25 articles from SUNDAY 12.3.2023
A Special School makes for a TV treat | Brief letters
SEN success | Double your rubbish | Easy peeler | Mouse fathers | Wheely wild words | Concentric curlsAs recent WhatsApp messages showed our government’s contempt for teachers (Report, 2 March), I doubt if any past or present education secretary watched A Special School on BBC Two. It showed what can be achieved for SEN pupils with decent funding, outstanding leadership and dedicated teamwork....
My passion for the seven small objects at the heart of everything we build
From a ball point pen to a skyscraper, everything we make needs one or more of these design wondersWhen I was about five years old, I was living with my parents and sister in snowy upstate New York. It was the 1980s and one day I sat in front of my favourite large rectangular lunchbox, adorned with a picture of the Muppets on the front. This one held my huge collection of crayons – long, short,...
Superb fairy wrens picky when helping others in distress, find researchers
Superb fairy wrens are more likely to take risks to help members of their close social circle, according to an international team of researchers including scientists from Monash University and The Australian National University (ANU). The findings have been published in Current Biology.
Rise in ocean plastic pollution 'unprecedented' since 2005
Plastic pollution in the world's oceans has reached "unprecedented levels" over the past 15 years, a new study has found, calling for a legally binding international treaty to stop the harmful waste.
Florida surgeon general’s Covid vaccine claims harm public, health agencies say
‘Fueling vaccine hesitancy undermines effort’ to protect lives, warns letter to Dr Joseph Ladapo sent by FDA and CDCUS health agencies have sent a letter to the surgeon general of Florida, warning that his claims about Covid-19 vaccine risks are harmful to the public.The letter was sent to Joseph Ladapo on Friday by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control...
Four astronauts fly SpaceX back home, end 5-month mission
Four space station astronauts returned to Earth late Saturday after a quick SpaceX flight home.
T-Rex skeleton to go under hammer in Switzerland
A Tyrannosaurus-Rex skeleton dating back 67-million years will be auctioned in Switzerland next month, marking the first such sale in Europe, the auction house said Saturday.
Private firm to launch maiden rocket flight in Spain
A micro rocket built by a Spanish company will lift off within several weeks, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday, a first for Spain as a space race hots up in Europe.
Oregon eyes mandate for climate change lessons in schools
Oregon lawmakers are aiming to make the state the second in the nation to mandate climate change lessons for K-12 public school students, further fueling U.S. culture wars in education.
Indonesia's Merapi volcano spews hot clouds in new eruption
Indonesia's Mount Merapi erupted Saturday with avalanches of searing gas clouds and lava, forcing authorities to halt tourism and mining activities on the slopes of the country's most active volcano.
Launch of world's first 3D-printed rocket canceled at last second
The launch of the world's first 3D-printed rocket was ultimately scrubbed after several tries on Saturday, marking a new setback for the private owner of an innovative spacecraft billed as being less costly to produce and fly.
Keep scientists in the research room and out of politics | Fiona Fox
The simple messaging favoured by media advisers doesn’t chime with a discipline that is messy and incompleteMatt Hancock’s views about the independent experts advising government, detailed in the Lockdown Files, are revealing. They were “totally unreliable” and “wacky” (Dame Kate Bingham); a “totally offside… loudmouth” (Sir Jeremy Farrar); and a “prize idiot” (Prof Jon...
How to read the news like a mathematician – from the budget and HS2 to Covid and sport
With the public facing an ever-increasing barrage of sums, calculations and data, here are some numerical tricks and ideas that can help people make better sense of the world These days, keeping up with the news can sometimes feel like a maths exam. We face a constant barrage of figures, whether through national budgets, coronavirus data, hospital waiting lists or football transfer fees. It can be...
How a central Alberta facility is using Ukrainian seeds to unlock hemp's true potential
The Canadian Rockies Hemp Corporation, located 60 kilometres north east of Edmonton, is one of the largest hemp processors in...
Scientists warn of ‘phosphogeddon’ as critical fertiliser shortages loom
Excessive use of phosphorus is depleting reserves vital to global food production, while also adding to the climate crisisOur planet faces “phosphogeddon”, scientists have warned. They fear our misuse of phosphorus could lead to deadly shortages of fertilisers that would disrupt global food production.At the same time, phosphate fertiliser washed from fields – together with sewage inputs...
Scientists aim to track caribou, ticks and more, like forecasting weather, amid warming climate
Traditionally, conservation and environmental management might be based on stable or historical norms. But with climate change in the mix, scientists are pooling information as they work toward making forecasts that will help people respond to environmental threats before they...