps my hours of laborious work into disproving the nature of NFTs will, or perhaps it will not. In which case stop reading. Go find something better to do. I will not turn my back on my word.

Cavemen Art (Palaeolithic):

Modern Art: (Van Gogh-The Starry Night)

DIY Homework:

The Project Still reading? Great, I can assume that you are already convinced or holding out hope that you can be swayed. I would like to introduce you to my first idea. “The Pinboard.” It may appear silly, as it does to me now, but I was so convinced that this was the right plan for the project. I had just finished my own pinboard collage at home which you can see to the right and was brimming with confidence. It sounded easy. A couple of hours work, on a big piece of cork from DT, to submit as the junior project prize and include as part of my GSCE art coursework. Simple yes. Cheeky probably. Too achievable also yes. Don’t get me wrong, it would’ve been been great but there were several issues. The first was storage. It was all well and good making a large pinboard collage but the real problem was where I was going to store it. It would be too large for the art department to care for, and certainly too large for my room. I wasn’t really sure about obtaining the cork board either, I do not do Design as a subject, and definitely didn’t excel enough in Shells to ask for favours. The last issue was moral. I found it too easy to achieve, (despite the storage and materials problem), the pinboard at home only really took a day to create, without including the time taken to source the pictures. Also I was limited to a cork board and had no clue how big I could make it. Thus my idea evolved. What if space was unlimited, what if storage wasn’t an issue, what if I didn’t-

-have to send needy emails to various members of staff? And that was when my idea was born. What if I created an art piece using digital software? Not only could I make my life far more tricky and extend the time needed for the project, but I could also disprove a subject I was very passionate about in Art. That being NFTs. I decided to create my image online, on an app, following the ways of Mr Winkleman and then produce a physical copy and prove my theories.

Is digital art the first chapter in a new story of art? So my idea had changed, and now I needed to discover four things. The first was what software I was going to use, for which I chose Procreate on the right. It has a simple easy to understand layout and I had previous experience working with it in Shells. Thus this option was easy. Secondly I needed to decide what my art piece was going to be of. The work I had done at home was a mixture of different aspects of the world which I like. Thus I decided to integrate this into my piece, these aspects being sport, movies and music. Overall it would be a collage of the creative arts. I very much liked this concept and chose it immediately. Thirdly I needed somewhere to put my final piece to disprove the nature of NFTs. I knew I wanted the piece to be big, so I needed a big wall. I knew that asking my parents would be pointless, there was no way they would agree to putting their son’s work on a large wall at home. To be honest I would have done the same. So that wrote that option off. So I decided to go to my art don to see if she had any ideas. Fortunately she did. As she is a part of my Social (C) she was able to ask my housemaster. I thought it would be more successful if a don was involved. He agreed! So the search for a wall began. I found one very quickly to which there was not a decisive yes. Thus I began work without fully knowing where it was going to end up. This did not particularly bother me as I was happy to finally be starting, rather than faffing about with pre -work admin. Finally, debatably the most important thing, was to come up with a title. It was all fine creating a collage but how could I do a write up without a question to argue? Therefore I turned to a fiery topic, which had been cropping up across several subjects and that I discussed earlier. That being NFTs. I felt strongly that their nature was bizarre, and settled on the title ‘Is digital art the first chapter in a new story of art?’ I strongly disagree with this view, and hope that after reading my write up you can agree with me.

Procreate:

The beginnings of my work on the unsized canvas:

The Oldfashioned method:

The Beginnings: What was going to be in my collage? That question loomed and was answered earlier. But what was it really going to contain? Sport was easy, there are/were thousands of photos on the internet to choose from, all that I had to do was find relevant ones. Music and movies were far harder. I could not bring myself to put garbage albums and painful movies in my piece. So I set about trying to find the best movies and the best albums I could find. I did this the old fashioned way by simply writing down every single quality movie/album I could think of. This is subjective of course but I really did my research to ensure that these movies were of a high standard. My first method was to go around C social asking different people what they thought of the movies and albums I had used. This method failed very quickly as many were not aware of the content in my collage.

Is digital art the first chapter in a new story of art?

As a result of this, I used a different method. Delving online, I wanted to find established and reliable websites which provided reviews. For movies I used IMDb, which is a database of information related to films. This granted me the opportunity to avoid adding poorly reviewed films into my art, overall making my piece less subjective. The idea of subjectivity was highly important to me seeing as the final piece was going to be put up in social. It would be very difficult to know if other people enjoyed the same things that I do. However it was very tricky to find reviews for albums. Hence I returned to my original method. I collated a wide range of albums from my C social peers and family members ending in a diverse range of results. Just in case some people had particularly poor tastes in music, I crosschecked a few of the artists using pitchfork. Although relatively unheard of I found it a very interesting site. It had densely packed articles about several of the albums used in my collage. Not only did this allow me to check the quality of the albums that I used, but also gave me further, high quality information on some of my favourite music artists and their albums. The project and the content had been kick started. 2.

After providing you with the overview of the project, I now believe it would be of worthwhile to share with you how I actually created my piece. I will run you through it in a list of steps with pictures for further assistance. Firstly, perhaps obviously, I would find an image from the internet. The images would have to be of high quality, to ensure that they did not become pixelated. I later found out that this was a lost cause as Procreate decreased the quality of the pictures automatically. I will dig deeper into this later… 2. Clicking on the spanner icon, I would scroll down to insert a photo, a fairly easy first step on the app… 3. I would then choose from my photo album the picture that I wanted to use. I used a vague colour pattern so that the piece felt slightly ordered. Having said that however, I wanted to keep the collage slightly messy so that the blend between movies, music and sport was less visible.

4. 4. Step four was to sort the picture into its different category. For example, rather self explanatory, if you had a picture of a music album you would sort it into albums, and if you had a picture of a movie poster sort it into movies. Not exactly rocket science, however very important. Procreate has a restriction on the number of images you can insert, so by creating categories I was able to bypass the restriction.

Is digital art the first chapter in a new story of art? 5.

5. After sorting the picture into a category, I would then move the picture around the canvas. It was of critical importance that the image was in the right place. Firstly it had to be near to images from the same category, this was because I wanted to create a fade from film to music and music to sport. Secondly, if possible surrounded by pictures of the same colour. As discussed earlier I wanted a colour scheme, but did not stick strictly to the rule to ensure the art was not too ordered.

6. Finally perhaps the most stressful step was getting the correct dimensions. It was not as easy as having the same dimension for each picture. Because all of the images went into different places they would need to fill different gaps to guarantee there were no gaps between the pictures. However I kept to a rough size so that it did not seem too random.

After giving you an insight to the art you might be thinking that to create the collage it was very easy. Some may argue that it is a form of ‘copy and paste’. To that I would partly agree. However let it be noted I had to find, sort through, organise, size up, quality check and research over 300 images. One picture may have taken 2 and a half minutes to find, organise and integrate into the piece, but doing this over 350 times, is talking about several hours work. And ‘copy and pasting’ is dry work, at some moments it was very tricky to keep motivation, however with the idea of the finished piece in mind I eventually got there.

To the left is the final piece. Words cannot describe the relief that I felt when it was finally finished. Despite this relief, I was proud of the work that I had completed and excited to submit it to the wallpaper company (Hovia) that my art teacher and I had found. The project was nearing its end, all that was left to do was to do the write up, and put the wallpaper up. Or so I thought…

Is digital art the first chapter in a new story of art? The Problem

Pixelated Image:

After a few weeks of work, cramming the creation of the art between lesson times, I had finished. I submitted my work to the wallpaper company before February half term, assuming the wallpaper could be put up just after the break. How wrong I was. It turned out as the image was enlarged to fit the wall in social, it became extremely pixelated as you can see to the right. As I had explained earlier I believed that I had bypassed this risk by choosing high quality images. Unfortunately this was in vain, as in procreate the image quality is automatically reduced. I was now faced with a multitude of problems. Firstly, the most prevalent issue, was that I might not be able put the wallpaper on to the wall due to how pixelated my art was. This led on into my second problem, which was that I now had a digital copy but not a physical copy, completely colliding with my earlier views about obtaining something tangible. Finally it meant that weeks of laborious work could have been for nothing as I may have had to start again using a different software. Overall not a great position to be in, agonisingly close to finishing.

The Solution: I spent a couple of weeks contemplating on a solution, hoping that by some miracle the art would somehow become less pixelated. Sadly, despite very crossed fingers, the miracle did not come. As a result I was faced with an ultimatum. I had three options. One, start again using a different software. This was immediately closed off as an option, I could not bear starting again. Two, was to give up. I was most certainly not going to give up, having spent too long working on the write up and the art. My last option was to create hundreds of the same image to match the size of the wall you can see this below. Instantly I decided to do this. Both because it meant that I could actually create something physical, and also it ensured that the art was not pixelated as it was not zoomed in on. Maybe, perhaps, I was finished.

Although it looks just as pixelated as the images above, when enlarged to fit on the wall, it is clear and legible. In my opinion, it is more interesting than the original final art. This is because it looks as though there is more going on, and compliments my idea of making the blend between film, music and sport less apparent. Just in case you are confused with what you are seeing, basically what it is is the first image I had copied and pasted several times across the canvas. Apart from this change, nothing else was touched, so it is still my original piece.

Is digital art the first chapter in a new story of art?

Conclusion: So yes, I had finished. All that is left to be done (still) is for maintenance to put the wallpaper up in social. But how does the art tie in with the question, ‘Is digital art the first chapter in a new story of art?’. I wish to address the question again. You may recall that my views were very strong at the beginning of this write up, but now with finished work I have a more sympathetic approach to the subject. Digital art is a very broad term, which intertwines with NFTs. I can see how digital art is a very exciting new concept in the field of art. Mistakes can be made and erased with ease, work can be enlarged to provide the highest levels of detail which were once unheard of, and an infinite amount of copies of the work can be created in milliseconds with the click of a button. You can see why artists around the world should/would be highly interested. But I am a man of my word, and I said myself that I was not going to turn back. Physical creations spread a far greater message than a digital one ever will. Take for example, the contrast between a letter and an email. A letter is personal, it feels direct and deliberate yet an email feels less personal and more generic. In art this is the same. Digital art can be made in abundance as I stated above. This diminishes their sense of worth. Yet art is made individually, each piece being made uniquely for the owner. Therefore, to completely conclude, digital art is exciting and innovative, yet is not a new beginning as it breaks away from what it truly means to be art.

Bibliography: Forbes: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj06buqk_P2AhWDYsAKHa WYCfgQFnoECFMQAQ&url=https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/nft-non-fungibletoken/&usg=AOvVaw3pEWjsQxtG7VHsM6rTXml_ IMDb: https://www.imdb.com Pitchfork: https://pitchfork.com Hovia: https://www.hovia.com/uk/?utm_term=hovia&utm_campaign=UK%20-%20Search%20-%20Brand%20%20EM&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=5619931125&hsa_cam=16081430863&hsa_grp=131 605017334&hsa_ad=579594470607&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=kwd300633048643&hsa_kw=hovia&hsa_mt=e&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItqjS_sub9wIVWdT tCh26kgWzEAAYASAAEgJUiPD_BwE

Winner

Kelvin Lam Prime Number and its Uniqueness

Prime Number and its Uniqueness By Kelvin Lam - Radley College

Introduction 29

Prime numbers have been an important part to the development of our mathematical understanding throughout history. Their definit ion is fairly simple when compared to other crucial mathematical terms: Any integer that is greater than 2 and can only be divide d by 1 and itself. However, they have numerous applications in t he real world due to their state of arguably being the fundament al elements of forming other composite numbers through the progr ess of prime factorisation while not being possible to list by a general formula. (For example, 48 can be written as 24 • 3, wher e both 2 and 3 are prime numbers) In fact, prime numbers are the entire set of numbers that remains when we rewrite all numbers i nto their smallest possible integer combination, this can be eas ily proved through the induction that if n can be expressed as t he product of one or more prime number, than kn (where k ∈ ℤ) c an as well. As there must exist one d < n such that d divides n for all compositie n, the case for all composite numbers can be proved when we have done the one for all numbers smaller than n. That's why prime numbers are very important in various fields. Therefore, these numbers have attracted the attention of the mat hematicians to further investigate their properties, either in f orms of identifying them more effectively (especially the large ones), the exact or approximate number of prime numbers (which a ctually led to some hypotheses focusing on if they could exist i n a certain expression), or developing their real uses in the mo dern world. All of these efforts have made prime numbers the one s with the highest level of elegance and importance. Therefore, in this article, I would first introduce some common methods of primality test and examine them through compiling a code in Pyth on in chronological order together with historical information. Then, I would explore some of the most interesting and elegant t heorems or numbers associated with prime numbers together with a thorough explanation on their proof (as some of them might be a

bit unpopular, I may make one myself). Finally, I would assess t he uniqueness of prime number

Ancient Discoveries Prime numbers and their properties were first widely studied by ancient Greek mathematicians. For example, mathematicians of the Pythagorean school (500 BC to 300 BC) were interested in the occ ult and numerological properties of numbers. They first understo od the concept of prime numbers and became interested in perfect and amicable numbers whose properties are closely associated wit h prime numbers. In order to explore this concept, we have to find a more efficie nt way of finding factors through proving the claim below:

Claim 1: If an integer N undergoes prime factorisation such that N = k(1)k(2)...k(n) (with coprime k(i) ∈ {pm(i): p ∈ ℙ, m(i) ∈ ℕ} , starting from here we denote the set of primes as ℙ), f( N) = ∏𝑛𝑗=1

1 − 𝑘(𝑗) 𝑚(𝑗) + 1 1 − 𝑘(𝑗)

, where σ1 is the sum-of-divisors functio

n. Note that prime factorisation is always possible and unique, as proven by Euclid’s Elements in 300 BC.

Proof: We prove by induction on m and n. Base case: n = m1 = 1. This means that k(1) = N and N is a prime number and hence by definition it only has the factors 1 and N. ∴ RHS = (1 - N 2)/(1 - N) = (1 + N)(1 - N)/(1 - N) = 1 + N = σ1( N) = LHS

Claim 1.1: If the case n = 1, m1 = m is true, then the case n = 1, m1 = m + 1 is also true. This means that N = k(1)m+1 = k(1) k(1)m. Note that: σ1(k(1)m) = (1 - k(1)m+1)/(1 - m) (By induction hypothesis) = 1 + k(1) +...+ k(1)m (By geometric series summati on formula) For each factor of k(1)m, we can choose whether the factors can be multiplied by k(1) or not to be a factor of k(1)m+1. However, only two factors can’t be generated and be used to generate oth er factors in such a way (1 and k(1)m). ∴ LHS = σ1(k(1)m+1) = (1 + k(1) +...+ k(1)m)(1 + k(1)) - (k(1) + k(1)2...+ k(1)m) = (1 + k(1) +...+ k(1)m) + (k(1) +...+ k(1)m+1) - (k( 1) +...+ k(1)m) = 1 + k(1) +...+ k(1)m+1 = (1 - k(1)m+2)/(1 - m) = RH

S Claim 1.2: If the case N = N’ is true, then the case N = N’k(n’ + 1) is also true, where n’ = n - 1 for n > 1. Base case: n = 2, i.e. N’ is a prime number. We can choose whet her the factors 1 and N’ can be multiplied by k(2). So it’s st raightforward that LHS = f(N) = (N’ + 1)(k(2) + 1) = RHS. There are no repeated factors due to the fact that gcd(N’, k(2) ) = 1. We then prove that if the case n = n’ is true then the case n = n’ + 1 is also true for n > 2. From Claim 1.1, f(k(n’ + 1)) = 1 + k(n’ + 1) +...+ k(n’ + 1)m(n’ + 1) And f(N’) = ∏𝑛𝑗=′1

1 − 𝑘(𝑗) 𝑚(𝑗) + 1 1 − 𝑘(𝑗)

by induction hypothesis. Recall

that there are no repeated factors due to the fact that gcd(N’, k(2)) = 1.

∴ Similarly, LHS = f(k(n’ + 1))f(N’) = 1 − 𝑘(𝑛’ + 1) 𝑚(𝑛’ + 1) + 1 𝑛′ ∏𝑗=1 1 − 𝑘(𝑛’ + 1)

1 − 𝑘(𝑗) 𝑚(𝑗) + 1 1 − 𝑘(𝑗)

= ∏𝑛𝑗=1

1 − 𝑘(𝑗) 𝑚(𝑗) + 1 1 − 𝑘(𝑗)

= RHS

This completes our induction that the equality remains true for all m and n. By using this theorem along with the basic concept of identifyin g prime numbers, we can easily talk about the concept of amicabl e and perfect numbers.

Infinity of Prime Number As early as in 300 BC, Euclid had proved that there exist infini tely many prime numbers by using the Fundamental Theorem of Arit hmetic: Every natural number can be written as the product of on e or more prime numbers, this is how the concept of prime factor isation was generated. The proofs of these two theorems are show n below: Proof: We verify the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic first. The rule is trivially true for prime numbers (n = 1). Suppose we know all N = p1p2…pk, let us consider n = k + 1, the number can only be m ultiplied by a prime number pk+1 which consists of only 1 prime fa ctor. So Npk+1 = p1p2…pk+1 and our induction is done.

By using this theorem, assume that there are finite number of pr ime number and let N = p1p2…pk where k is the cardinality of{p1, p2,…, pk}, then: N + 1 = p1p2…pk + 1 As all pi ≥ 2, it turns out that N + 1 is not divisible by all p i, then N + 1 can’t be expressed as the product of any of the p

rime numbers, which contradicted the Fundamental Theorem of Arit hmetic. And hence there indeed exist an infinite number of prime s.

Basic Concept of Primality Test One of the oldest and easiest methods is called trial division ( or sieve of Eratosthenes) , discovered by ancient Greeks (So one of the names is named after a Greek mathematician Eratosthenes). The step is below: Let’s say we need to test if N is prime or not, then: 1. Find the set of prime numbers {p1, p2,..., pk} in which all 2 ≤ pi ≤ √N. 2. Divide N with every pi in the set and see whether N is divi sible by pi; if all of them don't work, N is prime, else N is composite. It is also easy to prove the absolute accuracy of this method: As all prime numbers p only have the factors 1 and p, in which 1 is not prime and p > √p for all p ≥ 2 > 1, so there would not be any “fake prime” that we may encounter later on. For all composite numbers N, N must be the product of more than one prime number (In this proof, we count repeated factors - 49 = 72). It is not possible to have 2 or more prime factors th at are all larger than √N. This can be verified trivially that if N = p1p2…pk (k ≥ 2) for all pi ∈ ℙ and pi > √N, then p1p2…pk > (√N)k = Nk/2 ≥ N when k ≥ 2. So there would not be an y “fake composite” as well. Therefore we proved that one of the biggest advantages of this t est is that we can definitely prove or disprove the primality of N using this method, unlike the one discovered in the modern day s. However, the complexity of programs derived by this method is ex tremely high. We can prove the complexity of these tests using P ython. Below provides two versions of Python - the first one is

my own version while the second one is the version that I found on the Internet to reduce the abnormalities.

SAMPLE RUN: Input: 13 Output: [2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13] 1. My own version:

There are different ways for counting complexity of a program either through counting the times that the program judges a cond ition or the line of commands it runs. For the sake of simplicit y, here we only consider the times of judging a condition. Let π(x) be the number of primes where p ≤ x. We can identify that the 4 only conditions in this program are line 7, 8, 10, 15 . ● For line 7, the number of “d”s generated is π(n). So the program has to judge the condition for times.

● For line 8, only π(N) (⌊√n⌋) integer would pass the test in line 7. So the program has to judge the condition for π (⌊√n⌋) times. - Here ⌊x⌋ denotes the integer part of x.

● For line 10, only 1 among all π(⌊√n⌋) values of n/d would pass the test until the program breaks out of the loop unle ss n = 2 (the original element in P is necessary for the ca se n = 4). So the program has to judge the condition for (n + 1) times. ● For line 15, the program has to judge the condition for n t imes as it is on the largest loop of the program, which inv olves only (N - 1) integers. Note that this program would find all p ≤ N, so line 7, 8 and 1 0 have to be in summation form as they are in the inner loop in line 6. ∴ {ComplexityN} = ∑𝑁 𝑖=2

[π(i) + π(⌊√i⌋) + (i + 1)] + (N - 1)

By applying the approximation that

𝜋(𝑥)

𝑥

𝑙𝑖𝑚 → 1 and π(x) > 𝑙𝑛 𝑥 𝑥→∞ 𝑥/𝑙𝑛 𝑥

for sufficiently large x, we can further approximate it as it su ffices to find its technically independent complexity using Big O Notation. (The proof would be provided later on due to the chr onological order). Therefore, we can find the upper and lower bo und so that we can find a function f such that there exists a co nstant A and B such that {ComplexityN} < Af(N) for all N > B. ∴ {ComplexityN} < ∑𝑁 𝑖=2

[

2𝑖 𝑙𝑛 𝑖

2√𝑖 + 1 𝑙𝑛 (√𝑖 + 1)

+ (𝑖 + 1)] + (N - 1), N ≥ 2

< ∑𝑁 𝑖=2

[2𝑖 + 4√𝑖 + 2 + (𝑖 + 1)] + (N

< ∑𝑁 𝑖=2

[2𝑖 + 4𝑖 + 2 + (𝑖 + 1)] + (N -

- 1) 1)

= ∑𝑁 𝑖=2

(7𝑖 + 3) - (N - 1) = (N - 1)

(7N + 20)/2 - N + 1 = 2.5N 2 + 5.5N - 9

On the other hand, {ComplexityN} > ∑𝑁 𝑖=2

[

𝑖 𝑙𝑛 𝑖

√𝑖 + 1 𝑙𝑛 (√𝑖 + 1)

>∑𝑁 𝑖=2

[

= ∑𝑁 𝑖=2

[

1 𝑙𝑛 𝑖

3 𝑙𝑛 𝑖

+ (𝑖 + 1)] + (N - 1) +

1 0.5 𝑙𝑛(𝑖)

+ (𝑖 + 1)] + (N - 1)

> ∑𝑁 [(𝑖 + 1)] + (N - 1) 𝑖=2 = (N - 1)(N + 4)/2 - N + 1 = 0.5N 2 + 0.5N - 1 Hence we know 0.5N 2 + 0.5N - 1 < {ComplexityN} < 2.5N 2 + 5.5N 9 for sufficiently large N (due to the limitation on the approxi mation of π(x)). As both bounds are quadratic functions, we can take A = 3, B = 2 and f(x) = x2 to fulfill the definition of Big O Notation to say that {ComplexityN} = O(N 2).

2. The onl ine version

Similarly, we identify the 3 only conditions in this program as line 12, 13 and 20. ● For line 12, there are ⌊√n⌋ numbers of i, including ⌊√n⌋ 1 returns of “True” and 1 return of “False” to break ou t of the loop. This make it to judge ⌊√n⌋ times. ● For line 13, there are (⌊√n⌋ - 1) numbers of i being gener ated by referring to line 10 and 16. This make it to judge (⌊√n⌋ - 1) times. ● For line 20, there are (n + 1) numbers of i from 0 to n inc lusive This makes it to judge (n + 1) times. ∴ {Complexityn} = ⌊√n⌋ + (⌊√n⌋ - 1) + (n + 1) = n + 2⌊√n⌋ It is easy to see that taking A = 2, B = 4 and f(x) = x can sati sfy the definition of Big O Notation as (n + 2⌊√n⌋)2 < n2 + 4n1.5 + 4n < 4n2 = (2n)2 for n > 4. Hence we can conclude that the onli ne program is more simplified than my own one since {Complexityn } = O(n)

→ {ComplexityN} = O(1 + 2 +...+ n) = O(0.5n2 + 0.5n) = O(n2) Although it seems like that the online version is more simplifie d than my own one, both of these are in the class of linear or p olynomial complexity (among the 6 classes - constant, logarithmi c, linear, polynomial, linearithmic and exponential complexity), which isn’t ideal compared to the recent method. It turns out t hat the best possible complexity of this algorithm is O(N log log N) Thus, a new method of primality test must be inve nted later. However, this is enough for us to examine the concept of perfect and amicable numbers.

Perfect Numbers Perfect numbers are numbers whose factors other than itself sum up to itself. For example, 28 has factors 1, 2, 4, 7, 14 and 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 = 28 so it is a perfect number. i.e. σ1(n) = 2n. We introduce several properties of perfect numbers here: (Here we indicate N = k(1)k(2)...k(n), same as the one in Claim 1) 1 Property 1: ∑𝐷𝑖=1 = 2, where {d(1), d(2), …, d(D)} are the 𝑑(𝑖)

factors of N with d(i)d(D - i) = N (i < D). Let D = ∏𝑛𝑗=1

[𝑚(𝑗)

+ 1] be the number of factors of N.

Proof: This can be proved by dividing the definition of σ1(N) = 2N by N. Then we get σ1(N)/N = [d(1) + d(2)+…+d(D)]/N = LHS = 1/d(D) + 1/d(D - 1) + ...+ 1/d(1) = 2 = RHS.

Property 2: 2n - 1 is prime ⇔ 2n-1(2n - 1) is a perfect number. Proof: Lemma 2.1: 2n - 1 is prime ⇒ 2n-1(2n - 1) is a perfect number.

Since 2n - 1 ≠ 2 (log23 is not an integer) and gcd(2n - 1, 2n-1) = 1 by primality, we can apply similar concept in the proof of Cla im 1 that σ1(2n-1(2n - 1)) = σ1(2n-1)σ1(2n - 1) = ((1 - 2n)/(1 - 2))(2n - 1 + 1) (By Claim 1) = 2n-1(2n - 1) Lemma 2.2: 2n - 1 is prime ⇐ 2n-1(2n - 1) is a perfect number. Let N = 2kx be a perfect number and x is odd, it is trivial that gcd(2k, x) = 1. ∴ σ1(N) = σ1(2k)σ1(x) = ((1 - 2k)/(1 - 2))σ1(x) = (2k+1 - 1)σ1(x) Since min(2k+1 - 1) = 3, x must be divisible by 2k - 1 as 2k and 2 k - 1 must be coprime. So there exists a factor d = x/(2k+1 - 1). Divide both sides of the above equation by (2k+1 - 1), according to the fact that both x and d are the factors of x and d is odd; σ1(2k+1d)= σ1(2k+1)σ1(d) = x + d + {sum of other factors} = 2k+1d + {sum of other factors} Using the fact that 2k+1d is a perfect number (just replace k wit h k + 1 and x with d), {sum of other factors} = 0, so d = 1, and x = 2k+1 - 1 which is a prime. And hence it is proved in two ways. ● From this property we can deduct more properties associated with this theorem.

Property 3: every perfect number are triangular numbers as 1 + 2 + … + (2P - 1) for some Mersenne prime P = 2p - 1: Proof: → N = P(2P-1) = (P(2P))/2 = 1 + 2 + … + P (Arithmetic sum formul a) To be specific, we hence prove that they must be the Pth term of the triangular number sequence.

Therefore, the mystery of whether there exist infinite perfect n umbers is still bonded to the problem of whether there exist inf inite Mersenne prime nowadays (we will talk about the concept of Mersenne prime later as well).

Property 4: All even perfect numbers can’t be expressed as the sum of two positive triangular numbers. Proof: We first apply Property 2 to let N = 2n-1(2n - 1) such that 2n - 1 is prime. Assume that N can be expressed as the sum of two triangular numb ers, then: N = 2n-1(2n - 1) = a(a + 1)/2 + b(b + 1) /2, where a ≥ b > 0 4n - 2n - a(a + 1) - b(b + 1) = 0 Substitute u = 2n and apply quadratic formula in terms of u, the n we get: u2 - u - a(a + 1) - b(b + 1) = 0 1±√1 + 4𝑎² + 4𝑎 + 4𝑏² + 4𝑏 2 1±√(2𝑎 + 1)² + (2𝑏 + 1)² − 1 = 2

u =

Note that u is a positive integer, then the discriminant part of the equation must be a square number. Letting A = 2a + 1 and B = 2b + 1: There must exist a positive integer k such that A2 + B2 - 1 = (2k + 1)2 due to the fact that A2 + B2 - 1 ≡ 1 + 1 - 1 ≡ 1 (mod 2). A pply the quadratic formula in terms of A again after simplifying the equation into 4k2 + 4k - A2 - B2 + 2 = 0. ∴k =

−4±√16 + 4𝐴² + 4𝐵² − 8

−2±√𝐴² + 𝐵² + 2

Note that both B and k are odd, so it is only possible for the d iscriminant part of this equation to be an odd square as well. H owever, we already know that A2 + B2 - 1 and A2 + B2 + 2 are both squares with a difference of 3, so A2 + B2 - 1 = 1 and A2 + B2 + 2

= 4 with (A, B) = (1, 1). We plug in A2 + B2 + 2 = 4 into the equ ation for k and we know that the value of k must be either -1 or 0, which contradicts the assertion that k is positive. Thus, all even perfect numbers indeed can’t be expressed as the sum of two positive triangular numbers. Although there are lots of properties discovered by mathematicia ns, the mathematicians nowadays are still not sure whether there are any odd perfect numbers after using computer to check all th e case N < 101500 (1 is not perfect number as σ1(1) = 1 ≠ 2 • 1 = 2 ). Therefore, amicable pairs of numbers leave more space for exploration as it requires less restriction on the num ber.

Amicable Number Amicable pair of numbers are two integers whose proper factors s um up to each other. For example, 220 and 294 is a pair of amica ble number because: 220 = 22 • 5 • 11, 284 = 22 • 71 σ1(220) - 220 = (1 + 2 + 4)(1 + 5)(1 + 11) - 220 = 284 σ1(284) - 284 = (1 + 2 + 4)(1 + 71) - 284 = 220. The first ten amicable pairs are: (220, 284), (1184, 1210), (262 0, 2924), (5020, 5564), (6232, 6368), (10744, 10856), (12285, 14 595), (17296, 18416), (63020, 76084), and (66928, 66992), accord ing to Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. As there are too many possible forms of amicable numbers, it’s very hard for mathematicians to solve the mystery surrounding th em. Yet, there have been two main method of generating prime num bers:

1. Thābit ibn Qurra theorem The Thābit ibn Qurra theorem is a method for discovering am icable numbers invented in the ninth century by the Arab ma thematician Thābit ibn Qurra. This formula only generates ( 220, 284) for n = 2, (17296, 18416) for n = 4, and (9363584 , 9437056) for n = 7. It states that if p = 3×2n−1 − 1, q = 3×2n − 1, r = 9×22n− 1 − 1 where p, q, and r are prime numbers, then 2npq and 2nr are a pair of amicable numbers. However, any prime number associated w ith the use of exponential expression (similar to the situa tion of 2n ± 1) is very rare, and so the value of n is hea vily restricted.

Proof: Lemma: gcd(n, p) = gcd(n, q) = 1 Assume that our lemma is false, using the fact that p and q are primes, x must be a multiple of either p or q, then we get n ≥ p .

We don’t need to consider the case that n ≥ q because we can so lve the inequality 3×2n−1 − 1 ≤ 3×2n − 1 by simple operatio ns: 3×2n−1 ≤ 3×2n → n - 1 ≤ n, which is al ways true. So, we can solve the inequality n ≥ p below as we are aiming fo r a contradiction that n is a positive integer:

n≥p n ≥ 3×2n−1 − 1 3(n + 1) ≥ 2n-1 log2(3) + log2(n + 1) ≥ n - 1 → log2(n + 1) ≥ n - 1 + log2(3) > n It suffices to prove that all positive integer n satisfy log2(n + 1) > n as:

It can be easily proved that log2(n + 1) ≤ n for all positive int eger n through mathematical induction: Base case (n = 1): LHS = log2(2) = 1 ≤ 1 = RHS Suppose that log2(k + 1) ≤ k, we claim it is also true for n = k + 1: log2(n + 2) ≤ log2(2n) (n ≥ 2) = 1 + log(n) < 1 + log(n + 1) ≤ 1 + n ≤ n + 1. As no n satisfies log2(n + 1) > n, Lemma 1.1 is proved and so:

σ1(2npq) = σ1(2n)σ1(p)σ1(q) = (2n+1 - 1)(p + 1)(q + 1) = (2n+1 - 1)(3×2n−1)(3×2n) = (2n+1 - 1)(9 • 22n−1) = σ1(2n)σ1(r) = σ1(2nr) 2npq + 2nr = 2n((3×2n−1 - 1)(3×2n - 1) + 9 • 22n−1 - 1) = 2n+1(3 × 22n−1 + 6 × 22n-1) - 2n+1 • 9 • 22n-1 = (2n+1 - 1)(9 • 22n−1) = σ1(2nr) = σ1(2npq) And hence the result, by the definition of amicable number. Then we can assess the efficiency of this method on finding perf ect number through my own Python program here: SAMPLE RUN: Input: 4 Output: (220, 284) (17296, 184 16)

Using the similar concept of Big O Notation, we know that the on ly lines where conditions would be examined are line 5, 8 and 17 . ● In line 5, two conditions have to be checked each time the function PTest(x) appears for each d from 2 to ⌊√x⌋, which cause it to run (⌊√x⌋ - 1) times. Also, it has to check 1 more condition at the end of the function each time it runs (line 8), but wou ld be omitted as it won’t affect a lot for sufficiently la rge x. So the complexity for PTest(x) itself is PTest(√x). ● However, the 3 functions in line 17 would cause the program of the function to run by about (⌊√p⌋ + ⌊√q⌋ + ⌊√r⌋ - 6) tim es in total, but note that all of these 3 constants are exp onentially increasing when N increases. Also, as this progr am considers all situations when n ≤ N, all of them have t o be in summation form. This increase the complexity of the whole program to be: {Complexityn} ≈ √(3×2n−1 − 1) + √(3×2n − 1) + √(9×22n−1 − 1) > √(2n) + √(2n) + √(22n) = 2n + 2√(2n) On the other hand, {Complexityn} ≈ √(3×2n−1 − 1) + √(3×2n − 1) + √(9×22n−1 − 1) < √(2n+2) + √(2n+2) + √(22n+4) = 4 • 2n + 4√ (2n) So we know ∑𝑁 2i + 2√(2i) < {ComplexityN} < ∑𝑁 4 • 2i + 4√(2 𝑖=1 𝑖=1 i ), Which can be simplified, using geometric series sum formula, int o 2N+1 - 2 + 4√(2) • (1 - 2N/2)/(1 - √(2)) < 2N+3 - 7 + 4√(2) • (1 2N/2)/(1 - √(2))

For sufficiently large enough N, we can omit any terms except th e largest one so we choose A = 9, f(x) = 2x to satisfy the defin ition of Big O Notation and so {ComplexityN} = O(2N). And so this method is extremely inefficient in finding an amicab le number although it is simpler to develop using programs. 2. Euler’s Rule Euler’s Rule is a generalized version of Thābit ibn Qurra theor em (in which the previous version is a special case of Euler’s Rule when m = n - 1), which increased the list of amicable numbe rs to 61 by 58. (Known examples are (m, n) = (1, 8) or (29, 40)). For m > n > 0, let; p = (2n - m + 1)2m - 1, q = (2n - m + 1)2n - 1, r = (2n - m + 1)22m+n 1 It states that if p, q, r are all primes, when 2npq and 2nr are a pair of amicable numbers. Proof: From the previous proof, we already know that it is impossible f or the factors to have common factor between each other, so:

σ1(2npq) = σ1(2n)σ1(p)σ1(q) = (2n+1 - 1)(p + 1)(q + 1) = (2n+1 - 1)((2n - m + 1)2m)(2n - m + 1)2n) = (2n+1 - 1)((2n - m + 1)22m+n) = σ1(2n)σ1(r) = σ1(2nr ) 2npq + 2nr = 2n(((2n - m + 1)2m - 1)((2n - m + 1)2n - 1) + (2n - m + 1)2 2m+n - 1) = 2n((2n - m + 1)22m+n - (2n - m + 1)2n - (2n - m + 1)2n + 1 + (2n - m + 1)22m+n - 1) = 2n+1((2n - m + 1)22m+n) - (2n - m + 1)2m+n

= (2n+1 - 1)((2n - m + 1)22m+n) = σ1(2nr) = σ1(2npq ) And hence the result, by the definition of amicable number. SAMPLE RUN: Input: 8 Output: (220, 284) (17296, 1841 6) (2181169408, _______2122120960)

We use the same method of determining complexity: The program have to determine conditions when it reaches line 5, 8 and 24: ● In line 5 and 8, the complexity for PTest(x) itself is PTes t(√x) because it is identical to the last program. ● In line 24, the program has to run by about (⌊√p⌋ + ⌊√q⌋ + ⌊ √r⌋ - 6) times in total similarly. However, it would be a d ouble summation because both m and n will influence the com plexity of the program.

{Complexitym, n} ≈ √p + √q + √r - 6 = √((2n - m + 1)2m - 1) + √((2n - m + 1)2n - 1) + √(2n - m + 1)22m+n - 1) > √(2m + 2n) + √(2m + 2n) + √(23n - m) > 2√(2n) + √(23n - 2m) ∑𝑖𝑗=0 2√(2i) + √(23i - 2j) {ComplexityN} > ∑𝑁 𝑖=0 = (∑𝑁 𝑖=0

∑𝑖𝑗=0

2√(2i) + ∑𝑁 𝑖=0

∑𝑖𝑗=0

√(

23i - 2j)) = (2 + √2N+1)/(1 - √2) + ½ ∑𝑁 𝑖=0 1.5i

22.5i - 2

(From GS Sum) = (2 + √2N+1)/(1 - √2) + ½ [(1 - 22.5N)/(1 - 22.5) - (1 - 22.5N)

/(1 - 21.5) {Complexitym, n} ≈ √((2n - m + 1)2m - 1) + √((2n - m + 1)2n - 1) √(2n - m + 1)22m+n - 1) < √(2m + 2n - 1) + √(2m + 2n - 1) + √( 23n - m + 1) < 2√(2n) + √(23n) {ComplexityN} < ∑𝑁 2√(2i) + √(23i) 𝑖=0 = 2(1 - 22.5N)/(1 - 22.5) - (1 - 23N)/(1 - 2 1.5 ) By omitting the smaller terms of both bounds, we can conclude th at the complexity of this program lies between O(22.5N) and O(23N) , which suffices to prove that this program is so complicated th at almost no mathematicians can apply it to find large amicable

pairs. Therefore, it is still a mystery for whether there exist infinite pairs of amicable numbers. Later on, the mathematicians moved onto the properties of prime numbers itself instead of the factors more.

After the Dark Ages Due to the lack of mathematical understanding on prime numbers a t that time, there was a big gap in the history of prime numbers called the Dark Ages. This period lasted until J. Scheybl discovered the prime 216217 1. Compared to the contribution of Fermat later on, this was a m inor result in the history of prime numbers so almost no related information can be found online, but I tried to come up with a p roof.

Proof: Assume that 216217 - 1 was a composite number, then that number ca n be expressed as the product of two coprime positive integers a and b. Without the loss of generally, here we assume 216217 - 1 > a ≥ b > 1. So, let a = b + k, where k ≥ 0. → 216217 - 1 = b(b + k) We rearrange the equation to get b2 + bk - 216217 + 1 = 0 We use the quadratic equation in terms of b and the fact that b > 0,

b =

−𝑘 + √𝑘² + 216219 − 4

From here, we know that 𝑘² + 216219 − 4 is a square number. i.e. 4 • 216217 − 4 can be expressed as the sum of an arithmetic sequen ce with common difference 2 and odd terms. If 𝑘² + 216219 − 4 = (j + k)2 → 216219 − 4 = (2k + 1) + (2k + 3) +...+ (2j - 1), j > k = j(2k + 2j)/2 = j(k + j)

∴ j2 + jk - (216219 − 4) = 0 Using quadratic formula to j again, we have j = −2𝑘 + √𝑘² + 4 • 216219 − 16

When 𝑘² + 4 • 216219 − 16 = (j + 2k)2 and 𝑘² + 216219 − 4 = (b + k)2 are both square numbers, it means 3 • (216219 − 4) can be expressed as the sum of an arithmetic sequence with common difference 2 an d odd terms. ∴ 3 • (216219 − 4) = j(3k + 3j) = (j + 2k)2 - (b + k)2 j(3k + 3j) = (j + 2k + b + k)(j + 2k - b - k) j(3k + 3j) = (k + j - b)(3k + j + b) → 3k2 - b + kj - 2kb + 3j2 = 0.

At this stage, we claim that b = j > k. First, we prove b = j.

b - j =

−𝑘 + √𝑘² + 216219 − 4

𝑘 + 𝑏 + 𝑘 − 𝑗 − 2𝑘

−2𝑘 + √𝑘² + 4 • 216219 − 16

𝑏−𝑗

⇒ b = j.

Then, we prove k < b.

k - b = k =

−𝑘 + √𝑘² + 216219 − 4

𝑘 − √𝑘² + 216219 − 4

𝑘 − √𝑘²

= 0

Hence, 3k2 - b + kj - 2kb + 3j2 = 3k2 - b + kb - 2kb + 3b2 = 3k2 - b - kb + 3b2 ≥ 3b2 - b2 - b = b(b - 1) > 0 ← b > 1 So it contradicts the fact that 3k2 - b + kj - 2kb + 3j2 = 0 and b must be 1. and 216217 - 1 is indeed a prime number.

Prime Theorems by Fermat

The next large contribution was made by Fermat in the 17th Centur y. Here are some of the complicated problem that he proved at th at time:

Fermat’s Little Theorem To prove his other theorem, we have to first talk about Fermat’ s Little Theorem: if p is a prime and a is an integer not divisi ble by p, then ap-1 - 1 is divisible by p. It is a generalization of the Chinese Hypothesis that an integer p is prime if and only if 2p - 2 is divisible by p, which corresponds to the special ca se when a = 2. It is worth noting that the hypothesis of this statement is not true. For example 2341 - 341 is even, but 341 = 31 • 11, which is not prime (in this case, 341 is called a pseudoprime and 2 is ca lled a “Fermat liar”). This disproved one side of the Chinese Hypothesis as well.

Proof: We prove that the theorem holds true for all integers a ≥ 0. Base case (a = 0): In this case we have 0p which must be divisib le by p. Then we must prove that if the theorem is true for a = k, then t he theorem must also be true for a = k + 1. To prove this, we prove a lemma first: Lemma: For all prime p, we have (x + y)p ≡ xp + yp (mod p) To prove the lemma, we introduce the binomial theorem that Suppose (x + y)n = ∑𝑛𝑖=0

𝑛!

aixiyn-i, ai = Cni = 𝑖!(𝑛−𝑖)!.

The binomial coefficients are all integers. By the definition of factorial, the numerator contains a factor p. When 0 < i < p, no ne of the terms in the denominator contain a factor of p (depend ing on the prime number of p so that p can’t be expressed as th e product of numbers smaller than p), the coefficient itself and the numerator are both factors of p, which means that all ter ms of 1 ≤ i ≤ p - 1 can be canceled, leaving our lemma.

Using our lemma and the induction hypothesis, we have: (k + 1)p ≡ kp + 1p ≡ k + 1 (mod p) This completes our induction. This discovery not only broadened the knowledge of mathematician s on the properties of prime numbers, but also became one of the more efficient ways of identifying prime numbers (especially on data research on computers). As a drawback, it loses the distinc tiveness that pseudoprime like 341 may be discovered, which suit s the theorem for some value of a. Therefore, the program can on ly make a conclusion that p is prime when a number p suits all c onditions of a for the theorem, but one situation of p not satis fying the theorem can imply that p is composite. Here is one exa mple of determining primality designed by me. SAMPLE RUN: Input: 19 Output: Prime

Input: 35 Output: Not Prime

At last, we have to compare t he best possible complexity o f prime analysis and this pro gram using Big O Notation. The worst case is that the number N entered is actually a prime number, which would make the program repeat the condition evalua

tion in line 9 for N times (from a = 1 to a = N). however, we h ave to introduce a new fact here that computing a N-power functi on itself have to take a computing time of log N. this makes the complexity O(N log N), which fairly suit the best possible compu ting complexity: O(k log N), where k is the number of a chosen t o do the test. The complexity of the test falls into the logarit hmic class while compromising the absolute accuracy of the test. As k becomes larger, the accuracy of the test becomes higher as well because it has been proved that every number has no more th an N/4 Fermat liars (with 18 as the worst case). Therefore, in c ase k < N/4, we can still say a number N is prime with a probabi lity of at least (1 - 4-k). This makes the identification of prim e easier despite the existence of pseudoprimes. After that, we move onto the other theorem and hypothesis constr ucted by Fermat. 1. All primes in the form of 4n + 1 can be expressed as the su m of two square in a unique way. Step 3 to 5 of the proof i s referred to the one by Euler as Fermat seldom writes down his proofs for his claims, which makes a large number of co njectures instead of proofs that are extremely complicated to prove. Proof: To prove the theorem, we first prove 4 lemmas. Lemma 1: If two integers can be expressed as the sum of two squa re numbers, and so their product. Let the two numbers be a2 + b2 and c2 + d2; (a2 + b2)(c2 + d2) = a2c2 + a2d2 + b2c2 + b2d2. = (a2c2 + 2abcd + b2d2) + (a2d2 - 2abcd + b2c2) = (ac + bd)2 + (ad - bc)2 Lemma 2: If a2 + b2 is divisible by c2 + d2, then the quotient can be expressed as the sum of two square numbers.

Suppose that a2 + b2 is divisible by c2 + d2 we have: Using the primality of c2 + d2, it can divide (ac + bd)(ac - bd) = a2c2 - b2d2 = c2(a2 + b2) - a2(c2 + d2) Then it must divide one of the factors. Using the fact that a2 + b2 is an integer, it implies that c2 + d2 also divides the another of (ac + bd) and (ad - bc).(Depending on the one it divides - (ac + bd) or (ac bd)) This can hence be easily proved by dividing both sides by (c2 + d2)2. Lemma 3: If an integer that can be expressed as the sum of two s quares is divisible by another integer that cannot be expressed as the sum of two squares, their quotient must also have a facto r that cannot be expressed as the sum of two squares. Suppose x is divisible by a2 + b2, and the factorization of its q uotient is p1p2...pn. Then a2 + b2 = xp1p2...pn. If all factors pi c an be expressed as the sum of two squares, then we can divide a2 + b2 by p1, p2, etc., and using Lemma 2, we can get that every q uotient can be expressed as the sum of two square numbers. When only x is left, x can also be expressed as the sum of two square s, which is contradictory. And hence Lemma 3 is proved. Lemma 4: If a and b are coprime, then all factors of a2 + b2 can be expressed as the sum of two square numbers. Suppose x is a factor of a2 + b2, then we have a = nx + k and b = mx + j, where |k|, |j| ≤ x/2. Then we have a2 + b2 = n2x2 + 2knx + k2 + m2x2 + 2kmx + j2 = (n2x + 2kn + m2x + 2km) + j2 + k2 So j2 + k2 = lx for some integer l. Then we get either gcd(j, x) = gcd(k, x) = 1 or gcd(gcd(j, k), x)) = 1 due to the assumption that j, k are coprime to x.

Hence, gcd(j, k)2 divides l, by dividing both side of the equati on above by l, we have J2 + K2 = Lx, where gcd(J, K) = 1 and L = l/gcd(j, k)2 ≤ x/2. Recall the fact that J, K, j, k ≤ x/2; Lx = J2 + K2 ≤ j2 + k2 ≤ (x/2)2 + (x/2)2 = x2/2. If x cannot be represented as a sum of two squares, then from Le mma 3 we know that there must be a factor L that cannot be repre sented as a sum of two squares; let it be w. So we derive a smal ler integer w1 from x that cannot be represented as a sum of two squares, but is divisible by an integer that can be represented as a sum of two squares. Since this infinite descent is impossib le (w > 0), x must be represented as the sum of two squares. If P = 4N + 1 is a prime, then all integers in the form of A4N 1 (0 < A < P)are divisible by P, according to Fermat Little Theo rem. Then it implies that P divides all integers in the form of A4N - B4N = (A2N + B2N)(A2N - B2N). Since P is prime, it must be divi ded by one of these two factors. If it is divided by any "sum fa ctor", then according to Lemma 4, P can be expressed as the sum of two squares (since a and b differ only by 1, they must be rel atively prime). And if it can divide all (4N - 1) "difference fa ctors", then it can also divide (4N - 2) first-order differences , (4N - 3) second-order differences, and so on. Since the k-orde r difference sequence S : Ti = 2i is equal to i!, and the 2N-orde r difference is equal to (2N)!, it is obviously not divisible by P. Thus, it turns out that P does not remove all "difference fac tors". 2. The previous theorem by Fermat inspired Legendre’s Theorem on three squares that all natural numbers N = x2 + y2 + z2 f or some integers x, y, z if and only if N = 4a(8b + 7) has no natural solutions. The “only if” part of the theorem i

s simply constructed based on the fact all square numbers h ave 0, 1 or 4 modulo 8. I came up with my own proof focusin g on the concept of modulus for the other side of this theo rem. Proof: If N = 4a(8b + 7); The case a = 0 is trivial: All squares must have 0, 1 or 4 modul o 8, and therefore it is impossible to make a number that has 7 modulo 8 by summing up 3 square numbers. For the case a > 0, N = 4a(8b + 7) = 22a(8b + 7) while all other base of power can be simplified into this form as all odd square number must have 1 modulo 4, so we have: If k = 2q + 1 is odd: N = k2a(8b + 7) ≡ 12a • 7 = 7 (mod 8) So N = 8B + 7 for some integer B and a = 0. If k = 2q is even: N = k2a(8b + 7) = 22aq2a(8b + 7) = 4aq2a(8b + 7) As it is easy to get that N/4a ≡ 7 (mod 8) for all N while all it is easy to confirm that all odd square number must have 1 modulo 8: N/4a = q2a(8b + 7) ≡ 12a • 7 = 7 (mod 8) So N = 8B + 7 for some integer B and a = 0 as well. And so the theorem is proved on another side. 3. The previous theorem can be used to solve the later problem of the Langrange’s four square theorem that all equations N = w2 + x2 + y2 + z2 have integer solutions for all natural numbers N.

Proof: By using Legendre’s Theorem on three squares, all N that are no t in the form of 4a(8b + 7) can be expressed by setting z = 0. F or N = 4a(8b + 7), all such numbers must have 0, 4 or 7 modulo 8 . We can ensure that N - z2 ≠ 4a(8b + 7) by setting z = 1 if N ≡ 7 or 4 (mod 8). For N ≡ 0 (mod 8), we prove a lemma:

Lemma: There doesn’t exist an integer 8K such that both 8K and 8K - 1 can be expressed as 4a(8b + 7). Assume there exist 8K = 4a(8b + 7) and 8K - 1 = 4c(8d + 7), where a ≥ 2. As 8K - 1 is not divisible by 4, c = 0, so we have: 8K - 1 = 8d + 7 = 4a(8b + 7) - 1 b = 4-a(8d + 8) = 23-2a(d + 1) From the first part of the equation, we get d = K - 1. As b is a n integer and a ≥ 2, we have d + 1 is divisible by 23-2a → 8K = 8(d + 1) ≡ 0 (mod 8 • 23-2a = 26-2a) Hence a ≥ 3 and K is divisible by 8. By setting that K1 = 64K. B y using the fact that if and only if an integer can be expressed as the sum of square, and so for the multiple of the number with a scaling factor of a square, we can say that if both 64K1 and 6 4K1 - 1 (a ≥ 9) can be expressed as 4a(8b + 7), K1 is divisible by 642. We can hence make higher and higher lower bound that Kn ≥ 64n+1 by repeating the process that a ≥ 6n + 3. But this infin ite ascent is impossible. And so it is impossible that both 8K and 8K - 1 can be expressed as 4a(8b + 7) then we can set z = 1 to satisfy the four square t heorem. And so all numbers can be expressed as w2 + x2 + y2 + z2, as desir ed. Besides all the theorems constructed by Fermat about the propert ies associated with prime numbers, the other mathematician also proposed other theorems above so that more relationships between prime numbers and square numbers can be found. After that Fermat proposed his hypothesis that: 4. All numbers in the form 2N + 1 (which are Fermat’s Numbers , often denoted as Fn in number theory), where N = 2n, are p rime.

However, Euler proved that his hypothesis wasn’t true by findin g a counterexample when N = 25. Proof: Euler claimed that 641 is a factor of 232 + 1; By noticing that 5 • 27 ≡ -1 (mod 641) and 54 ≡ 16 (mod 541), he got: 1 = (-1)4 ≡ (5 • 27)4 = 54 • 228 ≡ 16 • 228 = 232 (mod 641)

Mersenne Primes It is still unknown to the hypothesis whether all Fermat numbers with n ≥ 5 are composite as all number discovered for n fr om 5 to 12 are all composite. As the concept of Fermat number fi rst appeared in a letter from Fermat to Mersenne, this influence d him to investigate Mersenne Prime - integers that can be expre ssed in the form of 2n - 1 (denoted as Mn normally). A property of Fermat number is hence derived directly - except F 1 = 5, all Fermat numbers can’t be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers. This can be trivially proved as F0 = 3 can’t be expressed as the sum of two primes; meanwhile, Fn is always odd for n ≥ 1 so 2 must be one of the primes chosen. So the oth er number should be Fn - 2 = MN = 2N - 1 = (2N/2 + 1)(2N/2 - 1). Since N = 2n is always even for n ≥ 2. MN would be composite and h ence it is proved. Up to now, there are only 51 Mersenne prime discovered and it is not certain about the conjecture concerning if there exist infin ite Mersenne primes. Currently, the largest known Mersenne prime is M82589933, since: log M82589933 < log 282589933 ≈ 24862047.1 and 282589933 ends in 2;

M82589933 consists of 24862048 digits. Here are some other mentionable properties of Mersenne primes: 1. If Mp is a prime, then p must be prime. Proof: p = 1 is not a prime, so we are left to consider composite cases. Suppose that p = ab, where a ≥ b > 1 are the factors of p, then we have: 2ab - 1 = 2ab + (2a(b-1) +...+ 2a) - (2a(b-1) +...+ 2a) - 1 = 2a(2a(b-1) +...+ 2a + 1) - (2a(b-1) +...+ 2a + 1) = (2a - 1)(2a(b-1) +...+ 2a + 1) As p ≥ 2, Mp is composite as both factors are bigger than 1. By contrapositive, it is proved. ● Note that the converse is not necessarily true. For ex ample, M11 is composite because 2047 = 23 • 89.

2. m and n are coprime if and only if Mm and Mn are coprime. Proof: For the “if” statement: Assume that Mm and Mn are coprime but gcd(m, n) = k > 1. Then we get the fact that m and n are composite or m is a m ultiple of prime n. Using a similar method in Proof 1: → 2m - 1 = 2kA = (2k - 1)(2k(A-1) +...+ 2k + 1); 2n - 1 = 2kB = (2k - 1)(2k(B-1) +...+ 2k + 1) As both number have the factor 2k - 1 ≥ 22 - 1 > 1, a contr adiction and so the “if” side is proved. For the “only if” statement: Let m = An + B for some positive integer A, B and B < n

If n and B are coprime (the case when they are not coprime has been discussed in the previous part), Using modulus, we have: (2m - 1) ≡ 2n2m-n - 1 ≡ (2n - 1)2m-n + 2m-n - 1 ≡ 2B - 1 (mod 2n - 1) Assume that 2m - 1 and 2n - 1 have a common factor f, then 2 B - 1 and 2n - 1 must have the same common factor f. Then we can let n = A1B + B1 for some positive integer A1, B1 and B1 < B, usi ng a similar method we will generate a smaller solution tha t the B2th Mersenne number and B1th Mersenne number have com mon factors as well. However, this infinite descent is impo ssible. And so the theorem is proved on two sides. 3. If p and q are primes and q divides Mp, q = 2pk + 1 for som e integer k. Proof: According to Fermat's Little Theorem, q is a factor of 2q−1 − 1. Since q is a factor of 2p − 1, q is also a factor of 2 pc − 1 for all positive integers c using the factorization of 2ab - 1 above. Since p is a prime number, q is a factor of 21 - 1, and p i s also the smallest positive integer x, making q a factor o f 2x - 1. Therefore, for all positive integers x, q is a factor of 2x - 1 if and only if p is a factor of x. So since q is a factor of 2q-1 - 1 and p is a factor of q 1, q ≡ 1 (mod p). Also, since q is a factor of 2p - 1, whi ch is odd, q is odd. Therefore, q ≡ 1 (mod 2p).

4. For all n ≥ 2, Mn is not a perfect power. i.e. The equation 2n - 1 = mk has no integral solution. Proof: The above equation can be expressed as 2n - mk = 1, which is a special case of the Catalan Conjecture, and had been prov ed in 2002 that all equations aj - bk = 1 have no integer so lutions except 32 - 23 = 1. It then implies that the theorem above is proved. Apart from algebra, Mersenne numbers also appear in other v arious fields such as geometry. For example, a right triang le with integer length a + b > c and gcd(a, b, c) = 1 has the property that if a i s a power of 2 (a = 2n+1 ≥ 4), then the radius of the incircle of the tri angle is 2Fn. This can be easily proved due to the primalit y of the triangle, b = 4n - 1 and c = 4n + 1, by Pythagoras’ Theorem. Using the formula that R = 2A/(a + b + c), where A is the a rea, we have: R = 2ab/(a + b + c) = (23n+1 - 2n+1)/(22n+1 + 2n+1) = 2n+1(22n - 1)/2n+1(2n + 1) = (2n - 1) Then, we start to talk about the modern development of prim e numbers focusing on the distribution of primes and infini te series about them.

Modern Development Although it is straightforward that the distribution of pri mes is regular (rarer and rarer with a certain ratio) on a large scale, with less primes on a large scale, it seems to be distributed in a rather irregular way when we look at a small range of large numbers. For example, there are 9 prim es between 107 and 107 + 100; However, there are only 2 prim es between 107 + 100 and 107 + 200. This shows that more acc urate approximation can be invented by mathematicians to fu rther investigate the properties of primes. Later, both Legendre and Gauss came up with a conclu sion that the number of prime ≤ n is related to the fun ction

1 𝑙𝑛 𝑛

Their approximation of π(n) is given by: Legendre’s: π(n) = 𝑛

Gauss’: π(n) = ∫2

𝑛 𝑙𝑛 𝑛

1 𝑙𝑛 𝑡

- 1.08366 = li(n) - li(2)

where li(x) is the logarithmic integral function. Legendre’s approximation would have a larger absolute diff erence between

𝑛 𝑙𝑛 𝑛

- 1.08366 and π(n) for large n (though

the ratio difference won’t change), but his approximation can yield the inequality that 𝑛 𝑙𝑛 𝑛

- 1.08366 < π(n), which may potentially be used to set

lower bound of π(n) when dealing with problems related to primes

On the other hand, Gauss’ approximation would have a lower absolute difference as it converges more quickly as shown b elow in the graph. However, the drawback is that the differ ence between his approximation and π(n) would change sign more and more frequently for sufficiently large n. This had been proved by using computer that the first time this happ ened is 1019 and 1.4 • 10316.

This leaves lots of hypotheses related to the distribution of primes. Mentionable examples with my own direction on th inking about those problems include: 1. The Twin Prime Conjecture This conjecture is the special of the conjecture below when d = 2 “Given any finite number M, we must be able to find pn and pn+1 such that pn+1 > pn > M and pn+1 - pn = d.” Mathematicians claim that the statement should be true for all even d, however no one could prove it. If this conjectu re were false, it means that the distribution of primes is not totally random, which would mess up lots of general ide as about prime n umbers. There ha s been some prog ress on solving this problem. It has been proved

that for any finite number M, we must be able to find pn an d pn+1 such that pn+1 > pn > M and pn+1 - pn ≤ 246. that mean s at least one of the conjecture with d ≤ 246 is true. A straightforward thought by myself is that for any odd num ber n ≥ 3, the probability that n is prime is about 1/ln n. As this approximation is an overestimation on the real p robability, I assume that the probability is 1/2 ln n > 1/π(n) So the probability of choosing two odd p rimes with difference d is about 1/4 ln2 n < 1/π2(n). Howev er, a large amount of evidence that this “proof” is not r igorous enough is that the distribution of primes is not a matter of probability. The more detailed argument by myself that this conjecture s hould hold for all d is that: Suppose we choose a prime pn+1 such that pn+1 - d is a prime as well. Then pn+1 must satisfy the simultaneous modular ine quality: pn+1 ≢ d (mod pi) for all i such that pi ≤ √pn For the worst case possible that less numbers can satisfy t he inequality, we overestimate the upper bound of i as: n/ ln n → i ≤ ⌊n/ ln n⌋

By using the fact that for n coprime numbers {p1, p2, …, pn }, there must be exactly one 0 < N ≤ p1p2…pn have unique pe rmutation of remainder when divided by p1, p2, …, pn. There fore, for a given n, there are: 𝑙𝑛 𝑛⌋ ∏⌊𝑛/ 𝑖=1

(1 - 1/pi) of numbers satisfying the inequality as

pn+1, which converges to a constant smaller than CTwin = 0.660

(3 S.F.), proved in 1921 if we consider the product of the reciprocals of all prime numbers. In a sense that prime numbers are rarer and rarer on a larg e scale, it means that if we choose a range (M, M1] for lar ge M1 > M, the number of prime number in the range is π(M1) - π(M) > M1/ln M1 - M/2 ln M Then, we choose another range (M1, M2] with M2 > M1. If the hypothesis was false, we will have for some sufficiently large M2 > M1 > M: π2(M2) - π2(M1) = π2(M1) - π2(M) → π2(M2) - 2π2(M1) + π2 (M) = 0. By applying the underestimation for the positive part and o verestimation for the negative part, it becomes: ε(M2/ ln2M2 + M/ ln2M) - 2M1/ε ln2M1 > 0, where ε is a number that ε ∈ (-0.5, 0). By multiplying both sides by ε, we apply quadratic formula for ε ε(M2/ ln M2 + M/ ln M) - ε - 2M1/ ln M1 = 0. By letting M2/ ln M2 + M/ ln M = a and - 2M1/ ln M1 = b: 1±√1 + 4(𝑎𝑏)² 1±2𝑎𝑏 1 1 ]’ > [ ]’ = [ - b, 2𝑎 2𝑎 2𝑎 2𝑎

ε ∈ [

+ b]’

It is trivial that x > ln2x for all natural numbers x, so a > 2 and b > 1, so the range of ε is at least ε ∈ (-∞, -0.75) ∪ (1, 1.25) by plugging in extreme valu es of a and b, which contradicts the assumption that 0 < ε < 1 and so the conjecture is “proved” by me that for any fi nite number M, we must be able to find pn and pn+1 such that pn+1 > pn > M and pn+1 - pn = d for all even d.

2. Goldbach Conjecture This conjecture states that every even number N ≥ 4 can be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers, which wa s first mentioned in a letter from Euler to Goldbach. This conjecture doesn’t focus on odd numbers simply becaus e 2 is the only even prime number, which causes all n can’ t be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers if n - 2 is composite. Due to the difficulty of proving this conjecture, there is a Weak Goldbach Conjecture: All odd numbers N ≥ 7 can be e xpressed as the sum of three prime numbers, and had been proved by 2012 completely. It is still uncertain about the Strong Goldbach Conjecture above, so I am going to provide a plausible argument that t his conjecture is true. I claim that the conjecture works: Using Legendre’s approximation of the prime-counting funct ion π(x) again, we underestimate π(x) > x/2 ln x. For any sufficiently large enough even N, there will be at least N/2 ln N primes such that p < N. 𝑁

The number of odd pairs that can add to N is ⌈ ⌉. 2

(1, 2, 2, ... for N = 4, 6, 8, ...) We omit the ceiling function by overestimation and s ay the number of pairs ≤ N/2 + 1. By pigeon-hole principle, in order to exist an even integer N such that the Goldbach Conjecture doesn't work, at least 0.75N number smaller than N must not be prime as 50% even n umbers are omitted and one pair contain at least 2 numbers

while each odd integers are involved in one of them. We are left to find the upper bound of N by solving: N/2 ln N > 0.25N + 1 We focus on a weaker result for the upper bound of N, it is certain that for all positive number N, 0.25N + 1 > N/8: N/2 ln N > N/8 1/ ln N > N/4 ln N < 4 → N < e4 = 54.6 (3 S.F) For N > e4, there must be at least one odd pair whose both numbers are primes. By finding this weakened upper bound, we can verify all cas es for N < e4: 4 = 2+2; 6 = 3+3; 8 = 3+5; 10 = 3+7; 12 = 5+7; 14 = 3+11; 1 6 = 11+5; 18 = 11+7; 20 = 13+7; 22 = 17+5; 24 = 19+5; 26 = 19+7; 28 = 11+17; 30 = 11+19; 32 = 13+19; 34 = 11+23; 36 = 13+23; 38 = 31+7; 40 = 23+17; 42 = 23+19; 44 = 13+31; 46 = 3+43; 48 = 5+43; 5 0 = 7+43; 52 = 29+23; 54 = 31+23. And so I believe that this conjecture is true in my opinion .

Application of Prime Numbers There are lots of applications of prime numbers no matter i n nature or technology. A. Nature 1. Cicadas Cicadas are insects that hibernate underground, mating and dying every 13 or 17 years (while newborn cicadas

repeat the process underground). Some have speculated that the 13/17 hibernation was the result of evolution ary pressure. If the cicada hibernates for X years and the predator goes through a similar multi-year hiberna tion, say Y years, then if Y is divided by X, the cica da will be eaten. So by "choosing" prime numbers, they can reduce the likelihood that a predator will wake up at the right time. 2. Genetic Information In complex living organisms, the body must generate ch romosomes to generate new cells to cover the wound eff iciently in a short period. Meanwhile, generating a co mposite number of cell would let the body send redunda nt commands to the body would increase the cost needed . In order to keep the variety of the genetic informat ion within a species, most species have their number o f chromosomes prime. For example, there are 17 and 23 chromosomes in the cell of sunflowers and our bodies r espectively.

B. Technology 1. Cryptography Most modern computer cryptography works by using prime factors of large numbers. The large number used to enc rypt the file can be made public and available because the encryption is valid, so only the main factor of th at large number can be decrypted again. While technica lly it's only a matter of time until these factors are found, it's also only a matter of time before we say i t can't. Modern supercomputers can study the 256-bit f

actorization problem longer than the current age of th e universe, and still have no answers. 2. Communication There are two types of encryption used in our daily li fe in the form of security key, where prime numbers ar e usually used to increase the complexity of the passw ord, and so the level of security. Symmetric encryption is fast, but less secure. It uses the same key for encryption and decryption, and if any one untrusted finds that key, they can destroy your en tire encrypted data. This type of encryption often inv olves computer or mobile transactions. You may have noticed that when you bank online, you re ceive a security code - this code is a symmetric encry ption code. Besides being insecure, the key needs to be circled by all members in order to be used. That's the magic of a symmetric encryption. Asymmetric encryption uses two keys rather than one. O ne for encryption and one for decryption. This works b ecause one key is public (encryption) and the other is private (decryption). Therefore, only the person who h as the private key can know the decrypted password, th us protecting the information from any online hackers or untrusted users. This method of encryption is effective and provides a lot of security due to its trapdoor feature. Everyone who has the public key can encrypt, but can't go back and decrypt.

Conclusion To sum up, the meaning of prime numbers in life has become more and more comprehensive over time. Hundreds of years ago, instead of focusing on the unique pr operties of prime numbers themselves, mathematicians mostly focused on exploiting the property that prime numbers are n ot divisible by one or two numbers. However, even if such s tudies fail to show their uniqueness, it is enough to find many numbers with ingenious properties. Later, mathematicians focused on using the definition of pr ime numbers themselves to study more ideas about power and addition and subtraction among colleagues, making quality f rom integration into the foundation of mathematics. Over time, prime numbers are now not what one might think t hey are - only helpful in the realm of pure mathematics. Wi th the development of cryptographic ciphers and the study o f natural organisms, mathematicians found their importance to efficiency and systems. It is precisely because of the e xistence of prime numbers, and because of their uniqueness, that practical mathematics can flourish.

Bibliography Of course, it is certain that my understanding of primes is not enough for me to quote out all the main properties of primes and the ones related to them. Therefore, the following websites are used to provide reference to my article: 1. MacTutor - Prime Number

https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Prime_numbers/# :~:text=Prime%20numbers%20and%20their%20properties%20were%20firs t%20studied,and%20were%20interested%20in%20perfect%20and%20amica ble%20numbers 2. Timeline of the History of Prime Numbers https://prime-numbers.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_of_the_History_of _Prime_Numbers

3. Properties of Prime Numbers https://mae.ufl.edu/~uhk/PRIME-NUMBERS.pdf 4. Python Program to find prime numbers using the sieve of Era tosthenes https://www.includehelp.com/python/find-prime-numbers-using-siev e-of-eratosthenes.aspx#:~:text=%23%20Python%20program%20to%20fin d%20prime%20numbers%20%23,%5B%20p%5D%3A%20print%20%28p%2C%20end% 20%3D%20%22%20%22%29 5. Perfect Number - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_number 6. Fermat's little theorem, a Probabilistic test for Primality https://iq.opengenus.org/fermat-little-theorem-primality-test/ 7. Amicable Numbers: A Brief Introduction and Its Fascinating Properties https://gmsciencein.com/2018/03/12/amicable-numbers/ 8. Properties of Mersenne Numbers and Primes https://mae.ufl.edu/~uhk/MERSENNE-REVISITED.pdf

9. Prime-counting function - Wikipedia (English and Chinese Ve rsion) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime-counting_function 10.The Incredible Importance of Prime Numbers in Real Time https://interestingengineering.com/the-incredible-importance-ofprime-numbers-in-daily-life 11.Nature’s hidden prime number code https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14305667

– THE END OF ARTICLE –

Winner

Will Rose The Easter Island Story

The Easter Island Story: What Lessons Can Be Learnt By William Rose

Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 2 The Discovery of Easter Island................................................................................................ 2 The Enigma of the Moai Statues ............................................................................................ 3 Theories of Easter Island ........................................................................................................ 4 Evidence of Environmental and Population Decline ................................................................ 5 How did the Rapa Nui people move and erect these large statues? ........................................ 6 Animals destroying habitats .................................................................................................. 7 Population after the Presumed Collapse ................................................................................ 8 Lessons from Easter Island ................................................................................................. 109 Bibliography .....................................................................................................................1110

Figure: Rapa Nui National Park (World Heritage Convention, 1984)

Introduction A major part of human history is the migration of modern humans into the wider Pacific region, which reached its peak with the colonization of eastern Polynesia around 1,500 years ago. Because of the development of new technologies in watercraft and navigation, the Lapita people appeared in the Bismarck Archipelago sometime between 2,900 and 3,400 years ago (David, et al., 2011). As a result of eastern expansion, they colonized Vanuatu and Fiji around 3,000 years ago, Tonga around 2,850 years ago and Samoa around 2,750 years ago. Eventually, the descendants of Figure 1: Map of “The Polynesian Triangle” with Micronesia and these migrants moved further east to what is now Melanesia called "The Polynesian Triangle" (Figure 1); a 10 million sq. km stretch of ocean with more than 1,000 islands in between Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand. Easter Island is situated in the Pacific Ocean, 1,400 miles from the nearest habitable island, Pitcairn, and 2,000 miles from the closest continent, South America. It is found in the easternmost point of “The Polynesian Triangle” and is one of the world's most remote and isolated places (Figure 1). The subtropical location of the island and its latitude of 27 degrees south (Gallardo, et al., 2016) provides it with a mild climate, while its three volcanoes help make the soil extremely fertile. In theory, the combination of fertile soil, location and climate should have made Easter a miniature paradise, far from problems that challenge much of the rest of the world. The island was formed thousands of years ago when three volcanoes converged from the sea. The island’s youngest volcano, Terevaka, is located near the island’s north corner. Around 200,000 years ago, the eruption of Terevaka released lava, which now covers around 95% of the island’s surface. (Harper, 2008) The other two volcanoes are: Poike, the oldest, which erupted around 600,000 years ago, and Rano Kau, which forms the south-eastern corner of the island. Besides these main volcanoes, there are smaller volcanoes and volcanic landforms on the island, such as Rano Raraku crater, Puna Pau cinder cone and a series of caves made of lava tubes.

The Discovery of Easter Island The island was named by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who discovered the island on Easter Day in 1722. As the story goes, Jacob Roggeveen promised his father one day that he would search the Southern Land for the mythical continent known as Terra Australis. It was thought to be situated somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The Portuguese sailor Pedro Fernandes de Queirós had described the Southern Land as better than America: “a paradise on earth, endowed with freshwater, fertile soil and mountains filled with silver, gold, and pearls” (Queirós, 1607). On 1 August 1721, forty years after his father’s death, Jacob finally set sail, onboard the Arena, to find this mythical land. The sixty-two-year-old admiral had high hopes of making history. Eight months later, on Easter Day 1722, he stumbled upon what

3 he thought was a new land. However, as he approached, it became clear that this was no continent, but only a small speck in the Pacific Ocean, an island 24km end to end and 12km wide. The island that Roggeveen spotted was so treeless and eroded that he mistook its barren hills for sand dunes. When Roggeveen arrived, he estimated a population of between 2,000 and 3,000 people. He did not only find people but was also confronted with large statues (“Moai statues”) that were lined up on the beach, which suggested that society was extremely civilised on this island. However, when Captain Cook visited 50 years later, the community was no bigger than 700 people.

The Enigma of the Moai Statues For centuries, the question of how the Moai were constructed and transported has puzzled visitors and researchers. No visitors to the island have ever witnessed the process, leaving many questions unanswered. There are over 1,000 Moai statues on the island, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. The origin of these statues is the source of considerable debate. The monolithic stone figures consist of gigantic heads, on top of even bigger torsos, wearing crowns of red sandstone. Some of the statues are over 30 feet tall and weigh up to 86 tonnes (Van Tilburg, Figure 2: Moai standing on Ahu 1995, pp. 36-37). 95% of them have been carved from the black volcanic rock of the volcano Rano Raraku and mounted on rectangular stone platforms called Ahu (Figure 2). Most scholars agree that the statues were built by the Rapa Nui people, who arrived on the island from mainland Asia sometime between 400 and 1200 CE. It is believed that the Rapa Nui, descendants of the Lapita people, reached the island in open canoes with two hulls, a catamaran design, against the prevailing winds. With them, they brought chickens, edible rats, sugar cane, bananas, sweet potatoes, and saplings of the mulberry tree, which they weaved into clothes. Human activity on the island has been dated by radiocarbon to some extent as early as 400 to 700 CE, which is in reasonable agreement with the estimated settlement date of 400CE when estimated by linguists (Diamond, 2005). Despite the fact that the discovery of this island was not considered important at the time, it has since attracted the attention of archaeologists and scientists from around the globe, who all have been focused on trying to solve the conundrum of how over 1,000 Moai statues were constructed and why such a society, which seemed so civilised for its time, who were able to erect and transport these extremely tall and heavy statues, collapsed. “We could not understand, how it was possible that people who are destitute of heavy or thick timber, and also of stout cordage, out of which to construct gear, had been able to erect the statues.” Roggeveen wrote in his logbook. Roggeveen and his crew had more questions than answers. Even today, this tiny island in the Pacific remains one of the most mysterious places on earth, generating many questions for several centuries. Within a few hundred years, Easter Island's people wiped out their forests, drove their

4 animals and plants to extinction, made the land barren, and saw their highly complex society fall into chaos.

Theories of Easter Island The topic area that this project will explore is about what lessons we can learn from Easter Island and what happened to the Rapa Nui people, a thriving and industrious society of 12,000 people at its peak, who built these monuments to honour their ancestors, who mysteriously had been reduced to only 111 people by 1877. In his bestselling book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (Diamond, 2005), Jared Diamond1 dated the collapse of Easter Island to be around 1600 CE. In the book, Diamond writes: “Eventually Easter’s growing population was cutting the forest more rapidly than the forest was regenerating. The people used land for gardens and wood for fuel, canoes, and houses – and of course, for lugging statues. As forest disappeared, the islanders ran out of timber and rope to transport and erect their statues. Life became more uncomfortable – springs and streams dried up, and wood was no longer available for fires. … As we try to imagine the decline of Easter’s civilization, we ask ourselves, “Why didn’t they look around, realize what they were doing, and stop before it was too late? What were they thinking when they cut down the last palm tree?” (Diamond, 2005, p.118) In summary, Diamond claims that Rapa Nui is “the clearest example of a society that destroyed itself by overexploiting its own resources” and that deforestation led to “starvation, a population crash, and a descent into cannibalism.” In agreement with Diamond, other archaeologists have argued that carving and transporting the giant statues, caused the islanders to deplete their own natural resources, leading to a downward cycle caused by environmental destruction, therefore committing “ecocide”. The collapse has long been put down to environmental degradation due to the resources needed to build the statues. This project looks at the evidence put forth by a new class of scholars, including Rutger Bregman2 who challenges his claim in his 2020 book Humankind: A Hopeful History (Bregman, 2020). Now the story of Easter Island. In the 400 CE, people arrived by boat on a highly fertile, densely forested island and brought with them various items such as chickens and bananas. Within a few centuries, the population had grown to 10,000. Islanders honoured their ancestors by building stone statues in their image, like other Polynesians. The statues grew more elaborate and competitive over time as they were built, with the locals cutting down trees faster than they could be replaced. By 1600, all the trees and tree pollen were gone, and as Ronald Wright3 describes it, “the people who felled the last tree could see it was the last, could know with complete certainty that there would never be another. And they felled it anyway.” (Wright, 2004) For over a generation, there was enough wood to carry on erecting statues and building 1 Jared Diamond is an acclaimed American geographer, historian, ornithologist, and author. Educated at Harvard, he has gone on

to win numerous awards for excellence and service in his field. With these credentials, Diamond’s work and opinion can be considered authoritative and one should be able to consider his opinion seriously. 2 Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian and author. His work has been featured in The Washington Post, the Guardian, and the BBC. He has been described by the Guardian as the "Dutch wunderkind of new ideas" and by TED Talks as "one of Europe's most prominent young thinkers". With these credentials, his research and opinion can be taken seriously. 3 Ronald Wright is a Canadian author who has written books of travel, history, and fiction. He studied archaeology at Cambridge University and later at the University of Calgary, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1996. He is also a frequent contributor to the Times Literary Supplement, and he has written and presented documentaries for radio and television. Therefore, his research and work should be taken seriously.

5 canoes. However, eventually the wood ran out. Wars broke out. People starved, and by the time Captain Cook arrived at the end of the 18th century, there were just a few “small, lean, timid, and miserable” (Diamond, 2005) people left.

Evidence of Environmental and Population Decline Roggeveen's first impression of Easter Island was not of a paradise but of a wasteland. "We originally, from a further distance, have considered the said Easter Island as sandy; the reason for that is this, that we counted as sand the withered grass, hay, or other scorched and burnt vegetation, because its wasted appearance could give no other impression than of a singular poverty and barrenness,”. The island Roggeveen saw was nothing but grassland without any trees or bushes taller than ten feet. Currently, botanists have identified only 47 species of plants native to Easter Island, including 14 introduced by the Rapa Nui people. For at least 30,000 years before humans arrived, Easter Island was not a wasteland at all. In the late 1970s and 1980s, John Flenley4 collected and studied sediment core deposits from three locations: Rano Aroi, a crater in the island’s centre; Rano Raraku, a crater in the island’s southeast corner; and Rano Kau, a crater in the island’s southwest corner. Each of these locations contains a shallow lake that collects wind-blown sediment. During his investigation, Flenley collected a 10.5-metre sediment core, which showed that the island used to have a forest of trees and woody bushes that towered over an area of shrubs, herbs, ferns, and grasses (Flenley, 1884) as well as tree daisies, the Hauhau tree, and the Toromiro tree, which furnishes a dense firewood. The palm trees, which are now absent on Easter Island, were the most common trees in the forest. According to pollen records (Hunt, 2006), the Jubaea palm was established at least 35,000 years ago. Easter Island palms are closely related to Chilean wine palms, which grow up to 82 feet tall and 6 feet wide. Additionally, the palms could have provided food, since its Chilean relative produces edible nuts and sap from which Chileans produce sugar, syrups, honey, and wine. ‘Evidence from palm root casts, endocarps (nuts), pollen, and phytoliths indicates that a mixed palm vegetation once potentially covered 90% of the island’ (Mieth & Bork, 2010). Based on endocarp identifications, it is presumed that the most important palm species was the endemic, and now extinct Paschalococcus disperta, probably a close relative of Jubaea chilensis (Arecaceae). Catherine Orliac5, of France's Centre National for Scientific Research, conducted a remarkable analysis of 32,960 specimens of wood, seeds, fibres, and roots on Easter Island in 1992. She not only discovered 14 new species on the island, but also demonstrated how the Rapa Nui's principal source of fuel changed significantly during their presence. Inhabitants burned wood from trees between 1300 and 1650 C.E., but after that, they used grass, ferns, and other similar plants as fuel, which could have contributed to the depletion of natural resources on the island. One of the main reasons for the decline of the population and environment was believed to be deforestation, in particular, the felling of the tall palm trees that densely covered the island which were necessary for building canoes. The loss of wood for canoes would had devastating consequences. These canoes were the island’s lifeline since, as we have learned, Easter Island is probably the most remote inhabited place on Earth. Without enough wood, the inhabitants were limited to the island’s own extremely limited resources. They could no longer trade with other extremely distant Polynesian island

4 John Flenley is a world-renown bio-geographer, specialising in palynology, and is also the author of Easter Island, Earth Island:

The Enigmas of Rapa Nui 5 Catherine Orliac is an American anthropologist. She is best known for his studies of Polynesian prehistory, especially her investigations into the production, transportation, and erection of the Moai.

6 societies, go ocean fishing, or visit nearby islands that provided basalt for tools and extra food for their population, which led to the Rapa Nui people destroying their own island to survive. On top of cutting down the trees for canoes, the Rapa Nui also destroyed the trees to help erect and transport the Moai. Jared Diamond, William Mulloy6 and many other scholars believed that the inhabitants of the island chopped down all their trees because they were greedy and wanted to put up as many of these statues as possible. Ronald Wright, in his book, goes as far as describing the society as a ‘mania’ and ‘ideological pathology’. The people of Rapa Nui wanted more and more statues regardless of the consequences. The arrival of the Europeans led to further conflict and sickness as foreigners brought with them new illnesses such as tuberculosis, dysentery, leprosy and sexually transmitted diseases to which the islanders had no immunity. In particular, the introduction of smallpox and tuberculosis reduced the population to 111 people by the late 19th century. On top of the new diseases introduced, more than 1,500 Rapa Nui people were taken off the island as slaves by Peruvian ships in the 1860s and 1870s. When the epidemic finally ended in 1887, only 110 inhabitants remained, about the same number of people who had settled the island over 1,000 years before. The population of Easter Island in 2017 was 7,750, (Heyerdahl, 2018) and of those who are descendants of the original native Rapa Nui population, only around 60% of them are descended from just 36 natives who died at the end of the 19th century.

How did the Rapa Nui people move and erect these large statues? Scholars have long debated how the statues were moved across the island. Some academics believe that they were rolled on tree trunks, whilst others thought that the islanders used rope to ‘walk’ them. During Thor Heyerdahl’s7 time on Rapa Nui, the islanders supposedly explained to him how they moved these large, heavy statues without damaging the Moai. To move the statues, they used tree trunks and rolled the Moai along them. First, they built a gently sloped ramp of stones from the plaza to the top of the platform, and then they pulled the statue with its base end forwards up the ramp. With the base having reached the platform, the people levered the statues head upward with the logs. Stones were slipped under the head to support it at its new position, then left upright to tilt the head tilted vertical using logs. However, as specified by Professor Jan Boersema8, it would take about 15 trees to roll each of the 1,000 statues into place across the island, adding up to 15,000 trees in total. According to ecological research, there could have been as many as 16 million trees on the island (Mieth & Bork, 2003), meaning that the use of trees to transport the statues can only have contributed in a very minor way to environmental degradation. The main reason why the Rapi Nui people did not reforest their island was due to the harsh climate conditions they lived in. Easter Island had fragile, nutrient poor volcanic soil that blew away easily in the strong winds. In addition, the island had been formed from porous volcanic rocks and its soil did not hold much moisture. When it rained the nutrients were washed away. Rapa Nui has been depleted of its soils due to centuries of rainfall. As a result, the island has been a difficult place for farmers to make a living. It is still a poor place to grow food today. As of 2015 around 60,000 new trees have been planted,

6 William Mulloy was an American anthropologist. He is best known for his work in Polynesian prehistory, especially his

investigations into the production, transportation, and erection of Moai. 7 Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany, and geography. 8 Jan Boersema is a biologist, major ethology, at the University of Groningen.

7 mainly Aito and Eucalyptus trees, but it is estimated that 200,000 will need to be planted before the erosion can be stemmed (Marek, 2015). Most of the 1,000 statues never left Rano Raraku, the quarry where they were carved. In fact, the scientists believe that the islanders intentionally left them there to serve as 'guardians' of the quarry, instead of being 'abandoned' when the island erupted into civil war in 1680 (Cauwe, 2011). In the end, only 493 statues were rolled on planks of wood to another position on the island, which tells us that there were still at least 15 million trees still left on the island after they had finished constructing and moving the statues in 1620 (Figure 3). Figure 3: (un)finished Moai locations across Easter Island.

Animals destroying habitats

Figure 34

In addition to deforestation, over-harvesting, and climate change, Polynesian rats were also believed to be responsible for most of the deforestation. Whether the rats were just a source of energy for the first Polynesian settlers or just stowaways on their canoes, the rodents would have found a welcoming habitat on Rapa Nui with an endless supply of food, where they could reproduce. The Rattus Exulans (the Polynesian Rat) would board the canoes and gnaw on the palm tree seeds, making them in usable (Figure 4). In the lab, rats double in number every 47 days. This means that in just 3 years, a single pair of rats can produce up to 17 million offspring (Barnes, et al., 2006). This Figure 4: Prehistoric rat gnawed Jubaea endocarps from Rapa Nui. would have been the real ecological disaster on Easter (Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum) Island. Given a nearly unlimited food supply they could have erupted into an enormous, dense population, which stunted the forest’s growth, resulting them to collapse. It would of likely have taken many decades for the Jubaea palm trees to produce fruit because they were extremely slow growing. With rats eating new palm seeds, the impact to palms would have been distinctive. Birdlife food sources were also drastically reduced when much of the tree cover vanished. “Humans caused extinctions of up to half of the known land birds throughout the tropical Pacific through predation, habitat alteration, competition and predation from introduced rats, and introduced avian diseases.” (Flenley & Bahn, 1997). As a result of the lack of trees, the torrential pacific rains, in combination with the frequent civil wars that destroyed farmlands, greatly reduced the island's food productivity. Jared Diamond concludes the chapter in his book by telling us that the self-indulgent people of Rapa Nui caused their society to fail. Raw materials were lost, which brought an end to the transport and erection of statues, and the construction of canoes, which were used to gather food. “All the natives repeated often and excitedly the word miru and became impatient because they saw that we did not understand it: this word is the name of the timber used by Polynesians to make their canoes. This is what they wanted most, and they used every means to make us understand this” (Diamond, 2021). The highest volcano on Easter Island, “Terevaka,” means “place to get canoes,” before the land was stripped of all

8 vegetation. In addition, a lack of wood meant that people were not able to keep themselves warm during the winter nights of wind of around 10 degrees Celsius. Without canoes, food sources were lost, and bird species disappeared. Palm nuts and other fruits dropped out of their diet. On top of the decreases in food sources, deforestation also led to crop yields decreasing, starvation, a population crash, a descent into cannibalism and the eruption of warfare across the island.

Population after the Presumed Collapse But how sure can we be that this is what actually happened on Easter Island? The classic theory of the island’s demise has been fundamentally challenged by new scholarship, which uses new statistical techniques. In an article published in the Journal of Archaeological Science (DiNapoli, et al., 2020), researchers produced evidence showing that the Rapa Nui society in fact, continued to grow after its presumed collapse in the 1600s, as can be seen from the continued construction of the stone platforms, Ahu. Archaeologists have identified at least 360 Ahu, the stone platforms, most of which are found along the island's shoreline, which date after the presumed collapse. Their shape is typically rectangular, and they have typically been constructed from basalt stones. In addition to serving as statue platforms, the Ahu served as shrines and burial grounds. DiNapoli9 and Lipo10 analysed radiocarbon dates from 11 different Ahu sites during the experiment. They were able to create a more exact timeline of the construction at each site by applying Bayesian analysis, which allows scientists to determine the likelihood of specific events, based on prior knowledge of conditions that might be related to the event. According to the research, the construction of Ahu began shortly after Polynesian settlers arrived on the island and continued after European contact in 1722. Although DiNapoli’s research has been questioned by some, the credibility of the classic theory championed by Diamond has also been hit by a recent examination by a Smithsonian Institution anthropology team, where they found 469 skulls on Easter Island in 2016 which found no signs of largescale warfare among the natives. Indeed, only two of the skulls bore evidence of being harmed by one of the infamous Mata’s (obsidian arrowheads). (Gill & Stefan, 2016, p. 228). More evidence from the research revealed that the Rapa Nui people did not wheel their Moai into place using Jubaea Palm tree trunks, instead used ropes to ‘walk’ these statues into place (Hunt & Lipo, 2020). Similar suggestions have been made in the past, however experiments suggested that the Moai would have been worn away if moved in this way. However, in 2012 some new evidence came into light which showed that a team of 18 people, led by Carl Lipo and Terry Hunt11, could use 3 ropes to move a 5-ton Moai a 1km (Figure 5). They tied a rope around eyes of the Moai and pulled it behind them in the direction of travel. This rope protected the statue from falling by tilting it slightly forward on its front edge. Two more ropes were attached perpendicular to the direction of travel of the statue. To 'rock' the statue from side to side, these 9 Robert J DiNapoli is an archaeologist who uses computational modelling and geospatial methods to study the interaction

between human populations and the environment. His research focuses on the islands of Polynesia. He did a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Environmental Studies and Anthropology at Binghamton University. Therefore, his research and work should be taken seriously. 10 Dr Carl Lipo is an archaeologist who is the Professor of Anthropology at California State University. His book “The Statues That Walked: Unravelling the Mystery of Easter Island” won the 2011 Society for American Archaeology book of the Year Award in the Public Audience category. His work should be taken seriously, and his opinion should be trusted. 11 Dr Terry Hunt is one of the world's foremost experts on the human and environmental histories of the Pacific Islands, where he has conducted field research for more than four decades. He is the author of "The Statues That Walked: Unravelling the Mystery of Easter Island.” which won the Society for American Archaeology's Book of the Year award in 2011. Dr Hunt's research was the focus of a National Geographic magazine cover story in July 2012 and a Nova-National Geographic TV documentary. His opinion and work should be trusted and taken seriously.

9 ropes were pulled in different directions. “The findings suggest that relatively few people were needed to move the statues. As a result, the idea of a massive civilization collapsing because of its obsession with building statues needs a rethink, the Polynesian settlers did cause deforestation through slashing-and-burning of the forest to make way for sweet potatoes and through the rats inadvertently brought to the island that ate palm nuts before they could sprout into new trees. But that deforestation didn't cause the civilization to die out.” Carl Lipo said to Live Science. This Figure 5: 18 people using 3 ropes to 'walk' a 5-ton moai-replica in Kualoa Ranch, Hawai'i. means that for the Rapa Nui people, deforestation was not a very big deal, because every tree removed freed up space for arable land. On top of this, the Islanders used a technique called stone mulching, where they planted the volcanic rocks into the soil to add nutrients and cut down on erosion. In a 2013 article, Mara Mulrooney12 showed that food production actually increased after the trees were felled, because islanders used intelligent farming techniques such as layering stones to protect crops from wind and heat (Mulrooney, 2013). The loss of trees on Rapa Nui had little, if any, impact on the island's production since the soil did not become less fertile as a result of deforestation. In fact, it was only via human interference that foods such as sweet potato could be consistently grown on Easter Island. And the method used was as clever as it was time-consuming. The Rapa Nui people used the lithic mulch method which increased the land's productivity. First, they positioned small rocks, which boosted the soil's productivity by exposing the plant to mineral nutrients that are within the rock. Rocks are often placed not just on the surface but also in the subsurface to introduce new mineral sources into the soil. In addition, surface rocks protected more turbulent airflow across the garden surface. The interrupted airflow reduces the amount of wind might dry out plants and wash away all the nutrients. Unlike those who described the Rapa Nui people as committing "ecocide", we see that forest loss resulted in an environment that is beneficial for human survival. Additionally, evidence regarding statue transportation clearly shows that no palm or other trees were used. So, what of the original story remains? Of those self-centred, greedy islanders who destroyed their own civilisation? Not much, it turns out. If recent theories are to be believed, there was no famine, no war, and no cannibalism. Deforestation did not make the land barren, but rather more productive. There was no mass slaughter in the 17th century; the real decline did not begin until centuries later. So what caused the Rapa Nui society to collapse? We don’t know.

Mara Mulrooney is an American archaeologist, who specialises in pacific archaeology, geographic Information systems, chronometric dating techniques, geochemical sourcing of lithic artefacts and museum studies.

10 Lessons from Easter Island A collapsed society has three components. There is the “the Runaway Train, the Dinosaur, and the House of Cards.” (Tainter, 1988) The story of Easter Island fits these three components because their “Runaway Train” was the rapid increase in population and their need to build these statues. Destroying trees and building structures until all resources have been depleted is the “Dinosaur” element. This led in turn to the “House of Cards” – the rapid collapse of the Rapa Nui society on Easter Island. This makes it a very compelling story, and one which was backed up by research and oral histories. In today’s world there are so many “Runaway Trains”, the rise in population and pollution, the thirst for energy to drive economic growth, rising temperatures, the acceleration of advances in technology, and the concentration of wealth and power that seem destined to collapse. According to the WWF13 “We would need the regenerative capacity of 1.6 Earths to provide the natural resources and ecological services we currently use” (WWF, 2021). Ronald Wright has described our present behaviour as “typical of failed societies at the zenith of their greed and arrogance…hostility to change from vested interests, and inertia at all social levels.” As the “House of Cards” effect shows, collapse comes suddenly, as a tipping point is reached. Civilisations at the edge of their ecological limits are very vulnerable and could collapse in matters of months. Despite global warming fears, other causes such as crop failures, new pandemics, mass migrations, and nuclear war over scarce resources may turn out to be the catalyst for the collapse of our society. Consequently, the story of Easter Island provides many cautionary lessons for society in the future, so we do not make the same mistakes as the Rapa Nui people. In today's world, we face a similar problem to the one the Rapa Nui faced hundreds of years ago. Destruction of forests, pollution of the air and water, and the increase of energy consumption have resulted in severe environmental consequences, which may cause famine, disease, war, and a decline in the human population just as it happened on Easter Island a few hundred years ago. The human population of the planet, like the islanders, has no practical methods of escape, we are stuck here. Humans have succeeded in collecting more food and exploiting more resources during the last two million years, allowing us to support our growing population and rapid advancing technological industries. So, this is the lesson from Easter Island. It is a catastrophic story that has been told and retold in documentaries, novels, reports, encyclopaedias, articles, and popular books. But the real lessons may be more hopeful and less cataclysmic, if the more recent theories of DiNapoli, as relayed also by Bregman, are to be believed. Environmental destruction may not be inevitable – it could just be that we fit the evidence to the story we want to tell. What if humans are less evil and more resourceful and resilient? This is not in any way to downplay the urgency of the climate crisis but suggests that an alternative future is possible.

Reputable International Non-Governmental Organisation, research is likely to be credible

Bibliography Barnes, S., Hunt, T. & Matisoo-Smith, E., 2006. Ancient DNA of the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) from Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Journal of Archaeological Science, 33(11), pp. 1536-1540.

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Bregman, R., 2020. Humankind: A Hopeful History. 2nd Edition ed. London: Bloomsbury. Cauwe, N., 2011. Megaliths of Easter Island. Sion, Switzerland, Archaeopress. David, B. et al., 2011. Debates in "World Archaeology". World Archaeology, 43(4), pp. 576-593. Diamond, J., 2005. Collapse: How Societes Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking Press. Diamond, J., 2021. The Last Tree on Easter Island. London: Penguin. DiNapoli, R., Rieth, T., Lipo, C. & T, H., 2020. A model-based approach to the tempo of “collapse”: The case of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 116. Flenley, J., 1884. Late Quaternary pollen records from Easter Island. Nature, Volume 307, pp. 47-50. Flenley, J. & Bahn, P., 1997. The Enigmas of Easter Island. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gallardo, L. et al., 2016. The first twenty years of ozone soundings from Rapa Nui. Tellus. Series B, Chemical and physical meteorology, Volume 68. Gill, G. & Stefan, V., 2016. Skeletal Biology of the Ancient Rapanui. New York: Cambridge University Press. Harper, V., 2008. Basalt Compositional Variability on Rapa Nui and its Implications in Artifact Sourcing and Prehistoric Resource Use, California State University, Long Beach: Presented to the Department of Anthropology. Heyerdahl, T., 2018. Easter Island. [Online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/place/Easter-Island [Accessed 10 April 2021]. Hunt, T. L., 2006. Rethinking the fall of Easter Island: new evidence points to an alternative explanation for a civilization's collapse. American Scientist, 94(5). Hunt, T. & Lipo, C., 2020. The Statues Walked - What Really Happened on Easter Island. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGxE3MCchCA Marek, M., 2015. Bringing the trees back to Easter Island. [Online] Available at: https://www.dw.com/en/bringing-the-trees-back-to-easter-island/a-18366801 Mieth, A. & Bork, H.-R., 2003. The Key Role of the Jubaea Palm Trees in the History of Rapa Nui: a Provocative Interpretation. Rapa Nui Journal, October. Mieth, A. & Bork, H.-R., 2010. Humans, climate or introduced rats – which is to blame for the woodland destruction on prehistoric Rapa Nui. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37(2), pp. 417-426.

12 Mulrooney, M., 2013. An island-wide assessment of the chronology of settlement and land use on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) based on radiocarbon data. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40(12), pp. 4377-4399. Queirós, P. F. d., 1607. Manuscript - Pedro Fernandes de Queirós. [Online] Available at: https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/spanish-quest-terra-australis Tainter, J., 1988. The Collapse of Complex Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Van Tilburg, J., 1995. Moving the moai. Archaeology,, 48(1), pp. 36-37. World Heritage Convention, 1984. Rapa Nui National Park - Inscribed property. [Online] Available at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/715/multiple=1&unique_number=846 Wright, R., 2004. A Short History of Progress. Toronto: House of Anansi Press. WWF, 2021. WWF - Ecolgoical Footprint. [Online] Available at: https://wwf.panda.org/discover/knowledge_hub/all_publications/ecological_footprint2/

Fintan Murphy The Sideneck Turtle: Evolution and Classification

Junior scholars – Junior project prize. A study of the Sideneck turtle: past, present and future. This series of essays tracks the long journey of life from bacteria to common species, and predicting the security of the future. Written by Fintan Murphy, Inspired by Titus, the biology department turtle.

Evolution and classification of the Sideneck turtle. A brief description of the first animal life on earth and the development of the Kingdom. (Main Sources: Smithsonian Natural history museum, London Natural history museum. Source types: websites. Links in bibliography.) Life on earth stemmed from microorganisms, which gradually developed to form ecosystems. These eventually became more co-dependant communities over many millions of years. Eventually these became complex organisms, with food webs and members of various systems interacting with other individuals and systems alike. The following will be a brief history of the earliest stages of this evolutionary journey. The First life on earth consisted of microbes, particularly bacteria. There are Signs, found in rock layers on the sea floor, that these existed roughly 3.7 billion years ago. The first progression from this stage of life on earth took place around 2.4 billion years ago, when Cyanobacteria evolved. These were the first species to photosynthesise, massively changing the course of life’s evolution. This was because it sparked the ‘Great Oxidation Event’, a massive rise in levels of oxygen. Before this there was no atmospheric oxygen, instead oxygen could only be found in compounds like water. Levels then on continued to soar as none of the organisms on earth required oxygen. Many microorganisms died as they were unable to survive in oxygen-rich conditions. However, levels probably didn’t reach more than 0.21 per cent of the earth’s atmosphere meaning the conditions in oceans were not yet adequate for Complex life forms which require high levels of oxygen. This is due to higher levels of mobility in particular. Multicellular organisms started to appear when microbes started to live inside one another, for mutual benefit. Therefore the development of specialised organelles and complex cells began. Out of this change came the development of mitochondria, to process food into energy, allowing mutual benefit from this relationship. Next came nuclei, so that the cell could now control multiple roles. These new eukaryotic cells had various specialised parts to support the whole cell. This development continued as cells were all able to benefit by living in groups. Some evolved to form ‘junctions’ to hold the groups together to ensure this security. Others made enzymes to perform various roles to aid the body of cells. Around 800 million years ago these systems formed the first animal life. The defining characteristics of an animal are that they are multicellular, usually mobile, they consume other organisms, they reproduce sexually, and their cells do not have chloroplasts or a cell wall. Finally, they are eukaryotic. Sponges were most likely the first animal life because they do not require as much oxygen as other animals, as they are fairly inactive. This helped them appear earlier, when oxygen levels were not as rich. These had skeletons and genes. About 580 million years ago other sea floor creatures started to appear. (This was known as the Ediacaran period.) However, the research conducted by Smithsonian Museum’s Doctor Douglas Erwin currently shows that these appear to be unrelated to modern life forms. At this stage, oxygen levels were on the rise, nearly at a level to ‘sustain oxygen based life’. (To give an idea of what this level would be, human breathing requires 19.5 per cent of the atmosphere to be oxygen, and it is currently around 21 per cent.) This may be due to the various aforementioned sponge species,

eating bacteria, thus removing them from the decomposition process, each stage of which uses oxygen. This led to rises in oxygen. Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were also dropping at this time so the earth became much cooler. Roughly 541 million years ago came the next progression in the timeline of life on earth. There was a significant alteration in marine environment, which caused the Ediacaran species to predominantly disappear. Scientists like the previously mentioned Doctor Erwin are working to find out exactly what this was. Currently the most likely explanation is the ramifications which came with the emergence of worm like species. These begun to tunnel through the sea bed which ‘disturbed and aerated the sediment.’ This would have disrupted the conditions, causing the Ediacaran extinction, simultaneously paving the way for new life forms. Following this came the Cambrian period, marking the beginning of the Phanerozoic eon. ( Today’s geologic eon). After the fundamentally essential emergence of oxygen, which was in some ways the first step towards complex life forms, this was the most significant chapter in the development of the life forms we see on earth today. During this period complex life began, which is why it is often referred to as the Cambrian explosion, alluding to an explosion of life. Some of the most significant changes which occurred at this stage were due to the increased ‘burrowing lifestyles’. This led to animals becoming increasingly active, leading to rigid body parts like carapaces/shells and spikes, and probably most significantly spines, which aided digging, and also brought about the first arthropods. This resulted in further skeletal development, animals with heads and tails beginning to appear. This enabled active hunting, ‘for directional movement to chase prey’. This whole process took place due to increased activity, further disturbing the sea bed. This probably made it another factor leading to the end of the Ediacarans. As different organisms hunted and fed in differing ways, there skeletons and entire physiology changed. This marked a vast increase in the diversity of animal life. The Burgess Shale fossils discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1909 proved this. The thriving species included Waptia which were shrimp like creatures on the sea floor, priapulid worms which remained burrowers, wiwaxia creatures with scales and spines which lived much like sponges, there were the sponges themselves, and the first top predators Anomalocaris, which were enormous shrimp like species up to 2m long, but without legs. These would have swum. The benefits of this could include enhanced hunting ability, and ability to move from one habitat to another if food supply were low etc.

Earth’s conditions continued to change, giving rise to another major organism to appear during the Cambrian explosion which were Brachiopods, which look a lot like clams, but were actually extremely different. For example they are symmetrical vertically along their hinge, whereas clams are horizontally symmetrical. They were probably the most common organism at the time, and around 385 still exist today, but only in ‘polar regions and the deep sea’. These would makeup large reefs. By this stage the animal kingdom had evolved to the extent that all of the major ‘Phyla were established’. Around 400 - 250 million years ago, post-Cambrian explosion it is likely that plants and animals made the transition from water to land. Dr Christine Strullu-Derrien while investigating testate amoeba discovered fossils which show evidence of the earliest mycorrhiza, which is the mutual symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi. For example plants gain access to compounds like phosphates and nitrates, which are more difficult to acquire without adequately developed root systems. Fungi would in turn gain access to carbon compounds like carbohydrates. These discoveries were made in a sedimentary rock formation near Aberdeen, known as Rynie Chert. The fossils in this rock system show the ‘earliest complete terrestrial ecosystem’ known. Microorganisms first

transitioned from the sea through freshwater environments like rivers and streams, seeking out warmer conditions. They gradually began to live in ponds, small streams and especially marshes, eventually moving to live in soil ecosystems on earth. Dr Strullu-Derrien’s researching partner Dr Paul Kendrick states that life on land had existed prior to plants and animals, but only consisting of ‘mats’ of microorganisms like bacteria and fungi. This ‘rich and diverse community of tiny microorganisms’ would have effectively established a habitat fit for life. Dr Kendrick confirms that one of the extremely significant reasons for plant life to transition was the microbes already there. It was most likely through mycorrhiza that this was possible, as the plants would simply have been following the trail of nutrients and water which fungi provided. Thus ended the first stage of evolution eventually leading to the Sideneck Turtle.

The development of the Phylum. (Main source: The Royal Society publishing. Source type: Website. Link in bibliography.) The Sideneck Turtle is a member of the Chordate Phylum, containing the three subphyla: cephalochordates, urochordates and vertebrates. The earliest chordates were urochordates and cephalochordates, and the earliest evidence of these were found in Cambrian rocks dated back to 510-525 million years ago. The first significant thing to identify when deciding how Chordates evolved is whether their ancestor was free living or immobile. Chordates are one of three phyla which make up the group Deuterostomia. These all share an order of development, in that they develop the anus before the mouth. One theory states that the original deuterstomes from which these three phyla eventually evolved were immobile, or ‘sessile’, that they had tentacles and pelagic larvae. These would have diversified from this stage, evolving in two different ways. Firstly this ancestor would have evolved into sessile urochordates gradually. The second way it diversified led to cephalochordates and vertebrates. This could be achieved because Pelagic larvae have a potentially mobile phase during their development. Through paedomorphosis these larvae became sexually mature early, and replaced the adult stage of life. However the more widely supported theory is that chordates developed through ‘gradual progression’ of the adult, rather than involving larvae replacing adults. (A minor reason this theory is more widely supported is that it is believed that cephalochordates developed before urochordates, but with the first theory this would not be possible. However the main reason that the theory of paedomorphosis was abandoned was because it involved the sessile ancestor. The theories which have replaced this hypothesis show clear evidence for a free living ancestor before the diversification from the main group of deuterostomia.) It is believed that cephalochordates share features with their ancestor, and these are the primary features which all chordates share: a notochord, a dorsal neural tube, myotomes, a postanal tail, pharyngeal slits and an endostyle. Since these are the features that are so widely shared within the group, it is likely that the ancestor would have shared these. The first few are used for movement, and the others for digestion. A recent discovery shows the presence of genes necessary for developing pharyngeal slits in hemichordates as well as chordates. These are part of the digestive system. Furthermore a recent study disproves the theory made by Bateson in 1886 that stomochords, which are a feature of hemichordates, are related to the notochord of chordates. It is instead proven that they are related to the endostyle. This shows that digestive systems, while made far more intricate in the development of chordates, were first developed before chordates diverged from a common deuterostome ancestor. This is important because it shows that the common ancestor would have had the features for digestion and locomotion proving that the ancestor would not have been sessile.

Significantly all of the features used for locomotion are heavily involved in the evolution of FT larvae, which swim with a beating tail. It is important to recognise here that the evolution does not take place within the larvae stage of life, it just becomes apparent here. The development of these structures are seen in the embryo development before the larval stage. This is particularly significant in the case of the dorsal neural tube and notochord. The embryo appeared to be radially symmetrical meaning that the dorsal-midline structures could be formed everywhere. However it is only formed on the dorsal side, or aboral side. (The side facing away from the mouth.) Therefore it is believed that the oral side lacked the space for this development due to the development of the mouth. This is known as the theory of aboral dorsalization which would have been a vastly significant event leading to the ‘basic chordate body plan’ and diversification from the common ancestor. The other theory which is currently most widely believed is the inversion hypothesis, which works hand in hand with the aboral dorsalization hypothesis. It shows an explanation of how proteins allowed aboral dorsalisation, and how the timing of this event generated the diversification mentioned. This focuses on the development of the basic body plan based on the inversion of the DV axis of deuterostomes compared to protostomes. This means the central nervous system in protostomes is below the digestive system (ventral), but in modern deuterostomia it is above (dorsal). This was first compared by Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire who compared arthropods with vertebrates. Recently the genes were discovered which are responsible for the D-V (dorsal-ventral) axis formation. These genes do this by producing various proteins like bone-morphogenic proteins, or BMPs, and chordin which block BMPs from completing their role. In combination these establish the formation. In Arthropods like the Drosophila melanogaster, BMP is found on the dorsal side of the embryo whereas chordin is found on the ventral side. In vertebrates like Xenopus laevis the opposite is true. This shows that this is the reason for ‘ventral-dorsal orientation’. Protostomes and Deuterostomes shared a common ancestor which means that originally the central nervous system must have been above the digestive system in ancestral deuterostomes. Therefore at some point there must have been an inversion within deuterostomes. The significant factor for if this effected the development of chordates was when this inversion took place. If this inversion took place only in chordates, rather than in hemichordates and echinoderms (the other two phyla which make up the deuterostomia) it would make this a major event in the diversification of deuterostomes, and therefore the evolution of the chordate phylum. Below is how scientists have been able to determine when this change took place. In echinoderms and hemichordates BMP is found on the aboral side of the embryo and chordin on the oral side. In hemichordates like the acorn worm Saccoglossus kowalevskii the ‘oral-aboral’ orientation in embryos becomes the ‘ventral-dorsal orientation’ in adults. This shows that the location of BMP vs chordin in the embryo determines the orientation of adults. In the earliest appearing group of chordates, cephalochordates, in the embryo BMP is found on the ventral side and chordin on the dorsal side. This contrast between chordates and hemichordates/echinoderms proves that the inversion took place during the earliest evolution of chordates and therefore was a major development in the diversification of Deuterstomia. In conclusion the main diversification leading to the Chordate Phylum of which the Sideneck Turtle would in millions of years become a member was the inversion of ventral-dorsal orientation leading to dorsalization of the aboral side. This was due to the orientation of proteins. It also shows how chordates evolved, which was through embryo’s which reflected the development in adults. It did not occur through larvae, although some of the developments of locomotion can be found in the larvae stages. It also shows that the ancestor of deuterostomes was free living. Therefore these two theories show the evolution of chordates very clearly.

Vertebrates – a very brief summary of the developments undergone to separate from other chordates. (Main sources: Personal research conducted in museum of natural history in Oxford, study.com, ck12 advanced concepts. Source types: Personal research, and websites. Links in bibliography.) Before making the leap into the class which Sideneck turtles are members of, which is reptiles, we should first briefly look at the subphylum. Reptiles are vertebrates, one of three subphyla within the Chordata phylum. The other two are Urochordata and Cephalochordata. Vertebrates are by far the most developed animals in terms of range of size and habitat diversity. However all Vertebrates have a few basic defining characteristics. These include a backbone made up of many small bones called vertebra surrounding the spinal chord. They also have a skull, an Endoskeleton or internal skeleton, bilateral symmetry where the left half of the body is a mirror image of the right, and ‘pairs of appendages’. This means limbs, or in the case of birds wings and fins for fish, can be found in pairs. For example humans have two arms, and two legs. Vertebrates developed from other chordates due to increased size and level of activity compared with others. Therefore their adaptations fit this lifestyle. For example the strong backbone, internal skeleton in all areas of the body, and tough skull provide internal support for a large fast moving animal, and protection for lots of activity. Furthermore high levels of activity require high levels of ‘sensory capacity’ and a ‘highly developed nervous system’ to register that information and use signals to provoke a reaction. Adaptations for this included large brains and a centralised nervous system. The evolution of the Class. (Main sources: Personal research conducted in Natural history museum Oxford. Source types: personal research.) Sideneck turtles belong to the reptile class. The earliest reptiles and amphibians were both originally very different from the way they are now. These were the first four legged animals. Amphibians came slightly before, with earliest fossils dating back 363 million years to the Devonian period, and were extremely similar to the earliest reptiles which appeared about 300-360 million years ago. Once a group of organisms have diversified beyond the stage of phylum, and separate into classes, most adaptive radiation takes place in relatively short intervals. For example mammals first appeared on earth 225 million years ago. They underwent a major adaptive radiation after the great extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period about 65 million years ago. This only happened in a period of 9 million years. Two major causes of adaptation from this point onwards are mass extinction, as it was for mammals, and allopatric specialisation. In the case of the former, mass extinction has a major effect on ecology, food chains, top predators and many other things. If all of these things radically change then it gives rise to new species or major adaptations in existing ones. Allopatric specialisation is when a small group of a species becomes separated from the main group geographically. This would have occurred when global warming caused sea levels to rise, creating new islands. Terrestrial and freshwater creatures become isolated from the main group on this island. Another example could be if a storm throws up sand, creating a sand bank, separating a small section of a lake from the main one. Far earlier in time continental drift, causing the breaking up of a supercontinent may have had a similar effect. After a certain amount of time there are certain factors which will result in the change of the population in this isolated area. Those factors are: the unique genetic makeup of the individuals in that population, non-adaptive genetic drift, the appearance of mutations, and natural selection. The unique genetic makeup of the individuals effects the evolution of their offspring. Because the child will inherit its characteristics based on genes given by both parents it will be different from others. Therefore as this occurs with all the individuals in the group, the group will

gradually become different from the main group. Non adaptive genetic drift is the random fluctuation in frequency of certain genes from generation to generation. This causes certain traits to be dominant in a group and others to disappear. The effects of this are far more pronounced in small populations because smaller populations have far less variation. Mutations would appear in the smaller group which will cause the group to adapt. These mutations would not spread to the main group. In terms of natural selection the habitats which the smaller group lives in will be different to that of the original group. It will therefore pose different challenges and contain different threats. Thus through natural selection they will adapt to their various challenges in different ways. When it comes to reptiles, they all developed from one common ancestor. The Natural history museum, Oxford, has a model of this common ancestor. This model was constructed based on the earliest fossil evidence of reptiles. The earliest of these is the bones of a lizard like creature the Hylonomus llyeli. It lived in Canada about 315 million years ago, favouring marshy forest environments. The fossils were found in hollow tree stumps. One of the most major adaptations for reptiles was the evolution of the egg, and this was the major adaptation that this species had. This effectively ‘freed’ reptiles from the water. The egg itself acts as a ‘private pond’. It keeps the embryo moist and prevents it from drying out. It also keeps it a regular temperature. However it also acts as protection, but is still semipermeable, therefore allowing gases in and out. These eggs (below) are also displayed in the Natural History museum. They are a fossil of eggs laid by a long necked sauropod dinosaur 110 million years ago. They are some of the biggest reptile eggs found. They were discovered in China. Such eggs can be very useful when researching the pattern of the adult species, as they tell us about the nest they would have lived in. This tells us things like the species who guard their young and bring them food, and those who don’t.

Some of the earliest known adaptations of reptiles took place from the Jurassic period onwards. Some of these early adaptations include powered flight, which was achieved by the Pterosaurs in the Jurassic period – 201 to 145 million years ago. These were the only group of reptiles to achieve powered flight. The adaptation they had enabling this was flaps of skin stretched between their hips and their elongated finger tips. The earliest pterosaurs discovered could be from the late Triassic period, as early as 228 million years ago. Most species within this were roughly the size of crows, but

by the late Cretaceous period some evolved to have wingspans of 11 metres or more, making them the largest ever flying animals. (This picture of a Pterosaur was taken during personal research in the Natural History museum, Oxford.) Another major adaptation achieved by early reptiles was during the same period. This was the skull of the allosaurus, adapted to be a top predator. It had curved, jagged teeth, which replaced themselves constantly. It also had forward facing eyes to judge how far away its prey were. These adaptations of reptiles were the reason for those commonly seen in predators today. This is one example of the diversity of adaptations for hunting that dinosaurs had. There were tiny dinosaurs which ate insects and those who towered above and ate the leaves of the highest vegetation. This is the reason that dinosaurs were the most successful group of reptiles to ‘colonise the land’, and why they ‘dominated ecosystems’ for nearly 200 million years. The picture below is of a cast of an Allosaurus skull, found in the Natural History museum, Oxford. The dinosaur skeleton was nicknamed ‘Big Al’. It was found in 1991, in Wyoming, USA. This particular specimen was only about 60-70 percent grown, so probably died as a young adult.

Another adaptation for hunting achieved by the earliest reptiles is seen in modern day crocodiles, like the Nile crocodile. These are the closest relatives to modern birds, showing a common ancestor, which would have been dinosaurs, living around 240 million years ago. Nile crocodiles can hold their breath for half an hour, and have their eyes and nostrils on the top of its skull. It also has a very sharp teeth, overall a set of adaptions suited to semi aquatic ambushing. This skull is of a Nile crocodile, found in the Natural History Museum, Oxford. This shows that reptilian predators are often diversely and perfectly adapted in various ways for various styles of hunting.

One of the other major adaptations reptiles developed was their skin. Dinosaurs are brilliant evidence for the range of adaptation involved here. Some developed thick scales to stop the dinosaur from drying out in the sun. For example Edmontosaurus, which was a huge herbivore living in sub tropical Cretaceous climates 145 – 66 million years ago. The specimen below was found in the Hell Creek formation, South Dakota, USA. It is currently on display in the Natural History museum, Oxford.

Others developed armoured plates, or sharp spines, all suited to different habitats and different roles in the food chain. Evidence for the large scale of this adaptation is seen in modern day birds, who developed from dinosaurs. Some dinosaurs had scales so modified that they eventually formed feathers. Another major adaptation of reptile skin can be seen in modern day snakes. They have overlapping scales, which allows them to move without legs. When they glide forward they use the rough side of the scales to grip the ground and pull themselves forward. The ancestor of snakes, lizards with legs, would have developed this in the Cretaceous period, as it gradually lost its legs. Evidence of this is the rear leg bones still found in the skeletons of pythons.

Another good example of an early and highly adapted reptile was the Icthyosaur, found in the Jurassic period 201-145 million years ago. However they first appeared 250 million years ago. One of its adaptations was small sharp teeth, which were adapted for catching ‘slippery’ fish and squid like creatures. Remains of such animals have been discovered in the stomach of Icthyosaurs. Despite being reptiles they have very similar bodies to dolphins, which are clearly mammals. However dolphins did not evolve from this species. Instead it is an example of convergent evolution, which means that two species develop a similar form, but separately. A more recent top predator, this time of the oceans, was found in the Cretaceous period and evolved around 90 million years ago. These were Mosasaurs. Some reached lengths of 17 metres. They evolved to have jaws which opened so wide that they could swallow their prey whole. They also developed long flat tails and flipper like feet, to push them through the sea. Reptiles with shells first evolved around 210 million years ago. Modern day turtle shells consist of around 50 bones, with ribs and vertebrae fused together in order to protect them from predators. This is a closely linked adaptation when it comes to Sideneck turtles. Originally all turtles and tortoises lived on land, but by about 180 million years ago, some had adapted to aquatic life. In conclusion reptiles first developed due to the evolution of the Hylonomus llyeli egg. From this point onwards reptiles went on a huge evolutionary journey, which led to huge diversity within the Class. Huge amounts of adaptation took place, further separating the class into many unique groups. This early diversity can best be represented by dinosaurs. The first reptiles were the Hylonomus llyeli, and all others have developed from this point onwards. The development of the order. (Major sources: Smithsonian Museum, thoughtco.com. Source types: websites.) Sideneck Turtles are unsurprisingly members of the testudines order, which essentially means turtles. Turtles were thought to be most closely related to the earliest reptiles, but a newly discovered species proves that they are actually more closely related to modern day reptiles, particularly lizards. This species is called Pappochelys. They show a clear step between two of the earliest known turtles, and show how the turtle developed its shell, a major defining moment separating this order from other reptiles. This species shows the plastron section of the shell, protecting the ‘belly portion of the turtle’, was formed through the fusion of rib-like structures and parts of the shoulder girdle. This species also shows two gaps in the skull behind each eye socket, which modern turtles do not have. This shows that turtles did not develop from the earliest reptiles as previously thought but instead are very closely related to modern day reptiles, which retained this feature. This species used its small, ‘peg-like teeth’ to eat insects and small worms and had a long tail, possibly to help with swimming. One of the earliest known species of turtle was the Eunotosaurus. This would have been found around 260 million years ago. This had already developed broad ribs, an adaptation of turtles. Another early species was the Odontochelys which would have existed 220 million years ago. This already had a fully developed plastron, a long tail and small teeth. Pappochelys would have existed around 240 million years ago, between these two species. Therefore the Pappochelys, with its partially fused plastron would have been a very significant species in the development of the turtle order. Not only was this a massive evolutionary occurrence for turtles in terms of the evolution of the shell, but it is also evidence for the hypothesis that turtles were already aquatic at this stage. This is because aquatic predators tend to ambush their prey from below so the forming of the plastron would be an adaptation to cope with these predators. They may also have evolved to aid with burrowing. Therefore this species is one of the most significant in the evolution of turtles. After the Odontochelys, which still had soft shells, despite

being fully formed, came the Proganochelys. These lived about ten million years later, and were the first turtles to have hard shells. They also had fewer teeth than the previous turtle species. The development shared over time between these four species essentially determined the basic body plan of turtles which we still see today. The only major developments between then and now were the occasional giant species, weighing a ton or more. However these have clearly all since died out, and did not change the basic body plan notably.

The development of the Suborder. (Major sources: Britannica. Source types: website) Sideneck turtles are one of the two suborders of turtles. They are called Pleurodira, and the other suborder is known as Cryptodira. Around 200 million years ago the first possible Pleurodira appeared. They were called Proterocheris. These shared many features of Sideneck turtles, but are most likely not actual sidenecks. They would probably have just shared some characteristics of pleurodires, but this may make them a key species eventually leading to Sidenecks. Definite Sidenecks do not appear until the Early Cretaceous period (about 145-100 million years ago), and the first modern side-neck families do not appear until the Late Cretaceous period (100-66 million years ago). The reason that Pleurodira retract their neck differently from Cryptodira is probably due to differences in the number of vertebrae in cervical regions. This evolution would have occurred during the evolution of archosaurs, from which crocodiles, alligators and chickens developed. This would be due to the different Hox gene codes which are expressed in the vertebrae, which impacts the positioning and structure of the vertebrae. This variation would have been the cause of change in the way the two groups were able to retract their necks. It would also have changed the structure of their skulls. Therefore Hox gene variation was responsible for the diversification between Pleurodira and Cryptodira. However there is very little research on the diversification of these two groups.

Further diversification. (Major sources: Britannica, research gate, core AC UK. Source types: website.) The Pleurodira are a huge group, accounting for 3 families, 19 genera and up to 93 species, although various sources range from 66 species to 93, with several saying 79. This means that the line of adaptation that these turtles have followed does not end at this point. Much further diversification has occurred since the appearance of early Pleurodira. Most of these are to do with the skeleton and in particular the skull. Therefore, while it would be very difficult to list adaptations of every species, or even every genus, it is important to compare the different families. Sideneck turtles include all species of the three families Chelidae, Pelomedusidae, and Podocnemididae. Chelidae are native to South America, Australia and New Guinea. Pelomedusidae are found in Africa. Finally, Podocnemididae are native to Madagascar and Northern South America. The Podocnemididae are the least frequent family, with only 8 species. Therefore the differences in the skulls of Chelidae and Pelomedusidae will first be considered, from the perspective of Pelomedusidae, and then compared. In Pelomedusidae nasals are absent whereas they are present in Chelidae. Prefrontals meet in the midline whereas in Chelidae they do not. Posterior temporal emargination varies hugely whereas in Chelidae it is usually poorly developed with persistent squamosal – parietal contact. Furthermore with regards to lateral temporal emargination this again varies in Pelomedusidae but is never found developed to the extent as in Chelidae. A Quadratojugal is found in Pelomedusidae but not in Chelidae, the trituarting surface is usually broader in Pelomedusidae, a Vomer is usually absent, whereas it is present in Chelidae. A splenial is absent but present in Chelidae. A Mesoplastra is is

present but absent in Chelidae. A cervical scute is absent but present in Chelidae. Finally the cervical vertebrae in Pelomedusidae is second biconvex, whereas it is fifth and eighth biconvex in Chelidae. This shows the differences. Various factors impact the formation of the skull. These include environmental pressure, inheritance of features, food types, skull weight, internal pressure like tendons, anatomy of the ear based on jaw muscle bending mechanisms, and attachment sites for ligaments. Here is an image to show the differences between the families. (Partly provided because the information above can be confusing.)

This image shows that within the suborder Pleurodira, there are many variations and adaptations, based on various factors including inheritance of features and food types, which would clearly vary based on habitat. With Pleurodira covering such a vast area of the world it is unsurprising that such diversification occurs. The image above shows that this vast variation also takes place within the families, as expected with up to 93 living species. Thus the evolution of Sidenecks does not really end at this point, with so much more that has taken place within these many species. If anything it has not yet finished, and will continue to evolve in the future. Bibliography for evolution essay. Main sources. https://naturalhistory.si.edu/education/teaching-resources/life-science/early-life-earth-animalorigins https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2019/january/a-tiny-fossil-amoeba-is-helping-us-tounderstand-how-plants-firs.html https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2014.1729 https://study.com/learn/lesson/vertebrates-characteristics-classes-features.html https://www.ck12.org/book/ck-12-biology-advanced-concepts/section/16.3/ Primary research conducted at the Natural history museum in Oxford. https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/smithsonian-scientist-and-collaborator-discover-key-linkturtle-evolution https://www.thoughtco.com/prehistoric-turtles-story-of-turtle-evolution-1093303 https://www.britannica.com/animal/turtle-reptile/Origin-and-evolution

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/18224463.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Influences-that-together-and-in-various-combinations-needto-be-considered-when_fig2_229437828 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-09133-0#Sec1

Minor sources/ those used for definitions only. https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjdndnzwPX 2AhXRzIUKHektALwQFnoECBQQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWaptia&usg =AOvVaw1x6Gn1vRRqMxlcvL3XQDuM https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjNnrG2wPX 2AhUHxoUKHbIgCn4QFnoECAUQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn 21251-first-top-predator-was-giant-shrimp-with-amazingeyes%2F&usg=AOvVaw3UJVJIwPZfX_LZdowu0iwQ

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjGw_60wfX 2AhVuxYUKHcYQAzUQFnoECAoQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWiwaxia&u sg=AOvVaw1UG-w4fgSLI1Dj2eJWDLB1 https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjeqb79yaT3 AhWCnVwKHR9QBggQFnoECAgQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsciencing.com%2Fminimum-oxygenconcentration-human-breathing-15546.html&usg=AOvVaw1OrXeM4amswW1izXGYTTXI

The present form of the Sideneck turtle. Appearance. Sideneck turtles are usually 7-12 inches in size when adults, although another source says 6 - 19 inches in size. The uncertainty here clearly arises from there being many species of Sideneck. Usually they are dark colours, with a dark underbelly as well, although this will usually have a wide yellow area on it, which will be ‘poorly defined’. They have golden brown heads with darker markings, and two sensory organs protruding from the lower jaw. They have vaguely webbed feet, with long sharp

claws. They have large round eyes and a mouth which looks as though it is fixed in a permanent smile.

Ecology and habitat. Sideneck turtles, otherwise known as Pleurodira are only found in the Southern Hemisphere. They are commonly found in Australia, spread widely across South America and Africa including Madagascar, and are also found on some islands in the Indian Ocean. Currently all species are predominantly or entirely aquatic. While the Sideneck turtles are highly adapted to the dry periods in their natural habitat, turtles do not produce saliva, meaning that water is required in order to eat and swallow food. Their natural habitat therefore would be lakes, swamps, ponds, and shallow streams or rivers. These provide the perfect food source for Sideneck turtles, which are omnivores. Many aquatic turtles have heart adaptations to prolong diving, by significantly extending the amount of time they can survive by producing energy through an anaerobic respiration alone. These water bodies provide vegetation which can be both a food source and shelter from predators or other aggressive animals. They also provide fish, like dwarf cichlids, worms, and insects, which are perfect for the turtles to eat. Water also allows them to regulate their body temperature. They prefer to live in standing water bodies without currents. This would make sense as insects are drawn to standing water, and this comprises a major part of the turtle’s diet. They especially like habitats with muddy beds, earning the nickname: African mud turtles. During the dry season Sidenecks will aestivate, burying themselves deep in the mud. This process is somewhat similar to hibernation, but instead of being dormant to conserve energy and maintain body temperature during the coldest weeks, this process is to conserve water and energy during harsh summer dry periods, which the native area is prone too. This is the main adaptation of Sidenecks to their environment. One species is adapted to another level in this regard. The species Chelodina

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Steindachneri has adapted to store fluids in multiple accessible bladders. This way it avoids losing water through evaporation off the skin. Thus it can aestivate for up to two years when the next rainy season begins in the deserts of Western Australia. They like habitats with surrounding vegetation, and areas above the water level to bask in the sun. This is because reptiles are of course cold blooded, and so the turtles require this energy for digesting food, reproduction, maintaining a healthy immune system, moving its muscles, using the vitamin D absorbed in order to maintain calcium levels, and most significantly fuel efficient blood circulation, which encompasses a few of the other factors.

Breeding. Shortly before the aestivation period, in late spring or early summer, the female turtles lay eggs. They may have between six and eighteen eggs each year, which will then hatch during the following wet season about 45 to 60 days later. Male sidenecks will breed from about age 3-5 years onwards, females from 5-7 onwards. To produce eggs the female will require lots of calcium and vitamin D, and the breeding process will take place during a fairly cool period. They will tend to mate in a loose sandy area, and males will fight fiercely over females. To start the mating the male will bite the female on the back of the neck, chase her, touch her back legs and tail, bob his head from side to side and shoot water out of his nostrils. They will then mate, during which their tails will be held together. Some scientists are investigating whether the temperature determines the sex of the offspring. Hotter temperatures may result in more females, moderate or cooler temperatures possibly leads to mostly males. However it is currently believed that the sex of the offspring is determined genetically, in all observed species. Hatchlings will clearly be quite vulnerable to predators when they are born, as with most species in the wild. Diet and food web. As previously mentioned these turtles are omnivorous. They eat various insects, aquatic plants, small amphibians and fish. Some may also eat vegetation from the banks, along with fruit which falls into water sources from nearby trees. They will be predominantly carnivorous during their earlier stages of life, and move more towards being omnivores or even herbivores as they grow older. During aestivation sideneck turtles will be able to go up to 7 months without eating or drinking. As pets adult turtles would be fed heartily once every 2 days or so. In their natural habitat sideneck turtles are not particularly short of food. They can eat any assortment of plants, small amphibians, fish and invertebrates meaning that there food source is fairly secure and regular. Furthermore sidenecks are

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adapted to last longer out of water than most aquatic turtles, due to the dry climate common in their native areas. Therefore if necessary they can travel by land from one water source to another. Sideneck turtles are not widely eaten by predators. However heron and crocodile would eat these turtles if necessary. They would probably look to other food sources before this however because the Sideneck turtle is quite well adapted to avoid predators. In addition to this sometimes the turtles are hunted by humans for meat, or used by some cultures in traditional medicines.

Sideneck turtles are spread across a huge area, and thus have many species which are adapted to both catching food and escaping predators in different ways. For example many species of sideneck turtles have developed a very long neck to aid with hunting. While they are floating in the water they strike at prey, and the ‘rapid expansion of the mouth and neck’ creates negative pressure around the mouth, pulling the head forwards, and more significantly the prey into the open mouth of the sideneck.

Other species like the Matamatas, which are the largest species of the Chelidae family and usually found in Australia and South America, are developed to lie in wait on the bed and use a ‘gape and suck’ method of hunting. Other species from the Chelidae family, like the species of the genus Emydura are developed to feed on mollusks. These are also predominantly found in Australia. In this case as the females grow older they grow a very large skull, capable of producing very high forces. This can crush larger prey, and the shells they are in, therefore suited to hunting mollusks. In addition to this Sideneck turtles are adapted to protect themselves from predators. The main adaptation in this category would be the one that earned the name ‘Sideneck’. Instead of folding the neck vertically allowing them to retracting their heads and necks straight back inside the shell when in danger they lay their head and neck to the side, folding the neck horizontally, so that it is covered by the overhang of the edge of the shell beneath one of their front legs. This is the way that they protect themselves from predators like herons or crocodiles. However as mentioned the risk posed by predators to Sidenecks is predominantly minimal.

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Here is a diagram of a food web of a swamp which a sideneck turtle could live in.

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Relationship with humans. As previously mentioned in certain countries these turtles are consumed and even used in traditional medicines. This may be one of the factors which makes certain species endangered. On the IUCN red list 8 species are listed as lower risk, 13 species are threatened, 6 vulnerable, four endangered, and three critically endangered. Many of the remaining species are on the least concern list. However there are several factors which lead freshwater turtles, not just Sidenecks to become endangered. They are poached for their eggs, meat, skin and shells. They suffer due to habitat degradation, and the international pet trade. The main causes of this habitat degradation include ‘conversion’ of this land for agriculture, loss of wetlands and rivers through degradation, and splitting up the natural habitat by building more towns, thus creating a much more fragile habitat. More specifically to Sidenecks, the western swamp turtle may be one of the world’s most endangered turtles with only around 400 known individuals. This shows the effect that humans are currently having on Sideneck turtles. Furthermore Sidenecks are fairly common pets. However they have some very important requirements. For example they require a minimum tank size of 40 gallons of water for swimming in. Some sources would recommend at least 75 gallons per turtle. They can be kept in groups, but this would require a tank size of 175 gallons and an area of 6 feet by 3 feet. (recommended ). This is a good ratio because long thin tanks do not allow enough swimming space. The tank should be a minimum of 6-8 inches deep, or 1.5 times the length of your turtles shell. Do not let the water fall below half of the tanks depth, otherwise it is simply a waste of tank, and less interesting for your turtle. Always opt for a wider and longer tank than a deeper one. They also require a land area in the tank, not just water based living space. This should be made up of some branches or driftwood, and some large flat stones. This is for basking, so it should be easily accessible. There should be a slope up to the basking spot. They will also appreciate some foliage, or aquatic plants. For this either artificial or real is fine, but it is important to have lots because they will want to hide away regularly. In order to keep the tank clean a filtration system is necessary. This should be able to cycle water in a ratio of 1:3 per hour. So 120 gallons per hour for a 40 gallon tank. In addition to this the owner would need to swap out a quarter of the tanks water for fresh water once per week. This new water should always be dechlorinated. Once per month the entire tank should be cleaned. You can put gravel at the bottom of the tank, to act as a substrate, but this makes cleaning more difficult. Other substrates could be made up of sand. This will be interesting for the turtle, which will enjoy digging and burying itself, but is not essential. If you do have a substrate make it deep enough for the activities mentioned. Do not include rocks with sharp edges in your tank. One of the most important things for these turtles is keeping them at the right temperature. The temperature of the air should be kept at about 26.5 to 30 °C. This is a significant amount above room temperature so heating will be required. The water temperature should be kept to 21 – 24 ° C and the basking spot should be kept to 35-37.5 °C. However the basking spot should not only provide heat, but also UVB light, which provides conditions to replicate what these turtles would receive in the wild. Is means you will need a heat lamp of around 100 watts and a UVB bulb on the basking spot, although some companies make lamps which do both. An example of this is Mercury Vapour bulbs. Change the UVB bulbs every six – nine months, and set them to a cycle which is on for 12 hours and then off for 12 hours. This is of course what they would receive from the sun in the wild.

In terms of feeding you can effectively try to copy what they would receive in the wild. Here is a list of foods which allturtles.com recommends:

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‘Aquatic snails Beef hearts Black Soldier Fly larvae Bloodworms Canned snails Cockles Collard greens Commercial turtle pellets Cooked chicken Crickets Dandelion greens Dubia roaches Earthworms Small feeder fish Freshwater fish strips (Salmon, Trout, etc) Krill Mealworms Mussels Mustard greens Romaine or red-leaf lettuce Shrimp Spinach.’ Being omnivores you should definitely try to feed these pets a varied combination of plants and meats. When they are younger more meat is probably better, but as they grow older they will give up most of their ‘carnivorous tendencies’, and owners should accommodate for this. Avoid dairy products and raw meat. As well as normal meals you should place a calcium block inside the water so that they are receiving all the calcium they need. You should feed the turtle every 2-3 days, feeding it as much as it can eat in a few seconds. This should be all it requires. You can give the turtles fruit but only as a treat, this is too sugary to be a main component of their diet. If you have a group of turtles you should feed them separately, taking them out of the tank and placing them in a tub of water with their food. This is the best way to feed Sidenecks even if you only have one as well, as it keeps the main tank cleaner, but always remember to feed them individually to avoid violence. On this note separate males during mating seasons. One thing to remember is that the requirements for hatchlings will be very different from those for adult. They will require higher temperatures more frequent feeding and many other things which differ from adults. Finally there are a number of signs that your Sideneck might be suffering from health problems. Firstly if your turtle seems overly lethargic, which can be measured by whether it attempts to wriggle out of your grasp when held. If it does this then that is a good sign. Moreover if it seems uninterested in food, and ignores what you give it. If your turtle experiences a sudden change in weight this could be due to illness or dehydration. Therefore weighing your Sideneck systematically is advised. Moreover if your turtle has lots of bubbling or mucus coming from its nose, it probably has a parasite. Finally if your turtle’s shells is no longer smooth it could be a sign of bone disease. Look out for new bumps, a flaking shell, or an unusual point forming in the centre of the shell, appearing like a pyramid. Also look out for irritated eyes or open wounds. If any of these symptoms are recognised they should immediately be taken to the vet, as they could be signs of disease or vitamin deficiencies. The last thing to remember if you keep a Sideneck turtle as a pet is that they can bite if they feel threatened. It is best not to handle them very regularly or only when it is necessary.

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Summary. o o o o o o o

Sideneck turtles are spread across a vast area of the Southern Hemisphere, contain many genera, and at least 50 species within that. For these two reasons they have many differing adaptations for hunting amongst other things. Most species tend to seek out a very similar habitat of stagnant or shallow, slow moving water. They are omnivorous but are more carnivorous in their early life. They become sexually mature from 3-7 years in age depending on gender. They make great pets, but have very specific requirements. However the pet industry is one example of the many ways in which humans have a negative impact on various species, leading to high levels of risk for the Sideneck turtles.

Bibliography for current essay. (Wide variety of sources used in fairly equal amounts.) https://www.britannica.com/animal/side-necked-turtle https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjv6LK6nIT3 AhWL3oUKHWULAiUQFnoECBYQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.petmd.com%2Freptile%2Fspecies %2Fafrican-sideneck-turtle&usg=AOvVaw0-LGS_YpoYtBCu70JZKf4p https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjv6LK6nIT3 AhWL3oUKHWULAiUQFnoECE4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.everythingreptiles.com%2Fafricansideneck-turtle%2F&usg=AOvVaw27NDZl8v7pp21vfET8bf7w https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjwgbHNnoT 3AhWpzoUKHb8PCdQQFnoECAcQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Freptilesmagazine.com%2Fideal-heatingfor-your-reptiles%2F&usg=AOvVaw0HYjjtiCBIIbblV9h3RxLA https://petkeen.com/how-long-can-turtles-go-without-water/ https://nature.discoveryplace.org/blog/ask-a-naturalist-hibernation-vs.-brumation-vs.-estivation https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiN3fP2tIb3A hXq4IUKHbrICw0QFnoECAgQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.allturtles.com%2Fafrican-sideneckturtle%2F&usg=AOvVaw27_JgnOBJoGNPIHTWHCBYY https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/african-sidenecked-turtles-pelomedusidae

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi3isvgvob3A hVNyYUKHaqjCkwQFnoECAgQAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.turtleforum.com%2Fforum%2Fupload

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%2Findex.php%3F%2Fforums%2Ftopic%2F165072-how-long-can-an-african-side-neck-go-withouteating%2F&usg=AOvVaw3yVmAljp1FZE6D84iwbS4X https://theturtleexpert.com/how-long-can-african-sideneck-turtles-be-out-of-water/ https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-andmaps/australo-american-sideneck-turtles-chelidae https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiBuaCpY73AhVmQEEAHQRfBIkQFnoECAYQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fiucn-tftsg.org%2Fwpcontent%2Fuploads%2Ffile%2FAccounts%2Fcrm_5_020_fimbriata_v1_2008.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3RgfP 2W7u4VY-qEnL8chpz https://animals.mom.com/long-can-pet-turtles-stay-underwater-4887.html https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj5sPHEqo73 AhUPfMAKHQz3AVcQFnoECAwQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fagencia.fapesp.br%2Fhistory-of-sidenecked-turtle-diversification-revealed%2F28109%2F&usg=AOvVaw3wXdAThlQqp3RRcrHgIhv8 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982220306369

What the future may bring. One way to consider how climate change will affect Sideneck turtles is to focus on how climate change will affect the major areas in which they are native. The focus can then be placed on how some of these factors will affect aquatic environments and thus the Sidenecks within. In Africa weather systems are changing rapidly, and the BBC claims that Africa will be the hardest hit region on earth by climate change, when it comes to people. There are four main reasons for this. Firstly hundreds of millions of people in Africa depend on rainfall to grow their crops. Secondly weather in Africa is governed by many complex weather systems, many of which are from ‘distant parts of the planet’. This coupled with the fact that the weather systems here are extremely understudied, compared with all other populated areas of the world means that it is fairly unknown what the future might bring. Furthermore the change here will be enormous. Both of the two largest decreases in land based rainfall predicted in the world are in Africa. Finally the ‘capacity for adaptation is low.’ The governments here generally fail to prioritise action to tackle climate change, and poverty rates mean that the scale of impact individuals can have is greatly limited. In areas like

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Botswana, Namibia and Zambia temperatures are predicted to rise by an incredible 5 degrees or more in the coming decades. Furthermore in Kenya and Tanzania, the rainfall which normally occurs

solidly from March till May are predicted to start later, and end sooner. The major theme across Africa is increased temperatures, and drier climate. This could lead to severe implications for Sideneck turtles, being aquatic. First of all their habitats could dry up, meaning that they would not be able to use the water for hunting, regulating temperature or staying hydrated. These things could lead to starvation, or cause the turtles to dry up. This would also greatly affect the food chain of Sidenecks. Many insects require water to lay their eggs, and small fish, aquatic plants and aquatic snails clearly all require water. This would put the Sidenecks under huge strain to find an alternative food source. These pictures show the effects of drought in Eastern Africa. In South America Climate is massively changing too. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, between the years 2000 and 2013 South America experienced 613 extreme weather occurrences. Some of the most major problems are due to tropical storms from both the

Atlantic and Pacific oceans which flank South America. As well as affecting coastal regions, this has major impacts inland, predominantly causing floods and landslides. In addition to these short term crises one of the most significant long term issues is increased droughts, which are highly likely in South America. This could lead to ‘large-scale dieback’ of the Amazon rainforest. Significant recent droughts include those occurring in the Amazon in 2005 and 2010 and one in Southeastern Brazil which lasted from 2012 to late 2015. This particular drought was the worst in over 80 years in Brazil. The water system which provides São Paulo with water was down by 17 percent during the drought, and it was estimated that it only held five months water supply in September 2015. In addition to this the sea levels around South America are predicted to rise by 1-4 feet by 2100. This will severely threaten coastlines by contaminating freshwater systems, eroding coastlines, flooding low-lying areas, and increasing the risks of storm based floods. Droughts in South America would have a similar effect on Sideneck turtles based in Africa. This would place them under the same immense stress, were their water systems to dry up. This means that were they able to survive these circumstances they would probably evolve in very similar ways. However one major difference in South America is the increasing occurrence of extreme weather.

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This would lead to flooding. These floods can severely damage habitat, and disrupt nesting (and therefore egg-laying) seasons of freshwater turtles, not just Sidenecks. Floods would also wash food sources downstream at a far quicker rate than usual. However on the whole these floods would not have an overly extreme effect on Sidenecks. However if sea levels rise to the point where freshwater systems are contaminated, this could have a major effect on most freshwater turtles in this area. The increased salt content of the water would dehydrate the turtles, meaning that their bodies would lose more and more water through osmosis. This would cause them to shrivel, causing their cells to die, and eventually causing death. However it is most likely that this would not result in full extinction. The populations would take a big hit originally, but they would eventually adapt to survive in increasingly salty conditions. This is one example of how climate change would cause greater diversification within Sidenecks, so that African Sidenecks and South Americans would become decreasingly related due to new adaptations.

In Australia the most severe problems climate change causes are heatwaves. In the last 50 years the amount of days which break heat records has doubled. In the last few decades more people have died due to heatwaves than all other natural disasters combined. Inland Australia is expected to increase in temperature faster than along the coast. Oceans around Australia are severely struggling, with biodiversity on a rapid decline due to increasing acidity caused by climate change. This is causing mass destruction of coral reefs. In Australia the average rise in temperature since 1910 is 1.4° C. This is 0.3° higher than the global average. In 2019 Australia experienced the driest and hottest year recorded. This is causing the death of many trees, particularly mangroves and river species. Fires in 2019 and 2020 burnt across most of Australia more severely than ever before. Forests with vast wetlands, which have always suppressed fires, ‘burned for the first time’. Increasing temperatures and dryness will have similar effects to those which have already been discussed. However the wildfires which go hand in hand with these increased temperatures are a major problem for all wildlife in Australia. Vegetation and therefore both habitat and food webs are damaged to extraordinary levels. Insect populations decrease vastly, and soil ecosystems are massively damaged. The vast combination of factors mentioned have a massive knock-on affect on aquatic ecosystems as well, and therefore turtles like Sidenecks will be massively affected.

This is an image of an Australian wildfire.

In addition to looking at specific areas a good way to measure the effect of climate change on Sidenecks is to focus on the way in which increasing temperatures will have an affect on freshwater turtles as a whole. Already almost half of all turtle and tortoise species are at risk of extinction. Scientists at the Natural History Museum, London have been looking at the late Cretaceous period and how testudines (turtles, tortoises and terrapins) adapted to large increases in temperature in this period, roughly 66-72 million years ago. They discovered that these creatures flourished in these conditions. However they also saw that they depended on a great deal on rainfall levels. This is

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especially important for freshwater turtles, which determines how they are distributed. An argument presented by Professor Daniela Schmidt is that another factor which denotes whether turtles will survive the rise in temperature which climate change will bring is how quickly it takes place. This is because turtles have been shown to be able to adapt to higher temperatures very successfully, but they will require enough time to adapt. This means that the speed with which temperatures increase will be critical for the survival of turtles. For freshwater turtles a further significant factor of climate change will be habitat destruction. This is because such degradation could limit freshwater turtles to very isolated, confined areas. This could lead to allopatric specialisation as discussed in a previous essay. This would in turn result in greater diversification amongst testudines. It could also simply lead to huge strain on already vulnerable species, or even extinction. Moreover freshwater turtles are far less able to adapt to new temperatures than most land based testudines. A professor of palaeontology at the London Natural history museum, Paul Barret states that 'If turtles find their current habitats unsuitable, other conservation threats - such as manmade habitat degradation and barriers to movement - might be as important in determining the fates of turtles in a warming world as the warming itself.' Another interesting way to consider the future of Sideneck turtles is to consider the trends that the majority of freshwater systems will follow in the future, due to pollution, and due to Climate change. Freshwater ecosystems are one of the most vulnerable to climate change for 3 significant reasons. Firstly, the populations within are often confined to certain habitats, which become more and more limited and isolated as these habitats become fragmented by human action. Examples of this could be diverting rivers or clearing areas of vegetation for agriculture or logging. Other examples would include building a road through a woodland. The second reason is that water supply and the qualities of that water, most importantly temperature are climate dependent. Finally these systems are already effected by lots of ‘anthropogenic stressors’. These include large scale damming, pollution and many other examples. For these three reasons, when habitat destruction occurs in combination with higher temperatures and higher levels of atmospheric CO2, certain creatures will struggle a huge amount. This is because these factors will affect the ratio for many creatures between energy intake, and time spent foraging. This will mean that metabolic rate of animals will become increasingly important as food supply becomes more limited. As more creatures become affected by this the entire food webs of these ecosystems will be affected. For Sideneck turtles specifically this could cause stress on food sources which they have been unused to in the past, stemming from a broad range of food sources, which could become increasingly narrowed due to the factors listed above. We can look at the food chain in stages, firstly considering how aquatic plants will be impacted. Impact of sea level rise: Poses threats to all aquatic plant community types in the vicinity of the oceans, and changes in weather patterns and salinity will affect many. Overall, losses are likely due to this. Impact of increasing temperatures: Shifts in species composition, shifts in range and distribution, and declines in plant species richness and diversity. Impact of higher CO2 levels: very little. This increasingly means that aquatic plants will become confined to smaller areas, as is the story with freshwater systems. The next stage of the food web which Sidenecks are a part of is insects. Impact of sea level rise: very little. Impact of increasing temperatures: insects are increasingly at a huge risk from this issue, unable to cope with higher temperatures. Evidence for this can mostly be found in Europe, but as the consequences are due to increased temperature, we can assume that the effect would be similar. For example a study showed population of butterflies in the Netherlands had declined by at least 84% over the last 130 years.

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Impact of higher CO2 levels: very little. The next level of the food chain is worms, small fish and aquatic snails. These would be put at risk of dehydration, due to sea level rises increasing salt content in freshwater systems. They would also suffer with the major decreases of populations below them in the web. They would have very little to eat. They may also suffer from higher CO2 levels increasing acidity of the water, but this would be far more likely to occur in marine environments. Finally increased temperatures and droughts would cause huge problems for these creatures, were the water source to dry out for extended periods of time. The Next level of the food chain would be Sidenecks, but the challenges they would face would be very similar to those of the animals one step below in the food chain. Freshwater systems are also heavily polluted. Every day around 2 billion tons of human waste end up in these systems, resulting in 1 in 7 river stretches in Africa and South America being contaminated. Untreated sewage, combined with runoff fertiliser and other chemicals into freshwater bodies can trigger pathogens, and is a major cause of eutrophication. Another risk is micro-plastics, which can kill animals at all stages of the food chain as they are passed on. This is a man made issue, and must be solved. Marine plastic pollution is far more widely studied than freshwater systems. But several of those where studies have taken place show significant evidence for widespread micro-plastics. This is an image of sewage flowing into a river, but in the UK. This issue is a threat worldwide.

Another problem facing freshwater eco-systems is Eutrophication. This issue stems from an excess of nutrients in a water system. This causes huge blooms of phytoplankton, like algae and Cyanobacteria. This has a negative impact on the ecosystem. Firstly phytoplankton ‘reduce water clarity’. This means less light enters the water, resulting in many aquatic plants dying as they cannot produce energy. It also means that predators struggle, as they need light to catch prey. This means that Sidenecks would struggle to catch living food, and would run out of plant based food. This algae then completes increased amounts of photosynthesis, leading to increased PH levels in these systems. This harms certain organisms. Eventually these phytoplankton die, but the result of this is not beneficial. ‘Microbial decomposition’ then results in a high usage of oxygen, leaving dissolved oxygen at very low levels. This results in hypoxia, and dead zones, where oxygen levels are not rich enough to support most organisms. Biodiversity is massively reduced by these outbreaks of phytoplankton. Thus habitats suffer, as do food webs. Cyanobacteria in particular can also be directly harmful to organisms. Those organisms which drink this water, or live in it, can die. Furthermore during the ‘blooms’ of Cyanobacteria, zooplankton tend to dominate plankton populations. This means that those creatures which consume these zooplankton thrive, but those who do not suffer. This is yet another reason why biodiversity is severely threatened. This would cause Sidenecks among many other aquatic species, to suffer.

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In conclusion the picture painted by current research shows a bleak future for sideneck turtles. Many species could suffer at the hands of continued increasing temperatures and drought, and mass wildfires. Those species who do survive will likely become more diverse however. Some may even one day be able to cope in marine environments, as they adapt to greater salt content in their habitats due to rising sea levels. Evidence of this can already be found in some species of Australian Chelidae. They will sadly have to become more and more restricted to a narrow food supply, unless they adapt yet more, as climate change and fragmentation threaten food webs in freshwater ecosystems. Pollution and eutrophication pose yet more threats to freshwater eco-systems, by damaging food webs and all aspects of life. This will all have huge effects on many species, severely decreasing populations of many, some of which are already endangered. Bibliography for future essay. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-50726701 https://www.wwfca.org/en/our_work/climate_change_and_energy/climate_change_impacts_la/ https://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/can-freshwater-turtles-survive-in-saltwater/#11 https://australian.museum/learn/climate-change/climate-change-impacts/ https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2016/september/turtles-can-tolerate-warmertemperatures.html https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2010.0055 https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/52324 https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/eutrophication-causes-consequences-andcontrols-in-aquatic-102364466/ https://www.unep.org/beatpollution/forms-pollution/freshwater https://enveurope.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12302-014-0012-7

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Freddie Douglas Pennant Digital Music

Junior Project Prize 2022 Freddie Douglas-Pennant

Digital Music Digital music is a modern form of music, first pioneered in the 1960s, in which physical sound and audio is converted into numerals to be read by a device. This can work both ways, device into audio or audio into device. This form of music has developed as time has moved on, and come 1983, Dave Smith has developed the worlds first MIDI instrument. This stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. MIDIs nowadays are a very sophisticated digital tools which gives you all sorts of instruments at your fingertips. They usually consist of a keyboard alongside multiple drum pads. MIDIs allow you to make digital music on your own device. Most music you hear in your day to day life will most likely be a form of digital audio, crafted on a device.

Figure 1: A modern type of MIDI Instrument. My passion for this music came about when I first got my MIDI, an Akai MPK mini, and realised what I could do just from one piece of equipment, not multiple different instruments. Ever since the release of the MIDI, it has opened up the music world to a vast audience. Ever since getting my MIDI I have been creating music as well as remixing songs. I have really enjoyed pursuing this passion as well as learning how to create songs and music in many different genres and forms. As the main part of this project, I will be sharing a song that I created on my MIDI. This form of music has become very popular due to its easy accessibility and also it has been made much easier for people to not only make music but download it and listen to it on a device. It has changed the course of modern music and continues to develop. Another major benefit of these MIDIs is layering; the ability to combine multiple individual sounds to create a single, more complete sound. This gives you the strength to record single tracks and layer them over the top of each other to create a complex and likeable piece of music. Here one of the pieces of music that I have composed, it is in the genre of trap.

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Commended

Ned Chapman Investigating Fluidisation of Granular Solids

Investigating fluidisation of granular solids ‘Fluidisation occurs when the upwards force of a gas on an individual grain is equal to the downwards force of gravity acting upon each grain’ Mark Rober ex-NASA scientist

‘When the gas velocity is high enough that the drag force on the particles equals the weight of the particle, the substance becomes fluidized.’ Source 1 in bibliography

Fluidisation is a scientific phenomenon that makes granular solids act almost like a thick liquid. This occurs when a gas, at the right rate, is passed through a granular solid, such as sand. The upwards force of the gas pushing on each grain is equal to the downwards force of gravity acting upon each grain. This means that the grains can move around, and flow almost like a fluid. As you can see from the diagram and image below, there are large gaps between grains. Interestingly, the effect is more pronounced with irregularly shaped grains. Source 1 and 6 in bibliography

This effect is largely to do with reducing internal friction. Internal friction is the friction when the grains move pass one another. This can affect the viscosity of a fluid. Fluids with more internal friction have more viscosity. As an example, honey has more internal friction than water, and as a result is more viscose. Viscosity is defined by this equation: force x distance / area x velocity.

Fluidisation types As the gas velocity increases, the type of fluidisation changes. In our experiment, we reproduced bubbling fluidisation. In this type, the top surface of the bed becomes less defined, and the gas visibly bubbles up through the granular substance. This is

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shown in the image below. As you can see, there are many different types of fluidisation. This image was taken from the paper ‘Introduction to fluidization’. There is more information about this source in the bibliography.

Practical applications of a fluidised bed Olympic pool bubblers When Olympic divers are practising a new skill or technique, they need a safe learning environment. To provide this, compressed air is released from an outlet and Rises through the water. Now this example is not with a granular solid, but the effect is the same. The water molecules are forced apart, they move around more freely.

The reason that diving into water can hurt is surface tension. Water molecules on the surface of the pool cannot bond with as many other water molecules as those deeper can, so they form stronger bonds with those next to them. This is why water is sometimes described as having a ‘skin’. But the

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compressed air moving upwards breaks these stronger bonds, therefore breaking the surface tension of the water and making it safer to dive into. Source 3 and 4 in bibliography

Powder coat painting To coat an object entirely in powdered paint, you need to use a fluidised bed. As we know, air moving up through a granular solid lowers internal friction and allows the grains to move freely, like particles in a liquid. This means that an object can be completely submersed in the powder, and covered evenly.

Large grain silos There is often a problem when discharging grain from a silo. Problems such as bridging and ratholing can mean that the grain does not flow smoothly from the outlet. With the application of a fluidised bed in the funnel cone of the silo, these problems can be solved. The grain is discharged cleanly, and the fluidised bed does not affect the grain in any way that could influence its value. Refer to source 4 in bibliography for an animated video of how this works

Experiment: Why do some object float in the fluidised bed and others sink? Hypothesis: objects with a high buoyancy force will always float whereas those with a low buoyancy force will always sink. For a visual description of the experiment, please refer to the video I submitted

Conclusion: This hypothesis is wrong, but before we answer why, we must address what buoyancy force actually is.

Buoyancy force Buoyancy force is defined by this equation: Buoyancy force = fluid density x object volume x gravity So I used this formula to calculate the buoyancy force for the objects I used in the experiment. They came out like this: Billiard ball: 11903.659 Newtons (buoyancy force in sand) Ping pong ball: 5264.506 Newtons (buoyancy force in sand)

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As we can see from the answers above, the billiard ball has a higher buoyancy force. If we go by the original hypothesis, the billiard ball should float better than the ping pong ball. But this was not the case. Why? Well, in reality it is a tug of war between the buoyancy force of an object and the mass it has. While the billiard ball had a higher buoyancy force than the ping pong ball, it also had a far higher mass, meaning that it sunk while the ping pong ball floated. Source 6 in bibliography

The Build As this project is based upon an artefact, and not a piece of writing, I will detail how I build the fluidised bed with the help of Mr Carter Materials used • • • • • •

15mm pvc pipe 4x 15mm quick-fit flomasta pvc elbow joints 7x 15mm quick-fit flomasta pvc tree joints 40 litre plastic box 15mm quick-fit ball valve 15mm nipple clip to connect to air system

To begin with, I cut 4 lengths of the 15mm pvc pipe to almost the length of the box (I had to allow for the joints). In these lengths, I drilled two 3mm holes spaced at right angles, and continued this down the length of the pipes, each hole spaced 2.5mm apart. Then, I cut 6 very short lengths to connect the joints together. After that, I drilled two 16mm holes in the side of the box so that the air from the compressor could enter. Here is a quick sketch showing the layout simply.

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Problems with the design Although the finished product worked perfectly well, there are a couple of things that I think would really improve the item. Firstly, instead of 4 crosspieces of pipe, I think there should have been five. This would mean that the air is released more evenly through the sand. However, this was not possible because of the size of the joints I was using. Finally, I think that I could have done with more sand in the box to make the effect better. I did order a bag while I was at school, but it did not arrive in time for me to test it.

Bibliography 1. Introduction to fluidization by Ray Cocco, S.B . Reddy Karri and Ted Knowlton At Particulate solid research, INC (PSRI) . Published November 2014 https://www.aiche.org/sites/default/files/cep/20141121.pdf 2. What is internal friction? – definition, angle and coefficient by Ali Motamedi at study.com https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-internal-friction-definition-anglecoefficient.html 3. Pulsair systems.inc https://www.pulsair.com/diving-pool-bubbler-sparger/pool-bubbler-faq/ 4. Surface tension of water, why is it so high? By Susanna Lauren. Posted on Biolin scientific website https://www.biolinscientific.com/blog/surface-tension-of-water-why-is-it-sohigh 5. Silo discharge – animation by tridents siperm GmbH uploaded on the 9th of June 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twp0OY0nn5w

6. Liquid sand hot tub – fluidized bed uploaded to YouTube by Mark Rober 4 years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My4RA5I0FKs

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Mikolaj Rutka Should Universal Basic Income be the Future of Soceity?

Should Universal Basic Income be the future of our society? Introduction Universal Basic Income is perhaps the most ambitious economic phenomena of the 21st century. On the surface, Universal Basic Income (otherwise known as UBI) is a government program in which citizens receive an unconditional set amount of money regularly. The term universal refers to the idea that it should be paid to all members of society and basic suggests an amount that would enable someone to survive in extremis, providing them with basic economic security, yet not total security nor affluence (Guy Standing, 2017). Especially during the time of Covid-19 and with the increasing influence of Artificial Intelligence and many other factors, such as poverty and homelessness, this can be the key to the future of our society. There are also many ways in which this can become reality (such as whether the Welfare System should be replaced) and I will explore these in this essay also. I will begin by looking at the history of this economic phenomena, followed by its advantages (including the impact on poverty inter alia), disadvantages, how it could take place and the large caste study completed in Finland.

The history of Universal Basic Income The concept of a Universal Basic Income has arguably been around for hundreds of centuries and precisely since Ephialtes, the ruler of Ancient Greece in 460 BC. Ephialtes initiated the democratic reforms of paying citizens for jury service. Despite this arguably being a conditional offer, it was a payment for something which had previously been constituted by the polispolitical community structure of Athens- and was a part of Athenian life. Similarly, after Ephialtes’ death, Pericles (who had been his second-in-command) also continued a basic income for those who had participated in the polis (Standing, 2017). Once again, despite this being a seemingly conditional offer, this action was thought of as one’s moral duty. However, upon the overthrowing of Pericles by the Alcibiades in 411BC, the idea of UBI ended and was not revived for centuries. Modern UBI was first explored by Sir Thomas Moore in his fictional vision of the island of Utopia in 1516, where Moore explores the perfect society and their political, religious and social customs. In this book, one of Moore’s characters is depicted saying ‘Instead of inflicting these horrible punishments, it would be far more to the point to provide everyone with some means of livelihood, so that nobody is under the frightful necessity of becoming first a thief and then a corpse.’ (Moore, 1516) Following this in 1526, Moore’s friend, Johannes Ludovicus Vives, sent a letter to the Mayor of Bruges with the first formal proposition of a Universal Basic Income for the poor as ‘even those who had wasted all their money on riotous living should receiver it for no one should die of hunger’ (Ludovicus Vives, 1526). One can attribute the origins of Universal Basic Income to aforementioned thinkers, who concentrated on aid especially to the poor. However, the theory was then once again ignored for two centuries with the development of a Welfare state until Thomas Paine, an English-American writer, restored it in Agrarian Justice. In this book, Paine mentioned that ‘Every proprietor, therefore, of cultivated land owes to the community a ground-rent (for I know of no better term to express the idea) for the land which he holds; and it is from this ground-rent that the fund proposed in this plan is to issue’ (Thomas Paine, 1797). Although this might appear to be

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breaking the idea that the payment should be unconditional, Paine’s ideology of what would fund Basic Income refers to the modern idea of paying it as a subset of tax, which had separately been accepted as a necessity centuries ago.

Advantages Decrease in Poverty Perhaps the greatest issue with the Welfare state-the current form of government which promotes the equality and social well-being of its citizens through a range of government benefits- is that it creates a poverty trap, where an individual’s increase in income is offset by a loss of state benefits, therefore making them lose money. This is mainly caused by tax margins. For example, in Britain, someone on low state benefits faces what is in effect a marginal tax rate of 80% or more when moving from benefits into a low-paying job. Furthermore, this does not take into account the costs of working such as transport or childcare which would diminish the benefits of labour even more. Therefore, people become caught in this ‘poverty trap’ where it is more beneficial for them to stay where they are (which also has a significant economic impact which I shall mention later). This affects many countries in the world, with more than 9.2% of people living in extreme poverty- earning less than 2 dollars a day. This amounts to 34 million people in the US alone. An even more interesting figure is that, of the 34.2% of the inhabitants of the US receive state benefits such as food stamps and subsided housing, a large percentile of these people derive from de facto extreme poverty sector. This demonstrates that there is a correlation between people receiving benefits and ending up in the ‘poverty trap’, which I shall delve into in the following paragraph. However, UBI would be able to provide a safety net for the poor to attempt finding a better, more enjoyable job, without worrying about the costs of the process. Scott Santens, founding member of the economic security project, has said that a UBI set at $1000 per adult per month and $300 per child per month would eradicate US poverty entirely. However, certainly the most persuasive aspect for UBI, is that it is not an experiment- it has been proven to work. Since Brazil has begun giving 100$ a month to its inhabitants in March 2020, the poverty level has fallen to the lowest level in forty years. On the other hand, this has only been a trial so the payment has only been received by 25% of the population. However, if UBI became a permanent, wider-scale programme, there is now evidence that it could eradicate poverty in Brazil altogether. UBI has also been tested in less-developed parts of the world. Namibia’s UBI programme, which took place from 2007-2012, reduced household poverty rates from 76% to 37% after just one year (1). Therefore, UBI has been proven to be successful in decreasing poverty in a number of countries. On the other hand, one can be sceptical as to whether a Universal Basic Income, as opposed to common benefits, is a more effective idea as people could waste the money. However, as outlined in the introduction, the purpose of a Universal Basic Income is to provide people with a way out of extremis- not to provide them with an amount to live in luxury. This difference is key, as seen in a number of trials. The Economist conducted a trial where it spoke to homeless people in the Square Mile, London, and proposed to give them whatever they needed to ‘change their lives’. Of the thirteen who engaged, eleven had moved off the streets and become employed within a year. During interviews, they revealed that they cooperated because UBI provided them with control over their lives and allowed them to attempt at receiving a job, as opposed to being forced into a hostel with benefits. Moreover, the cost was an average of £792 per person, a mere 3% of the £26000 estimated to be spent annually on each homeless person

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(Standing, 2017). Therefore, UBI has the potential (with evidence) to eradicate poverty whilst providing the government with more money. Although it might seem to be a different name for benefits, it provides people with the motivation to find a better job or, in a lot of cases, a job.

Economic Impact One of the greatest impacts which UBI could have is an impact on the economy. It would provide a sustainable production growth in relation to average income, unlike the current Welfare system. An obvious flaw of the Welfare system is how fragile the economy is- as can be clearly seen in the 2007-2008 financial crash. This was caused by ‘rising energy prices on global markets, leading to an increase in global inflation’ (2) which therefore made it too expensive for property owners to repay mortgages, leading to a rapid fall in property prices and therefore of the assets held by many financial institutions. UBI could be a solution to de facto economic problems as it would be a way of maintaining high aggregate demand while making the economy less fragile. Interestingly, the Australian government was the only country to use UBI in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 crisis by making grants of A$1000 to carers, children and pensioners and they were one of the only countries which escaped economic recession. This shows that UBI is effective in large-scale trials also. Moreover, UBI would have a vast positive effect on economic growth. Research has shown that, out of the one billion full time workers in the world, only 15% are engaged with their work and the rest do it to ‘put food on the table’, which especially affects industrialised countries (3). In America, this lack of employee commitment has cost around 500 billion dollars in economic productivity. Therefore, UBI could be a solution to this issue as the extra funds would encourage people to look for a job that they enjoy, even if it produces the extra costs of transport and childcare as these would now be paid for. Although there is evidence that UBI would have an economic impact in industrialised countries, it would also affect developing countries. Having already spoken about Namibia and how UBI has decreased its poverty rates, UBI has also been seen to have a large economic impact in nine villages in Madhya Pradesh, India. This was the first UBI trial in India, and it took place in 2011 for the course of eighteen months. It entailed universal, unconditional and individual monthly grants to 6000 men, women and children. Furthermore, ‘more than 15000 individuals were covered by the research and 100 in-depth case studies were carried out with the recipients’ (4). This research sample once again reinforces the difference between state benefits and and UBI as the income levels were set with the aim of providing ‘enough to make a difference to living standards, but not enough to improve them considerably’, which was tantamount to 20-30% of

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the income of lower-income-families ($4.40 per adult which was later increased by 50% to make the experiment reliable, considering the rate of inflation). As can be seen in the book ‘Basic Income- A Transformative Policy for India’, there was a huge economic impact especially in the field of education. This graph compares the increase in school attendance between the villages trialled by the SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association) and the control villages. One can see that there was a small 20% change in the controlled villages, compared to the 55% change (including a 19% big improvement) in the villages receiving the monthly grants (Sarath Davala, 2015). Around the world, especially in developing countries, the rate of people dropping out of school to find a job is drastically increasing as, due to the rate of inflation, people need to earn an annually-increasing salary to be able to afford things such as an abode. In Britain, the number of sixteen year-olds dropping out of school is ‘one in five pupils’ (5); in the USA, 7000 students drop out every day. UBI could provide an income which would allow students to stay longer at school and find a job which they would enjoy, thereby increasing economic productivity as well as therefore increasing economic growth- both of the previous factors in one. This possibility is reinforced by the evidence amalgamated in Madhya Pradesh, as seen in the graph above. Many people were interviewed after the UBI trial, including one mother who said that ‘We could, with the cash, spend more time with our children and families and help the children with their education. Now that the project is finished, we are again having to take loans and pay interest and the children have to go to work with us. When we received the cash the children were attending only school. Now they have to go and earn money to pay for their education, for example by working in the fields or at the potato factory. My oldest son is working for some of the farmers in their fields’. This quote reinforces the impact which UBI has on education, as well as displaying my next point- how it gives people the opportunity to avoid debt. The key to large economic growth is not only a well-educated population. Throughout history, credit and investment have been the driving force of industrialisation and a country’s development (Harari, 2011). For example, during the expansion of an empire, a country has to borrow large sums of money to finance the necessary elements such as wars. In 1754, to start forming the largest empire in history, Britain had to borrow a lot of money from Dutch and British bankers to finance the French and Indian Wars. Throughout the nine years of war, British debt almost doubled from £75 million in 1754 to £133 million in 1763. However, to continue expanding an empire or for someone to continue investing, one has to be able to pay back the previous debt because, otherwise, the interest will increase too and the country will stay in continuous, increasing debt and, therefore, economic recession. This can also be translated to the thriving of a family. However, the Welfare state creates a vicious circle where, especially in low-income families where saving money can be very difficult with the lack of funding, people cannot pay back their debt very quickly and have to stop investing too. On the other hand, UBI could provide assurance and form a solution to this problem. The extra funds would allow a person to invest more, thereby growing the economy, whilst still having the extra supply of monthly cash to repay their debt. This is once again reinforced by the trial in Madhya Pradesh

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From the graph above, one can see how villages with UBI had a significant decrease in debt whilst those without the extra income not only had a small reduced debt, but also a magnified one. Precisely, ‘Around 73% of beneficiaries in the tribal village managed to reduce their debts while none increased. In the control village, 18% had reduced their debts while they increased for 50%’. This provides evidence that UBI could help decrease debt as well as therefore allowing more investment. Moreover, in this less developed region, it can take years to pay back debt. During the trial, researchers found a family that had to pay off a debt of $1500 to the owner of a brick kiln. However, due to the parents’ minute combined salary of $5.40 a day as well as the cost of feeding the entire family, it will take years for them to repay that debt. This once again reinforces the idea of a vicious circle created by debt. However, despite having an especially vast economic impact on industrialising countries, the impact is omnipresent in industrialised countries also. This can especially be seen in the 2007-2008 crisis where people could not pay off their mortgages which caused a mass recession which has been seen over the last ten years. An example is USA, whose gross domestic product fell by 4.3%- the lowest since World War 2- and the unemployment rate also. Although it might seem like something of the same calibre could not happen again, currently 340 million people have a mortgage in the US alone- more than 62% of America’s homeowners (6). Since UBI has proven to work in Madhya Pradesh by not only helping people to escape the poverty trap, but also to provide people with more freedom from their employers, it could work in other countries also and help them recover from crises such as the aforementioned financial one.

Social Justice Besides the positive impacts which UBI would create, one can also argue that it would be social justice- ‘justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society’ (7). Firstly, it would be social inheritance and a form of social dividends- a deserved

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return on the natural resources owned by society. Thomas Paine suggested this in Agrarian Justice when he said that ‘It is a position not to be controverted that the earth, in its natural, uncultivated state was, and ever would have continued to be, the common property of the human race… it is the value of the improvement only, and not the earth itself that is in individual property. Every proprietor, therefore, of cultivated land, owes to the community a ground rent’. Paine believed that the Earth is ownerless and that the only thing belonging to the human race are the things bestowed upon it. His conclusion was therefore that every holder of property should pay a fee to the state. This belief is fortified by the beliefs of John Locke, an English philosopher in the 17th century who believed that everybody possessed natural rights, so the government has obligations to its citizens. Locke stated that ‘Every Man has a Property in his own Person. This no Body has any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body, and the Work of his Hands, we may say, are properly his.’ (John Locke, 1689) This once again ascertains that everybody has a right to self-ownership and the fruits of their labour, hence explaining the necessity for Paine’s ‘ground rent’ as citizens’ have taken this ability from others due to the cultivation of the Earth. Locke also proposed the Lockean Proviso which states that ‘You have the right to appropriate natural resources only up to the point that there is enough, and as good, left in common for others’. Despite the latter stage being composed of vague vocabulary, one can comprehend that Locke believed in equality and precisely a moral duty to redistribute one’s income to someone else. Thomas Paine takes this further in Agrarian Justice as he proposes ‘to create a National Fund, out of which there shall be paid to every person, when arrived at the age of twenty-one years, the sum of fifteen pounds sterling, as a compensation in part, for the loss of his or her natural inheritance by the introduction of the system of landed property. And also, the sum of ten pounds per annum, during life, to every person now living, of the age of fifty years, and to all others as they shall arrive at that age.’ Paine’s theory was therefore that a UBI was needed as social justice due to the introduction of property, inter alia, which has taken one’s ability to enjoy the ‘uncultivated’ Earth, which should belong to everybody. However, the issue presented by the Lockean Proviso is why there would be a need for UBI specifically, and not another form of income distribution. Peter Vallentyne, professor of philosophy at the University of Missouri in Columbia, takes the Lockean Proviso further by explaining the stated issue. Vallentyne does this by looking at different interpretations of the Lockean Proviso and I will explore the Nozickian interpretation. According to this interpretation, one needs to make sure that no one is made worse off by another’s appropriation of natural resources than they would have been if those resources had not been appropriated. One can use an example with two citizens, X and Y, in a model state. X’s appropriation of land imposed a £100 deficit on Y, yet Y’s appropriation of the previously-uncultivated land has imposed a deficit of £50 on X. According to the Lockean Proviso, there now needs to be an end goal where X has £50 and Y has £100. This will require a system of tax-and-transfer, and Vallentyne draws a distinction between the two possible systems. In the Gross system, both X and Y proceed to place their money into a common fund, similar to the ‘National fund’ suggested by Paine, and the money is distributed accordingly leaving X with £50 and Y with £100. The other example is a Net System where X and Y only have to pay their gained amounts into a common fund, so X would pay £50 and Y would receive £50, leaving X with £50 and Y with £100. Although both reach the same final outcome, the Gross system is very similar to a UBI where each citizen received a UBI of £50 and Y received an additional grant. Therefore, to evaluate, UBI could be a form of social justice for the loss of one’s social inheritance and dividends. This could be an effective system where equality, especially economic, can be reached between individuals as further explored by Vallentyne.

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Artificial Intelligence The Welfare State has also been criticised for being unable to deal with changes, such as the threat of automation. The increasing development of AI provides a number of threats, the main one being the economic impact. This differs from the previously-discussed economic impact of the welfare state as, rather than people preferring to stay in benefits than finding a job, there is a chance that there simply will be no jobs and therefore possible mass unemployment. The number of jobs which shall be displaced by AI varies, but some think that it could be at least a billion. Moreover, research has predicted that 375 million jobs could become obsolete altogether. Although most believe that the future will not be as dystopian, some specific data still suggests that the job loss will amalgamate to 85 million jobs globally by 2025 (8). According to Andy Stern, former head of the US Service Employees International Union (SEIU), this would be driven by the ethos of shareholder value as, in the upcoming years, AI will be cheaper to maintain and to use. Stern’s opinion is that this will not be like ‘the fall of the auto and steel industries. That hit just a sector of the country. This will be widespread. People will realise that we don’t have a storm anymore. We have a tsunami’ (Standing, 2017). The obvious underlying consequence of mass unemployment will be people not being able to pay for rent amongst other things, but there are other significant consequences of mass unemployment. For example, an increased inequality gap- Britain being a suitable example. Since the 1980’s, an inequality in wealth and therefore unemployment has arisen- research has shown that in some areas in the North it is 200 times as difficult to find a job than in the South (9), with the north-east of England having the highest unemployment rate in the whole of England with 5.5%. This high level of unemployment will be increased with the rise in automation too. AI will first replace dangerous jobs such as farming which is omnipresent in the North of England especially. Therefore, as well as causing mass unemployment, large political issues could arise from Artificial Intelligence also. UBI could be a solution to this problem as it could be a way in which all would benefit from economic gains resulting from technological advance. This is because Universal Basic Income would provide people with the extra income to meet their needs. Moreover, as shall be discussed in more detail later, the greatest issue with UBI is its affordability and studies have shown that large AI companies would generate enough wealth to pay every citizen in the US a UBI of $13500 (10). However, although this issue would be solved, the other issue of who will take the remaining jobs and who will walk with free money arises. Although the answer to this question is uncertain, one can definitely be sure that everyone will want the spare jobs and, because these will be highly technical, they will require people to have a great education, with a large possibility of the working class ultimately losing out. UBI would be able to provide this as the extra income would not only give people the opportunity to stay at school longer but also to travel further if needs be. Therefore, UBI would be able to decrease the effect of mass unemployment caused by AI and, by developing the education sector, ultimately end up with a higher-quality work force. The key disadvantage to the welfare state in this issue is that, if people lose jobs, it cannot provide them with the necessary income. On the other hand, let’s look at the short-term possible consequences, assuming that the rise of Artifical Intelligence does not lead to a ‘workless future’. As previously discussed, AI is not expected to make human workers obsolete by at least 2045 because, for example, AI often requires an amount of ‘learning’ and therefore large amounts of data. The cost of electricity to power one supercharged language AI model was estimated at $4.6 million (11). Moreover, some

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sources even suggest that, although AI might displace 7 million jobs, its management could also create 7.2 million jobs therefore producing a net gain of 200,000 (12). However, even this change presents issues such as income inequality. As AI grows the economy and produces more money, the question of income distribution is affirmed even more. Even nowadays, the wealthiest 10% of American households own 89% of all US stocks which is a record-breaking high in wealth inequality. The debate of whether the rich should have the money that they have is one of the biggest, dividing questions of the century and I believe that UBI could be the solution. It could be a way in which all could benefit from economic gains resulting from technological advance as a set some of money, increasing with the development of AI, would be given to everybody whilst the rich still received their amount.

Disadvantages Having up to this point discussed the benefits of UBI, some people believe that this economic phenomena is flawed. Many have firstly questioned how it could be afforded during the economic recession which the world is currently experiencing as a result of the pandemic and whether other issues could arise from such an ambitious spending plan? However, some have also questioned Universal Basic Income on philosophical grounds, including libertarians amongst others. Finally, there’s also the question of how UBI would fit into our society and what form it should take.

Libertarianism Libertarians believe in a ‘small state’, on the grounds that the government infringes on individual Liberty. A libertarian has a set of common criticisms for the current Welfare state which we have to explore first before turning to UBI. Firstly, they believe that forced charity is unjust as individuals should have a moral right to decide if they want to help other citizens. Further, they believe that in a free, capitalist market forced charity is unnecessary as voluntary donations are enough. Thirdly, if one does receive government aid (charity), then they are less likely to take care of themselves or to go to work. Finally, forced charity is growing rapidly, with the future holding exorbitant taxes with, possibly, another financial crisis. We will later discuss the future of the welfare state but, firstly, is UBI actually a better alternative which does not hold the same criticisms? Some libertarians believe that it is simply a worse version of the prior, with the same criticisms further amplified. Firstly, one can understand forced charity to some extent since it is aid for those who cannot help themselves, such as the severely disabled. However, an economic system where citizens are paying everyone, notwithstanding their financial situation, could be argued to be an even larger encroachment on citizens’ freedom. However, a libertarian can justify coercive redistributions and, to do so, we need to turn back to Vallentyne. According to Vallentyne, a libertarian could justify coercive redistribution if it protects the core libertarian rights and one of these is the freedom of contract, where individuals and groups have the ability to form contracts without government restrictions. Although libertarians believe in the freedom of contract, this usually requires enforceability. For example, if you make a promise to pay me a sum of money before next week, you are obliged to do so as it has then become your moral duty. However, if I do not pay you that sum of money, I can then be coerced to do so. This therefore proves that libertarian principles do not coincide with coercive redistribution, especially as one of the core values of libertarianism requires it. This also justifies the existence of a functioning, governing body which is not necessarily a state. Having proved this, we can come back to the idea of social

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justice as to why UBI is the best form of de facto coercive distribution, since (as Thomas Paine amongst others argued) it is the recompensation for the loss of our social inheritance. Secondly, many libertarians argue that UBI creates even more incentives to not go to work and use state aid. Under current welfare, if you are an able-bodied adult between the age of 18-64, without custody of any minor children, you are ineligible for most programs whereas, UBI would provide a stable, monthly income notwithstanding your situation. However, as we have previously discussed, the thought that UBI would provide enough money to not go to work is a myth. For the younger generation, as seen in the case studies conducted in Madhya Pradesh, UBI has proven to allow more students to continue their education for longer rather than wasting their money. Furthermore, for adults, we have seen that the extra sum of money allows them to travel further to jobs which they enjoy more, and therefore thrive more at. We shall see later on how UBI has performed in larger case studies and whether this is true. The third issue presented by the libertarians is perhaps the greatest one of all that is associated with Universal Basic Income, and that is its affordability. Many people predict that UBI would lead to hyperinflation, but this could be avoided if money was shifted, and not created. As we shall see, the costs associated with this economic phenomena are significant but, to try and solve this issue, we need to address the deeper question of how Universal Basic Income would fit into our societies, and what shape it would take.

Welfare state The libertarian view on UBI, having proven it to be an acceptable economic system, is that it would be very expensive- most libertarians approximate the favourable fund to be around $10000 per person, monthly. However, this number is unsupported by evidence. In the US, author Edward Dolan has worked out the cost to be $4452 per person, monthly. This amounts to around 17.5 trillion dollars annually (13). Furthermore, in England, Georgetown academics found that, to eradicate poverty, it would take a UBI scheme with an approximate cost of 16.7 billion pounds per year (14). One of the possibilities to fund this is to abolish, or at least change, the Welfare system. The current Welfare system costs the British government approximately 255 billion pounds35% of government spending. Moreover, on average, 172 billion of this is spent on state benefits which we have already evaluated to be less effective than a UBI, which would provide people a way out of extremis, thereby increasing economic productivity. We should also reiterate the criticisms which the Welfare system holds from the libertarian perspective only, including the unjust, unnecessary system of coerced charity which could lead to yet another financial crisis. However, the Welfare system has failed in many other aspects- not just its philosophy. In the US in 1963, President Lindon Johnson announced that his aim is to build ‘A great society for the American people’, with the sheer focus of his campaign being to eradicate poverty. However, sixty years later, the US government has spent more than 25 trillion dollars and 12% (38 million people) of American citizens are still considered poor. Even if we look at poverty in a different way, placing more emphasis on the amount which people spend on food and counting welfare benefits as income, the number of people in poverty is still 4%- more than 12 million people (15). Moreover, Johnson’s aim was to shrink citizens’ dependence on the government but, as we saw, the ‘poverty trap’ results in people preferring to stay on welfare benefits rather than aiming to find a better job or, in the least, a job. Therefore, one can see how UBI is a much cheaper alternative which has proven to decrease poverty and encourage more people to work.

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However, it is, of course, not as transparent as that. Many people will require more than the 4452 dollars that Ed Dolan proposes, or the 240 dollars per person which GeorgeTown University predicts in the UK. For example, the NHS- by many considered the core of the Welfare Stateprovides free healthcare for those who, in some cases, would otherwise have to spend enormous sums. The full budget for the NHS is around 120 billion pounds annually- with certain medicine, such as the recent purchase of LibMedley, having the list price of 2.8 million. However, speaking in terms of Britain, the 255 billion pounds which is spent on the Welfare system, after subtracting the cost of the NHS and UBI, would still leave 68 billion. Therefore, money would not be an issue in UBI, with the extra funds having the potential to fund the revival of the economy. Furthermore, perhaps the biggest disadvantage with the Welfare System is that it is inflexible. The best example of this is the financial crisis in 2007-2008, where the welfare state was not able to support the number of mortgages which were taking place, and not being paid back. Of course, one cannot assume that UBI would definitely solve this issue but the evidence in the previous paragraph reveals that UBI would leave a sum of money which could save Britain during unexpected crises. To summarise, the Welfare state has a lot of significant issues such as inflexibility, being ineffective in spending its money and coercive charity. Although we had previously proven that libertarians can work with coercive redistribution, it is only when it supports other core values, which does not take place in the case of the Welfare system. The Welfare state spends a lot of money unnecessarily, whilst it’s inflexibility also provides a risk of financial crises. On the other hand, Universal Basic Income could be a way of minimising the money spent, with greater effects on the eradication of poverty amongst other things, while therefore leaving a sum of 68 billion in the case of economical emergencies, such as a pandemic. Therefore, replacing the Welfare System with UBI could, although not definitely, provide numerous advantages whilst, as a result, making Universal Basic Income affordable.

Is UBI the best income distribution? We have already explored the Nozickian Interpretation which suggests that UBI is the best basic income because of its social justice. However, there are of course many other examples of selective income. Furthermore, there is evidence which supports the idea that only the poorer section of society should receive the extra income. A study in the US found that, for every dollar invested into wage earners, an extra 1.22 dollars would be produced for the national economy whereas, for every dollar which was received by high income Americans, only 0.39 dollars would be produced (16). This shows that paying the poor would have a much more significant effect on the economy than also paying the rich. On the other hand, many also believe that top earners would, although not being more economically productive, be smarter with their money. At lowincome levels, an increase in income is likely to see a high marginal propensity to consume as people need to buy a lot of services, but high income earners tend to save more of their money as they already possess what they need (17). Although this evidence shows that other income distributions could yield more money or economic productivity, the issue of inequality then arises. It is quite difficult to draw the line between the rich and poor without creating conflict and disagreement. UBI, on the other hand, despite possibly leading to a smaller economic productivity, could still create a number of benefits without increasing inequality. Universal Basic Income has the potential to increase equality by giving the poor the opportunity to look for better jobs too, without the worry of other costs (such as transport or childcare).

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Finland Although many countries have conducted Basic Income experiments, Finland is the only country which has thus far conducted a true, nationwide, Universal Basic Income experiment. It is crucial to evaluate the progress which the new economic system has had on Finland to conjure up a conclusion about the true significance and effect which UBI could have. From 2017-2018, Finland conducted the UBI experiment where a group of 2000 randomly-picked, initiallyunemployed people received the unconditional payment of €560 monthly (18). This was then compared to a control group of 173000 who were on welfare benefits. The main aim of the UBI was to decrease unemployment and poverty, as well as to ameliorate people’s well-being. Firstly, there was a statistically important, albeit small, increase in employment. The experiment showed that the people receiving Universal Basic Income were more likely to receive a job than the control group. Between November 2017 and October 2018, people receiving UBI worked an average of 78 days compared to those on unemployment benefits who worked six days less. This statistical difference clearly shows the increase in employment which UBI caused. Even though this difference might not seem that significant, €560 was a tiny percentage of most Finnish households’ incomes so, to see a noticeable difference in employment, is very significant. Perhaps the biggest effect which the study showed was how UBI had a huge boost on people’s well-being. A survey found that average life satisfaction among the tested group was 7.3/10, whereas that of the control group was 6.8/10, which is a very large increase (19). To see a similar lift in well-being, McKinsey predicts that a person’s income would have to increase from 8002500 euros monthly. The Finnish government states that the difference was large enough to erase the difference in life satisfaction between employed and unemployed people. Therefore, one can see that Universal Basic Income had a significant impact on Finland, increasing both the economy and the citizens’ well-being. The €560 monthly allowed people to find the jobs which they enjoyed, even if they were lower-paid, and also made them much happier. As one woman reported, “I actually enjoy my job a lot. I love my co-workers, I love the office, I love the hours! I just love being independent and earning my own money, and standing on my own two feet. Basic Income has changed my life. Without it, I couldn’t have taken a job with a little lower salary.” (20)

Conclusion In conclusion, Universal Basic Income has a lot of potential to take society to another level. It has proven to be capable of decreasing poverty, with countries such as Brazil reaching the lowest poverty levels since the 1980’s, and also to hold a huge economic impact- both on the younger generation, by encouraging more people to stay at school, and the older generation by encouraging them to look for better jobs without worrying about the costs. Most importantly, as seen in the case study of Finland, it can increase people’s well-being. The current economy has a lot of benefits, but a lot of disadvantages too. Covid-19 has already endangered 7.6 million jobs24% of the UK workforce- and the inflexibility of the welfare system makes it very vulnerable to financial crises, the impact of pandemics and, although it isn’t very probable, massive

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unemployment with the increasing presence of Artificial Intelligence. In the words of Elon Musk, Universal Basic Income ‘is going to be necessary’; it is the future of our society.

Bibliography: Guy Standing, 2017: ‘Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen’, pages 3-11, 25-30, 5060, 73-79, 95-109. Guy Standing: The Economist Sarath Davala, et al: ‘A Transformative Policy for India’, 2015 Thomas Moore: Utopia, page 233 Ludovicus Vives, 1526: Letter to Mayor of Bruges Thomas Paine, 1797: ‘Agrarian Justice’, pages 12, 25-30, 149, 294 Yuval Noah Harari, 2011: ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind’, Chapter 16 John Locke, 1689: Second Treatise of Government, paragraph 27, Chapter 5 Peter Vallentyne, 1991: ‘Contractarianism and Rational Choice: Essays on David Gauthier’s Morals by agreement’

Footnotes: 1: ProCon.org, ‘Universal Basic Income (UBI) – Top 3 Pros and Cons’ 2: HistoryExtra, ‘The 2008 Financial Crisis Explained’ 3: Josh Barney, Einsteinmarketer- ‘Only 15% of Employees are engaged. What Can Leaders Learn?’ 4: Rasmus Schjoedt, 2016: ‘India’s Basic Income Experiment’ 5: Graeme Paton, 2012, Telegraph: ‘fifth of British teenagers drop out of school at 26’ 6: Teresa Bitler, 2021: ’10 States with the Most Mortgage-Free Homeowners’ 7: Wikipedia: ‘Social Justice’ 8: Neha Gupta, 2021: ‘Will AI take over jobs in the future?’ 9: Belinda Robinson, 2013, ThisisMoney: ‘Jobs map of UK shows North-South divide growing: 200 times more difficult to find employment in Salford than in Cambridge or Aberdeen’ 10: Sam Shead, 2021: ‘Silicon Valley leaders think A.I. will one day fund free cash handouts. But experts aren’t convinced’ 11: Ben Dickson, 2020: ‘ The GPT-3 Economy’ 12: PWC: ‘AI will create as many jobs as it displaces by boosting economic growth’ 13: Bryan Caplan, EconLib.org: ‘Why Libertarians Should Oppose the Universal Basic Income’ 14: Liam Geraghty, 2021: ‘Is a universal basic income ‘too expensive’ for the UK?’ 15: The Heritage Foundation (YouTube): ‘America’s Biggest Issues: Welfare’ 16: Kurzgesagt- In a Nutshell (YouTube): ‘Universal Basic Income Explained – Free Money for Everybody? UBI’. Time: 6:17-6:29 17: Tejvan Pettinger, 2019: ‘Marginal Propensity to Consume’ 18: McKinsey & Company, 2020: ‘An experiment to inform universal basic income’ 19: Donna Lu, 2020: ‘Universal basic income seems to improve employment and well-being’ 20: BBC News (YouTube): ‘Did Finland's basic income experiment work?’

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Aaron Li The Marine Fish Tank

The (marine) Fish Tank Whether a goldfish won at a fair, a trip to the aquarium, or the tank which has newly emerged in the biology corridor (as some of you may have noticed), the explosion in the ornamental fish trade is evident, with the global marine fish industry valued at 4.89 billion USD (2020) [1], and projected to grow to a size of 8.4 billion by 2027 [2]. Over 20 million fish are harvested each year for this trade, 65% of which is sourced from the Philippines, and the USA importing 50-60% of the global trade [3].

This hobby is propelled by the newfound interest of starting a personal reef aquarium, linking to either general interest in the hobby, or the human desire to seek beauty, unparalleled by the stunning organisms witnessed within the marine ecosystem. This means for huge imports of marine livestock every year, composed of fish, corals, and invertebrates, as well as “live” rock (discussed paragraph 1). Within this article, I will discuss the science between synthesising the very delicate ecosystem of a coral reef, the processes involved, as well as delving into the ethical issues which the hobby surfaces, such as the environmental threat and the moral implications of importing organisms which are almost guaranteed to die under captivity. Section 1 – Why do my fish keep dying? For every new fish keeper, there is always a looming possibility that one day you will look over to your fish tank and see something floating on the water line. There are a variety of reasons why our tank inhabitants may succumb, whether it may simply be from old age, disease, or starvation. However, the most prominent cause of fish death within our enclosed ecosystems is poor water quality. When a fish dies within a very new tank, it is almost always because the tank hasn’t been “cycled”. The basis of a tank, whether freshwater or marine, relies on a process called the nitrogen cycle. This process uses nitrifying bacteria (in this context usually Nitrobacter sp. or Nitrosomonas sp.) in order to convert some of the more harmful toxins found in fish waste (ammonia) into less harmful substances (nitrites, nitrates). Therefore, it is mandatory to have a live colony of bacteria in aquaria before introducing organisms to ensure that their waste products aren’t of any threat. This can be done a variety of

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ways: a new marine tank can either be filled with “live” sand and/or “live” rock. These usually either come from the ocean or from an already established tank, and are “live” in the sense of the already established populations of nitrifying bacteria they contain. They can therefore introduce a population into the tank, established after cycling the tank for a few weeks, a process that includes adding organic matter into the water, to introduce ammonia into the tank, helping the bacteria to establish for a few weeks, before the introduction of any fish. Popular alternatives that have since recently arisen include bottled strains of nitrifying bacteria that the fish keeper can simply supplement into the tank, to introduce and maintain a healthy population. Where does ammonia come from? Ammonia (or NH3) is a naturally occurring substance resulting from the decomposition of organic matter. In animals, this is due to reactions such as deamination [4] (hydrolysis of an amino acid which causes the release of an amine group). Within humans, we convert this harmful substance into urea in our liver, which is comparatively safer, and remove it through our urine, totalling 80% of the nitrogen we egest [5]. However, this process of conversion is metabolically costly, which means that it is only largely done by large vertebrates such as mammals. Instead of this, the urine of fish contain a smaller amount of urea, directly removing ammonia instead. Outside of organisms, decomposing organic nitrogenous waste goes through a process called ammonification, or mineralisation, whereby bacteria and other decomposers convert the organic nitrogen into ammonia (NH3) or ammonium (NH4+). They depolymerise the components of the organic matter such as proteins into amino acids, then hydrolysed into ammonium.

Deamination of cyocystine into uracil, producing ammonia as a byproduct

Why is ammonia harmful to fish? There are two forms of ammonia: ionised (ammonium) and unionised (ammonia). Whilst ammonium is harmless due to its inability to pass through a fish’s gills, unionised ammonia is highly toxic to most vertebrates, including fish, which make keeping them in an enclosed body of water difficult, as if unsupervised, this substance can build up and swiftly cause premature death. The problem is also exacerbated at higher pH due to both the fact that there are less hydrogen ions available therefore a lower amount of ammonium and a larger amount of ammonia [6]. This also causes a shallower diffusion gradient, meaning that the rate of ammonia expelled from the organism is lower, without active transport, causing potential build ups. Firstly, ammonia damages the gills of fish due to causing immense oxidative stress, and creating “burns” on the fish. Once inside the fish, due to the difference in the pH of the blood, the equilibrium constant switches, meaning that most ammonia, once kit has entered the fish, will exist instead in the form of ionised ammonium. This can then cause many issues to the fish’s metabolic processes. One of them include involuntarily increasing the amount of glycolysis reactions which occur (producing

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ATP without the need for oxygen). This happens as it activates the enzyme, one of the essential enzymes needed in the process. Another problem it induces relates to aerobic respiration within the mitochondria: it interferes with the tricarboxylic acid cycle. It also interferes with the transport of ions, primarily being substituted for K+. This affects the nervous system [7]. Nitrogen cycle The dissolved ammonia and ammonium is removed through the nitrogen cycle, ending up with a product of nitrate. Firstly, the ammonia is converted by Nitrosomonas sp. Bacteria [8]. These bacteria are distributed all throughout almost every habitat, both terrestrial and aquatic. However, the more marine adapted species of Nitrosomonas bacteria include N. marina as well as N. aestuarii and therefore would be the varieties commonly found in saltwater aquaria. However, they all have practically the same process, which is the oxidation of ammonia in order to convert it into nitrite. Unfortunately, there is not sufficient literature to be sure of what happens at each step, but there is a rough outline as to the reactions which occur. Within the bacteria, the ammonia or ammonium is first converted into hydroxylamine (NH2OH) by the addition of oxygen and an electron pair, thought to be donated by the compound ubiquinol. This reaction also requires the enzyme AMO (ammonia mono-oxygenase). This compound is then reduced to form NO2- using the enzyme hydroxylamine dehydrogenase [8]. The second stage of nitrification is the conversion of nitrite into nitrate. This is done by the bacteria in the genuses nitrobacter and nitrospira. Using the NO2-, they oxidise the nitrite into nitrate using the enzyme nitrite oxidoreductase, producing two hydrogen ions, two electrons, and a nitrate (NO3-) ion. The H+ ions and electrons can then be combined with oxygen in order to form two molecules of water. Doing this reaction, the H+ ions can produce 47kJ of energy per molecule of nitrite for the bacteria [9].

Conversion of nitrite into nitrate in nitrobacter and nitrospira

The hydrogen ions and electrons combine with oxygen to form water

The complete equation

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The internal processes within the nitrite oxidiser nitrospira [10]

Why do copper and chlorine harm inverts/fish? It is no surprise that the presence of any heavy metals has a profound effect on fish. After all, these elements also have the ability to induce severe harm in humans, as we have seen in mass outbreak of poisonings such as the “itai-iati” “disease” in Japan, literally translating to “it hurts-it hurts”, this outbreak was primarily caused by cadmium poisoning as a result of contaminated waste from mining entering into water systems, and being uptaken by fish or absorbed by the rice crop. Within the saltwater aquarium, there is one metal which should be avoided at all costs because, whilst in small amounts it can be tolerated by fish, it can wreak havoc on invertebrates, including corals, and bringing them a swift death. This metal is copper. Thus it is often used in fish-only freshwater tanks as a pest killer for planaria/snail/flatworm/algae/parasites, but if used wrongly, can kill shrimp and ornamental snails. In UK tap water, the maximum amount of copper contained is 1.3mg/l, aligning with EPA recommendations [11]. However, the maximum copper tolerance in corals ranges from around 0.01-0.1mg/l. Thus, most hobbyists, in fear of heavy metals as well as additional phosphates, nitrates and chlorine, opt to instead use RO (reverse osmosis) water, meaning that everything has been removed through very intricate filtration except for the pure water. Within water, copper usually exists as Cu2+ ions [12]. Similarly to ammonia, pH affects the amount that is active. Bicarbonate ions as well as forms of carbonate will all bond to the copper ion. The acidity of the water influences the amount of these binders, therefore the amount of copper accessible. As well as this, a lower pH may cause previously bound copper to release. There is not much literature on the effects of the copper ions on these organisms. However, it may link to the fact that most aquatic invertebrates, must have some degree of copper within them in order to synthesise the blood pigment hemocyanin, which carries oxygen in the place of haemoglobin which is contained in our red blood cells, and and carries a Fe+ ion. It is though that copper, in Gastropoda including mollusks and bivalves, may bond to the hydrophilic bilayers of their epithelial cells, which then changes their properties and interferes with their function, being the major cause of death. Copper may also interfere with the function of the enzyme peroxidase and protein ferritin, causing them to produce hydroperoxides and malondialdehyde, which severely damage the function of cell and membranes. In

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crustaceans such as crabs, copper disturbs the concentration gradient in the gills, which decreases the amount of oxygen reaching the blood [13]. Another reason fish often succumb to the care of the new hobbyist is due to a different element: chlorine, as well as its forms such as chloramines (combination of chlorine and ammonia). This occurs if the hobbyist is not using RO or a tap water conditioner. In the UK, tap water often contains less than 1mg/l of this substance, and the maximum amount is 5mg/l [14]. It is added to kill microbes including pathogens, making the drinking water more safe. However, chlorine can be lethal to fish in concentrations as little as 0.1mg/l, meaning that tap water often contains enough water to kill most of the more delicate species, and maybe even those more hardy, depending to the concentration of chlorine. Thus, it is imperative to introduce some form of chlorine removal before the water is added to the tank. The most popular option is currently the use of a tap water conditioner.This removes not only chlorine, but also heavy metals from the water. Another method which is less costly would simply to be leave the water for a period of time, or boil it. This works as chlorine is a gas at room temperature, with a boiling point of -34.04 degrees Celsius, meaning that left a period of time, it will evaporate and leave the water. Free chlorine is more toxic to organisms than chloramine [15], which makes chlorine poisoning more abundant at lower a pH due to the larger availability of free chlorine. This links back to the equilibrium between ammonia, hydrogen ions and ammonium. As the pH is lower, there will be a larger availability of hydrogen ions, meaning there will be more ammonium. Therefore, there will be less ammonia, meaning less chloramines a formed, resulting in a larger number of the more lethal free chlorine. Chlorine, being a very reactive element, can cause severe burns due to its high corrosivity when it makes contact with the fish. This is primarily at the gills, however, will continue inside the fish should chlorine enter through the bloodstream. This is the reason why chlorine is generally more dangerous than chloramines. However, chloramines can also become lethal if a cheaper tap water conditioner is used. This is because, whilst they treat the chlorine, and converting it into harmless chlorides, this frees the ammonia which is arguably more lethal to the fish. One of the main reasons for which chlorine is such a rapid killer, however, relates to the fact that it oxidises the haemoglobin in the blood into methemoglobin [16], meaning that no oxygen can be carried and the fish suffocates. This means that larger fish fare worse, as they have a decreased volume : gill surface area ratio, meaning that they need to be more efficient with absorbing oxygen into their bloodstream. Animals or plants? – Well, technically both Apart from the occasional hydroid or the elusive freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbii), one of the major separations of freshwater and saltwater is the distinct lack of notable cnidarians within freshwater. Cnidarians are a phylum of invertebrates which is partly defined by the presence of nematocysts (cnidocyte), or stinging cells. Cnidarians are the foundation of coral reefs, quite literally, as this diverse phylum encompasses corals. Not only this, but other famous inhabitants of this phylum include anemones and jellyfish, but also hydrozoa such as siphonophores and cnetophores such as sea combs and sea gooseberries. This phylum comprises of over 11,000 species and some of the most interesting organisms in the world. For the purpose of this article, I am going to narrow this down to the behaviours and biology of anemones and corals, as they are most often collected and now propagated, maricultured, and aquacultured for the purpose of our hobby. Jellyfish are still verging on very difficult to maintain, requiring special conditions which cannot be met with a

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standard reef aquarium, such as a rounded tank with continuous circular flow as well as the addition of small live zooplankton, with baby brine shrimp often used in the hobby. However, exceptions do exist such as the upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.). Cnetophores verge on impossible, with one of the only places capable to meeting their needs (Monterey Bay Aquarium) describing them as “badly organised water”. What makes coral interesting? Not only are they incredibly diverse, have stunning beauty, and support 25% of marine life, but they also are mostly comprised of two different organisms working together and forming a symbiotic relationship. This is between the coral and the anemone itself, and the zooxanthellae which inhabit their tissues. Corals can come in many different varieties, most of them considered to be reef-building. They consist of often many polyps which multiply and form large colonies. These polyps often have their own “mouths”, but the colony shares a singular gastrovascular system, which means that nutrition and circulation is distributed throughout the colony [17]. There are also types of corals (e.g. scolymia, fungia, heliofungia, cyarina, and acanthophyllia) which only consist of a singular solitary polyp. Reef-building corals also are usually comprised of a calcium carbonate skeleton, but some corals, called soft corals, do not have a skeleton. Members include the subclass Octocorallia (gorgonians, dendronephthya, wire corals, leather corals, sea pens), as well as the orders Corallimorpharia (mushroom corals) and Zoantharia (zoanthids). Corals are then divided once again: photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic. Photosynthetic contain the symbiotic zooxanthellae whilst nonphotosynthetic species do not. This means that non-photosynthetic corals rely on capturing zooplankton, phytoplankton and various organic matter for their nutrition. On the other hand, photosynthetic corals derive their energy from their zooxanthellae, an umbrella term for varieties of photosynthetic algae which inhabit another living organism in a symbiotic relationship. The varieties found within corals vary from 812 micrometers in size and specifically inhabit the gastrodermal cells of the coral – a layer of cells just beneath the epidermis of the organism, including the structure chloroplasts which are the site of the photosynthesis [17]. Both organisms in this process benefit. Firstly, the coral receives some of the products of photosynthesis from the algae, in the form of reduced carbon, aiding respiration. Also, the coral receives some protection from potentially toxic compounds which can be absorbed by the algae. On the other hand, the algae not only receives protection, but receives carbon dioxide and nutrients from the coral, aiding in photosynthesis and growth. However, this relationship also introduces new factors and risks, such as limitations for where the coral can survive, as well as the possibility for algal overgrowth which in return puts the algae at risk of expulsion from the coral host. This is one of the major reasons why bleaching occurs, in which a coral expels its symbiotic zooxanthellae due to environmental factors such as undesirable temperatures and amount of light, factors affecting the growth rate of the algae. This leaves the coral unable to source enough food, even in the ocean, let alone our aquaria, and causes it to starve. Due to a coral’s pigmentation being a result of the inhabiting zooxanthellae, bleaching causes the colony to lose pigment, resulting in a bone white colour.

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It is often wondered where the zooxanthellae within the coral comes from. The answer to this question is determined by the species of coral. Some corals, such as mushroom corals, “candy-cane” corals (Caulastrea sp.), and elegance corals (Cataphyllia jardinei) reproduce asexually. This means the lack of two parent organisms. This can happen in a number of ways. For example, mushroom corals can employ pedal laceration, whereby they move and pieces of their “foot” detach and form separate colonies, candy-cane corals use longitudinal fission, whereby the polyps form two mouths which then pull away from each other, forming two heads, and elegance corals go through budding, where pieces of the mother colony drop off and form new colonies. Within the hobby, in aquaculture, the most popular method of producing new colonies is called “fragging”. In this process, a section of a coral colony, normally consisting of one or more heads, is separating through the use of bone cutters or a saw. This piece can then form a new colony. In some single-polyp corals, or some anemones, hobbyists can split the coral vertically down, often using a razor blade for anemones, making sure to pass through the mouth. These two halves, if not succumbed to infection, can form two new polyps. However, in some species such as scolymia, the healing and reformation of the two halves into their valuable

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circular shape an take up to 10 years, making it not a cost effective process. Through asexual reproduction, zooxanthellae is passed directly from the mother colony to the offspring. However, in the wild, many corals rely on sexual reproduction as the most effective way of producing offspring. The majority of corals rely on external fertilisation whereby, in mass spawning events, they synchronise the release of their eggs and sperm with the lunar cycle as to maximise the chance of offspring production. These organisms are also hermaphroditic, meaning that they contain both gametes. Some corals employ buoyant packages of egg and sperm which float to the water’s surface and then break apart. Some corals, called brooders, fertilise internally and then release the developed planulae [18]. On one hand, external fertilisation offers wider genetic variation, greater distance of dispersion, and require less energy. On the other hand, internal fertilisation produces offspring with a higher chance of survival due to being developed enough to be able to settle and form a polyp just after being released. In sexual reproduction, zooxanthellae can either be acquired directly (vertically) or indirectly (horizontally). Direct transfer means that the mother colony includes zooxanthellae already within the egg. The majority of corals acquire their zooxanthellae indirectly, that is, the eggs do not contain zooxanthellae, but instead, they must acquire it through phagocytosis, in which the zooxanthellae enters through the gastrovascular cavity (mouth). This occurs when the larvae are still in their motile stage. Studies show that zooxanthellae show positive chemotaxis (movement according to concentration) towards coral which have a lower amount of or no zooxanthellae. There is also a possibility of a coral obtaining zooxanthellae through the consumption of fecal matter from organisms which consume those with zooxanthellae: broadly coral, anemone and jellyfish eaters [19]. As previously mentioned, the presence of zooxanthellae is not only limited to corals. There are many other species of organisms it is known to co-inhabit with. The most famous example of this would be the anemone. Once again, not all anemones contain this algae. Similar to corals, the anemone either obtains this from asexual reproduction or direct/ indirect acquisition [20]. Other examples of organisms that pair with zooxanthellae include Tridacna clams, jellyfish such as Cassiopea sp., and sea slugs such as the lettuce sea slug (Elysia crispata) and the sea sheep (Costasiella kuroshimae). The interesting fact about these slugs is that they acquire the chloroplasts for photosynthesis through their diet of algae. This process is called kleptoplasty, where the alga consumed is partially digested and the chloroplasts are then phagocytosed by the digestive cells and then used within the host organism. We see this kind of relationship in other types of sea slugs (nudibranchs) which steal the nematocysts from the hydroids they consume, and then recycle them for their own defence purposes. Other forms of mutualism, commensalism and parasitism within the marine aquarium Despite common misconceptions, symbiotic relationship doesn’t mean that both parties benefit. It is an umbrella term encompassing mutualism (both organisms benefit), commensalism (one organism benefits and the other is unaffected), and parisitism (one organism benefits and the other suffers). There is one iconic symbiotic relationship in the marine hobby, extremely popularised by the film ‘Finding Nemo”, which has led to many children and adults to enter the hobby. That is, the pairing between clownfish and and anemones. In particular, the iconic orange and black striped clownfish look comes from the ocellaris clownfish. This particular species is capable of pairing with the magnificent sea anemone (Heteractis magnifica),

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giant carpet anemone (Stichodactyla gigantea) and (within the hobby) the bubble-tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor). However, if these anemones are not available, clownfish are known to take host within similar corals, such as those in the genus euphilliidae. This relationship is symbiotic as both members benefit: the clownfish is provided shelter and safety from predators by the anemone’s powerful sting. The clownfish also uses the anemone in order to obtain food: they do this by luring larger fish into the anemone, and then letting it get killed by nematocysts, and feasting on the remains. The anemone is provided both the clownfish’s waste products and its protection from predators such as butterflyfish. Why are clownfish not stung by anemones? The clownfish themselves avoid being stung by their host anemone. There are currently many opposing hypotheses as to why this occurs. However, there is some general consensus that a crucial factor would lie within the thick mucus coating which envelops the clownfish, as the flesh of the clownfish cannot withstand the sting of an anemone. The most widely believed theory states that the anemone is a passive partner, rather than reacting differently in the presence of a clownfish. It instead argues that the clownfish’s thick mucus coating is produced by the clownfish when it comes into contact with the anemone, and does not trigger a different chemical response from the nematocysts, but instead that the coating itself is enough to prevent the firing nematocysts from causing harm to the clownfish [21]. A study showed that, when clownfish were removed from their anemone and returned 1-3 days later, they would be stung for a period of acclimation to the anemone. Another theory suggests that the anemone produces quantities of protective substances. Whilst non-symbiotic fish would rarely come into contact with the anemone, and thus would be stung, symbiotic fish would repeatedly rub on the anemone to acclimatise, and therefore acquire some of the defensive substances which incorporates into their mucus [22]. This could either be the anemone recognising the fish as symbiotic, or as a part of itself, due to the common antigens. A test showed that clownfish which came into contact with anemones contained antigens within their mucus which were anemone-exclusive. How do clownfish know to find an anemone? Clownfish seem to have an innate sense of guidance towards finding an anemone, as an evolutionary factor where the clownfish finds the anemone by chemical signalling. However, a test showed there is also some form of imprinting which plays a factor in the ability of a clownfish to recognise an anemone. Eggs from Amphiprion ocellaris were raised in two environments: one in the presence of a host anemone, and one without. When moved into an environment with an anemone and hatched, the larvae which had been reared in the presence of an anemone immediately found the anemone within 5 minutes, whilst the ones which had not did not find it within a 48 hour time period. However, a study also showed that the innate guidance appeared within the fish once reaching the stage of development where the fish would look for settlement. In a different test, which involved two compartments of water connected by a Perspex flume. One of the bodies of water contained “anemone seawater” (water that had been in a tank for 12 hours with a host anemone. The clownfish of different development stages were added and then measured as to which body of water they would prefer to stay in. The results showed that the majority of the clownfish, at every stage of development would prefer to stay within the “anemone water”. I believe that imprinting or environmental factors must play a large role in the locating of a host. In the school marine tank, within the 3 months, our clownfish have failed to

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locate the host anemone Entacmaea quadricolor. Many other hobbyists experience the same problem. Sometimes, it is simply the problem that they have not located the anemone, and other times they simply do not wish to host within it. This probably links to the factor of imprinting. This is because most clownfish are now tank bred, being one of the most successfully aquacultured marine fish. This could mean for a lack of initial imprinting of an anemone. The fact that wild caught clownfish have a better tendency to host an anemone in captivity reflects this. This also may relate to environmental factors. Within aquaria, there is little to risk of predation to the clownfish, which nullifies their need of an anemone. Finally, it may relate to the fact that Entacmaea quadricolor is not naturally usually a host for Amphiprion ocellaris. Other notable mutualism with marine aquaria There are many other very interesting mutualistic relationships found within the ocean, a handful of which are suitable for our aquarium conditions. It is not only clownfish which host anemones. For example, Pederson’s cleaner shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) forms a mutualistic relationship with anemones of the genus condylactis, sexy shrimp (Thor amboinensis) with the carpet anemone Stichodactyla sp., peacock-tail anemone shrimp (Periclimenes brevicarpalis) with various types of anemone, the porcelain anemone crab (Neopetrolisthes maculatus) with various species of anemone, and many more. One of the unusual partnerships is the “walking dendro” coral (Heteropsammia cochlea). This species acquires its name due to its unique ability to move around on the sandbed. However, it is not the coral itself which is instigating this movement. Instead, it is the work of its partner, a peanut worm from the family aspidosiphonidae. These worms inhabit a small hole within the hole of the coral, and drag the coral around for movement. The worm benefits as it receives protection and the coral benefits as the movement prevents it from being buried within the sandy areas they inhabit. Another interesting mutualistic relationship is that between the pistol/snapping shrimp of the genus Alpheus and several species of gobies in the genera Amblyeleotris and Cryptocentrus. In this situation, the shrimp digs within the sand a tunnel which it and the goby co-inhabit. Due to the shrimp’s poor eyesight, the goby keeps watch for potential threat and alerts the shrimp, allowing them to retreat into the burrow. Thus both members benefit and their safety is maintained. It appears that this relationship is also maintained and born through a series of innate chemical cues. Finally, there is the anemone hermit crab (Dardanus pedunculatus). As the name suggests, the anemone hermit crab “wears” several anemones on its shell from the genera Adamsia and Stylobates. The crab is offered from protection from predators such as cephalopods, and the anemone is offered transport which helps to locate food, and a degree of protection from the crab.

Walking dendro coral and hole in foot where peanut worm resides

Anemone hermit crab

Pom-Pom crab with anemones

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Goby and shrimp at burrow

Peacock-tail anemone shrimp

Porcelain anemone crab

Pederson’s cleaner shrimp

Sexy shrimp on mini-maxi carpet anemone

Collecting of wild fish and organisms With our marine ecosystem already at huge strain due to the variety of human-caused attacks on it, such as global warming, ocean acidification, plastic pollution, overfishing, eutrophication and oil spills causing issues such as mass bleaching, build ups of microplastics throughout the food chain, the endangerment of many organisms, especially those of higher trophic level, and an imbalance in the food chain, would it be ethical to additionally pile on the strain of the hobby, extracting between 18-30 million fish each year, from already vulnerable ecosystems such as coral reefs, in order to fuel our hobbies? To evaluate this, we must break down the problem into segments, the severity of their effects and observe it through different moral standards. According to Kantian ethics, where the focus of the moral implications is on the intent of the action instead of the consequences. This is in opposition to utilitarianism, where the focus is placed on the outcome and intent is pronounced redundant. Our law system tends to lean more towards Kantian ethics, having defined borders, and making judgments based on intentions (e.g. manslaughter receives less time in prison than 1st degree murder). By this logic, collecting wild specimens for the trade is justified as the intentions of it hold no malice, with the aim not to destroy marine environments, but to bring their beauty into aquaculture. However, Kantian ethics should not be used solely, and instead we need a mix of different ethical viewpoints. It is also very difficult to look at the situation through utilitarian ethics, because it is very difficult to judge the standard of life and suffering of something like a fish compared to a human, and even more difficult for something like a coral, for which we cannot confirm sentience. However, through utilitarianism, we can make reasonable judgments based on human joy and suffering. If coral reefs went extinct, the 500 million people that directly rely on them would be displaced, the suffering from this action arguably outweighing the joy of the 1 million households with one of these tanks. However, it can be argued that the hobby is not the leading cause of coral reef

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destruction, with the more prominent culprits being global warming and ocean acidification. This is exacerbated by the fact that most corals, especially stony reef-building species such as acropora, montipora, and seriatopora are widely aquacultured due to their rapid growth rate. The corals which cannot be aquacultured or maricultured tend to be the most slow-growing and those incapable of asexual reproduction or have poor survival rates after fragging, such as the elegance coral, scolymia, cyarina and acanthophyllia. However, it remains that there is a constant growth in the popularity of aquaculture, and an expansion in the corals which are able to undergo the process, outbalancing the ones which cannot. This is a somewhat similar case with marine fish. Common species to see in marine tanks such as clownfish, banggai cardinals, and surprisingly seahorses are now mostly tank bred. However, it remains that the majority of fish and almost all invertebrates save for a few (peppermint shrimp, anemones, cleaner shrimp, maxima clam) are still collected from the ocean due to being difficult to tank breed. Despite this, the animals collected are usually not endangered, and still have a healthy wild population, as rarer animals will be protected by organisations such as CITES, and receiving a permit to collect those species will be difficult at best, as well as countries which want to conserve their habitats, which can be seen in the recent Indonesian coral export ban due to illegal harvesting. Another viewpoint of corals entering our hobby can be seen as protecting them from the increasingly bleak changing ocean conditions, and preserving them, with hope of restoration if wild populations disappear. Also, whilst coral reefs provide income and food for many, some of that is either collecting corals for the trade, or mariculture/aquaculture. The aquaculture industry is already worth $5 billion, and projected to grow even further, providing jobs for many. I agree that collecting wild coral and fish have a negative impact on the environment, but not to a great enough extent if regulated and done in a controlled enough manner to outweigh the jobs which it supports. It would be better to switch more to mariculture and aquaculture whenever possible, even if the costs are slightly higher, but as a whole, I believe that the collection of marine organisms for the trade is ethically justified. Temporary beauty – knowingly collecting organisms doomed to die? There is another ethical problem with the collection of livestock. That is, some marine species simply don’t fare well in our enclosed ecosystems, lasting for a few weeks or months, often below half of their expected lifespan. Even more than arguing about the quality in life difference in our enclosed ecosystems, this problem asks if there is any value in the life of a non-sentient organism? One of the major group of animals which almost always die within a month in the hands of hobbyists are the non-photosynthetic corals. Unlike normal corals, their lack of zooxanthellae will dictate that their survival is completely based off of regular feedings of plankton. Large polyped NPS (non-photosynthetic coral) corals usually fare slightly better within our tanks, requiring delicate feeding of their mouths at least once every two days with meaty foods such as brine shrimp and mysis, putting them on the brink of starvation. Corals like this include sun corals, black sun corals, cup corals and dendrophyllia, often incredibly attractive to an unaware hobbyist due to their intense, bright, and attractive colours. In another league of difficulty, however, are the small polyped NPS corals, which include species such as the chilli coral (Nephthyigorgia sp.), dendronephthya, wire corals, lace coral (Stylaster sp.) and

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many species of gorgonia. These animals are classed as “filter feeders” due to their constant consumption of small plankton, primarily phytoplankton and fish/oyster/lobster eggs. This means a huge demand of a food supply to be constantly available within the aquaria. Most often, either the food is too expensive, unavailable in the needed quantities, or cannot be fed to the corals regularly. Some corals such as the blueberry sea fan (Acalycigorgia sp.) may require upwards of 10 target feedings with a pipette every day. Even for people with the money and supplies, this amount of organic matter can seriously damage the water quality, elevating the nitrates and phosphates to the point where the coral may slowly recede and die. Even further, these corals such as dendronephthya are very difficult to identify to their subspecies, and little to no information is given on their diet, meaning that a hobbyist would have to feed a slurry of foods, hoping that one of them might trigger a feeding response, which is detrimental to the water. All of these result in these corals being classified as a hair’s-breadth away from impossible.

Dendronephthya sp.

Nephthyigorgia sp.

Acalcygorgia sp.

We see a similar case with many “oddball’ invertebrates. Filter feeders notoriously struggle in aquaria, and bivalves are no exception. Except for maxima clams due to their zooxanthellae, bivalves, such as green-lipped mussels, thorny oysters, purple tiger scallops, electric flame scallops all have atrocious survival rates. The same applies to filters feeders such as colonial tunicates and sponges. There are also invertebrates such as sea slugs which are extremely poor candidates for our tanks. This is due to their diet of sponges, which in themselves are extremely difficult to maintain. Furthermore, each sea slug only usually consume a small handful of sponge species, and, even with the most common sea slug species, we are not sure of which specific species they consume. This makes rearing them an extreme case of trial and error.

The “sea bunny” (Jorunna parva) is one of the most commonly collected species of sea slug

Thorny oyster (Spondylus sp.)

Electric flame scallop (Lima sp.)

Despite these factors, these animals are very regularly collected for the hobby. The reason for this is due to their extremely bright colours and unusual characteristics which makes them particularly susceptible to new hobbyists allured by the ignorance

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to their needs and survival rates. Therefore, the matter of whether collecting them boils down the question of if their lives have any value apart from being the centrepiece of our aquariums for a few months at best. This is extremely difficult considering that we are not sure of their sentience. However, I believe that it is ethically incorrect to import them in such large scales. The joy of having one of these organisms in aquaria is almost balanced by the sight of it slowly withering to nothing. Thus, one of the only benefits of collecting these specimens is for research, and for a small proportion of the coral trade. And so, I would argue that the biodiversity they offer, for there is a joy of preserving natural habitats outweighs the economic benefit, which is not very great. I conclude that these can be imported, but better on a smaller scale, reserved for research and expert level hobbyists who dedicate their time on finding out what makes these organisms tick, in an effort to find out how to make them more widely available. Conclusion The reef industry is growing and bringing along with it more widely available specimens which anyone is able to purchase. Before doing so, please be educated on the endeavours of keeping many of these organisms, including looking after the water just as much as the organisms themselves, and the sustainability and sourcing of the specimens. Though aquaculture is on the rise, it is still important to think about actively reducing the amount of wild caught specimens, in order to preserve this delicate habitat. In doing so, we can preserve its beauty for many centuries to come. There is currently a marine tank with clownfish in the biology corridor. Please do have a look (although at the time of writing this we are currently experiencing a cyanobacteria bloom), and please do not put your hands in the water without permission, as I have hopefully explained how important water quality is, and feel free to ask any questions.

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report [2] https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5553132/global-reef-aquariummarket-by-product-byend?utm_source=GNOM&utm_medium=PressRelease&utm_code=xjbcps&utm_campaig n=1672670++The+Worldwide+Reef+Aquarium+Industry+is+Expected+to+Reach+%248.4+Billi on+by+2027&utm_exec=jamu273prd [3] https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Major-importers-and-exporters-of-marineornamental-organisms-The-major-importers-black_fig1_6365009 [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deamination [5] https://www.vedantu.com/question-answer/by-which-process-ammonia-isconverted-into-urea-class-11-biology-cbse-5f4825ee55e8473a852c68a1 [6] https://doi.org/10.1016/S1546-5098(01)20005-3 [7] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2010.00134/full#h4 [8] https://www.sciencedirect.com/referencework/9780123694003/encyclopedia-oftoxicology [9]

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https://www.jstor.org/stable/35400?searchText=clownfish+anemone&searchUri=%2F action%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dclownfish%2Banemone%26so%3Drel&ab_seg ments=0%2FSYC-6294%2Ftest_segment_2&refreqid=fastlydefault%3A4254768947ac510c722bb7daa5b6f4d2&seq=7 [22] https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0981(94)90019-1

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Commended

Rex Singlehurst The Relationship Between NFL and Rugby

The relationship between NFL and Rugby

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Introduction: The NFL is one of America’s biggest sports, with the Super Bowl ( the finals to decide the seasons winner) being a highly anticipated game every year throughout the world. Like a lot of American sports, it is just as big at the college level (university) as at the professional level. Each NFL team typically earns well over 1 million dollars in ticket sales per game. Similarly, Rugby is one of Britain’s biggest sports. With the Gallagher premiership final at Twickenham being a massively exciting game. Throughout England different forms of rugby (usually to do with the amount of contact) are played at all sorts of different ages. In 2019 47.6 million pounds was made in ticket sales throughout all the teams. Both sports have a victor at the end of each season and have an enormous amount of money pumped into them every year. These sports both originated from the same sport but diverged and grew to be completely different.

Both Rugby and American Football players view the other to be a lesser version of their sport . So, in this project I aim to look at the ‘common ancestor’ of both sports, how the sports have developed. As well as the similarities and differences between the sports I will then end by talking about where both sports are going and how they will develop in the future.

Common Ancestor: Everywhere you go people will agree the Rugby was made before American football. However it is not the rugby you might expect. Instead both sports descend from a A drawing of an early game called Rugby Football which th originated in 19 century England. You will game of rugby recognise Rugby Football as the collective name for the sports, Rugby Union, Rugby league also included is the earlier

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form of Football from which Australian rules Football and Gridiron evolved ( Gridiron is the name for the pitch that American football is played on). At Rugby school in Warwickshire, England. In 1823 while playing a game of football, William Webb Ellis decided to pick up a ball and go with it. Then 40 years later in 1863 a group of boarding school and clubs decided upon the rules and in 1871 Rugby Football Union was officially formed. The rules of rugby football was a lot less complicated than what we know today as rugby. The first rules were drawn up in 1846 at Rugby School and another set was produced by Blackheath FC. The following is the ‘highlights’ of the original rules made in 1846 ( The full unedited rules are in the bibliography at the end):

i.Kick off from Middle must be a place-kick. v.Off-Side. —A player is off his side, if the ball has touched one of his own side behind him until the other party kick it. viii.It is not lawful to take the ball off the ground, except in touch, either for a kick or throw on. xi.If, in the case of a run in, the ball be held in a scrummage, it shall not be lawful for the holder to transmit it to another of his own side. xiv.No hacking with the heel, or unless below the knee, is fair. A statue of William xv.No one wearing projecting nails or iron plates on Webb Ellis in rugby the soles or heels of his shoes or boots shall be school allowed to play. xvi.Try at Goal.— A ball touched between the goal posts may be brought up to either of them, but not between. xix.It shall be a goal if the ball go over the bar (whether it touch or no) without having touched the dress or person of any player; but no player may stand on the goal bar to interrupt it going over. xxiii.No agreement between two players to send the ball straight out shall be allowed. xxiv.A player having touched the ball straight for a tree and touched the tree with it, may drop from either side if he can, but one of the opposite party may oblige him to go to his own side of the tree. xxvii.No player may stop the ball with anything but his own person.

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xxxi.Heads of sides, or two deputies appointed by them, are the sole arbiters of all disputes. xxxii.All matches are drawn after 5 days or after 3 days if no goal has been kicked. xxxvii.Old Rugbeians shall be allowed to play at the matches of football, not, however, without the consent of the two heads of the sides; but no stranger may have a place-kick at goal.

I would like to point out now that although modern day Rugby was created in England many traditional forms of football that are very similar to rugby have been played throughout Europe and beyond. With a lot of these involving handling of the ball and scrummaging. New Zealand had Ki-o-rahi (still played in New Zealand today), Australia had marn grook, Japan kemari, Cornwall Cornish hurling, Central Italy Calcio fiorentino, South Wales Cnapan, East Anglia Campball.

A traditional Ki-o-rahi ball

All of these look nothing like the rugby we know today and existed with no connection to each other. However, importantly they are games that involve a ball that is handled. Kemari for example when watching it looks like a group of priests playing keepy uppy. It is clear that a lot of those countries that had rugby esq games are now ‘superpowers’ in world rugby. America being the only country to have a rugby like game while not being particularly competitive in World rugby. So either America is an outlier and will always be an outlier or in the future America might become a stronger Rugby nation.

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American Football A short history: This following section will be a short history to catch you up to speed. It started in Canton Ohio on the 17 of September 1920 where a group of professional American football teams met to form the APFA (American Professional Football Association). In two years the APFA would become the NFL and in 1925 the NFL would have its first proper star: Red Grange who went from the campus of Illinois to the Bears, he was paid $100,000 a year (a massive amount of money back then) and was nicknamed the Galloping Ghost.

A poster advertising the NFL superstar Harold Grange 1925

To capitalise on its massive popularity the NFL created the NFL championship game in 1933 between the best teams in each division. World war two hurt the NFL badly (players being drafted as they are some of the biggest and fittest in America). With less players in the league, teams began to merge like the ‘Steagles’ a mix between the Steelers and the Eagles.

When the Soldiers returned Football was so popular that another league was created, The AAFC (All American Football Conference). A fear was that the rivalry between the two leagues could kill the sport all together so in 1949 they merged. In 1950 Paul Brown coach of the Browns innovated American football by being the first to use film study (players rewatching footage of their matches to learn from mistakes). During the 1950’s the Browns dominated and when the Detroit was thanks to their quarterback Bobby

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Lane. Thanks to these two powerhouse teams the NFL championship game in 1958 was seen as the greatest game ever played.

The catch by Odell Beckham Jr that made him a Star

This huge demand for football meant that another league was formed, The AFL (American Football League). With this the first ever super bowl was played, A Super Bowl is the game between the champions of the NFL and AFL. The Packers won Super Bowl I and Super Bowl ii. The trophy given to the super bowls winners was named after the packers coach Vince Lombardi and is now called the Lombardi trophy. In 1970 the style of Football and tactics played merged and the dolphins went on to win two super bowls in a row.

In recent years the rules of the sport have not changed but the tactics have evolved, with more emphasis being put on Quarterbacks (the person who throws the ball) and Wide receivers rather than Running backs ( a person who runs with the ball and is rarely passed too). In recent years the Quarterbacks have gone from being able to just throw the ball to being more mobile and able to throw the ball while being tackled or falling over.

A throw by Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LV

This

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TEAMS:

AFC and NFC are the two divisions. AFC stands for American-FootballConference and NFC stands for National-Football-Conference. They come from the original leagues that were created and then joined together to form the NFL. Each division has 16 teams and teams from AFC do play teams from NFC. The post season playoffs decide who is the best team in each division for the season. The AFC and NFC champions then play in the Superbowl.

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American Football: The following questions are with Josh Katzowitz, who is a long time awardwinning sports writer who has regularly covered both professional and college level sports. The following is from his ‘about me’ section in Forbes “After more than a decade in the newspaper business writing about virtually every professional and major college sport for publications like the Cincinnati Post and the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, I joined CBSSports.com and covered the NFL for five years. While doing so, I wrote books about Heisman Trophy winner and first-round NFL draft pick Johnny Manziel, legendary football coach Sid Gillman and the University of Cincinnati football program. I've also contributed to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Boston Globe, and in 2013, I established a podcast, Mightier Than the Sword, that deals with writing, journalism and the people who produce it.” He is a massively knowledgeable sports writer and the perfect person to interview for this.

_____________________________________________ Q: As someone who is In the American football world how much do you know about rugby and how did you learn this?

A: Honestly, I don't know much about rugby. I remember when I was a kid that, if you were watching ESPN late at night, you'd sometimes see a rugby match from South Africa or New Zealand or you could watch Australian Rules Football. But I didn't really know the rules for either sport. In college, I had friends who played rugby as a club sport, but all I remember about that is they liked to drink beer during and after matches and sometimes, they'd show up at after-parties with bruises all over their body. Every once in a while, one of those rugby players would get naked during a party. I'm still not sure why that would happen. I also knew a family friend when I was young who played rugby recreationally, but I remember that he broke his neck while they were in a scrum. Maybe, subconsciously, that scared me from ever wanting to get to know too much about the sport.

Q: while you have played and watched it how much has American football changed. As in tactics and rules?

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A: The biggest way American football has changed in the past decade or so (or maybe even before that) is the league's emphasis on scoring as many points as possible. That's why quarterbacks are protected from being hit by defenders to an almost absurd amount. That's why defensive backs, on every play, are in danger of being penalized for pass interference or defensive holding, so much so that neutral observers often deem these penalties unfair. That's why the owners have placed such an emphasis on hiring offensive mastermind coaches who are in their 30s, like Sean McVay, Matt LeFleur and Kyle Shanahan. Offense rules all, and because of it, American football is, by far, the most popular sport in the U.S.

C:From this interview we can clearly see that for an American playing Football Rugby is something that they are aware of and think is vaguely interesting but at the same time never really spent any proper time looking into it. From a lot of the people I talked to about American Football. Who play Rugby they had the same story, they were aware of American Football but never spent any time watching a game. Also Josh Katzowitz is saying that the way American Football adapted to bring in as many viewers as possible, Is they have put more of an emphasis on scoring as many points as possible. Today in rugby it is very common for teams to go for the drop kick rather than the try. The small amount of guaranteed points rather than chance of lots more points. This can make rugby a lot less interesting and slower.

_____________________________________________ When comparing Rugby to American Football there are 3 main differences that everyone notices. Obviously there are countless other differences but these are the main 3. In this section I will talk about these differences as well as how they have formed and how they will shape the future of NFL. The first difference is the protection. The pads of an American Football player consist of Shoulder pads, a helmet, upper body and thigh pads. These pads are vitally important. As although it is a joke between rugby players that the pads are because Americans are “wusses”. Really it is because American Football is an utterly ruthless, dangerous sport. A defensive player will do anything to get the man with the ball to the floor. Whether that means jumping into them at

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full speed while they are mid-jump, or if it means hitting them so hard they quite literally flip. These pads have been in the sport ever since the beginning when it ‘evolved’ from Rugby Football. They started off as leather helmets a lot like the scrum caps that we know today. Then as the players got bigger and the tackles got harder the need for more protection meant that the helmets turned into the moulded polycarbonate helmets that we know today but without the mask (cage) in front of the face. Then slowly the cage was built up until it looked like it does today. The typical American football player has several pads but three main ones. The shoulder pads, thigh pads, knee pad. Each team in the NFL even has its own equipment manager whose only job is to look after the pads and helmets etc.

An example of the helmets worn by the original American football players

The need for pads in American Football essentially stems from the size of the players and the size of the hits. To be a linesmen is the NFL you have to be at least six feet 1 inches with some players being up to six feet 8 inches that will face you.

The second difference is the stoppage time between each play. This is a difference that American football has had since the early 1900’s and probably earlier. I believe this would have originally come from the need or wanting to be able to have completely different plays rather than repeating the same few plays that a rugby team did. An American Football team can have 100’s of plays they can execute at any time. Whereas a rugby team may only have 10 to 23. This allows for more variety and a very interesting game to watch.

An example of one page in a coaches playbook

When comparing American Football and Rugby the best sport I can find that is in between the two is Rugby league. Where although it is obviously closer to rugby there is stoppage time so it makes it the perfect sport to show how when even a

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little stoppage time is introduced a lot more plays can be learnt and executed. However I must admit it is easier for American Football players to use many plays as the QB (quarter back) has an earpiece in which the coach tells him what move to do. Rugby scrum-half’s don’t have this luxury and must be trained to know what move is best in the split second they have before passing. The final difference that I will talk about is how an American Football team has an offensive group (For when they have the ball) a defensive group (For when they don’t have the ball and a special teams (For kicks, kick returns etc). This difference stems from having the stoppage time. As American Football teams got more money and more players left College and joined the NFL It was clear that they had enough resources and manpower to have many different very specialised players.

The Different positions in American Football

The equivalent to this in Rugby would obviously be forwards and backs. However, they aren’t as specialised as Football. Although they do have specialised jobs and places on the field but if they really needed to a back could do what a forward could do and a forward could do what a back does (As is demonstrated whenever a player gets sent off). Never could a defensive linesman stand in for a Wide receiver.

American Football’s viewership is up 17% from last season and as Players lifespan of playing the game becomes longer and more college players join the NFL I can only see the sport becoming more popular and interesting as more people discover It around the world.

Rugby Union Rules:

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Known simply as rugby, rugby union is a full contact sport involving 15 players on each team, with 7 substitutes on the bench. The aim of the game is to score more points than the other side and points are scored through tries, conversions, penalty kicks and drop goals. At the end of the game, if the scores are level then the game ends in a draw. Called ‘laws’, the rules of rugby union are defined by the International Rugby Board. The most basic law of the game is that no player is allowed to throw the ball forward to a teammate. In rugby, passes have to be thrown sideways or backwards to a teammate while the other ways to move the ball towards the opposition’s goal line to score points is by kicking or running with the ball. To prevent the attacking side from scoring, players are allowed to tackle the opponent in possession of the ball. Players can only tackle by wrapping their arms around their opponents to bring them to the ground and players are not allowed to tackle opponents above the shoulder, or to use their legs to tackle or trip them.

Rugby Union: This interview is with Phil Marshall. Who works with Sky. At the beginning of his career he worker in the tiny and very new NFL team at sky. He then moved on and now works as director of production at Sky Sports. Phil Marshall is Director of Production at Sky Sports. “He’s spent the past year ensuring that all of Sky’s huge volumes of sports content have been produced safely & in the most appropriate way throughout the pandemic, working with rights owners and industry partners to ensure a consistent approach. Prior to his current role working across the broad range of content production, Marshall’s worked in various transformational, operational and editorial roles

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at Sky, in particular producing rugby union & launching the F1 channel in 2012.”

_____________________________________________ Q: So my first question is while you have played or kind of watched rugby, how's the game changed in tactics and rules?

A: Oh, good question. Well, I'm getting quite old. I'm 42 now. Um, so I think I started playing when I was about seven and then I played an awful lot, but then I was a producer of rugby for sky I for seven or eight years and then now I, now I kind of watch it. So how's it changed? I think I think it's changed in a lot of ways. I think. Um, I think when I started playing it wasn't a professional sport. When professionalism came in 1996-7 time, I think, I think that's when, players and individual started to need to take it an awful lot more seriously. And I think that's when people start to get bigger and bigger and I think that's increased the collisions, over the course of the last, the last couple of decades. and I think now it's incredibly, it's, it's, it's a much more intense sport. I think we probably argue potentially a little bit more skilful, many years ago when it was more amateur sport. I think it's much more intense now and the collisions are huge.Think I there's a couple, I mean, there's a couple of other things I really, I think, I, when I was younger and growing up and when England won the world cup in 2003, and I think, I think rugby also had a lot more stars back in those days, players who played week in week out for their clubs and also for their country. I think the intensity and the, amount of rugby has meant that those top players don't play weekend week out for their clubs anymore. I think it's slightly tougher. Um, I don't think there's quite as many stars in the world of rugby as they used to be.

Q: How much do you know about American Football and how'd you learn this.

A: Yeah, of course. So, I, my first I worked sky sports for 20 years, right. Since university, but my first proper job at sky was, uh, it was called an editorial assistant on, on the NFL team. Yeah. And that NFL team was only about two of us, bringing in the feeds from America every Sunday night and, and putting

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studio production around and producing NFL for, for people in the UK to see and so I learned an awful lot that year, working on NFL. I learned about the sport , I had supported Kansas city chiefs. Cuz they had a brilliant running back, kick receive, kick returner called Dante hall who used to used get kickoffs and score, score, brilliant touchdowns. I, yeah, I, it is interesting. I, learnt a lot about it in that year, did some reporting as well around it. And then, ever since then Sunday nights for me, i’m, sitting back in front tele and watching actually a couple of live NFL games. I love it.

Q: Awesome. Thank you so much. You cause a lot of the people I've talked to about kind of, especially people that kind of a massive, their rugby about like football, they just had no interest in it and kind of have no experience with it. I just quite talk cool. Talking to someone who is kind of quite very knowledgeable about it and interested in it.

A: That's cool. Yeah. I mean, I, I love rugby. I, I, I think it's a, a sport with a few challenges right now. Yeah. I like stars. The injuries, concussion, um, fragmented season, internationals versus club versus country, all that stuff. But yeah, also I think American football was fantastic to put, to watch I'm lucky enough to work at sky in partner with BBC in America. We're both aimed by the same company called podcast and NBC do Sunday, NBC Sunday night football, which watched by 30 million people every Sunday night in America. And I've been lucky enough to go to a couple of games with NBC and the, the, production and the, um, the work that goes into its, uh, its a live NFL is, is absolutely phenomenal because the American an audience, uh, I absolutely love it.

Q: Yeah. Um, yeah. So talk about the American audience as the, cause the American system, having a draft every year and kind of having a college team that everyone's, everyone's associated with a college team. Can I, what is your pain on that and why is it that so well in America and America have that and thrive upon an, all of their big sports, but just don't have it in England.

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No, no we don't. And obviously college football's very different to NFL. regularly, regularly attracting six figure audiences to the live college football games, but isn't isn't is just a different, a different option to NFL in terms of a sort of viewing perspective. yeah, I think is different. The UK in terms we've been brought up with football clubs, rugby clubs, and it's very tribal. Whereas say, you know, watching Anfield tonight, right. It's, it's a very tribal culture. As I mentioned too, at the beginning, I was brought up in CRO and went to school and I support crystal palace. Yeah. it it's just a different system in the states. You're right. College colleges are, colleges are massive and um, and the support goes to colleges, but then it also goes, goes it also too goes to, to an NFL teams, right. If you live in new Orleans, you're a saints fan. Yeah. Um, um, and 70,000 people pack into that day, my every, every, every couple of every couple of weeks and watch and watch this new saints. So likewise, I've been in Austin, Texas, and the Texas Longhorns is the college team there and yeah. You get hundred of thousands of people going people to a game. That's absolutely incredible.

Q: If you control over rugby, would you improve, how do you improve the sport in terms of kind of like making more people turn up to each game and just making a more enjoyable sport to watch? Where has it kind of, it makes the stars like you're talking about

A: It's a million dollar question, right? Yeah. All, all the, all the, all the, all the cheap execs, the rugby thinking no about that and how they can do it in the various competitions all over, all over Europe and the world. And, and I, I guess, similar with any sort, right. Yeah. I, I think there needs to be a global calendar where, um, The, the right amount of games are played from a safety point of view to enable the stars to play regularly and safely. Yeah. And I think, I think of rugby audience, needs to know when rugby's happening, when international rugby's happening, when, domestic rugby's happening, when European rugby's happening. And I think it, when lions rugby's happening and I think it needs to become, I think there needs to come a, with a global calendar that works, that it is, um, built over over the first few years and then becomes a stable diet of a rugby viewing audience and I think that will create some continuity consistency and, um, bring more people in. I mean, what I would say is I've been some apprenticeship games recently and if family atmosphere with knows absolutely fantastic. And that in inclusivity, at, at the games in terms of

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a is, is brilliant and something that I don't think rugby, I don't think rugby will lose, but it's something that rugby needs to actually, I think it's a huge strength of rugby and actually something that if it needs to build on.

C: Phil Marshall tells us that the problem with rugby is the lack of stars and people that everyone wants to watch week in week out. American Football has this with Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. The English system does not put as much stress on having a face of the franchise. However that being said clearly Rugby used to have these stars and as the physical and mental stress of a player has increased they can no longer play week in, week out and be someone that everyone turns up to watch every week. Also something that Phil tells us t is that for him and many others like him who watched a little American Football a few times it has become something they do whenever they can. So for American Football putting more emphasis on introducing the wider world especially the UK to American Football could be massively influential for the future of the game.

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In this subsection I will talk about what makes it unique from other sports especially American Football. Like American Football I will point out what I think are the main three this is to make it a fair comparison. The first thing that makes rugby unique is having to pass the ball backwards. When teaching little children Rugby for the first time passing the ball backwards is the first thing they are told and the most important rule all the way to international Rugby. This is the exact opposite of American Football where Quarter Backs are trained to throw the ball as far forward as they can from when they start.

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A Drawing used to teach kids the way they can pass in Rugby

However 100 years ago at the beginning of American Footballs progression doing a pass and throwing the ball was a very rare with the majority of plays being runs. This is a lot closer to rugby and clearly shows how the sports diverged to become so different. Where rugby stayed true to Rugby Football American Football chose a different path that has made it so different. The Second thing that makes Rugby unique is it’s point system. Football ( as in Premier League). One goal is one point. In Rugby a try is 5 points, a conversion is 2 points and a drop kick is worth 3 points. In American Football a touchdown is worth 6, a field goal after a touchdown is worth 1 and a touchdown after a touchdown is worth 2 points and finally a field goal is worth 3 points. These point values are a lot higher than most sports but with few tries or touchdowns a game it means most games will normally end with scores in the 30’s or 40’s. No other sport that I can think of has such similar point systems and such similar methods of scoring points. This shows how these sports have clearly evolved from the same common ancestor. The Final thing that makes Rugby unique is the fact that for a professional sport that millions of people watch worldwide the players are not payed the ridiculous sums of money that other players of sports enjoy. Most professional rugby players earn from £70K£130K which while being a lot of money is not the same as the on average 8.73 million pounds payed to Football players and American football the average is £860,000. The positions of players on a Rugby pitch

The reason for this salary difference is the amount of money the teams have and the systems involved in the sport in order to get the teams money. Most of the money the teams have comes from brands, advertisement and endorsement. Because of the massive popularity of the EPL ( English Premier League) advertisers will pay a lot more for their logos to be on the teams kit. The same occurs within American Football. Rugby just doesn’t have the cults of viewers that brings in the massive money needed to pay players millions of pounds.

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In conclusion rugby needs the ethos where everyone supports a team and you don’t choose a team it’s the team that is closest to you that is yours. This creates a relationship between the supporter and team that you find in American Football a lot but not as much in Rugby. Having that ethos would bring in the massive amount of money that other sports enjoy as well as introduce millions more people to the sport

Conclusion: In conclusion I think that the way that American Football works as a whole ( as in having a draft every year) is a lot better than the way Rugby works and although the sports may seem completely opposite they will in the future grow to become more and more similar. They will take each others ‘best bits’ as to improve both of their sports. I also think that Rugby will become a lot bigger in America as America like Japan or New Zealand has a sport that contains many aspects of Rugby and has the facilities and manpower to become the global superpower for Rugby. Finally I think many players of Rugby and players of American Football will switch between the sports. An example of a player who has already done this is Christian Scotland-Williamson who currently plays for Harlequins and played for a period with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was born in England and standing at 6ft 9in he saw the American Football and the way it works as a professional level to be a better way to make his career as there is much more money in it.

Bibliography: For those interested these are the full original Rugby rules: i.Kick off from Middle must be a place-kick. ii.Kick Out must not be from more than 25 yards out of goal, nor from more than 10 yards if a place-kick. iii.Fair Catch is a catch direct from the foot. iv.Charging is fair, in case of a place-kick, as soon as a ball has left the ground; in case of a kick from a catch, as soon as the player offers to kick, but he may always draw back, unless he has actually touched the ball with his foot.

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v.Off-Side. —A player is off his side, if the ball has touched one of his own side behind him until the other party kick it. vi.A player being off his side is to consider himself as out of the game, and is not to touch the ball in any case whatever (either in or out of touch): or in any way to interrupt the play, and is or course incapable of holding the ball. vii.Knocking on, as distinguished from throwing on, is altogether disallowed under any circumstances whatsoever. In case of this rule being broken, a catch from such a knock on shall be equivalent to a fair catch. viii.It is not lawful to take the ball off the ground, except in touch, either for a kick or throw on. ix.First of his Side is the player nearest the ball on his side. x.Running In is allowed to any player on his side, provided he does not take the ball off the ground, or through touch. xi.If, in the case of a run in, the ball be held in a scrummage, it shall not be lawful for the holder to transmit it to another of his own side. xii.No player may be held, unless he is himself holding the ball. xiii.It is not fair to hack and hold at the same time. xiv.No hacking with the heel, or unless below the knee, is fair. xv.No one wearing projecting nails or iron plates on the soles or heels of his shoes or boots shall be allowed to play. xvi.Try at Goal.— A ball touched between the goal posts may be brought up to either of them, but not between. xvii.The ball when punted must be within, and when caught without the line of goal. xviii.The ball must be place-kicked and not dropped, and if it touch two hands the try will be lost. xix.It shall be a goal if the ball go over the bar (whether it touch or no) without having touched the dress or person of any player; but no player may stand on the goal bar to interrupt it going over. xx.No goal may be kicked from touch. xxi.Touch.— A player may not in any case run with the ball in touch. xxii.A player standing up to another may hold one arm only, but may hack him or knock the ball out of his hand if he attempts to kick it, or go beyond the line of touch. xxiii.No agreement between two players to send the ball straight out shall be allowed. xxiv.A player having touched the ball straight for a tree and touched the tree with it, may drop from either side if he can, but one of the opposite party may oblige him to go to his own side of the tree.

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xxv.In case of a player getting a fair catch immediately in front of his own goal, he may not retire behind the line to kick it. xxvi.No player may take the ball out of the Close. xxvii.No player may stop the ball with anything but his own person. xxviii.If a player take a punt when he is not entitled to it, the opposite side may take a punt or drop, without running, (after touching the ball on the ground) if the ball has not touched two hands, but such drop may not be a goal. xxix.That part of the island which is in front of the line of goal is in touch, that behind it in goal. xxx.The discretion of sending into goal rests with heads of sides and houses, or their deputies.[2] xxxi.Heads of sides, or two deputies appointed by them, are the sole arbiters of all disputes. xxxii.All matches are drawn after 5 days or after 3 days if no goal has been kicked. xxxiii.Two Bigside balls must always be in the Close during a match or Bigside. xxxiv. No football shall be played between the goals till the Sixth match. xxxv.Three Præpostors constitute a Bigside. xxxvi.At a Bigside the two players highest in the School shall toss up. xxxvii.Old Rugbeians shall be allowed to play at the matches of football, not, however, without the consent of the two heads of the sides; but no stranger may have a place-kick at goal. These are the links for where stats/ Information was found: History of professional football in America - youtube Rugby football - wiki evolution of the the Football helmet - Smithsonian common Football injuries - National library of Medicine common rugby injuries - british journal of Medicine NFL viewership last season - espn rugby football rules how do American Football teams make money - espn why did American Football abandon Rugby Football rules - quora Average NFL Player Salary - Espn How much do Rugby players earn - Rugby Dome Take your eye off the ball - book Rugby Union Rules the basics Phil Marshall - SVG Europe Josh Katzowitz - Forbes

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Commended

Ed Mackaness King Mithradates: Murder or Defender of the Hellenic World?

King Mithradates VI: ruthless murderer or defender of the Hellenic world? When people think of Rome’s greatest enemies people usually mention figures such as Hannibal, Attila , Spartacus or Cleopatra. One man usually not on this list is Mithradates VI of Pontus, also known as Mithradates the Great. But who was he, and was he a Hellenic hero or a merciless villain? Mithradates ruled the Hellenic kingdom of Pontus on the southern Black Sea coast of modern-day Turkey. Despite presiding over a relatively small kingdom Mithradates fought against Rome for 40 years and came close to driving out the Romans out of the Hellenic world. It took three of Rome’s greatest generals, including Pompey, to finally get the better of him. The epic and long struggle ended with Mithradates committing suicide.

Pontic Kingdom during the 2nd Mithradatic War In his book ‘Mithradates the Great, Rome’s Indomitable Enemy’ Professor Philip Matyszak describes Pontus as being in the centre of the world due to its location at the crossroads between Europe and Asia. Pontus was a small kingdom that could be described as ‘boxing above its weight’. It had rebelled against the Seleucid empire in 281BCE. After defeating Seleucid Emperor Seleucus I, Mithradates I declared himself king of the new kingdom. King Mithradates.

During the reign of Mithradates’ father ,Mithradates V, Pontus had controlled a few key ports and had been able to take some land off the neighbouring kingdoms Paphlagonia and Cappadocia. This was due to Mithradates V helping Rome in the third Punic war against Carthage. Rome had grown significantly in the previous two centuries. Having secured control of Italy, the Republic won three wars against Carthage and gained

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dominance over the western and central Mediterranean incorporating Sicily, most of Spain, southern Gaul and Tunisia. After this Rome began to target the Hellenistic world and successfully defeated Phillip V of Macedon and Antiochus III of the Seleucid empire to gain control of Macedonia and Greece. In the year 129BCE the king of Pergamum, Atlas III, died and gave his kingdom to Rome in his will. This gave Rome a foothold in Asia, which worried many of the kingdoms there. Rome was now the established power in the region and there was no single kingdom that looked as if it could stop the Roman juggernaut.

Roman Republic 146 BCE In the year 135BCE a comet flew across the earth. The peoples of Asia rejoiced as, according to prophecy, a messiah would be born who would be a great leader and triumph over their enemies. This was not the birth of Jesus, which occurred over 100 years later in Bethlehem. This comet coincided with the birth of a new prince in Sinope, capital of the Pontic kingdom. The boy’s name was Mithradates, which means “sent by Mithra” in Ancient Persian. Mithra was the God of the sun, light and truth. According to historian Joshua J Mark, the future Mithradates VI was taught multiple languages and raised as a proper Persian prince. He was also instructed in warfare and the arts. Mithradates learnt about the highly successful Persian emperors Cyrus and Darius the Great but most notably he was taught about his idol Alexander the Great of Macedon. At this young age Mithradates gained ambitions of reforming Alexander’s Greco- Persian empire. Roman historian Julian described how, at the age of 10, Mithradates was able to tame an unbroken Cappadocian stallion and then dazzled and amazed local

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spectators by his ability to ride it. The horse raced off across a field and it looked as if at any moment Mithradates would be flung off. However, with great skill and strength he clung on and managed to control the beast. This tale bears an uncanny similarity to that of Alexander, Mithradates’ hero, who had tamed a stallion at a very young age. Many argue this suggests there is a good chance that Mithradates’ story of equestrian mastery is untrue. True or not, this tale tells us that Mithradates was obsessed with trying to be like Alexander. Little else is known about Mithradates’ childhood. In the year 120BCE the unexpected happened. Mithradates father was assassinated, most likely with poison. He left his kingdom to his two sons and his widow Laodice, who was meant to share power once the sons came to age. The Queen wanted power for herself so she began plotting to get rid of her sons. Despite his youth, Mithradates recognised the threats to his life. He escaped his mother’s reach and went into hiding. During Mithradates’ time in hiding he began to learn and experiment with poisons. The motivation for this was paranoia that he would befall the same fate as his father. Mithradates decided to build up his immunity to the most common poisons. He also developed an antidote, which helped to slowly build up a tolerance of arsenic. Towards the end of his life such was Mithradates’ immunity that he was able to survive a dose of arsenic sufficient to kill three fully grown men. Mithradates would return to Pontus sometime between 113 and 116BCE to reclaim his throne. He imprisoned his mother and his brother at her villa where he gave them a banquet. In the pudding he laid his secret weapon. After eating the poison-laced food, it didn’t take long before the threat of his mother and brother was finished off. Mithradates’ next act was to marry his sister, Laodice the younger, to ensure his children were seen as legitimate. Now Mithradates had secured complete control of his throne, he could look to improve the Pontic Army and expand its territories around the Black Sea. Despite his hatred for the Romans, Mithradates knew that Pontus was not ready for a war with Rome and needed to build up its strength first.

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During his mother’s reign the Pontic army had gone into a decline and Mithradates knew it required vast improvements. He started this by recruiting 6,000 men trained in the traditional Greek Hoplite manner. These would make up the core of his army. He also recruited Cretan archers as mercenaries who he knew where superior to his light infantry.

A classic Greek Hoplite. In addition, Mithradates began to train men in the traditional Macedonian Phalanx as well. These men were in the same formation that the Greek hoplites used. However, instead of using a 6ft long spear, they used a 18ft pike. This wall of pikes would prove impossible to penetrate from the front but from was very vulnerable from the flanks and rear. Mithradates hoped he could replicate Alexander’s use of the formation that was able to conquer the Persian Empire. Mithradates knew that he also needed a strong cavalry in order to defeat the Romans and the other kingdoms of Anatolia. Most likely, he used the elite Cappadocians to make up his cavalry force with a small personal guard for himself and generals. He also began to recruit a force of scythed chariots that could be used to smash through enemy infantry ranks and disrupt formations. While the infantry would act as an anvil, holding the enemy forces, in place Mithradates hoped to use his cavalry as the hammer to smash his enemies much like his hero, Alexander, had done .

The Macedonian style phalanx

Mithradates realised that he would also need allies in order to take on Rome. He looked east to the kingdom of Armenia. It also had a new king, named

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Tigranes, who was ambitious like Mithradates and wanted to extend his realm into Anatolia and Syria. To solidify the alliance, Mithradates married his daughter Cleopatra to Tigranes. The two kingdoms now had a strong bond and Tigranes was willing to aid Mithradates greatly against his war with Rome.

Tigranes and Mithradates

Finally, Mithradates was conscious that he needed to improve the Pontic navy in order to gain supremacy over the Black Sea. He recruited experienced Greek sailors from around the Black Sea coast and the Aegean, and ordered ships to be constructed along his Black Sea ports. The coves of the southern Black Sea coasts proved the perfect hideouts for his navy, which saved Mithradates the cost of building expensive ports. These coves were also the hideouts for Black Sea pirates with whom Mithradates made treaties in order to prevent them from attacking Pontic Ships. He also used them to attack and raid Romans in the Aegean. These pirates are credited with capturing a young Julius Caesar. Once he had complete control of the Black Sea, the king could control trade thus greatly enlarging the Pontic treasury.

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Mithradates had started his reign by annexing the neighbouring state of Trapezeus. This would serve as an important naval base and trading hub for his Black Sea empire. Mithradates would later receive an ambassador from King Parisades who ruled Crimea to ask for aid against the raiding Sycthians. Mithradates immediately sent an army and part of his navy to deal with the threat. Mithradates’ new army crushed the Barbarians and Mithradates gained control of Crimea and most of the eastern Black Sea coast. This helped to reinforce his control of trade there and also gave him significantly more manpower and resources to call upon if he were to take on Rome. An unexpected ally appeared in the west: King Nicomedes III of Bithynia. This was Mithradates’ next opportunity to increase further his growing power. Nicomedes had plenty of reasons to be angry at Rome. He ,like Mithradates’ father, had assisted the Romans in the third Punic war against Carthage and expected the Romans to give him Phrygia in return. Instead the Romans gave it to Mithradates’ father only taking it back after Mithradates V’s death. When Mithradates heard that the Bithynian king had denied Rome’s request for an army in Germania, he took his chance and quickly formed an alliance with Nicomedes. The timing of this alliance was crucial. Most of the Roman army was stuck in North Africa fighting against Jugurtha and his Numidian rebels or fighting against hundreds of thousands of Barbarians flooding in from modern-day Germany and Denmark. All of this occupied most of the Republic’s attention so Mithradates and Nicomedes took the opportunity to invade the small kingdom of Paphlagonia, which was between their two kingdoms. The campaign went smoothly with the small kingdom unable to resist the two far larger nations. When the news reached the senate in Rome it ordered Mithradates to leave at once. Mithradates obliged. However Nicomedes was less obedient. Instead of restoring the old king to the throne he renamed one of his sons to a more traditional Paphlagonian name and installed him on the throne as a puppet. This tactic greatly impressed Mithradates who took note and was now

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convinced the Nicomedes had the potential to be a very useful ally against Rome.

King Nicomedes III Mithradates also wanted to expand his influence further into Anatolia, notably into the kingdom of Cappadocia that was south of his realm. Luckily for Mithradates, his sister Laodice (another sister Laodice, not the one to which he was married) was married to the current king of Cappadocia, Ariathes VI. According to Greek historian Appian, the lands of Cappadocia had been part of the first ruler of Pontus’ territory. This gave Mithradates a reason to start plotting. He decided to send Gordius, one of his most trusted generals, to assassinate the king. This was most likely done by poison using one of Mithradates’ many brews. With Ariathes’ death, Mithradates hoped his sister, who would now be acting regent, would ally with him and therefore put Cappadocia under Mithradates’ control. Despite his efforts, this proved not to be the case. Unknown to Mithradates, Nicomedes also harboured ambitions of ruling Cappadocia. On learning of the king’s death, he rushed in with his army and he married Laodice. When Mithradates found out about these events he was furious. Not only were his plans to rule Cappadocia ruined but his strongest ally was now married to his sister. With great haste the king sent in his army and met the troops of Nicomedes in battle. Not much is known about the battle but it is understood is that Mithradates’ troops, who were now very experienced after their conquests in the Black Sea coast, were able to crush the Bithynian forces. Mithradates now installed his nephew Araithes VII to the Cappodocian throne. Mithradates also hoped he had gained control of the kingdom without arousing Romes attention. He would be wrong again. To ensure that he could control his nephew, Mithradates sent Gordius to help advise the young king. However, to his shock, the young king saw through the trick and refused the help. Realising that he would not be able to control the

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king, Mithradates was yet again forced to invade the country with his 90,000 strong army and seized the kingdom. This time he installed someone far easier to control: his eight-year-old step son who was guided by Gordius. They were both popular in Cappadocia. This helped to create some stability in the kingdom and ensure that, finally, Cappadocia was under Mithradates control. The question has to be asked why Rome did not intervene this time? A large number of Rome’s allies rebelled as they felt that they should now be treated equally to the Romans themselves due to their loyalty to the city and sharing similar culture. This started the Social war in Rome with armies raiding across Italy, further distracting the Romans from affairs to the east. Mithradates used this and had even began to form alliances with the rebellious groups and was giving them financial aid. After Mithradates’ invasion of Cappadocia Nicomedes believed that his kingdom would be next to be invaded by Mithradates so he turned to Rome to ask for assistance. The senate ordered both kings to remove their puppets from Cappadocia and Paphlagonia and allow the people of these kingdoms to choose a new king instead. Mithradates decided to bide his time and both kings agreed to acquiesce to Rome on this issue for the time being. Mithradates wanted to test the Romans’ resolve. So, he asked his ally Tigranes to invade Cappadocia and he was successful. He then retreated and took many captives and loot from Cappadocia. Tigranes then looked east to Parthia. There would be little response from Rome, which gave Mithradates the impression that the republic was weak and boosted his confidence. Eventually, the Romans would place Ariobazarnes on the Cappadocian throne after Tigranes had been ordered to leave the kingdom. Nicomedes III died in in 94 BCE leaving his son Nicomedes IV the throne. His kingdom was in a great debt to Rome so the Roman governor of Asia Aquillius ordered Nicomedes to raid unprotected Pontic ports in order to pay off his debt. Mithradates did not retaliate as he wished to appear as the victim not an aggressor thus preserving Pontic innocence in the conflict. Instead, he chose to wait for a larger attack whilst sending diplomats to ask the senate to contain Nicomedes’ aggression. The senate was not interested in diplomacy and the invasion of Mithradates’ lands was prepared.

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Mithradates quickly invaded Cappadocia again to prevent the kingdom from aiding the coalition against him. He then prepared to meet Aquillius and Nicomedes to defend his kingdom. Appian claims that the coalition had amassed an army of 176,000 men to invade Pontus while he describes how Mithradates had a force of 300,000 men. Ancient historian Memnon claims that Mithradates had 200,000 under his command. Whichever number is correct, undoubtedly Mithradates had a sizeable force.

Although Mithradates planned the invasion and was the army’s supreme commander, he remained at the capital deploying troops to where they were required. This was very unusual for the time as most generals would lead from the front and command their armies in the field. Mithradates put brothers Archelaus and Neoptolemus, who had secured Crimea from the Scythians, in command. Mithradates gave his son Arcathius the command of the elite Armenian Cataphracts, which were his strongest cavalry that Mithradates hoped could fill the same role as Alexander’s elite Companion cavalry. The first Mithradatic war had begun. The Roman part of the coalition was split into three armies of 40,000 while Nicomedes led the invasion with his army of 56,000. The vanguard of Mithradates’ army in the north, led by Archelaus, met Nicomedes at the Amnius river and crushed his forces. Nicomedes was forced to flee back to Aquillius, who was in Bithynia with his part of the army. Only 20,000 of Nicomedes’ army made it back to Nicomedia. The bulk of Mithradates’ army faced Aquillius at Protopachium. Here, yet again, the Pontic forces were victorious. Aquillius was captured and Mithradates showed no mercy. Aquillius was forced to drink molten gold as his form of execution. This gruesome victor’s revenge was copied by the Parthians 40 years later after the battle of Carrea against Crassus.

The execution of Aquillius

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One of the remaining Roman armies fled to Rome’s ally Rhodes while the other tried to fortify behind the walls of Laodicea. This proved to be a costly error as the population were strongly anti Roman and the legionnaires were handed over to the besieging Pontic Army. Mithradates now had control of almost all of Anatolia and decided to move his base of operations westward to the former capital of the Roman province of Asia, Pergamon. The only threat to his control of the eastern Aegean was now Rhodes and the Roman army that had fled there. At this point in 88 BCE Mithradates decided to pull his greatest plan on the Romans. If the execution of Aquillius seemed brutal, Mithradates’ scheme would be on a completely new level of ruthlessness. Mithradates ordered the execution of all Latin speaking peoples in Anatolia. This event made Mithradates so famous that it would later be named the Asian Vespers. It is estimated that 80,000 Latin-speaking inhabitants of Anatolia were killed in the course of a few days. Mithradates had told the public and his men that if a Latin person is killed then the killers had a right to take all their possessions. This incentive helped fuel the bloodthirstiness and ensured Mithradates’ plan worked with horrific efficiency. It also succeeded in attracting Rome’s attention. Famed generals Marius and Sulla vied for command of the job of facing Pontus. Sulla would be the victor in the competition to challenge Mithradates.

Sulla Mithradates realised that he would have to extinguish the Roman forces in Rhodes before he could make another move against the Romans directly. Rhodes was not an easy city to take. Demetrius, Son of Antigonus I, had besieged the city with 40,000 troops and 170 ships in a year-long siege but failed to take the city. Rhodes was an established naval power in the Aegean

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was a firm ally of Rome and could be a challenger to Mithradates naval control of the Aegean. For this reason, Mithradates decided it was essential to take the city. Despite a army and a navy attacking Rhodes, it was able to hold out. However, Mithradates did succeed in blockading the city so it would not be able to assist Rome but this also meant some of his fleet remained occupied. Good news was on the horizon for Mithradates when he received an envoy from Athens arrived asking for assistance against Rome in Greece. The Athenians were ready to rebel against Rome but felt they were not strong enough to take on Rome alone. This was the moment Mithradates had been waiting for and he prepared an army to reinforce the Athenians. He sent his favoured general Archelaus to the island of Delos, which was home to a treasury dedicated to Apollo and home to many Romans. Archelaus seized the treasury and slaughtered all the Romans on the island - estimated to be about 20,000. Archelaus then sent 2,000 troops to Athens with the treasure from Delos to secure the alliance. With this the city formally declared war on Rome and asked fellow city states Thebes and Sparta to forget previous grudges and join the Pontic alliance Both agreed and Archelaus would then arrive seizing most of central and southern Greece. Now Sulla, who had just defeated Marius, had a tough choice: to secure Italy or defeat the greatest threat to Rome since Hannibal. The city was bankrupt so Ancient sacrifices, which were over 500 years old, were sold in order to pay the army that would face the Pontic alliance in Greece. When it appeared things could get no worse for Sulla, in the next elections Cinna, who was pro Marius, was elected as consul. This meant that Sulla had to lead his army into Greece without the support of the senate. Sulla was forced to provide pay and provisions for the army that he would lead and he found resistance from Marius’ supporters and gangs. Mithradates hoped that with all this going on in Italy the Romans would be forced to accept him as the rightful emperor of his eastern Greco-Persian empire and as the successor to Alexanders empire. However, the determined Sulla was unwilling to accept this without a fight. Mithradates’ invasion of Greece was undertaken by three armies. Firstly, his favoured son Arcathius, who had proven himself against Aquillius and Nicomedes, planned to lead an army through Thrace and then attack Macedonia from the east. Archelaus was due to bring his army up through Boeotia and invade Macedonia from the south while joining up with the third

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army. This third army planned to invade the large island of Euboea to secure supply routes for southern Greece. Mithradates also had 80,000 men in reserve to assist any army that needed support. The Romans only had two legions in Greece at the time and they were sent to slow the march of Arcathius to prevent Sulla from being completely encircled. The Roman General with his five legions would now march to besiege Athens and its harbour Piraeus. Archelaus chose to station most of his forces in Piraeus as it could be easily resupplied by the Pontic navy, which had complete control of the Aegean. Archelaus attempted to break the siege with an ambush by his cavalry but this was foiled by two deserters who went to Sulla and warned him about the impending attack. While Piraeus was holding out, Athens itself was struggling as it could not be easily supplied. The city began to starve but morale remained high. Sulla had further problems as he had ran out of money once more so he went to the most sacred sanctuary in Greece at Delphi and took the treasury, which was supposed to be for Apollo, telling the priests there that he would pay them back.

Maps showing Athens and Piraeus. With new funds to support his army, Sulla was now able to take Athens and he treated the rebellious city with no mercy. Archelaus now understood that he could not maintain the defence of Piraeus so he left the city with his army to fight another day. Despite this set back, Mithradates was not concerned as his forces still greatly outnumbered Sulla and his undefeated army was confident that it could defeat the Roman General. Meanwhile, Sulla now sought out battle with Archelaus for central Greece before his army could be reinforced by Mithradates’ 80,000 reserves.

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The two sides would meet at Chaeronea, which was where Phillip II of Macedon defeated the combined Athenian-Theban army to gain control of all of Greece 200 years previously. Achelaus joined up with Arcathius’ army, which had been invading Macedonia and Thrace. However, Arcathius himself didn’t make it and Mithradates’ was devastated to hear of the death of his favoured son. With these reinforcements Archelaus now had a force of 120,000 men with 90 scythed chariots. Sulla, on the other hand, only had around 40,000 soldiers. However, at the core of this were five Roman legions that were the best heavy infantry in the Mediterranean and had proved itself to be superior to the Macedonian style phalanx many times in its conquest of Greece. The battle began with Archelaus sending his chariots towards the densely packed legionaries. In reaction, the well-drilled Romans moved out of the way forming gaps for the chariots to ride harmlessly past into and then the crew were killed. Archelaus gave the order for his army to advance and concentrated his attack on the Roman left flank that was heavily outnumbered. However, it was positioned on high ground so was able to hold out against the Pontic attack and deal heavy casualties. Archelaus then sent some of his reserves to assist the attack but Sulla, realising the danger, charged in with his own cavalry reserve and steadied the flank. Archelaus now saw an opening to attack the now weaker right flank and he sent his remaining reserves to reinforce his left flank. However Sulla yet again was able to arrive and defeat the Pontic left, which then resulted in the Pontic right also breaking. At this point Archelaus realised he was beaten and fled with his guard. The Pontic Phalanx that had performed well during the battle and had been steadily pushing the Romans back was now completely exposed on all sides. Despite the efforts of these veterans to organise a proper retreat, they were unable to outpace the Roman cavalry, which was then was able to capture them. This was a disaster for Mithradates. For the 120,000 men that had fought in the battle only 10,000 managed to escape. Sulla claimed that he had only lost 20 men. Historians maintain that this figure is obviously untrue, nonetheless Sulla’s casualties were light; probably a few hundred to a thousand dead. Sulla then marched on Thebes and claimed half of the city’s territory giving it to the Gods. He claimed that this would pay off the debt that he owed to the Gods after borrowing the sacrifices at Delphi.

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Archelaus, who was now in his haven in Euboea, joined up with the 80,000 reinforcements sent by Mithradates. The general knew that he would have to win a glorious battle against Sulla to regain his king’s respect after his humiliating defeat against Sulla. Luckily for him, Sulla also wanted to take on Archelaus again as he was now full of confidence after such a stunning victory. Despite his decisive victory, Sulla had just heard that his supporters had been slaughtered by Marius. Cinna had sent a small force to remove Sulla from command and now he had to choose whether to face Archelaus or his Roman adversaries. The choice was taken away from Sulla when Archelaus sailed from Macedonia to Boetia to face him again; this time at Orchomenus. The battlefield was a wide open plain, which suited Archelaus’ chariots and also enabled the Pontic army to more easily use their numerical advantage. However, Sulla cleverly countered this by digging trenches around his flanks that would slow any cavalry or chariot advance and also make it hard for him to be encircled. Sulla’s army was arrayed in three lines. Behind the first was a row of stakes that would destroy any chariots attempting to drive through his ranks.

Scythed chariots which were used at the battle of Orchomenus

Archelaus began the battle by ordering his superior cavalry to attack both Roman flanks. On his right the attack was repulsed while on the left he gained some success but Sulla himself and his guard were able to push the cavalry back. Archelaus, who had not seen the stakes, ordered his chariots forward. This would be a critical mistake as when the chariots got to the stakes they spooked and turned around and went into Archelaus’ own infantry. This caused serious confusion among the Pontic army. As the army was made up of lots of different peoples and cultures communication was hard so the army lost all cohesion. Sulla, realising his opportunity, charged and most of the Pontic army was destroyed.

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Despite these two decisive defeat, Mithradates had not been crushed and was now requesting peace. The two sides met at Dardanus where peace was agreed. • Mithradates had to give up all his gains in Anatolia with Cappadocia, Bithynia and Paphlagonia getting their lands back. • Mithradates had to give the Romans 80 warships. • Mithradates had to award the Romans 3000 talents. • All deserters and Roman slaves taken by Mithradates were given back to Sulla • Once this had all happened Mithradates would be considered an ally of Rome again. Sulla’s men were outraged at these terms as they allowed a man who had killed 80,000 Romans in a day to get away with his life. Sulla had little time to worry about his men’s concerns as he was forced to deal with Marius’ army in Greece and take 40,000 recruits. One of these was supposedly a man named Spartacus, who would go on to lead a slave revolt in Rome. When Sulla returned to Rome he began to slaughter Marius’ men killing 18,000. Cassius Dio describes how Sulla’s behaviour ad even managed to surpass Mithradates’ massacre of 88BCE. As for the Pontic king, he chose to wait and recover his strength as he was not done with Rome yet. Mithradates’ skill of being able to bounce back was to prove very useful. Before Mithradates was ready to resume the conflict with Rome, he would have to deal with domestic matters. Firstly, some of his northern vassals began to show discontent and requested that Mithradates’ eldest son, rather than Mithradates himself, to rule over them. Mithradates agreed and let his son become the king of Bosporous. The area then returned it’s loyalty to Mithradates. He now worked on building up his army and navy to prepare for another war with Rome. After the defeats at Chaeronea and Orchomenus Mithradates decided that he could not rely on others to do his work for him and that he would have to lead from the front. Mithradates now began to study the great generals of the past and learnt the art of war. After his humiliation at the hands of Sula and in fear of his life, Archelaus had chosen to defect to the Romans. He warned Murena, the governor of Asia, of Mithradates’ intentions and military build-up. Murena decided that he wanted

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to strike the first blow and catch the Pontic king off guard so invaded the kingdom through Cappadocia. Mithradates sent envoys to the senate to demand enforcement of the treaty of Dardanus. This was ignored so Mithradates sent Gordius to raid Asia Minor. Gordius met Murena at the Halys river. Both sides took defensive positions on each side of the river but then Mithradates himself showed up and Murena was soundly defeated. Sulla ordered Murena to make peace with Mithradates. Mithradates’ prestige and confidence had been regained during the war and many of the other kingdoms in the area now looked up to him once more. The king still occupied part of Cappadocia so Sulla ordered him to retreat. Mithradates, who did not want war at this point, chose to oblige and gave the land back. Just as the situation started to calm, events in the capital were about to rock the stability in the Republic: Sulla was dead. The death of Sulla gave Mithradates a huge confidence boost as he now believed that Rome was vulnerable. Again he began to build up his forces. By now, Mithradates had now realised the weaknesses of the Macedonian-style Phalanx and began removing this formation from his army. He also recruited rebellious Roman officers to begin training some of his men in the legionary style of Marius, as he now understood that the legionnaires were the best infantry of the time. With his new-found confidence Mithradates yet again asked Tigranes to invade Cappadocia and this time he occupied the region. In Spain a Roman governor named Sertorius led a revolt that forced the senate to send a large part of their forces there. Mithradates quickly formed an alliance with Sertorius who sent advisers to aid Mithradates in his war. Meanwhile in Bithynia in the year 74BCE Nicomedes IV was now dead and he had left one more surprise for Mithradates. He had given the whole of his kingdom to Rome. Mithradates knew he could not afford to allow the Romans to gain any more power in Anatolia so the king decided that war was now his only option. Thus began the third Mithradatic war. In the same year one of Sulla’s favoured generals, Lucullus, was made consul with his co-consul Cotta appointed governor of Bithynia. The two came up with a plan to take on the Pontic king. Lucullus would be given command of the army that was made up of five veteran legions with 2,000 cavalry. Cotta was given command of the fleet and he began to build his navy at Chalcedon.

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However, Mithradates acted quickly and blockaded the fleet and destroyed it. Cotta was forced to flee to Cyzicus with Mithradates right behind him.

Lucullus The city of Cyzicus was able to hold out long enough to give Lucullus sufficient time to arrive and put pressure on Mithradates. Unfortunately for the Pontic king, Sertorius was now dead, which caused his Roman advisers to turn on him and they began to negotiate with Lucullus. They falsely told Mithradates to remove his guard preventing Lucullus from reaching his position as two of the Roman generals legions were ready to desert. This was false but Mithradates took the bait and continued his assaults on the city. The city still stood firm. Mithradates ordered his cavalry to return to Pontus in order to reduce the supplies his army was using. However, Lucullus was waiting for them and ambushed the cavalry as they were crossing a river. Surrounded and receiving no supplies from home the Pontic army began to starve. When the time was right, Lucullus crushed the Pontic army during its retreat. Mithradates was forced to retreat, fighting Lucullus multiple times in his own kingdom with mixed results. Finally Mithradates had to flee to Armenia and Lucullus captured the capital of Sinope. Lucullus sent envoys to Mithradates’ son in Crimea asking him to betray his father and become an ally of Rome. The king agreed and Lucullus then demanded that Tigranes hand over Mithradates threatening invasion if the Armenian refused. Tigranes, who had a vast empire, believed he could take on Lucullus and began to gather his forces. In 70 BCE both sides gathered forces and Lucullus began to stabilise the Roman control of Anatolia. The general had rallied an army of 35,000 infantry with 10,000 cavalry in support. Tigranes had a force of 80,000 at his disposal. However, Mithradates advised the king to avoid open battle but instead fight a guerilla war with the general.

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Lucullus did not waste any time and in 69 BCE the general marched on Tigranes’ capital Tigranocerta and laid siege to it. Tigranes quickly arrived forcing Lucullus to call his forces back. Lucullus arrayed his forces in a single line with skirmishes in front, his legionnaires in the centre and cavalry and auxiliary infantry on the flanks. His initial plan was to charge the Armenian army and hope that the quick advance would prevent Tigranes’ superior archers from dealing too much damage to his infantry. However, at the last minute he changed his mind and ordered the advance to be halted. The general knew that the unit that posed the greatest threat to his army was Tigranes’ Cataphracts, who were the knights of the ancient world. In a tactically brilliant move, Lucullus ordered the cavalry from both flanks to advance towards the Cataphracts who were on the Armenian right. Then they slowly retreated, luring the Armenian cavalry with them. Lucullus then lead his guard and a portion of his infantry in a huge flanking manoeuvre that would crash into the distracted Cataphracts and send them running. The plan worked and, luckily for the Romans, the heavy cavalry crashed into its own infantry causing panic that Lucullus took advantage of. His army charged and the Armenians were routed. Mithradates, who had fled back into his own kingdom into the most mountainous regions, tried to resist the Romans with guerrilla tactics. Unluckily for him, the star general of the day, Pompey, now took command of the Roman forces. Lucullus was furious, feeling that Pompey had stolen his great victory over Rome’s greatest enemy. Pompey crushed Mithradates in a few decisive battles and Mithradates was left with only a few hundred followers. Mithradates decided that his best course of action would be to try and convince one of his sons to allow him to hide in his kingdom. He led his followers up to Crimea slipping past Pompey’s forces and arrived at his son’s capital, only to be refused aid. With a small army, Mithradates managed to defeat his son and gained control of Colchis and Crimea. Mithradates wanted to continue the war with Rome but the populous refused. Meanwhile, in Armenia the Parthians had allied with Rome. These two giants of the time crushed Tigranes, Mithradates only significant ally, who was forced to give up most of his empire and become a Roman client. The population of Pontus now chose to back Pharnaces who was Mithradates youngest son. Mithradates, with only a few followers, blockaded himself in his

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fortress. The king planned to flee to Scythia where he hoped to raise a force of Barbarians who would invade Italy directly and storm the gates of Rome. These hopes were put to an end when Mithradates’ fortress was surrounded and Pharnaces’ forces entered it. Mithradates now turned to the vile of poison he kept on him for dire situations. The king first gave his two daughters the poison, which killed them instantly. Then he drank the rest. The quantity should have been sufficient to kill three men. However, Mithradates was not an ordinary man: a life time of building up his immunity meant he was unable to use poison to end his life. He asked his bodyguard to deal the final blow. The great king was no more. To begin with, Pharnaces remained friendly with Rome. However, it seems that there was too much of his father in him. Towards the end of Caesar’s civil war, when the general was trapped in Egypt, Pharnaces took his chance and defeated the Roman governor at the battle of Nicopolis. The victory was not long lived: Caesar arrived and defeated the Pontic king at Zela and then famously said “Veni Vidi Vici’ or ‘ I came I saw I conquered.’ With this decisive defeat, Caesar deposed Pharnaces placing Mithradates of Pergamonon on the throne thus ending the dynasty of the great Pontic king. During his long reign Mithradates proved time and time again that he was very ambitious and would stop at nothing to gain more power. From a very young age Mithradates showed merciless brutality when he killed his mother and his brother. Such behaviour was exhibited throughout his life when he chose to use horrific methods of despatching enemies even when not required. This is most evident during the execution of Aquillius, where Mithradates could have easily killed him in a much more humane way. Undoubtedly, his most ruthless action was the Asian Vespers, which is the best evidence of his do-what-mustbe-done policy. For all its barbarity, is was tactically a smart move from Mithradates as it was an excellent way of securing loyalty in his newly taken lands using fear as a tool. His reputation for ruthlessness and cruelty is also illustrated by the manner in which Archelaus fled, terrified Mithradates was going to murder him some way or another for his failures. Mithradates clearly did use cruel and vicious methods to try to achieve control but it could be argued he had little choice. Further, while not the norm, such tactics would not have been considered as shocking then as such brutality and bloodshed would be viewed today .

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The loss of his father was devastating for Mithradates as he was still very young and it was so unexpected. This shock was compounded by the manner in which his throne was taken from him immediately by his mother. Mithradates was forced to leave home with nothing but his horse and a few belongings and friends giving up the life he was meant to live. Such a sudden change in his fortunes would have made a huge impact on a young man. This would explain the hatred for and the apparent ease with which Mithradates killed his mother, as she had taken everything from him and his future.

The growth of Mithradates’ Empire The Romans took the lands that his father had won for his kingdom and so breaking promises after having received generous aid from Pontus. This helped to instil a hatred of the Republic in the young ruler. Mithradates understood well how the Romans slowly enslaved peoples and he realised that his kingdom, along with his neighbours, would be next. This shows Mithradates was astute and was able to see the bigger picture. However, he paid a huge price for this vendetta. He lost his son and preferred heir campaigning against the Romans and eventually his other son turned on him and so Mithradates was forced into taking his own life. Despite ultimately ending in personal failure for Mithradates, what is remarkable is the length of his reign and difficulties he created for the far more powerful Roman republic. Perhaps most admirable about Mithradates is his perseverance. He had an incredible ability to bounce back and get back up after being knocked down time and time again. After losing his throne to his mother he did not just stay in hiding; even with the limited forces he had at the time he was still able to gain the support of the people and take the throne back. Despite two humiliating defeats at the hands of Sulla, Mithradates was still able to negotiate a decent treaty and returned to fight another day. Part of this comes down to Mithradates’ excellent ability to plan and regroup. The savviness he displayed in acquiring a monopoly over Black Sea trade meant he was still able to afford huge armies even after losing so much territory and so

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many men after the first Mithradatic war. However, the best example of Mithradates’ ability to bounce back is after being betrayed by his son and losing his kingdom during the Third Mithradatic war. Even with only a few hundred followers Mithradates was still able to use his popularity and support from his people to retake his throne in Crimea despite impossible odds. Such talent makes him comparable to a classic Homeric hero from myth. One imagines that even Mithradates’ biggest enemies must have had a degree respect for the fortitude he displayed in never giving up. Further, the achievements of Pontus were all the more notable given its size at the beginning of Mithradates’ reign. The odds that Mithradates had to face were quite astonishing. Although Rome during the first century BCE had experienced a lot of civil wars and invasions, it was still by far the largest empire at the time and it dwarfed Mithradates’ Pontic kingdom. Not only was his opponent huge in size, the Roman republic had some of the best generals of the ancient world. Sulla, Lucullus and Pompey were all tactically brilliant and, other than Caesar and Alexander the Great, generals probably did not have an equal. Despite seemingly impossible opponents, Mithradates put up far more of a fight than the other Hellenic kingdoms. The Seleucid empire, which was larger than Rome during it defeat to the republic, barely put up a fight after the decisive defeat at Magnesia. On the other hand, Mithradates fought against the Romans for 30 years and would have come close to defeating the republic completely had he won the battle of Chaerona. His perfect timing and his tactical genius meant he was able to take on the republic. Plus, his determination kept him going even at the darkest times. Mithradates’ ruthlessness was the product of his ambition: he understood that to defeat Rome he would have to do whatever was necessary, no matter the cruelty or human cost. Despite this deserved reputation for ruthlessness and barbarity, Mithradates was also the true definition of a hero as he overcame impossible odds. Although ultimately he failed in his ambition to recreate the empire of his hero Alexander, his intelligence, tactical skill and determination is something to be admired.

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Bibliography • ‘The Poison King’ Adrienne Mayor • ‘Mithradates the great’ Philip Matyszak • Kings and Generals You tube series on The Mithradatic wars • Livius.org • World history Encyclopaedia • Roman Historian Julian. • ‘The king who tried to become immune to poison- It didn’t work’ By Andrew Pourciaux. • Imperium Romanum’s ‘Rome wars with Mithradates’ • The Invicta You tube video on ‘Mithradates and the Black Sea empire’ • Kings and generals video on the ‘Cimbrian Wars’ • Greek historian Appian. “The Mithradatic Wars’ • Mary Beards book on ‘Pompeii • Plutarch • Cassius Dio • Historyofwar – The Third Mithradatic war.

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Tolu Olanipekum Colonisation and its Effects

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SCRIPT Introduction to Africa - Africa is the second largest continent in the world, behind Asia in terms of size. - With an immense Eleven-Million Seven Hundred THOUSAND square miles Africa is brimming with culture and teeming with life both in the wild and mankind. - Its largest city is Cairo, Egypt which is the home for 9.2 million people and Africa also houses the magnificent Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania which rises to a height of 5895 metres above sea level, which is only 2950 metres shorter than Mount Everest! - The African continent has approximately 3,000 distinct ethnic groups while Nigeria alone has about 370 of these tribes that have been officially recognised. - Around 2,000 different languages are spoken in Africa and each of them have different dialects while Arabic is the language that is most widely spoken in the African continent. - Africa also boasts of having the longest river in the world which is the Nile that runs for around 4,150 miles before it meets the ocean. It flows through several African countries such as Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda as well as Egypt thus making the land extremely fertile. - There are 54 countries in Africa, plus 4 territories which remain from the time Africa was first colonised, which started from the 15th Century onwards but really took a big turn when the scramble for Africa started known as ‘New Imperialism’ between 1881 and 1914. Territories in Africa and disputes. - The four territories are Mayotte and Réunion, which both belong to France; Saint Helena, a territory of the UK; and finally, Western Sahara, although the governing country of this area is disputed. It was a former Spanish Colony, then got annexed by Morocco in 1975. However, in 1976 the Polisario front proclaimed the Saharan Arab Democratic Front (SADR) with a government in exile in Algeria. - So what would have happened if Spain hadn’t left Western Sahara? - I happened to come across a really good article by Classroom Synonym of the Leaf Group which summed up the advantages and disadvantages of colonialism (particularly in Africa) perfectly. - The article discusses how Western Civilisations benefitted the Health and Education of the largely poor and uneducated population. However, the article does make a good point stating, ‘the inhabitants often lacked immunity to the pathogens the colonisers also brought from their home countries. Indigenous populations fell to plagues including smallpox, influenza and other viruses that hadn't existed within their county prior to colonisation.’ - Unfortunately, health and education was practically the only positive things about colonialism the article had to offer. It discusses political strife, how ethnic groups were forced to work for a cause they’d been dragged into, and how many territories were driven to Civil War. - In the section about Plantation Mentality, the writer tells us how colonial powers tended to exploit the crops and goods of the land they took over, ‘often with little regard to helping the people native to the area.’ - And finally, there was a real hard-hitting factor about the negatives of colonialism in the Final Section titled ‘Traditions Lost’. ‘During the colonial era, many European colonisers, such as Great Britain, took a paternalistic view of the native culture. They saw themselves as acting in the best interests of these people, bringing them Christianity and civilisation. This attitude destroyed traditional beliefs and social values, however, and had a negative effect on colonised populations’ And so on. - Now, what is the article trying to say? That the cons outweigh the pros? Is this probably true? Did the so-called ‘pros’ even matter in comparison to the ‘cons’? - Now while all these points are good and well, some specific facts and pointers would be really great for me to come to a conclusion. That’s why discussing a particular country that had been colonised would be particularly great!

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SCRIPT Case Study: Nigeria Introduction and Chronology - In preparation for this case study I read three really gripping and interesting books all based on the history of Nigeria, while one of three focuses mainly on what Britain did to Nigeria. In the book ‘A history of Nigeria’ by Toyin Falola and Matthew M. Heaton there is a really good chronology at the start of it that outlines key events in the evolution of modern day Nigeria. I would like to briefly summarise some of these points: - 1807 was the British abolition of the slave trade in Nigeria, although ‘the trade in slaves continues from Southern Nigerian ports for another forty years’. - 1833 Marks the Final collapse of the Oyo Empire, marking the beginning of sixty years of instability and war between Yoruba States and southwest. - 1841 The Niger expedition is the first outreach of Christians to the interior of Nigeria. - 1861 The British annexation of Lagos as a Crown Colony. - 1886 Formation of the Royal Niger Company and a peace treaty is signed that ends ‘the prolonged war among the Yoruba-speaking peoples of the southwest. - 1893 ‘Establishment of a British protectorate over Yoruba territories in the southwest. - 1903 British forces conquer the Sokoto Caliphate and kill the Sultan - 1914-1918 Nigerian troops aid the British cause in World War One. - 1923 Clifford Constitution allows for elected representation in the governance of Nigeria for the first time. - 1929 The ‘Women’s War’ or Aba Riots were major protests against British indirect rule in southeastern Nigeria. - 1944 ‘Nnamdi Azikiwe founds the NCNC, the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (later Nigerian citizens), which quickly becomes an influential political party pushing for independence for Nigeria from British colonial rule. - 1945 ‘Nigerian labour unions organise a General Strike, bringing work and business to a standstill. - 1946 The Richards Constitution divides Nigeria into North, West and East. ‘This is the first set of constitutional reforms that ultimately leads to independence for Nigeria. - 1951 ‘The MacPherson Constitution amends the Richards Constitution, moving Nigeria closer to independence.’ - 1954 Thanks to the Lyttleton Constitution, a federal system of government is established in Nigeria. - 1957 ‘Regional self-government attained in the East and West’. - 1959 ‘Regional self-government attained in the North. - Finally in 1960, Nigeria becomes independent from the United Kingdom on October 1 and also ‘becomes a republic, replacing the queen with an indigenous president as the symbolic head of state’ in 1963. - Although the timeline expands before and after these events described, and I have missed some events in between, I do not think that they were as relevant to the subject matter. Case Study: Nigeria ‘What Britain did to Nigeria’ - I really looked forward to scripting this last section, as I use my favourite of the three books, ‘What Britain did to Nigeria’ by Max Siollun, to try and come ever closer to my conclusion. Because up until now, I was mostly in the grey for whether or not, Colonialism was good in Africa. For although the cons appeared to outweigh the pros, we cannot forget, that if it weren’t for the west crashing into Africa, a lot of the population would still be in tribes, civil wars breaking out more often and a very grim atmosphere would be emanating from Africa today. Why, I probably wouldn’t be scripting and making this project today! It’s just like the Roman invasion of Britain which started in AD 43! The Romans brought order, sanitation and

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education to the Brits. And eventually, the United Kingdom would morph into its prosperous and privileged state it’s in today! (Which we cannot deny!). So are there hopes and dreams for Africans? Will the continent, see a better light of day? I would like to address the subject matter with the masterpiece of a book mentioned before by Max Siollun. ‘What Britain did to Nigeria’ is a well-structured, well written informative book with conviction about everything put in it. Even the subheading on the blurb reads: ‘An exposé of the British Empire’s shameful impact on Africa’s most populous state.’ Immediately the reader gets interested, writing against the British accounts of Colonisation in Nigeria, and saying: ‘Thanks to this skewed writing of history, many Nigerians today still have Empire nostalgia and view the colonial period through rose-tinted glasses.’ But Max ‘offers a bold rethink’ He splits the book into five main sections of: - The pre colonial era, Extraction and Trade, Invasion and War, Resistance and finally Cultural, Political and Religious Changes. Each section provides head-on facts and evidence of how the British have affected Modern-day Nigeria. My favourite of these is a story of ‘Glover’s Hausas’. The Hausas are an ethnic tribe in Nigeria, most who take refuge up North, and with their main religion being Islam.

Case Study: Nigeria Glover’s Hausas - ‘In 1858, while on expedition on the River Niger, a British ship named the Dayspring struck a rock and sank near Jebba’. ‘One of the shipwrecked crew, a British officer named Lt. John Hawley Glover….travelled overland to Lagos in the south to bring back help and supplies to his colleagues.’ Glover then brought Hausa slaves back with him on his journey back to Jebba. - Glover had ordered a Hausa servant, Sami, to recruit others for the journey back. Thus approximately 200 slaves end up escaping their masters to join the expedition. - Inevitably though, some slaves were owned by powerful and wealthy slave owners such as Oba Dosunmu and Madam Efunroye Tinubu. A fight broke out between the slave owners who tried to retrieve their slaves by force and the slaves themselves. - During the battle, Glover was impressed by how readily and precisely his Hausa escorts carried out his orders to lay down their loads and kneel beside them in a circular formation if they were attacked.’ ‘Glover formed the impression that the Hausas would one day make good soldiers’. - Eventually, the Hausas would become known as the martial race of Nigeria. These would cause complications in the future. - The mostly-Hausa escort that belonged to Glover would morph into the army to fight their own people, and then the auxiliary police force, before finally the Military Government from 1966–1979. Most of whom were Hausa Northerners. They felt that due to the legacy left by the Brits of the Hausas being the martial race they had a right, no, need to be the heads of state. And since then, the fight for presidency and power has left Nigerian politics broken ever since. - And these are just one, of the many examples in the book, but one of the most important! Conclusion - However, I must come to a conclusion, or what would be the point of wasting all these 40/50 hours? - From all that I’ve gathered, all that I’ve read I think that it is fair to say colonialism and imperialism was not the greatest event in history for all peoples. It benefited some, put others down. Some put down worse than others.

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We have been taught valuable lessons, like how all peoples are equal and deserve equal rights and chances in society. We’ve also learnt that interdependence and interconnectedness can help us boost each other rather than one using the other as a footstool. I say that it’s all dependent on you. I personally feel that there have been some positives that have come out of those troubling times. It’s because of those struggles long ago that we are learning more about each other. That I, a black person, am privileged to go to a prosperous school in a prosperous country and able to interact with people from all over the globe. The British interest in Nigeria, meant that I have many open doors today. We mustn’t hide away from the clear-cut evidence, that good can come out of bad. For after a storm always comes a rainbow.

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Junior Project Prize - 2022/23

Articles inside

American Football:

The relationship between NFL and Rugby

The (marine) Fish Tank

Should Universal Basic Income be the future of our society?

Investigating fluidisation of granular solids

What the future may bring.

The war in Afghanistan (2001-2021)