Welcome back to SCISOC’s fortnightly newsletter, PRISM! We hope everyone's studying hard as we approach the end of the term. This fortnight's newsletter presents the winners of SCISOC's Dodgeball Showdown. For Science News, we explore the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions. Lastly in our Fun Corner, we take you on a spooky ride of our very own horror movie watch list.

UNSW SCISOC Dodgeball Showdown

Last week, we had our Dodgeball Showdown! Open to all people, whether you were a competitive player or a supporter, this was a perfect chance to make a team with your friends and relieve yourself from the stress of midterms and assignments with some friendly competition. Congratulations to Cuddlebear Central, the team that took home the win along with ultimate dodgeball glory and bragging rights! Followed closely was Dodge Daddies in second place, and BBC and Oingboings tying third place. Congratulations to everyone who attended, and we hope you had a good time!

Meat accounts for nearly 60% of all greenhouse gas emissions

I want you to think of your top 3 meals of all time. From seafood to red meat, we can guarantee that at least 2 of those meals include some type of meat. That is the norm and it has always been that way. “When people talk about the food system, they always think about the cow in the field”. And there’s no doubt.

Today’s article is about what these cows offer. Apart from a good slab of steak, cows are also a major source of methane, which, like other greenhouse gases, traps heat in the atmosphere. But it’s not just cows; The entire system of food production, such as farming machinery, spraying of fertiliser and transportation of products, causes 17.3bn metric tonnes of greenhouse gasses a year. This enormous release of gases that fuel the climate crisis is more than double the entire emissions of the US and represents 35% of all global emissions, researchers said.

The use of cows, pigs and other animals for food, as well as livestock feed, is responsible for 57% of all food production emissions, research found, with 29% coming from the cultivation of plant-based foods. The rest comes from other uses of land, such as cotton or rubber.

Studies continue to show that if food-related greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, it will get increasingly difficult to keep global warming between 1.5 to 2 degrees. Hence, the global production and consumption of food, especially beef, requires major changes immediately.

To reduce emissions from beef production, we could improve the efficiency and productivity of current beef production methods. By increasing our land use efficiency, we could relieve the need to clear more land which releases the carbon stored in forests. By developing more digestible feeds for cattle as well as improving feeding practices, we can reduce the emission of methane from cattle. To reduce methane emissions we can also use enteric methane inhibitors, and feed additives which hinder the production of methane in the guts, which have shown to diminish enteric methane by 20% to 98% without harming animal wellbeing and productivity.

Improving our manure management at farms can lessen methane and nitrous oxide emissions. This includes more frequent clearing of waste from barns and properly containing animal waste, which produces significant emissions when breaking down through bacteria. To reduce emissions from manufacturing and transporting synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, we can reuse animal waste to fertilize crops, effectively turning them from waste to a source of nutrients. Certain countries have begun the use of anaerobic digesters which produce biogas through their collection of manure. This biogas can later be burned to produce electricity, effectively reducing carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels.

Ultimately, in order to preserve our world and hence, our wonderful cuisine, we need to be more mindful of our carbon emissions which have only worsened over time. This responsibility lies not only on the farmers and providers but also on us, the consumers.

After the release of the horror movie, ‘The Black Phone’ in cinemas, we have decided to give you a list of horror movies we have watched, what we thought of them and the ones we recommend you watch the next time you want to be frightened for your life. We’ll tell you the scariest and the not-so-scary horror movies, as well as the ones that simply have a good storyline.

WARNING: This includes spoilers!

The Black Phone

This movie starts off pretty relaxing with the main horror coming later in the film where we see the main child protagonist gets kidnapped by what the movie calls, ‘The Grabber’. The horror in this movie is not so bad in comparison with the other movies in this list where there are only a handful of jump scares, moderately intense scenes and mild gore. The Black Phone is not a film we would personally watch again but is definitely recommended for those who want to start off in their horror film-watching journey.

Dashcam

At first, this movie may seem a little weird and not that scary in the beginning but the movie quickly delves into a spiral of horrific uncoverings, scenes and jump scares. As a found-footage-based film, you are really placed into the shoes of the character, escalating the horror in this movie. Not only this but the horror felt as if it is never ending - just when you think everything is fine, you were greeted with another spiral of horrific events. Although the jump scares in this film do become a bit predictable, it will definitely leave you frightened for your life and unable to drive alone at night.

The Conjuring

Absolutely artful, this film is masterful in the way it achieves scares and makes the users feel anticipatory anxiety in horror. Although the characters are cliched, the scares are not. The clapping scene is an iconic moment for this film, and it's an example of providing a scare with no violence. On the whole, this movie provides scares without delving into gore.

Sinister

Sinister is a movie known to have one of the most horrific and creative jump scares of all time which certainly got us, and the protagonist, jolting out of our seats. If this wasn’t enough for you, how about the main protagonist slowly exploring the house at night with sudden sounds and horrific images. Besides the terror this movie presents, Sinister has an interesting plot which over time, reveals not only how the main protagonist has brought his whole family to certain doom but also how the supernatural villain, the Bughuul, has destroyed every other family upon his presence.

Orphan

Orphan is a psychological horror film that introduces a family who adopts a 9-year-old girl from an orphanage. With multiple jump scares, disturbing reveals and an interesting plot with twists, this movie was still frightening on the second watch despite knowing what happens. This movie is truly horrifying and is guaranteed to have your heart racing - one of our top recommendations for horror movies.

Incantation

Incantation is a Taiwanese horror film on Netflix that honestly needed a video explanation after the first watching. Similar to Dashcam, Incantation is a found-footage-based fil that dives into the twisted nature of a cult that the main protagonist explores. Containing numerous jump scares, anxiety-inducing scenes, disturbing revelations and an interesting conclusion to the story, Incantation is bound to have you covering your eyes and leave you with chills.

A must-watch!

Midsommar

Midsommar is not like your typical horror movies with paranormal activity, jump scares or possessions. Rather, this movie categorises itself in the horror genre simply due to how horrifically disturbing the scenes are with some scenes containing gore. As you progress through the movie, the pieces become a whole, revealing the twisted nature that exists within the cult that the movie portrays. If you’re not into the classic jump scares that come with most horror movies but still want to explore the genre, Midsommar is a great movie to watch.

Next movies on the watch list: Hereditary, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, The Blair Witch Project, Don't Breathe 2

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