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Their significance is often underestimated, but lets go back to 1919, when the theory of general relativity was verified by a solar eclipse. Lets remember Sir Arthur Eddington, who during the eclipse of 1919, observed the stars in the constellation of Taurus, and confirmed what Einstein predicted: that gravity bends light. Going back to the Ancient Greeks, solar eclipses certainly informed them for the fact that the Moon is closer to Earth than the Sun, and certainly they were very significant for their cosmological models in many different ways. An other interesting phenomenon is that the tides become stronger during the day of eclipse (since the Moon and the Sun align), and hence it is understood that people at that time had a strong belief in astrology, as they were unable to imagine that gravity exists not only on Earth, but also in the solar system. It was only Newton who demonstrated the universal nature of gravity in the Universe. In 1868, a solar eclipse allowed Pierre Janssen to discover the chemical element helium during a solar eclipse, by observing the spectrum of the Sun. He observed an unusual bright yellow line in the solar spectrum, which could only originate from a new chemical element, therefore the element was later named "helium", since it was first observed in the Sun, (from the Greek "Helios", which means "Sun"). Soon later, methods were developed to study the solar spectrum without an eclipse, but even so an eclipse simplified the things for the pioneers of Astrophysics, this new branch of Astronomy that today is so broad and fascinating. During a total eclipse of the Sun, Moon covers completely the solar disk. Stars may become visible in the sky and we can also observe the solar corona . Total eclipses occur thanks to a remarkable cosmic coincidence: Moon is 400 times smaller than the Sun, which is about 400 times further away hence they appear to have the same size on the sky. Space instruments in orbit around the Earth may create an artificial solar eclipse so that they can study the physics of the outer layers of the Sun. The corona is a focus of interest because it is the source of the solar wind that can affect satellites and Earth itself, especially through the irregular eruptions of energy called ‘coronal mass ejections’. There is a well known cycle of 11 years during which solar activity changes dramatically. With temperatures reaching more than a million degrees Celsius, the corona is also much hotter than the relatively cool 5500ºC surface of the Sun and is in the so called plasma state. Researchers seek ways to increase the corona’s visibility, chiefly through ‘coronagraphs’ – telescopes bearing discs to block out the direct light of the Sun. These are used both on the ground and in space, as aboard the veteran Sun-watching SOHO satellite.  Aiming for launch in late 2020, Proba-3 is not one but two small metre-scale satellites, lining up to cast a precise shadow across space to block out the solar disc for six hours at a time, and give researchers a sustained view of the Sun’s immediate vicinity. Thanks to the Earth's atmosphere, during a solar eclipse the temperature on Earth does not change significantly. However, during a solar eclipse as viewed from the Moon the temperature on the Moon may change 200 degrees ! The next total solar eclipse on Earth will occur on 26/12/2019. Below, you can see where it will be visible, invisible, or partially visible: The duration of the total eclipse will be 3 minutes and 40 seconds, unless you are willing to fly along the red line. The maximum will be at 5:14 GMT, and the Moon's radius will be 3% smaller than the Sun, which means that the eclipse might not be exactly visible as a "total eclipse". The variation in size is of course due to the elliptical orbit of the moon around the Earth. Talking more about the historical significance of eclipses, we must know that 4,000 years ago the Chinese king Zhong Kang beheaded two astronomers, who failed to predict an eclipse and also that Thales of Miletus predicted an eclipse that occurred during a battle between the Medes and the Lydians and as a result of the eclipse they declared peace. Today millions of people around the Earth travel thousands of miles to observe this mysterious and rare event, and none can be certain of what a solar eclipse could teach us in the future.

With the sale of new fossil fuel-powered cars banned from 2040, UK has made a huge leap forward to meet this new imperative goal, thanks to newly developed quantum sensors. This achievement may have a huge impact on environmental pollution as well as will accelerate the introduction of electric cars. Dr Kruger's team at the University of Sussex has been working hard on quantum sensing technology for the last years and they have just announced a new landmark achievement that is estimated to have a huge impact on automobile industry and future car performance. “For the first time, we’ve been able to measure the electric behaviour inside a car battery from the outside to see how well the battery is working, and to identify its state of health. Until now, the only way to see inside such a battery is to open it up. We achieved this by developing quantum sensing technology. Once applied to the battery, our sensors create an image which shows the health and state of charge of the battery. Our breakthrough will speed up the development of new electric car batteries because researchers will be able to identify what’s working well within their batteries, and what isn’t, in a much more efficient way. What we’ve done will also mean that electric car batteries are more recyclable. The working parts of the battery pack can be retained, while any faulty parts can be decommissioned or replaced.  This means fewer batteries will need to be discarded unnecessarily. This is also poised to be the first commercial application of quantum magnetic sensing.”  Dr Kruger mentions. Quantum sensing describes the the measurement of a physical quantity with a quantum sensor and involves measurements of very high accuracy. There is a huge number of quantum sensor applications such as atomic clocks, solid-state spin systems and electronic degrees of freedom and they are the most sensitive magnetic field detectors currently available.

Measurements from three recent experiments: the Planck Satellite, the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) are confirming the theory of general relativity as the correct theory of gravity at large scales, according to a recent publication: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.99.083512 General Relativity is the currently accepted theory of gravity. Albert Einstein published the relevant paper in 1915, and since then, starting with the solar eclipse of 1919, GR has passed every observational and experimental test, such as the gravitational waves discovery and the observed time dilation near stronger gravity (both being major predictions of the theory). According to GR, space and time are both dynamic quantities, that is there is a dynamic interaction between matter, energy and spacetime. Not only matter itself curves the spacetime, but also the curvature of the spacetime dictates the movement of matter. Let us look closer at the these experiments: 1. The project known as the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS), uses data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. Galaxies included in the survey are typically six billion light years away. Professor Ludovic Van Waerbeke, from the University of British Columbia, said: “It is fascinating to be able to ‘see’ the dark matter using space-time distortion. It gives us privileged access to this mysterious mass in the Universe which cannot be observed otherwise. Knowing how dark matter is distributed is the very first step towards understanding its nature and how it fits within our current knowledge of physics.” Dr Catherine Heymans, a Lecturer in the University of Edinburgh’s School of Physics and Astronomy, said: “By analysing light from the distant Universe, we can learn about what it has travelled through on its journey to reach us. We hope that by mapping more dark matter than has been studied before, we are a step closer to understanding this material and its relationship with the galaxies in our Universe.” Dr Christian Veillet, CFHT Executive Director, said: “This dark matter study illustrates the strong legacy value of the CFHT Legacy Survey which is now enabling exciting results obtained by teams from many nations which use the images retrieved from the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre where they are archived and publicly available”. Professor Lance Miller, from Oxford University said: “This result has been achieved through advances in our analysis techniques which we are now applying to data from the Very Large Telescope’s (VLT) Survey Telescope in Chile.” Professor Koen Kuijken, from Leiden University, said: “Over the next three years we will image more than 10 times the area mapped by CFHTLenS, bringing us ever closer to our goal of understanding the mysterious dark side of the Universe.” 2. DES was an international collaborative effort with a goal to map hundreds of millions of galaxies, detect supernovae, and in general explore the cosmic structure. The team of more than 400 scientists was using the 4 meter telescope at Cero Tololo Inter-American observatory together with a powerful 570 megapixel digital camera. Over 6 years the survey has recorded information about 300 million galaxies, billions of light years away from Earth, and thousands of supernovae. The survey ended on this January. 3. Finally, Planck was a space telescope from ESA. From 2009 to 2013, the telescope mapped the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at microwave and infra-red frequencies, with high sensitivity and small angular resolution. Since 1998, from landmark observations of distant supernovae, we know that the Universe is expanding with acceleration, and therefore the experiments were designed with intend to clarify the nature of dark energy, which is the driving force of acceleration. However, dark energy is just an extra term on the Einstein field equations. Modified gravity models exist, but their main success until now is near the quantum regime. At small scales, we certainly know that general relativity needs corrections or even replacement, but this is an other topic.

Only nothingness can be infinite. The Universe has to limited. It has to follow an intrinsic logic. Physics tries to understand what is the most basic principle of this logic. There are many books and scientific articles today that are talking about the expansion of space. We were always able to see a very small patch of the real Universe, however we were always keen to believe that what we observe is the whole Universe. There is also a multitude of very simple things that the human brain is unable to understand, but they would look immediately obvious to a much smarter alien. Just think that for thousands of years, humans were unable to understand that two objects of different weight were falling towards Earth with the same speed. One thought that has always fascinated me, and motivated me to keep studying physics with the greatest possible motivation and effort is that in everyday life, for every second that passes away, there are equally simple unsolved mysteries. In front of our nose there is the answer, but we are not smart enough to notice it. We certainly don't have the data for a tremendously large part of the Universe, but the Universe can't be so complicated as modern theories want it to be. There must still be many fundamental principles of nature that can be deduced from the data that are under our nose. We can't have the big picture of the Universe today, not only because we don't have the required data, but also because our brain is limited to understand. In my personal opinion, it would be more beneficial if all our efforts were aimed into understanding about intelligence and how we can make (with the intervention of technology) the human species smarter. It has been a very sobering thought for me, the idea that the intelligence of any person on Earth can be infinitely improved, in theory. It has led me into trains of thought that made me feel infinitely smart. It might appear that the content of this article is a personal opinion rather than science. However, science must be based on logic, and logic is necessarily a personal opinion. Should experimentation also be regarded as a personal opinion? I answer: without logic any experimental result is meaningless.

Looking at the quite night sky, one might think of the Universe is a peaceful place. However, our modern theoretical models of Astrophysics, as well as the whole army of modern space technology, and powerful telescopes, have all revealed to us a Universe full of the most mysterious and violent objects imaginable. Let us start our journey 13.8 billion years ago with most violent and mysterious event: The Big Bang. The whole Universe exploded. A theory of quantum gravity is essential for us to understand more, as well as more experiments are needed. Travelling fast into the future of the Universe, we can observe galaxies with huge black holes in their nuclei, such as galaxy M87. Perhaps the next most violent event would be the collision of two huge galactic black holes. This can happen as galaxies merge quite often, and their supermassive black holes collide with each other after dancing a cosmic tango. Below you can see a picture of the massive core of M87, which is a recent landmark discovery: Supernovae explosions are by far less violent events, but they are still one of the most violent events inside a galaxy. When they occur they become more bright than all the other stars of the galaxy combined together. Black holes and and neutron stars (pulsars) are formed after the death of a star with a supernova explosion. Today, we don't understand enough about matter to know of a mechanism that would prevent it from infinitely collapsing, under strong enough gravity (this is a black hole). Hence, a black hole is exactly an other mysterious object of infinite density, and violent behaviour. The tidal forces near a black hole tend to disintegrate matter into particles. The accretion disk of materials near many black holes emits x-rays, which would kill instantly any human. Neutrons stars and white dwarfs are also extremely violent and mysterious states of matter. Our sun will become a white dwarf in a few billion years, and life on Earth will become extinct. We must certainly agree that this is a violent event for the human standards. Observers from nearby stars, will know nothing about the hell of human extinction, they will only see a beautiful planetary nebula: Even at the scale of our solar system, there are many violent events. The beautiful comets with their tales and the spectacular meteor showers, are only relatives of the mysterious object that collided with Earth before 150 million years and caused extinction of life on Earth. The dinosaurs were killed together with the 2/3 of the forms of life on the planet. The object must have been an asteroid with a diameter of 16 km. The exact mechanism of extinction remains unclear. However it is certain that the object caused a disturbance of the natural balance of mechanisms on Earth. Temperature was too high for life to survive, and a cloud of materials probably covered the Earth, making it impossible for solar rays to vitalise the most life. Asteroids and comets are obviously objects of common origin, but they display different behaviour and intrinsic composition. When considering violent events we must also mention that the Moon was formed after a collision of the Earth with a massive planet. Materials were exploded into space and soon combined to form the Moon. In the early solar system collisions between planets was possible, but in our age they are impossible. However, we must still develop our technology to defend against a future and inevitable asteroid impact. Our bodies are made of chemical elements that were formed not during the Big Bang, but during supernovae events. Let us, embrace cosmic violence as a creative force for us. After all, we wouldn't be in existence today had the dinosaurs not become extinct.

Perseids are caused by the debris of the Comet Swift-Tuttle. Today the number of falling stars on the sky is estimated to reach a peak. Perseids is one the most spectacular wonders of the night sky for the amateur astronomer. The full Moon is there, but you can enjoy them together. However, the number of observed meteors will decrease to roughly the half, under the light of the Moon. They are called Perseids, because their radiant point on the sky is on the constellation of Perseus. It will not be hard to recognise Perseus, just look under the W of Cassiopeia: You must select a place away from city lights for your viewing. Let your eyes into the dark for 10 minutes and start observing! Sometimes, and especially when a comet has recently passed near the Earth, the meteor count can increase dramatically, however Swift-Tuttle has not recently passed near the Earth, so the debris behind him will be of ordinary density. The Leonid meteor shower (17 November), becomes extremely spectacular every 33 years, (since the orbital period of the comet is 33 years) exactly for this reason. Leonids and Perseids are widely considered the two most spectacular meteor showers every year. Leonids are produced due to the debris of the comet Tempel–Tuttle . Consider wearing hot clothes, and join us tonight to observe them together!

A single sheet of graphene that covers a football field, would weigh under 1 single gram! In comparison paper is 1000 times heavier than graphene. Although it consists of just a single layer of carbon atoms, graphene is indeed 400 times stronger than steel! Graphene is the strongest material ever discovered, yet it has amazing elasticity. There is still mystery around graphene and its extraordinary properties, and hence research is ongoing along with promising applications. However, we can guess that the carbon bonds between the carbon atoms of graphene must be indeed very strong! Nanotubes are one of the many applications of graphene. Sir Harry Kroto, received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of carbon C60 Buckminsterfullerene, (the building block for super-strong and highly conductible nanotubes). Today, there are many teams around the world developing nanotubes. Professor Alan Dalton's team is one of them. Their projects include smart clothing that can detect bodily functions, virtually indestructible yet incredibly thin smart screens and nanobarcoding for food packaging to ensure food safety. Dr Dalton highlights: “We are working with building blocks that are 50,000 times smaller than a single human hair. The real step change is in how we are now able to see them and manipulate them with the aid of atomic-force microscopes and electron microscopes.” One such nanomaterial is graphene, a honeycomb lattice form of carbon derived from graphite. First observed in 1962, it was produced in 2004 by physicists Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim, who received the Nobel Prize for their work in 2010. It also has transparency and is has electrical conductivity. The idea for a simple, wearable but wireless device made from graphene that could detect pulse and respiration rates came to Alan while making French salad dressing with his nineyear-old daughter. “She was amazed to see the little circle particles of oil, and it set me thinking about how we could use the principle to create emulsions in which tiny balls of graphene are suspended in oil and water. A simple and cheap-to-produce sensor like this could help prevent neo-natal deaths in remote communities in developing countries, it could also be used for dementia patients to detect dehydration, a common problem with the elderly, and remind them to have something to drink. Perishable foods and medications that have limited lifespans, or need to be kept at a particular temperature, can cause logistical issues for manufacturers and suppliers. Penicillin, in particular, must be kept below a certain temperature. If it’s being sent to a war zone, aid workers need to know that what they are administering is going to work. This could solve this challenge. Customers want to be assured that food has been stored correctly. These simple little indicators are almost impossible to counterfeit.” Dr Dalton says. Using silver nanowires and graphene, they have produced a screen that’s more flexible and less breakable. At the moment, touchscreens are made from a rare, mined metal called indium tin oxide, supplies of which are expected to be exhausted in just a few decades. He finally says: “There needs to be a new disruptor technology, and this nano graphene system could be that”.

Is it possible for us to travel backwards in time and change the course of history? Can we hope that one day we will travel into the future? Today, our expert team will answer these questions as there is probably still enough confusion on this hot topic. Unfortunately, or most likely fortunately, travelling into the future or back to the past is not possible. If it was possible, believe me, it would be a very unpleasant experience for us. What Einstein taught us is that there is no absolute time. Experiments have proven him correct. There are only two ways that we can play with time, but it would be unfair to call this game a real time travel. The first way is what Einstein called "Special Theory of Relativity or SR", and the second way is the "General Theory of Relativity or GR". According to the SR, time is relative with respect to the position, and according to the GR time is relative with respect to the position and gravity. If we therefore change our position, time will become relative. Time is also relative for different strengths of gravity. For a photon time freezes. The same is true for an object near enough a black hole. These are both examples of limiting values of position change and gravity strength. We know that it is impossible for a massive object to reach the speed of light (as this would require infinite amount of energy), but it is in theory possible to go near a black hole and slow down our time. However, in reality the tidal forces near a black hole would be so strong that would tear our bodies apart. In addition to that, our only advantage would be that we could go back to Earth or to an other planet, and find them to be far ahead in the future, since time in the meantime, time would flow faster there. However, we can still reach speeds such as the 9/10th of the speed of light, and cause a significant time dilation that will allow us to travel to other galaxies, and still be alive. Or we may even return back to Earth, and have effectively travelled into the future of Earth. With high enough speeds we may travel to other galaxies, millions of light years away. A practical and interesting question that needs to be examined here, is if the human body would be able to survive huge accelerations. However, even with a slow acceleration it will not take too long (compared to a human lifespan) to reach the speed of light. Conclusion: your only practical chance to time travel is to build a fast spaceship.

Is this the first step, for creating artificial intelligence? I am sure we will not have to wait too long to know! Researchers from various institutions around the world have built Spikeling : an artificial neuron! Although neural networks in the human brain are creating intelligence, even a single neuron is not to be confused with something simple. " Spikeling is an open source in silico implementation of a spiking neuron that costs £25 and mimics a wide range of neuronal behaviours for classroom education and public neuroscience outreach". Professor Baden said: “Spikeling is useful for anyone teaching neuroscience because it allows us to demonstrate how neurons work in a more interactive way.” It’s part of a growing range of equipment which uses DIY and 3D printable models to open up access to science education. All have been made openly available, with the design for Spikeling published on open access journal PLOS Biology. Finally, the researchers note: " Spikeling is based on an Arduino microcontroller running the computationally efficient Izhikevich model of a spiking neuron. The microcontroller is connected to input ports that simulate synaptic excitation or inhibition, to dials controlling current injection and noise levels, to a photodiode that makes Spikeling light sensitive, and to a light-emitting diode (LED) and speaker that allows spikes to be seen and heard. Output ports provide access to variables such as membrane potential for recording in experiments or digital signals that can be used to excite other connected Spikelings. These features allow for the intuitive exploration of the function of neurons and networks mimicking electrophysiological experiments." According to the best estimates, in the human brain there are 100 billion neurons, and each of those, has 40,000 synapses that connect it with other neurons. It is interesting to note here that a long-finned pilot whale has about 37,200,000,000 neurons in her brain. The whale is obviously not smarter than a human. The answer to why there is this such a huge number of extra neurons, is that the extra neurons are used mainly for controlling the huge body that it has, and not for intelligent thinking. Further research is required to dig deep into the mystery of consciousness and intelligent thinking. Perhaps, despite the complexity of the human brain, there is a very simple and elegant mathematical equation that can describe consciousness. Mathematicians and theoretical physicists must think hard, not only about the secret of their own thinking, but also about the secret to a Universal consciousness.

People often quote famous personalities, such as scientists, artists and writers in attempt to strengthen the validity of their arguments. However, the quotes are often out of place for a given situation. In my eyes individual quotes are rarely really wise. They remind me of a force without a specification on where it is acting on, or under what specific conditions, and therefore their regime of validity is limited. Furthermore, the Universe is very deep in a sense, so that it is really hard or even impossible for our most complicated thoughts to be correct. According to my understanding of the singular whole entity which we call "Universe", although it is true that there are people which we call "authorities", there can be really no authorities when we compare ourselves to the Universe. We are all very insignificant in a cosmic sense. We can't have an opinion on so many things, which unfortunately for us, also happen to be the most significant for us. For example: we don't now how to treat effectively so many deadly diseases. At the end of the day most of the quotes from Einstein that appear on the web, are probably just misinformation. Finally, in everyday life, none of us attempts to be rigorous in every single verbal sentence, as this would mean non-economical expenditure of energy. However, people will sometimes examine with their "whole brain" something that someone might have said with "half of his brain" working. The most simple and obvious statements are needless to be quoted as everyone knows that they are correct, however the less obvious ones, are also the ones with the highest uncertainty and probability of being wrong. Even so, I have selected 10 quotes from famous scientists. Start your day by getting inspiration from these inspired men: 1. "An Experiment, like every other event which takes place, is a natural phenomenon; but in a Scientific Experiment the circumstances are so arranged that the relations between a particular set of phenomena may be studied to the best advantage." James Clerk Maxwell This idea applies with equal significance to theoretical physics and is perhaps a wise strategy of thinking about various complicated elements of everyday life. The idea of the so called "boundary conditions" which are so important in theoretical physics is not unrelated in my own mind. One tries to create idealised systems and by studying their behaviour at limiting conditions we can gain insight about the intrinsic nature of their deeper logic. 2. " A God who rewards and punishes is for him unthinkable, because man acts in accordance with an inner and outer necessity, and would, in the eyes of God, be as little responsible as an inanimate object is for the movements which it makes." Albert Einstein As humans, we are part of the Universe and hence we follow the logical flow of the Universe. Hence, in a very specific sense, we are irresponsible for our actions. The quote of course, together with the book of Albert Einstein "The Cosmic Religion", from which it was taken, shows that Albert Einstein didn't believe in the common religions. For him the only religion was the harmony and the beauty of the Universe, and it was exactly this amazement that kept him working hard, despite so many inevitable hard obstacles and failures. 3. "Nothing is more practical than a good theory." Ludwig Boltzmann From a theoretical perspective experimentation seems essential, from an experimental point of view theory seems needless, but certainly without theory and logic, experiments would be of no significance. 4. "Rise above oneself and grasp the world" Archimedes This quote appears on the prestigious Fields Medal, a well known prize awarded every 4 years to the best mathematicians. At the end of the day there is no easy life for anyone on the Earth, and the struggle is inevitable. We all must be very respectful to those who with personal sacrifice have raised themselves significantly above their original skills to give us insights about the Universe. 5. " Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things." Isaac Newton Truth and Beauty are both singular, and they are identical in my mind. An intelligent mind by all means should see elegance and beauty, whereas the weak brain only understands chaos, in the place of the elegant structure (certainly a drama). Truth is an experience without previous experience. 6. " All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." Galileo Galilei This quote points to the previous quote by Newton, which in turn points to the simplicity and elegance of the Universe. At least now we should all know where to look for the truth. We should all get rid of a myriad of epicycles in our minds and replace them with an elegant elliptic orbit. 7. " An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field." Niels Bohr The idea maybe appears unpleasant to many people, but it is certainly more or less true for all humans. The history of Science is a proof of the statement. Don't ever be offended by arrogant teachers. 8. "You 've never heard of an English lover, only an English patient" James Watson That's not 100% true of course, but I would like to ask him if he thinks about genes or environment as the cause. 9. " My advice to other disabled people would be concentrate on the things your disability doesn't prevent you from doing well, and don't regret the things it interferes with. Don't be disabled in the spirit as well as physically." Steven Hawking After all, we are all disabled in the cosmic sense. Our senses and brain fail to capture the greatness in its entity, and the human body remains still in the cosmic scale. Looking things from a different perspective might ease the indisputable suffering of any illness, at least at an intellectual level. 10. "An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus is much wiser than most men." ― Charles Darwin I would also add, that monkeys would be much smarter than humans (alas only effectively), because they would never make World War 3, and pollute the environment.

Imperial's Physics department in terms of student satisfaction ranks at the bottom five universities in the country from 2017 to 2022. Imperial College's Department of Physics has consistently ranked as one of the bottom five physics departments in the country for student satisfaction, according to the National Student Survey, from 2017 to 2022. The department's poor performance is at odds with the high satisfaction rates of the rest of the college. Students have reported high workloads, tight deadlines, and overassessment, leading to stress and poor mental health. They also criticize the quality of feedback, teaching assistants, and laboratory demonstrators. The department's perceived reluctance to empathize with students and accept responsibility for its shortcomings exacerbates students' dissatisfaction. Students have reported feeling overwhelmed by deadlines, with some assessments scheduled on the same day. Even when individual lecturers are empathetic, there is a culture of obstinacy in the wider department. Some students avoid office hours, feeling they are too far behind to catch up, or because they feel there is no point in attending. Optional events to answer student queries are attended only by those who are already up to date with their work. As a result, students have started banding together to offer each other learning support. The department has been criticised for not taking its students' mental health seriously enough, with welfare events deemed insufficient. Some students have positive experiences with personal tutors, but others find their tutors apathetic and indifferent. The Disabilities Liaison Officer has been praised for her excellent support.

The autonomous flight of X-62A VISTA Aircraft was successful A significant milestone has been achieved in the field of autonomous aviation technology, as the "X-62A VISTA Aircraft" aircraft has successfully flown without a pilot using artificial intelligence (AI). Artificial intelligence (AI) was used to pilot a tactical aircraft for the first time during a test flight using the VISTA (Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft) vessel. The VISTA can simulate the characteristics of other aircraft while in the air. The test was conducted at the Edwards Base in California, operated by the U.S. Air Force. The VISTA aircraft used in the test is a modified version of the F-16D Block 30 Peace Marble II aircraft with upgraded components from the Block 40. The VISTA was developed by Lockheed Martin in collaboration with the Air Force and the Calspan company. Lockheed Martin, based in Maryland, has announced that it will continue to develop AI for the U.S. Air Force in 2023, with the ultimate goal of creating autonomous fighter jets The Phantom 16D Block 30 is a type of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used for reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition. The aircraft was equipped with advanced AI algorithms that enabled it to take off, fly, and land without human intervention. The successful test flight of the Phantom 16D Block 30 using AI represents a major breakthrough in the development of autonomous aviation technology. Autonomous systems have the potential to improve safety, reduce costs, and increase efficiency in various industries, including aviation. However, it's important to ensure that such systems are developed and implemented in a safe and responsible manner. The developers of the Phantom 16D Block 30 used rigorous testing and validation processes to ensure the safety and reliability of the aircraft's AI systems. The successful flight of the Phantom 16D Block 30 using AI is a significant step forward in the development of autonomous aviation technology. The continued progress in this field has the potential to transform the aviation industry and improve the way we travel and transport goods. In conclusion, the successful test flight of the Phantom 16D Block 30 using AI is a major achievement that marks a significant milestone in the development of autonomous aviation technology. While there are still challenges to overcome, the potential benefits of autonomous systems are significant, and the progress being made in this field is exciting to watch.