Wednesday 16th July 2025
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Rich countries are underperforming on conservation, Oxford study finds

Jacob Cheli
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Rich countries are underperforming on conservation, Oxford study finds

A new Oxford University research project has found that poorer nations are more active with regards to wildlife conservation than their better economically-developed counterparts.

Researchers from Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) partnered with Panthera, the world’s only organisation dedicated to protecting wild cats, to assess the level of commitment of individual countries to protecting wildlife.

The team created a Mega-Fauna Conservation Index (MCI) of 152 countries to assess their conservation footprint and created a benchmarking system which evaluated three key measures: a) the proportion of the country occupied by each mega-fauna species; b) the proportion of mega-fauna species range that is protected; and c) the amount of money spent on conservation relative to GDP.

African countries topped the list, with Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe leading.

The United States found itself at nineteenth, and a quarter of countries in Asia and Europe were classed as significantly underperforming.

Panthera research associate Dr Peter Lindsey, who led the collaboration, told Cherwell: “This is the first attempt to try to compare the conservation efforts of different countries. We need to be able to compare efforts to create a floating benchmark so that the average effort is pulled up, especially as mega-fauna populations are dropping.”

He added: “Mega-fauna act as a proxy for conservation efforts in general, hopefully in the future the study might be expanded to monitor marine conservation efforts.”

Professor David Macdonald, Director of WildCRU and co-author of the paper said: “Every country should strive to do more to protect its wildlife. “Our index provides a measure of how well each country is doing, and sets a benchmark for nations that are performing below the average level, to understand the kind of contributions they need to make as a minimum.”

The study also explains the reasons for this disparity in contributions to conservation. Mega-fauna are valuable assets and to many less affluent countries their existence provides both a national identity and an economic lifeline in the form of tourism, which provides a high proportion of the GDP of some African nations: for example in 2014, tourism contributed 17 per cent of Tanzania’s GDP.

Dr Dawn Burnham, also of WildCRU, said “What really matters is the idea we have developed, rather than the detail: countries can be ranked in their commitment to conservation, and each country can and should strive to climb the rankings—the details of how the rank is calculated can surely be refined in future, but the idea of the ranking will endure”.

Speaking about the future of the project, Dr Lindsey said: “We will be generally improving the study and making it as fair as possible. Our goal is to have an index that is published annually and the performance of countries regularly assessed.”

At the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, developed nations promised to allocate at least $2 billion (USD) per year towards conservation in developing nations.

However, current contributions from developed nations are just half of the proposed amount, $1.1 billion (USD) per year.

Cashew denies bankruptcy rumours

Theo Davies-Lewis
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Cashew denies bankruptcy rumours

One of the co-founders of the popular Oxford start-up Cashew has denied longstanding rumours that the company has gone bankrupt.

Cashew, a mobile app that enables users to send money from their debit card to another user’s account, can be used as a payment method in various Oxford shops and retailers, and expanded to other UK universities during Hilary term.

The expansion meant that the company have been incurring huge fees processing payments.

Despite introducing an ‘instant pay’ mechanism to curb these issues, Cashew wasn’t able to make enough revenue, meaning that the company had begun to run out of money.

In response, the app was removed from the Apple App Store for a short period.

Speaking exclusively to Cherwell, David Hsu, one of the co-founders of Cashew, insisted that the problems are only short term.

“We are a small team and we had to focus all of our efforts on raising money over Easter so that really affected our ability to perform timely withdrawals,” he said.

“We can only apologise to our users for all the inconvenience this must have caused.

“We have hired a team to help out with withdrawals and support messages so everything is back on track. And we’ve also switched to a different bank so withdrawals are faster and more reliable.”

Hsu, who has recently returned from a funding round in Silicon Valley, insisted that the company were in a “very strong position”, and have learned from their past mistakes.

In January, Cashew was caught up in a controversial payment debacle involving kebab vans in Oxford.

It was reported that students had been accidentally paying Hussein through the payments app for post-club kebabs bought from Broad Street’s kebab van, Hassan’s.

Hassan discovered that his customers had been misspelling or simply mistaking his name for that of a rival.

Mr. Hsu said that his team had made improvements to the system.

“In order to minimise costs, we have introduced a top-up system, so rather than us taking small amounts of money from your bank every time you want to pay, you can easily top up a bulk amount,” he said.

Wulfie Bain, President of Oxford University Athletic Football Club (OUAFC), said that the club were relieved to have Cashew as a payment method again: “When rumours spread that Cashew had gone bankrupt, OUAFC withdrew its funds from the app, just as many other people did.

“However, we’ve kept using the app and are delighted to hear that it’s back. At OUAFC we use it for everything, from subs payments to repaying players for transport. It makes my life a lot easier, enabling me to chase up late payments with the request function .”

Mr Bain added: “Every great startup has a few bumps in the road, so hopefully it’s only up for Cashew from here!”

However, not all Cashew users believe that the app can still be a success.

Jack Drury, a finalist at Gonville and Caius, Cambridge, told Cherwell: “I was always taught that if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

“Cashew initially seemed brilliant: free money, great interface, no charges, instant payouts. But difficulties soon emerged.

“A friend was unable to withdraw over £100 for several days despite paying for the guaranteed immediate service.

“It was impossible to get in touch with Cashew: a phone number I had been given had no response, and the in-app help was also non-responsive.”

“I managed to get in touch with the owner on Facebook via a mutual friend and the payment soon went through,” he added.

“The lack of ability to withdraw the money meant I paid my friend twice so the event could go ahead. Cashew is easy to use, but the problems getting hold of money mean I’ll be sticking to bank transfers, and others say the same.”

But Mr. Hsu told Cherwell that Cashew was here to stay.

“In 2019, there’s new regulation coming out, and that’ll allow apps like Cashew to hook into your bank account and directly debit the money, without any fees,” he said.

“Once that hits, we’ll be able to process money without any fees, and we’ll sell our mobile payments solution to coffee shops and other small merchants, and charge a much lower fee than debit cards do.

“I don’t think we’ll seriously be using debit cards 20 years from now, and hopefully Cashew will be the replacement.”

Breakthrough for Oxford University chemist

Selma Stearns
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Breakthrough for Oxford University chemist

The first synthetic retina made of soft materials has been developed by an Oxford University researcher, with potentially life-changing conditions for those with retinal conditions.

Vanessa Restrepo-Schild, a doctoral student and researcher at the Department of Chemistry, developed the synthetic retina made of water-based materials, the first of its kind.

Her study ‘Light-Patterned Current Generation in a Droplet Bilayer Array’ was published last month in the journal Scientific Reports. The retina is a composition of cells at the back of the eye.

Photoreceptors are cells which convert light into electrical signals, before they are communicated into the brain for further processing. It forms the first step in creating the picture of the scene around us is processing in the photoreceptors in the retina—effectively allowing us to see.

In degenerative retinal conditions, the photoreceptors are impaired but the rest of the eye is relatively healthy, so only the first step in the vision process is disrupted. In these cases, although light can enter the eye, it can not be transformed into images.

To simulate photoreceptors, the synthetic retina developed by Restrepo-Schild contains 16 droplets arranged in hydrogels and bacteriorhodopsin from microorganisms. When patterns of light are shown to the display, currents are generated at each biopixel, and recorded simultaneously in order to represent the original pattern of light. The system works like a camera, with cells detecting and reacting to light to create a greyscale image.

A University press release said: “The synthetic material can generate electrical signals, which might stimulate the neurons at the back of our eye just like the original retina.”

The journal article notes that this research is following 20 years of research work on bioelectrical imaging devices using bacteriorhodopsin. However, the only currently available synthetic retinas are made of hard materials such as silicon, which are much less comfortable and convenient.

The material of the implant is unique to the research. Her synthetic retina contains natural, biodegradable materials, and does not contain any foreign bodies or living entities. Therefore, it is more similar to human body tissues and is less likely to be rejected by a human body.

The new synthetic retina is a single device in which the light sensor and current generator are integrated, presumably with no need for a camera or antenna.

According to Restrepo-Schild: “The human eye is incredibly sensitive, which is why foreign bodies like metal retinal implants can be so damaging, leading to inflammation and/or scarring. But a biological synthetic implant is soft and water based, so much more friendly to the eye environment.”

Restrepo-Schild added that her motivation was not limited to just the eye, saying: “I want to take the principles behind vital bodily functions, e.g. our sense of hearing, touch and the ability to detect light, and replicated them in a laboratory environment with natural, synthetic components.”

The next step in the process is to see how this synthetic retina will perform as a bionic implant, and in the future, testing on animals and then humans, to one day improve the lives of those who can not see.

Universities warned over Brexit brain drain

Henry Straughan
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Universities warned over Brexit brain drain

The UK’s top universities are especially vulnerable to a potential exodus of European scholars in response to the UK’s exit from the European Union, new figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) suggest.

The research shows that 21 of the Russell Group’s 24 universities have a proportion of EU academics higher than the UK average. Moreover, EU nationals make up over a quarter of the academic staff at eight universities: including 26 per cent at Oxford and 27 per cent at Cambridge.

Uncertainty over the working rights of EU staff and their dependents after Brexit has led to concerns that European academics may exit the UK in large numbers.

In a recent report, the Commons Education Select Committee expressed fears that a Brexit “brain drain” would threaten the international competitiveness and long-term success of UK universities. The committee also called on the government to guarantee the rights of European university staff after Brexit.

The HESA research comes just weeks after a YouGov survey revealed that 76 per cent of European academics in the UK said they were more likely to consider leaving UK higher education as a result of Brexit. It was reported in the same survey that 90 per cent of UK academics believe Brexit will have a negative impact on the UK higher education sector.

The Russell Group, it is predicted, would be particularly susceptible to such an exodus. The Group has emphasised the benefits to British universities of the free movement of academics within the EU to the UK and has stressed the value of universities being able to recruit staff from the EU without having to negotiate the UK visa system.

The University of Birmingham, a member of the Group, recently warned that European universities are using Brexit as an opportunity to poach academics from the UK. Analysis from Times Higher Education shows there were around 1700 EU academic staff working at Oxford in 2015-16, up from the 1400 in 2012-15, with only University College London having a larger number of EU academic staff.

Speaking exclusively to Cherwell, Alastair Buchan, the University’s head of Brexit strategy, said: “Oxford’s non-UK EU staff members make an enormous contribution to the teaching, research and administrative activities of the University, and the continued uncertainty over their status and entitlement to remain in the UK is a significant factor for both them and the University.

“It would be no surprise, given the uncertainty about the future, if our EU colleagues were to be thinking about moving elsewhere within Europe. So—just as many others are doing—we would urge the government to settle this matter as quickly as possible.”

Fears over a Brexit exodus follow concerns that uncertainty and anxiety over the UK’s exit from the EU are preventing international students applying to UK universities.

It was recently reported that despite widespread opposition in the UK to general immigration remaining at its current rate, 58 per cent of Britons oppose a reduction in student immigration.

First-year English student Jorge López Llorente, who comes from Spain, suggested that Brexit “will impede lots of [international students] from applying” to Oxford, warning that Brexit is reinforcing perceptions of the British as nationalist and arrogant.

Llorente further noted that concerns over potential changes to the structure of fees and loans for international students are discouraging European applications, saying of a friend that he “may not be able to come to Oxford despite getting an offer because of the money”.

He added that mere rumours and misconceptions over Brexit are enough to deter international applications.

General Election will be battle of “life and death”, says Sanders

Maxim Parr-Reid
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General Election will be battle of “life and death”, says Sanders

Larry Sanders, brother of US Senator and former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination Bernie Sanders, has warned of a battle of “life and death” in the General Election, after the announcement that he will run as the Green Party candidate in Oxford East.

Oxford East, the constituency covering most of Oxford University’s colleges, has been held by Labour MP Andrew Smith since 1987. Smith recently announced that he will not be standing for re-election in June.

Sanders, a former councillor who has lived in Oxford for 47 years, said of the constituency: “Oxford East is one of the areas that understand[s] and hate[s] the growth of anti-minority politics, the rise of the Trumps, and the success of the Theresa Mays in making life harder for most of us.”

Speaking of his brother’s campaign for the presidency last year, Sanders said: “I am proud that my brother has become the most popular politician in America and a powerful opponent of Trump. A government has to work for all its people, not just the very rich. I have tried to do the same.

“We are in a battle that is literally life and death, and will not end with the election. “Britain is the most unequal country in Europe. Our politics has to change.”

The news that Sanders will run comes just days after the Green Party announced that they will not be putting up a candidate for election in Oxford West & Abingdon in June.

In 2015, the party received just under 2,500 votes. Cheryl Briggs, who had planned to stand as the Green candidate, said she would not do so in order “to put the greater good” before Green Party interests.

She also said Liberal Democrat Layla Moran offered “the best chance of beating the Conservatives”. Oxford West & Abingdon is a Conservative-held seat, having been taken from the Liberal Democrats in 2010 with a majority of 176 votes.

This was increased to 9,000 votes in 2015. The seat is estimated to have voted over 60% in favour of Remain in the European Union referendum and voted majoritively for the Liberal Democrats in the recent local elections.

Matthew Hull, President of Oxford Green Students, told Cherwell: “Local Greens decided that the constituency’s best interests were served by endorsing Layla Moran. Importantly, Layla herself promised to support policies crucial to the Green ethos: supporting electoral reform, opposing fracking, and opposing further privatisation of public services. I wholeheartedly support her candidacy in Oxford West & Abingdon.”

Joe Crossley, Senior Co-chair of Oxford University Liberal Democrats, told Cherwell: “Only Lib Dem candidate Layla Moran can beat the Tories in Oxford West, and, with so many people voting tactically to stop a Tory hard Brexit, the Greens’ decision to step down is very welcome.”

The Liberal Democrat candidate for the seat, who also stood in 2015, said: “I welcome the decision the local Green Party has taken to not stand a candidate in this election. We must put a stop to the Conservatives’ damaging hard Brexit and regressive cuts […] and I am more convinced than ever that with an alliance of voters from across the political spectrum, from the Greens to Labour and the moderate Conservatives, we can and will send a powerful message to Theresa May on June 8th and win this seat back.”

Oxford student dies in tragic bus accident

Jordan Bernstein
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Oxford student dies in tragic bus accident

Claudia Comberti, a 31-year-old doctoral student at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, was killed after colliding with a bus on Botley Road on Tuesday.

Detective Sergeant Gavin Collier said: “it is believed that the cyclist sadly fell from her bicycle just prior to the collision. Investigations remain ongoing to establish the cause of the incident, however we do not believe it was as a result of any interaction with another person or vehicle.”

Emotional tributes to Comberti poured in on Wednesday, as a group of more than 100 cyclists rode from Carfax Tower to Seacourt Park and Ride. They were wheeling an empty white bicycle, which together with flowers was placed at the site of the crash.

Sam Chapel, a friend of Comberti’s, said: “There were so many friends that wanted to do something, we thought that was the right thing to do.There were huge crowds. When I looked around at one point I thought it looked like a mini festival. It must have been quite a spectacle.”

Before beginning her DPhil, Camberton had previously worked as a Forests and Wellbeing Researcher at the Global Canopy Programme.

According to the Oxford School of Geography and the Environment, Comberti’s research focused on the “adaptation to climate change in Amazonian Indigenous communities, and the role of human ecosystem interactions and biocultural diversity in supporting resilience and positive responses to environmental change.”

Speaking about her loss, Comberti’s partner, Lucille, said she was a “lovely person” who “still had so much life.

“She knew what she wanted and she was really playful at the same time. She was really restless but she loved being here in Oxford even though her home was in the jungle.”

Phil Southall, managing director of the Oxford Bus Company, said that pursuant to the crash, the bus driver in question was being treated for shock. He further said that it was “far too early to speculate” regarding the cause of the crash. Southall said his company was also helping Thames Valley Police with their investigations.

Police are still appealing for witnesses of the collision, estimated to have taken place at 2.45pm on Tuesday 11 May.

Oxford Bus Comapny has been contacted for comment. The University did not wish to make a statement.

“Rapid deterioration” of finances in Oxford University Hospitals

Theo Davies-Lewis
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“Rapid deterioration” of finances in Oxford University Hospitals

Oxfordshire’s hospital bosses have warned employees that there will be a “rapid deterioration” of finances after Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) revealed it had overspent by £24m from 2016/17.

A statement from the Hospitals’ Chief Executive Bruno Holthof, Chief Executive to the trust’s 12,000 staff, said that “immediate and significant” change was needed, and that there were actions in place to “control both staff pay and non-pay expenditure”.

Since he released the statement, Dr Holthof has confirmed the measures would not affect current employees, but agency staff.

A report into the trust’s financial performance, which includes the John Radcliffe, the Churchill, the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury, found that it had overspent on staff pay by £5.5 million and £19 million on non-pay-items such as medical supplies and stationery.

The report also listed a number of reasons for the overspend, including a savings shortfall of £13.6 million, increased expenditure to reduce the number of delayed transfers of care patients, and a rise in urgent patient referrals in the winter.

While the trust has promised to impose stricter controls on expenditure and focus more efforts to employ more staff on its payroll, a health watchdog announced plans to keep a close eye on the new measures.

Dr Holthof told The Oxford Times: “The trust is strengthening cost controls in the organisation in order to redirect the spending on delivering patient care.

“These measures do not affect the staff employed by the trust but will affect agency staff. We will accelerate the recruitment of medical and nursing staff on our payroll in order to reduce our monthly expenditure on agency staff.”

Non-pay expenditure should have been at £357.6 million but increased to £375.2 million throughout the year.

Rosalind Pearce, Executive Director of Healthwatch Oxfordshire, said: “This is a significant overspend, and we recognise that the management of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is going to have to make some difficult decisions in order to address it.”

Chairwoman of Patient Voice Jacquie Pearce-Gervis said: “This is obviously very disappointing news. Patient Voice hopes that the control measures being put in place will not affect patient care in any way.”

Opt in for lower battels—Wadham SU

Mia Millman
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Opt in for lower battels—Wadham SU

Wadham Student Union will next week hold a referendum on a proposal to implement an opt-in subsidy to reduce the college fees for low-income students.

The referendum proposes a Self-Selection Options (SSO) method of allocating a rent subsidy. This would give students the choice to anonymously opt-in to receive a subsidy on rent, and it will not be means tested.

If students vote in favour of the initiative, Wadham students will be given the choice between two rent options when signing contracts for college rooms. Students will have the option to check a box requesting a lower rent rate which will be accompanied by broad guidelines regarding the intent of the subsidy.

The scheme would pay for itself, with the higher default rent option being slightly above the average room rate and the lower rate slightly below.

Wadham students currently pay a flat rate for their rooms. The internal subsidy is to act as an alternative to changing this system to one organised into bands. It also aims to help relieve the financial burden for self-selecting low income students.

Those behind the initiative are predicting roughly 30 per cent of Wadham students opting in for the subsidy. If this prediction is correct, it would result in a decrease of £120 per student on the lower option and an increase of £50 per student on the default option.

The scheme will operate on a sliding scale depending on how many people choose to opt in for the subsidy. If a higher percentage of students choose to opt in, the subsidy will be reduced. This prevents the rent for those choosing the default option to increase by more than the specified maximum amount of £50.

Ellery Shentall, Wadham Student Union Vice-President told Cherwell: “It has been ensured that the differences between room prices will never be so large as to make differences so overt that they become divisive, but will nonetheless remain significant for those who opt in.”

A motion was passed to hold a student-wide referendum rather than just pass the initiative through a regular meeting. The reasoning behind this, as stated in the motion, is that “the SSO is a controversial measure that has material impacts and warrants being taken to referendum”. Implementation requires the support of 50 per cent of those who vote.

Lucas Bertholdi-Saad, Wadham Student Union President, proposed the subsidy and referendum. Speaking to Cherwell about the initiative, Bertholdi-Saad said: “I think it is a great experiment… Wadham has a really great feeling of student community and solidarity and I hope this is a way for Wadham students to come together and provide support to those who feel they need it.”

This move comes a week after OUSU mandated the creation of a Student Union ‘Class Act’ Campaign, which has set up a committee “open to all OUSU’s student members who self-identify as working class, low income, state comprehensive school educated, or a first-generation student”.

One of the co-chairs of the recently announced committee, Ellery Shentall, is a student at Wadham. Speaking to Cherwell on the SSO initiative, Shentall said: “I think it is a positive move to allow for differentials in the amounts people pay for rooms, not in relation to a college-dictated room ‘quality’, nor in relation to problematic and often arbitrary means-tested measures of a students’ ability to pay, but rather in relation to the perception a student has of their own circumstances.”

Both Bertholdi-Saad and Shentall are aware of the possible problems of the subsidy not being means tested, however have chosen not to dwell upon the potential for abuse. Speaking to Cherwell, Shentall said: “This system is imperfect, and potentially open to people accepting a subsidy who are far from needing one. However, the expectation is that this won’t be a widespread problem.”

If Wadham students vote in favour of the change in the referendum scheduled for Wednesday, the Self-Selection Options initiative is likely to be implemented in the next academic year.

Keep your ket use quiet online, says Exeter College

Lucy Enderby
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Keep your ket use quiet online, says Exeter College

Exeter College students have been warned against publicising their use of the Class B party drug ketamine on social media, in an email from a Junior Dean.

Michelle Hufschmidt sent the email to Exeter College undergraduates, in which she said: “Exeter students have alleged to ketamine use on public Facebook groups.

“This means your comments can be seen by anyone, including your friends, tutors, and fellows of the College. It can also be seen by future employers, which is especially important for those studying law or medicine.”

The email also reminded students: “It is a criminal offence to use, manufacture, offer, sell, or give, any drug, the possession and use of which is forbidden”, and urged those struggling with drug-related issues to seek medical and psychological support.

Although ketamine is licensed for use in the UK as an anaesthetic, it is banned for recreational use.

This allegation comes in light of the increasing popularity of ‘Oxfess’, ‘Oxlove’ and ‘Oxfeud’ pages on Facebook. These allow students to anonymously post about things which they love, have been annoyed by, or want to confess to. It is alleged that Exeter students have been tagged by their friends on posts and memes on these pages that relate to ketamine use.

Students have hit back at the email, claiming that the Facebook posts were merely jokes. In response to the email, an Exeter student told Cherwell that the Junior Dean “should recognise a joke when she sees one”.

Following the email, which was sent on Wednesday, Exeter’s own college Facebook page has been awash with memes mocking the message.

Hufschmidt told Cherwell in response that “it is a Junior Dean’s responsibility to take seriously any suggestion of students’ drug use.

“The College would far prefer to make the mistake of missing a joke than to err by ignoring a potential student drug problem.”

Ketamine, when used recreationally, reportedly gives users a ‘floating or detached feeling’. Some feel as if their mind and body have been separated, which is often referred to as ‘entering the K-hole’. The drug is linked to memory impairments and long term bladder damage, and to more than 90 fatalities in England and Wales between 2005 and 2013.

But students have spoken out about the benefits of using ketamine on nights out.

A Mansfield undergraduate student told Cherwell: “Exeter College need to get off their high horses. Sure, some students may find themselves in a hole if their future employers caught a sniff of what they were doing, but it should be up to the students to draw their own line on what to post online.” An Exeter student who received the email said that “a good key on a night out really hits the spot”, referring to the method of snorting the drug from a key for ease of use in nightclubs.

A Chemistry student added: “Ket is great. It combines well with everything. MDMA and ket, booze and ket, ket and ket, et cetera.

“Given that clinical trials of everyone’s favourite ketone and amine combo have just begun at our very own university probing its potential as an antidepressant, and that Oxford’s mental health provision is often rather lacking, this is a disappointing step.”

An Oxford University study, conducted over six years with more than 1000 patients, showed that 42 per cent of patients with treatment resistant depression reported positive effects of ketamine use.

Speaking to Cherwell, the sub-rector of Exeter said: “A student posted a comment on social media about ketamine use.

“It is understood this was written purely in jest, but a college has a responsibility to take seriously any suggestion of drug use and we felt it was appropriate to remind students that it is illegal to possess or use ketamine, that posting comments about it on social media has the potential to restrict future employment opportunities, and that support services are available for anyone concerned about drug issues.”

In a statement, Oxford University said: ” The University is always concerned when any use of illegal substances comes to light, although there is no evidence that the problem is any greater at Oxford than in any other community of young people.

‘All students are given information about the long-term health consequences of drugs misuse and the likely serious effect on academic studies. Information is also made available about where students can turn for help.

“Clearly, the misuse of such drugs is illegal and the University and Colleges have a firm disciplinary framework forbidding their supply, possession and use. However, for a small number, the misuse of drugs can also become a serious health problem and the university and colleges recognise the need to address this with pastoral support.

“For this reason, they provide easily accessible, confidential support through the College Doctor system and the University Counselling Service. Both these professionally staffed services are able to refer students to specialist help where necessary and to support anyone who wishes to try and overcome their problem.”

Nature showcases its true colours

Laura Steel
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Nature showcases its true colours

The iridescent greens, blues and reds found throughout the animal and plant kingdoms are one of the most beautiful accidents of evolution. The striking colours found in a peacock’s feathers or painted on the exoskeleton of the jewel beetle are as a result of a phenomenon known as structural colouration. Working alongside pigmentation but separate in base, structural colouration has arises through random mutations in organism’s genome – altering the conformation of tiny cellular components like keratin and cellulose. The complex nanostructures which have been created range from helices to pockets and grooves. It is the varying ways by which these structures interact with light that causes these striking colours, resulting in the complex and beautiful examples we see across nature today.

What has been described as the “brightest biological substance” owes its intense blue appearance to this very same mechanism. Despite being over 40 years old and long dead , the fruits of Pollia condensate, known as the “Marble Berry”, cannot let go of their iridescent hue. This longevity is due to the fact that the colouration is caused not by degradable chemicals such as pigments, but by a microscopic landscape of cellulose microfibrils. In 2012 the thick walls of the fruit cells were found to contain cellulose helices, each layer rotated slightly more than the former. Blue light is selectively reflected, at up to 30 percent, due to the distance between most of the helices being the same as the wavelength of blue light. But the iridescence, with its subtle hints of red and green, is produced due to slight variations in this distance – reflecting small amounts of red, green and purple wavelengths.

Plants aren’t the only ones capable of iridescence. Structural colouration has evolved in the animals several times independently – including multiple times in insects, as well as in birds, fish, reptiles, cephalopods and at least once in mammals, in the Mandrill.

Hapalochlaena lunulata, the Greater Blue-Ringed Octopus, may have come to stardom when being used in the James Bond film Octopussy, but it was actually discovered and named over a century earlier in 1832. It is famous in-part for its relatively unique ability to change colour rapidly, a concept known as dynamic iridescence. When resting it appears a pale brown colour with faint blue rings, but when stressed it transforms as iridescent blue rings glow out against the brown.

The mechanism for this is based on pigment-containing cells called chromatophores, but even so they can be manipulated in a structural way. By coordination of the muscle and nervous systems the Octopus’ chromatophores can alter their physical size and shape, manipulating the way in which the light reflects off the pigment.

The venomous greater blue-ringed octopus displays it’s striking iridescence

In the case of the Greater Blue-Ringed Octopus, colouration is used as a way of warning potential predators that they possess a powerful and paralysis-causing-neurotoxin, called tetrodotoxin, which can kill a human with a single one bite. However, structural colouration can also be used for communication, distraction and attraction. Pollia condensata berries draw in birds, with the sparkling blue flashing in the light as they fly towards it.

If one allows for generalisation, colour can be said to have evolved for different purposes in different groups. Birds often use it to assist with the task of finding a mate, whilst insects rely on chemical interactions, allowing them to instead use colour for camouflage – like in the distinctive morpho butterflies whose wings melt into the sky in ethereal swathes of blue as they fly overhead.

Structural colouration is thought to have evolved around 541 million years ago during a time known as the Cambrian explosion, yet the mechanisms and functions continue to change even in the present. The past century saw the emergence of the field of Biomimicry – the science of using biological processes as inspiration for new technology. The nanostructures controlling colour in butterfly wings and beetle exoskeletons are being used as the basis for new types of “never-fading” paints as replacements for toxic lead-based concoctions. These paints retain their colour for years, as they should: 49-million-year-old beetle fossils that have been unearthed still possess the same iridescent glow. This reflects just how important it is to understand the mechanisms of biology, not only out of respect for our wildlife’s incredible diversity, but also in an effort to make improve our societies by taking inspiration from biological innovation.

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