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Issue 8: Enigma
3 June 2025
This issue unspools the long-hidden threads in science.
Come make sense of the puzzles and mysteries with us! Or perhaps, leave just as addled.
Editorial
Cracking the Code: A Word from the Editors-in-Chief
by Ingrid Sefton & Aisyah Mohammad Sulhanuddin
A word from our Editors-in-Chief.
Facial recognition
Friend or Foe?: The Mechanisms Behind Facial Recognition
by Mishen De Silva
What's in a face? Mishen walks us through the ingenious ways our brains make meaning of the faces we see everyday.
Human evolution
The Lost Link: A Mystery in Evolution
by Eymi Gladys Carcamo Rodriguez
The theory of human evolution conjures textbook timelines of ape to man, but as Eymi explores, biology has never been that simple.
Celebrity culture
Glowing Limelight, Fashioned Stars
by Aisyah Mohammad Sulhanuddin
Chronically online or not, society sure loves its stars. Aisyah investigates the messy sociology behind our relationships with celebrities in past decades.
Astronomy
Why Are We So Fascinated by Space? An Exploration of Human’s Fascination with Outer Space
by Emily Cahill
What make the night sky impossible to ignore? Emily uncovers how culture, commercialisation and science have fuelled our cosmic curiosity.
Prehistoric predators
Terror Birds: The Discovery of Prolific Hunters
by Jason Chien
Giant, flightless and carnivorous - Jason pieces together the rise of terror birds as fearsome apex predators
Psychology
A Psychological ‘Autopsy’ of Ludwig van Beethoven: Dissecting Genius and Madness
by Kara Miwa-Dale
Elusive and erudite, even beyond the grave. Dissect the inner world of Beethoven with Kara - when can we call genius, madness?
Fungi
Fungal Pac Man
by Ksheerja Srivastava
No matter how good of a gamer you are, Ksheerja
proves why biosensensing fungi should be crowned
as our worlds best Pac-Man player.
Dreams
In Your Dreams: Unpacking the Stories of Your Slumber
by Ciara Dahl
Where do our minds go every night? Ciara explores the mysterious science best theories behind dreaming
Neurology
Functional Neurological Disorder
by Esme MacGillivray
What if your nervous system just stopped working? Esme explains FND, and how it affects someone, beyond symptoms.
Slime moulds
Thinking Outside the Body: The Consciousness of Slime Moulds
by Jessica Walton
I think, therefore I am... a slime mould? Jess ponders whether this humble, single cell protist may exhibit conciousness without a brain.
Psychadelics
Life Story of a Drug
by Elijah McEvoy
From 'Bicycle Day' to brain receptors, Elijah takes us on a trip through the enigmatic origins, uses and psychadelic effects of LSD.
Gut microbiome
Microbic Mirror of The Self
by Sarah Ibrahimi
Microbes: Humanities greatest enemy or our best friend? Sarah explores the relationship between the gut microbiome and our health.
Infantile amnesia
Mental Time Travel: How Far Can I Remember?
by Sophie Potvin
Step inside the hippocampus, as Sophie illustrates the mechanisms of memory formation and our power to make the past come alive again.
Consciousness
A Headspace of One’s Own
by Andrew Irvin
At what point does a computer become conscious? Andrew delves into technology that blurs the line between artificial intelligence and the human brain.
Prejudice in Science
What Do Women Want?
by Madeleine Kelly
The question we should be asking is not what we know, but what we don't know about women.
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