Physics could be in 'terminal decline'
The number of pupils taking A-level physics has dropped by almost half since 1982 and more than a quarter of universities with large physics departments have given up teaching the subject since 1994, a report published today found. In spite of acute concern from industry that the country is not producing enough science graduates to help guarantee high-tech jobs in the future, the report's authors warned physics could be in "terminal decline". Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the Buckingham University, said: "Physics is in the grip of a long-term downward spiral: not enough young people come through to take physics degrees, which means that the pool from which to recruit teachers is not large enough and science teaching is left to biologists to a greater extent than is desirable. As a result, many young people do not get sufficient opportunity to discover if they are good at physics, and they are naturally disinclined to take what they believe is a difficult subject at A-level when there is an ever-greater range of subjects available.
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School-leavers bad for business
Young job-seekers lack the real-world experience needed to survive in business, a survey of employers said yesterday. Bosses say school-leavers and graduates are weighed down with what they learn from textbooks and struggle to adapt to work. Too many new staff lack entrepreneurial flair and cannot take criticism or failure, while others cannot think laterally or manage their time properly.
Daily Mail
Making nurseries better by degrees
Nusery managers will have to study for degree-level qualifications within five years as part of plans to improve standards in Scotland's pre-school sector, it was announced yesterday. Peter Peacock, the Education Minister, also unveiled moves to give nursery staff better promotion prospects in a bid to make the profession more appealing. But he ruled out introducing a national pay structure for nursery staff - prompting an angry response from union leaders.
The Scotsman
Greenland's ice sheet 'melting at ever-faster rate'
The melting of Greenland's ice sheet is accelerating, threatening an ever-increasing rise in sea levels. Satellite measurements showed that the speed of ice-sheet melting had risen threefold in the past two years compared with the average for the previous five years, according to a paper published in today's edition of the peer-review journal Science . The accelerated melting has increased to 0.6mm per year the contribution of Greenland's melting ice to rising sea levels. That represents a large proportion of the total sea level rise of 2mm-3mm a year that the world is experiencing. Jianli Chen, a research scientist at the University of Texas and lead author of the paper, said: "This [research] gives strong evidence telling us that global warming is there."
Financial Times
Complex chemicals found in space
The mystery of the origin of life on Earth is closer to being solved with the discovery of complex, biologically significant chemicals in interstellar space. Some 140 of the chemicals or molecules have now been recognised, eight of them in the past two years alone. It is now generally accepted that these molecules are manufactured in the clouds of gas and dust that float in space between the stars. The latest batch was identified using the National Science Foundation's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia: "This is a feat unprecedented in the 35-year history of searching for complex molecules in space and suggests that a universal prebiotic chemistry is at work," said Jan Hollis of the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center and leader of the international researchers who identified the chemicals.
Financial Times
Artefacts support theory man came from Africa
Fragments of ostrich eggs, perforated beads and finely shaped arrowheads have provided the first firm archaeological evidence for the "out of Africa" origins of the world's human population. Scientists have found stark similarities in the ancient cultural artefacts made and used by Stone Age people who migrated out of Africa and into Asia more than 50,000 years ago. It is the first time that archaeologists have been able to link African and Indian artefacts so closely together even though they were discovered 3,000 miles apart - suggesting they were made by the same people, albeit of different generations. Until now, the "out of Africa" hypothesis, developed by physical anthropologists and geneticists, had relied almost entirely on the analysis of human skeletal remains or on DNA studies. But a comparative study of Stone Age artefacts found in Africa and India, carried out by Paul Mellars, a Cambridge University archaeologist, has revealed remarkable cultural and technological similarities that suggest a common origin.
The Independent