Photo courtesy Drexel University

Drexel University’s freshman dining plan is a scam. Students pay thousands of dollars a year, in exchange for dining options that leave them both wanting and needing more.

Since my first term at Drexel this fall, I have found myself spending tons of extra money on food beyond the dining plan since there are not many options offered at the dining halls and those that are available do not cater to my needs.

The food options provided by Aramark within Drexel’s freshman meal plan are limited. Urban Eatery only has one station, which rotates its food options and a few others with options that  never change. The consistent options are either unhealthy or boring: pizza, burgers, pasta, sandwiches and salad.

In order to stay healthy, our bodies require variety. Being such, it’s not possible to sustain them   on Urban Eatery’s food options alone. Since Drexel is a diverse community consisting of students from around the world, it is not surprising  that rotating food options do not always appeal to all students. Nevertheless, devoid of a variety of options, these students are forced to eat the consistent food options, which let’s be real, do not taste that great. If there’s any place that knows how to mess up something as simple as a burger, it’s Urban Eatery.

The Handschumacher Dining Center also features rotating food options, which are rarely healthy, forcing students to resort to eating salad and sandwiches for every meal in order to stay healthy. As mentioned before, this system does not provide our bodies with variety, which does not allow us to be fully healthy and nutritional.

Both the Hans and Urban Eatery also have inconvenient hours of operation.

Hans is only open till 7 p.m. on most weekdays, and till 2 p.m. on Fridays, and completely shuts down on the weekends.

Urban Eatery is open until 8 p.m. every day of the week. The only dining options left after 8 p.m. on any given day is Northside Dining Terrace, which only accepts Dining Dollars. This dining facility charges higher than normal prices for food from Subway, Chick-fil-A and the Market, causing students who get hungry after 8 p.m. to quickly use up their Dining Dollars.

After freshmen use up their Dining Dollars, they do not have any options covered by the dining plan for food after 8 p.m. This causes students like me to spend extra money on food that should be provided through the couple-thousand-dollar dining plan each freshman is forced to pay for.

Drexel’s freshman meal plans are set up for the food provider’s profit rather than to provide students with reasonable dining options. Meal swipes, which can only be used at Hans and Urban Eatery, are limited to 3 per day during certain time slots. And, for example, if you do not use a meal swipe during the first time-slot, you are only allowed two meal swipes for the rest of the day.

This system makes it impossible for students to use up their meal swipes. Basically, students are paying for meal swipes that they inevitably waste due to the meal swipe hours. The most common reason students miss the meal-swipe times slots is because of class scheduling conflicts. Students should not have to plan their day according to meal-swipe time slots and live in constant worry of using up meal swipes.

When you’re living life on the meal plan, it can be easy to forget that Philadelphia is a very culturally diverse city with a wide range of food options. Students should be able to take advantage of these options.

Food trucks are scattered around campus and other good options are also within walking distance. I think students should be able to spend their money on the food they choose, rather than being forced to spend their money on a dining plan that leaves them wanting more and giving students the ability to spend their money on food options they like would be beneficial to  the freshman class’s health and well-being.

Good food is something we need to get through the day and having to eat boring, repetitive daily meals does not help with the stress every Drexel student faces.  The 10-week quarter system is overwhelming enough and students should not have to worry about their meals as much as they worry about exams.

Hunger is a basic physiological need. It should not be taken advantage of for a business scheme. Aramark, the health and well-being of students should be your priority, not something you write off in the name of profit.

Unsplash: Pixabay

The concept of freedom envelops what we classify as the “college experience.”

Being away from home leads to limitless opportunities and independence, and this transition is one most people look forward to as they move away and begin college. The sense of being free and finally on our own can have an appealing illusion at first, but that slowly starts to disintegrate once the autonomy incorporates itself with everyday life. It becomes less exhilarating and more nonchalant.

As the thrills cease and reality sets in, what takes the place of the freedom is a different kind of homesickness. A homesickness where we wish we had utilized our time at home differently to form a stronger bond with our parents and not be so insistent on escaping so quickly.

For many people, college is a time where the relationship between them and their parents takes an unexpected turn. Physical distance usually implies a distance in connection as well. Moving away may mean leaving home, but also leaving behind certain bonds to form new ones. In the case of parents, however, these rules don’t seem to apply.

Where we expected to grasp at every possible opportunity of freedom, we instead find ourselves wanting a chance in between the load of work to just call home. The sentiment of independence vanishes quickly only to reveal that more than ever, we want to be able to talk to our parents, tell them about our day, and get the advice that we always used to avoid.

No matter how long you have lived in a certain place, sometimes it can never compare to the comfort of home and being surrounded by a loving spirit. Work can get to be too much, personal issues can build up or sometimes it may just be loneliness. That’s when we realize that our parents are always there.

This concept grows stronger as the years go on and during my 6 months away from home, this inclination has become very prominent.

College teaches us the ways of the world in more ways than one and it allows us to delve on the fact that the reason we are able to do many of the things that we are doing is because of our parents. They have played such an integral role in our life that the distance forces us to come to the conclusion that we really haven’t taken advantage of our time at home to make an effort and talk to our parents. It’s always been the simple talks about how the day went or school but the realization of their sacrifices or the willingness to share things never occurred back then.

Returning home to visit holds a more meaningful connotation now. It’s about trying to establish the bond that we were never able to before and reminisce on old memories. It’s about actually talking to them to let them in on the occurrences of our lives and get the help that they’ve always wanted to give us but we never accepted. It’s about understanding just how grateful we truly are for their presence.

Our newfound independence reflects the fact that we are in a new stage of adulthood and we are worthy of freedom. This bridges the parent-child gap and allows us to form a more significant connection where we come to understand how similar we are to our parents. Honesty and trust find their way into this relationship. Whether we need them now to just talk, to get advice, to de-stress or for emotional support, they will be there.

Our parents miss us just as much, if not more, than we miss them once we leave for school. These sentiments translate into the ultimate bond and connection we form with our parents in the end.

College entails new experiences and opportunities. We learn a lot about ourselves that we never realized and we grow as individuals. One of the most valuable lessons we learn is that our parents have always been there even when we didn’t seem to need them and now more than ever, they want to be there for us.

Being away from home does not mean leaving behind our parents to become our own people; rather, they can help us grow into the people we aspire to be. The truth of the matter is that we do a lot in college and we become new people, but what remains static is our parents. College allows us to appreciate all that they’ve done and form the bond that we have always craved. Our parents have always been there and now more than ever we have internalized it and reciprocated the connection.

I was told six years ago that I had Asperger’s syndrome. Up until that point, I subconsciously knew that I was different in some sort of way. Making friends, for me, wasn’t easy. I couldn’t relate to those around me on an emotional level and, frankly, I didn’t really feel the need to.

Since my diagnosis, I have dedicated much of my time since trying to learn as much as I could about my disorder. Once I was able to look past the stigma and stereotype that surrounds Asperger’s and autism, I was able to conclude that life would never be the same after I learned about my condition.

Because Asperger’s and every autism spectrum disorder affects everybody in a different way, I can only speak about my own experience with it and not the other 3.5 million Americans affected.

Asperger’s is often confused as being “high-functioning autism.” However, we know from plentiful research that this is not the case. Asperger’s is classified by psychiatrists as an autism spectrum disorder, a diverse group characterized by social difficulties, repetitive behaviors and, at times, speech and nonverbal communication issues.

There are numerous differences between someone with Asperger’s and a high-functioning autistic. For example, someone with Asperger’s won’t have major language delays, or even a speech delay. It’s just the general rhythm of how the person would speak that could differ. High-functioning autistics would experience speech delays. Common symptoms such as hypersensitivity to outside stimuli such as bright colors and smells would also be less severe in those with Asperger’s rather than those with high-functioning autism. The dissimilarities go on and on.

While the description above describes Asperger’s and autism in a diagnostic sense, I’ve found that the diagnostic way of viewing the autistic spectrum is very generalized and doesn’t take into account the variety in behavior from person to person.

Some feel the need to stick to a routine, rather than inject spontaneity into their lives. Some display different physical manifestations, such as the flapping of the hands that serves as a calming mechanism from hypersensitivities, while others display none.

Saying that Asperger’s and high functioning autism are the same thing, therefore, barely scratches the surface and does not truly represent how people with Asperger’s think and feel. You might as well say that shyness is mild social anxiety disorder.

As dissimilar as they are, there are some major similarities between the two, hence why they are classified on the same spectrum. Both involve the stereotypical behaviors we have all seen and heard about thousands of times, such as the lack of emotional awareness, and basic social skills such as looking people in the eye and learning to hold a dialogue rather than a monologue.

I myself have been struggling with this all of my life, especially considering that I have a memory that can remember a trunkload of information but cannot seem to remember faces, even if I’ve seen them the day before.

Picture this: I’ve gone to see “Hidden Figures” with, let’s say, fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. I would probably remember more about the movie than about Lagerfeld’s face, and as such, would have difficulty conversing with someone about the experience and choose to talk excitedly about the movie leading, to a completely one-sided conversation.

Even the trunkload of information can be a major pain. With all the information that I have stored, not only can I not remember faces, I cannot use that knowledge when I need it most, for example, in an exam situation where I have to sit down and focus specifically on that piece of knowledge.

Why? Because a typical memory contains a chain that is very easy to follow and is very difficult to get off track. Mine is a memory that has no chain that can be followed, and, as such, can go completely off the rails even if I desperately need to remember something. It can also become a major problem in conversations with others, where attention to detail is key.

For instance, if you told me about a dancer named Michael that you met at a party the night before, it would appear that I’m listening, but, in actuality I’m thinking of Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and his defection from the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Then, in a matter of seconds, my mind would transition into replaying a song from “Rocky IV,” because the villain was a Soviet boxer played by Dolph Lundgren, who played He-Man in “Masters of the Universe,” which would, in turn, trigger the question of why a master’s degree comes before a doctorate.

Theoretically, this could continue for hours and hours if no one breaks my concentration.

On top of this, the traditional way of taking a test (sitting down and writing with a pencil) proves problematic, because not only can I not sit still for long periods of time, but a lack of fine motor skills also prevents me from writing for long periods. Again, I have attended occupational therapy, as well as doing wrist exercises every day to make sure this is less of a problem.

Despite all of these challenges that Asperger’s brings, I feel like one of the lucky ones. I am one of those on the spectrum who was not robbed of a voice and who can communicate with those who don’t understand what it is like to be on the spectrum. I can blend into almost any crowd and no one would know what I have. But I know that there are others who are not as lucky as I am.

Of the 3.5 million Americans diagnosed on the spectrum, about 40 percent will never speak. Some of that 40 percent, if not treated correctly, will become the stereotypical autistic person, making incoherent noises and flapping their hands, while others will quietly show their genius.

In my early development, I could not do things that everybody could do, such as eat a slice of pizza. The smells and textures were so overpowering that my mom would literally have to either sit down on top of me to eat it or pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (my favorite as a kid) when we went out to a restaurant. Now, not only can I eat pizza, but I have gone across the world and eaten things that not many people would be open to eating like mushrooms, tofu and chicken feet.

I think people often see autism and its related disorders as a disability, a weakness, but I see it as my greatest strength. It has given me the opportunity to understand the basic constructs of my humanity, to explore the foundations of emotion and to see a viewpoint that others might easily dismiss. If someone were to come up to me and say, “I can trade your Asperger’s for a chance at a normal life,” I would say no.

I couldn’t see myself any other way.

Jynto: Wikimedia Commons

The Dental Institute of King’s College London discovered that tideglusib, an experimental drug designed to treat Alzheimer’s, can also be used to help teeth regenerate.

Tideglusib is a GSK-3 beta inhibitor, which means it binds to receptors on Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 molecules in the brain and prevents them from carrying out their intended function. One function of GSK-3 is that it targets cells for destruction after reacting with the protein beta-catenin. In Alzheimer’s patients, the brain contains too much beta-catenin (among other molecules) and therefore is in excess, able to react more with GSK-3 and induce degradation in far too many cells. When tideglusib binds to these receptors instead, it is no longer possible for beta-catenin to bind.

However, another function of GSK-3 is that it prevents dentine — the bone-like, calcium-heavy tissue in human teeth — from growing from stem cells after teeth have been damaged by cavities. Therefore, when a dental patient with cavities takes the drug, their GSK-3 receptors are also inhibited and their brain no longer produces a signal telling their teeth stem cells not to become dentine cells. Dentine begins to grow again in the body, and teeth are able to heal themselves, filling the entire cavity gap and behaving just the same as the patient’s original teeth.

Although this drug showed definite potential as an Alzheimer’s treatment, now, when researching tideglusib, almost every search result is related to its newfound potential as a tooth repair drug. Which is definitely a fascinating concept — the idea that the same chemical can have two separate, incredibly helpful effects on the body, both of them seemingly unrelated, can’t just be an amazing coincidence.

This could potentially teach us a lot about how the brain works, since it’s possible that the same process that stops damaged teeth from being able to repair themselves also stops certain neural pathways in Alzheimer’s patients from being able to repair themselves.

But even though there are incredible research implications here, I don’t think we should lose sight of the original purpose of the drug. Over 5 million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer’s and as the cause of the disease is unknown, it’s very difficult to prevent. It also affects the patient’s entire life after diagnosis as well as the lives of those close to them, who then become their caregivers. The illness is chronic and currently untreatable, with quality of life dropping sharply for sufferers in the later stages.

On the other hand, tooth decay is something we already know plenty about, and there’s a lot of education and free information available discussing how to prevent it. Avoiding sugary foods plus brushing and flossing your teeth dramatically reduces the risks of tooth decay. Even when teeth do develop cavities and fillings are required, having a filling inserted is a relatively painless process, taking just a few minutes under a local anaesthetic. Fillings may need to be replaced if they begin to cause pain or discomfort, but this usually does not happen for many years after the original filling, and is certainly not life threatening. The cost of fillings is almost nothing in comparison to the many tests, doctors’ visits and drugs required by an Alzheimer’s patient.

Therefore, to me, it’s clear that we should be focusing first and foremost on the potential uses of tideglusib to help Alzheimer’s patients. The fact that the drug can also be used to treat tooth decay is a great scientific finding that will help future Alzheimer’s research and which should definitely be considered for dental applications, but considering more than two in five Americans (including me) have a family member who suffers from Alzheimer’s, I don’t think it’s possible to justify putting these new potential uses above the drug’s original intention.

Rebecca LaQuaglia: The Triangle

Everyone loves a stroll through Drexel University’s Quad — and the fact that it’s one of the few places to find green grass on campus. But what’s better than that is the quick access it provides among the academic buildings that make up the central hub of Drexel’s campus.

Every second counts when you’ve got seven minutes to get from a Psych 101 lecture in Nesbitt Hall to Physics in Disque Hall. The Quad is there to ensure you arrive in time to sign the attendance sheet.

But lately, the convenience and pleasant realty that is typically the Drexel Quad has turned into something that more closely resembles a jumbled nightmare. With the announcement of an $8 million gift from the Korman Family Foundation and plans to renovate and expand the space into the newly-named Korman Quadrangle, the Quad closed for construction in January 2017.

The hopes for its future are large — but the pains of a central shutdown on campus are even bigger.

The off-limits Quad has forced the traffic of Drexel students to flow either around the east end of the Gerri. C LeBow Hall or south on 33rd Street if they wish to gain access to any of Drexel’s Chestnut Street buildings. The closing of Drexel’s Quad for over a year means confusing entry into the sides of most academic and administrative buildings whose main entrances stand within the Quad. It could also mean waking up a whole 10 minutes earlier for that 8 a.m. — which we all can agree is a serious drag.

As a member of Drexel’s Student Ambassador Program, I’ve seen the difficulty of the closed Quad firsthand. Potential students and their families who come to tour the university are forced to envision a handful of buildings they can’t even see. Leading a tour that zigzags through campus without a clear route would confuse anyone that is having their first taste of Drexel.

What was once a serene area in which to sunbathe and study when the weather warmed up has turned into a place to avoid at all costs. Caution tape and loud construction now stands between students and the one location they could go to escape the noisy city streets for a little while.

Sometimes the promise of something better comes with an even greater sacrifice. All we can do is keep dodging the center and hoping that the Korman Quadrangle, which is projected to open in the fall of 2017, will be worthwhile.

Megan Hodges: Unsplash

Are you ever tired? Do you often find yourself dead from school work? Is pushing long hours in class or co-op having serious repercussions on your mental health? Well, it’s time to go to sleep and get away from the world, even if it’s just for a little bit.

Sleep is most definitely an important thing for the body. You don’t function right if you’re not getting enough sleep. It wears away at your physical and mental efficiency, and after a brief period of sheer adrenaline, you find yourself even more exhausted than ever before.

Life is naturally exhausting, but we all can find a way to endure it. If you don’t have the time or the money to take a vacation or get away from all the stress, I advise a healthy dose of dreaming, where you can take a vacation every night, free of charge.

Dreaming is the ultimate way to detox and escape stress. But it does require a little preparation.

Learn how to set the mood before you start catching z’s. Rushing into sleep works sometimes but not all the time. Take some time to actually relax and learn how to settle down. Turn off the lights or dim them down. Play a song that puts you right in your comfort zone. Don’t let your mind run through all your thoughts. For once, don’t think about anything at all and let your subconscious take the wheel.

Dreaming to me is simply sleeping with a purpose. A dual purpose, actually, because while I’m still trying to get quality resting time, it is, at the same time, a nice escape. The way I see it, dreaming is just a brief moment when you indirectly have the ability to bend reality. It’s not like things are in your total control, at least not all the time, but you just sort of enjoy it for the ride.

The destination is always unclear; we don’t know where our dreams are going to end up.

Recreational dreaming is fun because you never know what might happen and it’s exciting to roam the weirdly crafted world that is your dreamscape.

Dreams can be really insightful because they’re not really dictated by your conscious self. It’s like your subconscious (or better yet your “inner you”) roaming in a different plane of existence. You know who you are, and you know what you want, but I believe your inner you represents your deepest darkest thoughts, emotions and feelings. Sometimes he or she may tell you things you didn’t really know or at least make yourself more aware of something you had not realized.

Don’t get me wrong — some dreams are weird and make no sense at all. It’s not like your subconscious has the last ultimate say for your emotions, thoughts and feelings, because for every weird dream you have it could make things really inconsistent.

I’m pretty sure everyone has had that weird dream where you woke up at the supermarket and wondered why your favorite artist or band was performing there, and your best friend showed up to have fun, but you guys had to leave because the dolphins were splashing water everywhere, so you took a flight back to the mountains. If it didn’t make sense, it makes perfect sense. There are just some dreams that you’ll have that you’ll never understand.

Some dreams, you’ll never understand what they meant, but as a dream reflectionist, you start to decipher what dreams mean something to you. The more you know thy self, the more you start to realize that the subtle things that passed by that you forgot, or that one thing you never forgot, might have been a sign from your inner-you. They might be trying to portray something you’re not aware of or are running away from, something you’re scared of, someone you’re madly in love with — literally anything.

Your inner you won’t hold back on what you don’t know or don’t want to know. Sometimes people have nightmares that scare them and sometimes people have dreams that reveal something about them. Sometimes people have great dreams of something they could never do in reality. All your dreams are left up to your own interpretation. When you realize it’s something possible that you can do, if it’s something you should do, do it!

The point is, analyzing some of your dreams might give yourself insight that you might not have figured out while wide awake. But besides your prophetic dreams of the future, your nightmares and your unexplainable dreams, the ones that might matter most are the ones you know can’t exist.

At the end of the day, dreams are what they are, dreams. There are some dreams that you have and believe in, and the day that you make them reality is beautiful, but the dreams that could never materialize are probably the most special. What I mean by that are dreams that can’t exist, not by any means from you or anyone else.

Having a dream where you can fly is amazing. Have a dream where you can fight zombies is terrifying but amazing. Having a dream where you’re in a TV show or movie is amazing. Having a dream where you have the chance to talk to your grandfather, grandmother, father or mother again, is invaluable. It’s moments like these, that don’t happen very often, that are the most special. It makes you so appreciative that you had the chance to have that dream.

Who could have thought that something so simple as a dream, that could happen during an 8-hour sleeping session or a two-hour nap, could be something so life changing, so potent.

So ladies and gentlemen, I’m not saying rush to your beds and hope for the best. You can’t really force your dreams to come (trust me I’ve tried); they happen on their own. Get the rest that you need; take it easy every once and awhile. The byproduct of a great sleep session is a dream.

Life is going to be stressful, and it’s only going to get more stressful with age. There are going to be good moments to make up for the stressful times along the way. Make sure you’re getting the rest that your body needs to keep up with your busy life. And maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll have the next dream that might change your own life.

Liz West: Flickr

Although vegetarianism has been popularized for many years and has influenced most restaurants and stores to carry more meat-free options, its more extreme cousin, veganism, is a term not known by many people. But it is quickly becoming more mainstream.

A vegan is a person who does not eat anything that comes from an animal. Most people who follow a vegan diet also follow a vegan lifestyle, meaning that they will not purchase anything that comes from an animal, such as fur clothing or products tested on animals. In the end, each individual’s reasons for the way they eat differ greatly, from health, to animal rights and even sustainability.

Some might say, if you are already taking a stand against meat with your diet, why do you need to eliminate other animal products like milk and eggs?

Many argue that milk and eggs don’t contribute to the killing of animals, so they believe it is okay to continue consuming these products. What many people do not know is that the meat, egg and dairy industries are all connected.

Dairy cows suffer just as much, if not more, in factory farms than cows bred for meat. A cow must be pregnant in order to produce milk, just like humans. This means that a female cow must be artificially inseminated over and over again in order to continually produce milk.

After her baby is born, its fate depends on its gender. If it is a girl, it is taken from its mother, strapped to its own milk machine and forced to go through the same process as its mother. But if it is a boy, it is shipped to the slaughterhouse where it will be killed and then packaged and sold at the supermarket as veal.

This cycle continues until the mother cow is spent, usually after four inseminations, and can no longer produce milk. Her life ends at the slaughterhouse, too.

Unfortunately the connection between the meat industry and other edible animal products doesn’t end here. The egg industry is equally as appalling.

When baby chicks are born, the males and females are separated on a conveyor belt. The females lead a short, 2-year life as an egg producer and the males are either thrown away in a trash can or ground-up alive.

Egg-laying chickens are kept in tiny, cramped cages (usually containing five to 10 hens) with no room to move. Because of the dirty and diseased conditions many hens die in their cages, leaving workers to pick out the dead bodies.

As opposed to the 30 or so eggs a hen might lay naturally, the average factory-farmed hen lays an average of 275 eggs per year. Once the hen stops producing eggs, it is sent off to slaughter.

So you see, even if an animal is not being directly slaughtered while it produces milk or eggs, their life will ultimately end at the slaughterhouse anyway.

Some people avoid veganism because of the myth that milk is essential for strong bones due to its high calcium content. But studies have been done to link milk intake with high calcium and the results are startling.

In 2007, the countries with the highest dairy consumption were Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United States. It just so happens that these countries are also those with the highest rates of osteoporosis. Dairy could also be linked to an increase certain types of cancer, such as prostate, breast and ovarian.

There are many plant-based options for receiving the same nutrients you get with meat and dairy, without the excess hormones and disease (not to mention the blood and pus from milking a cow). Unlike animal products, plants have been shown to decrease disease, increase longevity and increase energy. You may not think about it, but most plants contain calcium. If you are looking to incorporate more calcium-rich foods in your diet, keep an eye out for almonds (and any other nut milk), kale, broccoli, soy and collard greens.

Eating consciously and thoughtfully is one of the most important things that you can do to improve the world you live in. The next time you sit down for dinner or take a trip to the grocery store, keep in mind the lives that were spared and the risks at “steak.”

Photo: Doane Gregory, Universal Pictures

“Fifty Shades Darker” made up for its predecessor’s lackluster plot with expanded character development and unforeseen twists.

Premiering in 2015, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the first movie of the series based on E.L. James’ best-selling erotic romance novels, briefly explored the characters Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) and Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson). Fundamentally fixated on steamy sexual encounters, the first film merely portrayed what was happening in the sheets and not in the characters’ minds.

But the thoughts inside of Christian’s head were perhaps even more alluring than what laid in his “red room” of sexual desires. Directed by James Foley, “Fifty Shades Darker” delved deeper into the plot that the first movie failed to expound and answered many questions that disturbed viewers had been left to ponder.

The first movie provided clues as to why Christian got involved with the BDSM lifestyle, but “Fifty Shades Darker” filled in the blanks. After enduring a childhood of abuse by cokehead parents and being shuffled through the foster care system, Christian was emotionally traumatized.

Unable to cope with his haunting past, he turned to a life of kinky dominance, hoping to take vengeance on women who looked like his mother by inflicting pain on them in the bedroom. His relationship with women revolved solely around sexual contracts and exploring unspeakable desires — that is, until he met Anastasia.

From the first movie, it was clear that Anastasia changed Christian, but “Fifty Shades Darker” revealed how significant the transformation was.

At the end of the first film, Anastasia’s heart was left more bruised than her pale skin was from Christian’s leather whips. She yearned for a relationship that extended beyond the bedroom, but to him, she remained an object of sexual gratification.

In the sequel, the couple renegotiates the “terms” of their previous contract and Christian proves that his love for Anastasia supersedes his love for handcuffs and nipple clamps.

Of course, it’s not that easy. Throughout the two-hour movie, barriers to their relationship pop up almost as often as Christian’s erections.

Christian’s former submissive, deeply scarred by their former bond, resurfaces and is determined to end their relationship — and she’s not the only one. The woman who introduced Christian to the sadomasochist lifestyle, consumed by jealously, is even more persistent to make Anastasia back down so that Christian can go back to his former routine. Anastasia’s sleazy boss Jack also tries to break the duo, resorting to his vulgar ways.

Though it’s not really clear why this movie is supposed to be “darker” than the first one, it was certainly a big improvement. It’s a shame Johnson’s acting couldn’t improve with the storyline, but we’ll leave it to Christian to punish her for that later. Her painfully awkward demeanor fits her character anyway.

I’ve been patiently awaiting for the sequel since I saw the first movie and I must say, I was left rather satisfied. It was by no means a flawless movie, but compared to the last one, it seemed so. Let’s just hope that the third movie of the series will follow this positive pattern.

Rabedirkwennigsen: Pixabay

Sometimes, science seems too good to be true.

When I first heard that scientists had found a way to convert nuclear waste into diamond batteries that last hundreds or potentially thousands of years, I was sure that the headline was clickbait. But it’s true.

Geochemist Tom Scott from the U.K.’s University of Bristol has successfully “trapped” unstable nickel-63 inside an artificial diamond, allowing it to quite literally generate its own electricity. As the unstable atoms decay one by one, they release their excess energy, and as it is trapped inside the battery, this could potentially be harnessed and used to power a wide range of devices.

Nickel-63 has a half-life of 100 years. This means that 100 years after the battery is formed, half of the nickel atoms will still be intact. Therefore, a battery created through this method has the potential to last a person’s entire lifetime. Although this battery is still very weak and inefficient, researchers are looking into an alternative — carbon-14 is similarly radioactive, and has a half-life of 5,730 years. A carbon-14 battery would last almost indefinitely. While it is not yet certain how much voltage a carbon-14 battery would be able to produce, researchers theorize that, in the future, these batteries may be able to replace conventional batteries in electrical devices that do not require much power.

Although these batteries are not currently on the market, Scott and his team seem confident that in the future, the carbon-14 batteries could be produced on a far larger scale and sold commercially.

In the U.S., there are currently around 75,000 tons of nuclear waste contained, and there is nothing to use it for. After further investigation, and after Scott’s group publishes its research in scientific journals, it’s possible that we could use waste that already exists (as well as newly generated waste) for something we already need, and that could be more efficient than the batteries we know how to make now.

But there’s an old saying that goes, “if something seems too good to be true, that’s because it is.”

I don’t actually like that saying — I like to think that there is good in the world and that sometimes, amazing things do happen (like the Famous Jimmy’s Lunch Truck existing.) Unfortunately, I don’t think this is one of those things.

Even though this is an incredible use of nuclear waste, the fact remains that radioactive substances are still very dangerous materials to work with. The scientists given the job of making these batteries are putting themselves in harm’s way, exposing themselves to potential radiation sickness and cancer every day they go to work.

Of course, they have a choice in this matter, as they decide to take the job, but what about other people in the area?

Currently, more than 10 percent of the nuclear power plants in the U.S. are in western Pennsylvania and New Jersey. That’s already scary enough, but if we were also building new facilities to experiment on this waste, they’d likely be in similar areas due to the difficulty in transporting such materials.

And no matter how many safety measures were taken in building them, people living in these areas will always be at higher risk to radiation exposure, particularly low-income areas where there is less air purification. Plus, these facilities will be incredibly expensive to set up — money that could be spent funding far safer research into renewable energy and other materials that can form long life batteries.

Lastly, there would always be a risk with using the batteries themselves. If there was to be just a small error in manufacturing them, this could be a huge health hazard to whoever was using it.

This is especially worrying given that the inventors have suggested they could be used in pacemakers, which are literally inside people’s bodies. And with this, there’s no such thing as a product recall. One bad batch, and the damage has been done. Quality control would need to be incredibly strict — which, of course, means even more people working in the nuclear plant.

Nuclear energy is already incredibly efficient, and now we know that the waste could be used to make great things. And while I am usually completely in favor of scientific advancement, this is one discovery that I think should remain in the ground.

Manu Camargo: Unsplash

Makeup is among the many forms of art in the world and is arguably the most widely known. So widely known, in fact, that people expect women to constantly wear it.

Many women make the choice to wear makeup daily, whether it is because it simply makes them happy or because of societal pressures.

However, I am a woman who rarely wears makeup and have received many comments about my choice to leave it out of my daily routine. Even people in my own family have told me that I look tired and sad without makeup and would look more beautiful and polished with it.

Comments like these demonstrate society’s fixation on beauty and the constant expectation for women to be primped and polished at all times. This is often thought to make women beautiful, and any woman who does any less is branded as lazy or unattractive.

It is no mystery that women are constantly scrutinized for several reasons in the media. Whether a woman is skinny, overweight, dressed up or dressed down, people will find a way to criticize her.

Celebrities who are photographed without makeup on are often the target of these criticisms. These women are under constant pressure to appear flawless in the public eye, and are then captured during a time where they believe they can finally be away from the spotlight for a moment.

Complex published an online article titled “30 Shocking Photos of Hot Celebrities Without Makeup or Photoshop.” Following many pictures of the women featured are rude comments about their appearance; one even compares Kate Moss to the “Lord of the Rings” character Gollum.

This article is an example of how harsh the beauty standards for female celebrities are. These photos are not shocking at all — all they reveal is that celebrities are actual humans and have natural flaws. What is more shocking is that people cannot grasp this concept. If someone expects women to naturally look like they do with makeup on, then they will be highly disappointed.

This kind of criticism borders on harassment and is at the root of why people expect women to wear makeup daily.

Some women do, and that’s great. I do not shame those who wear makeup often at all. Some can’t leave the house without it, while I always leave the house without it; everyone has the right to do what makes them feel most comfortable and confident.

I am not here to judge anyone, but it feels like many people spend their lives doing just that. A woman who is not wearing makeup is not doing harm to anyone, except to those whose egos are crushed when they do not have a “sexy” woman to ogle at.

Women are beautiful no matter what choices they make about their appearance. Whether a woman wears makeup or not should not determine your definition of her beauty.