May 2022
Asian Americans are typecast as successful students, but new report finds troubling gaps
Asian Americans are often seen as successful students, but the stereotype masks “incredibly disconcerting” gaps in college outcomes among the multiple ethnic groups who make up the larger community in California, according to a report released Tuesday. Among the first-year, full-time students who entered the University of California in 2013, six-year graduation rates vary from about […]
Five digital games to help your child’s development
Recent research has linked playing video games in childhood with an increase in intelligence. While parents and carers may be pleasantly surprised by these findings, they are less unexpected for many researchers of children’s digital play. Studies have previously shown that playing digital games is associated with a wide range of benefits for children, even in […]
Why is climate ‘doomism’ going viral – and who’s fighting it?
Climate “doomers” believe the world has already lost the battle against global warming. That’s wrong – and while that view is spreading online, there are others who are fighting the viral tide. As he walked down the street wearing a Jurassic Park cap, Charles McBryde raised his smartphone, stared at the camera, and hit the […]
Nasa InSight: ‘Marsquake’ mission in its last months
The seismometer on Nasa’s InSight probe will keep listening for Marsquakes even as other systems on the mission have to shut down due to declining power levels. The spacecraft has just detected a Magnitude 5 tremor – the biggest event yet in its three years of operation on the Red Planet. But InSight is now […]
Perseverance: Nasa rover begins key drive to find life on Mars
Nasa’s Perseverance rover has reached a big moment in its mission on Mars. Tuesday will see the six-wheeled robot begin the climb up an ancient delta feature in the crater where it landed. It will roll uphill, stopping every so often to examine rocks that look to have the best chance of retaining evidence of […]
Perseverance: Nasa rover begins key drive to find life on Mars
Nasa’s Perseverance rover has reached a big moment in its mission on Mars. Tuesday will see the six-wheeled robot begin the climb up an ancient delta feature in the crater where it landed. It will roll uphill, stopping every so often to examine rocks that look to have the best chance of retaining evidence of […]
More maths testing could be good for primary schoolchildren – if done in the right way
Recently published UK government plans proposed that by 2030, 90% of children leaving primary school in England should reach the expected standards in reading, writing and maths, compared with 65% in 2019. As part of efforts to achieve this, the government is introducing more testing. In June 2022, year four pupils (aged eight to nine) must take […]
Climate change: ‘Fifty-fifty chance’ of breaching 1.5C warming limit
The likelihood of crossing a key global warming threshold has risen significantly, according to a new analysis. UK Met Office researchers say that there’s now around a fifty-fifty chance that the world will warm by more than 1.5C over the next five years. Such a rise would be temporary, but researchers are concerned about the […]
There are reasons girls don’t study physics – and they don’t include not liking maths
“From my own knowledge of these things, physics is not something that girls tend to fancy. They don’t want to do it … There’s a lot of hard maths in there that I think that they would rather not do,” Katharine Birbalsingh, chair of the UK government’s Social Mobility Commission and a secondary school head […]