Science Education & Policy

PORTSMOUTH, England, September 16 /PRNewswire/ -- A new analysis shows that many more babies are being born with Down syndrome today than 15 years ago in England, despite universally available genetic screening. More people are living with Down syndrome today than ever before. They are achieving more and living longer and richer lives, questioning the ethics of screening. Screening also poses risks to babies who do not have Down syndrome. This new analysis estimates that screening leads to the deaths of 400 babies who do not have Down syndrome annually in England and Wales alone. More babies…

Schools are set for a Star Trek make-over thanks to the development of the world's first interactive classroom by experts at Durham University. Researchers at the Technology-Enhanced Learning Research Group (TEL) are designing new learning environments using interactive multi-touch desks that look and act like a large version of an Apple iPhone. The team observed how students and teachers interact in classes and how Information Communications technology (ICT) could improve collaboration. They then set about designing an interactive classroom solution called 'SynergyNet' to reflect TEL's…

LONDON, September 16 /PRNewswire/ -- - Orange Launches Mobile Broadband and Laptop Deal - Three New Business Packages Launched to Serve Small and Medium Businesses - Orange Teams up With Hewlett Packard Orange today launches its new mobile broadband and laptop offer targeted specifically at the business market. Small and medium business customers can now sign up to a new Orange Business Everywhere mobile broadband package and come away with a laptop as well. The three new Business Everywhere with Laptop bundles each include an unlimited data allowance and a whopping 500 WiFi minutes per…

For the first time in waters surrounding New York City, the beckoning calls of endangered fin, humpback and North Atlantic right whales have been recorded, according to experts from the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The recorders were placed about 13 miles from the New York Harbor entrance and off the shores of Fire Island. Information about the seasonal presence of whales will help New York state policymakers develop management plans to protect them. Knowing the whales' travel paths…

Diversity is praised as good for business and for promoting creativity but when organizational theorist Viktorija Kalonaityte studied diversity work at a Swedish adult education school, the school wanted to make everyone as “Swedish” as possible. That means protecting women from 'honor killings' and teaching in Swedish. In Sweden, diversity is largely about integration policy and the public sector rather than just being corporate policy in places lke America. Viktorija Kalonaityte recently defended her doctoral dissertation at the School of Economics, Lund University in Sweden and her…

Houses made of hemp, timber or straw could help combat climate change by reducing the carbon footprint of building construction, according to researchers at the University of Bath. The construction industry is a major contributor of environmental pollutants, with buildings and other build infrastructure contributing to around 19% of the UK’s eco-footprint, they say. Researchers at the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials are researching low carbon alternatives to building materials currently used by the construction industry. Although timber is used as a building material in many…

WASHINGTON, September 16 /PRNewswire/ -- At their September 8-10 meeting in Vienna, OPEC Ministers agreed to abide by their September 2007 production allocations (including new members Angola and Ecuador and excluding Indonesia and Iraq) totaling 28.8 million barrels per day (bpd) cutting production anywhere from 500,000 to 800,000 bpd. The Abraham Energy Report (AbrahamEnergyReport.com) and its' Editor and Publisher, former U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, advises the newsletter's monthly subscribers that the production decline may not be as definitive as the OPEC meeting's communique…

You know you must be doing something right when both the Discovery Institute and the Institute for Creation Research get on your case! These two outlets of religious-centered non-thinking vehemently attacked my recent post on the inanity of choosing Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential candidate -- which focused on her positions on teaching (she supports “equal time” for Creationism) and censorship (she has attempted to remove “offensive” books from a public library, going so far as threatening a librarian with being fired). The Discovery Institute blog, Uncommon Descent (how cute!)…

MONTREAL, September 15 /PRNewswire/ -- - Study of More Than 60,000 Women Underscores Need for Better Understanding of Implications and Risks Associated with Osteoporosis Results from the Global Longitudinal study of Osteoporosis in Women (GLOW) showed that 55 percent of women diagnosed with osteoporosis do not believe they are at a higher risk of fractures than their peers. This latest study from GLOW included more than 60,000 women over age 55 and was presented today at the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) 30th Annual Meeting. "Many women aren't making the connection…

To activists in cozy offices, the solution to over-hunting is easy; ban it. But unless we put a McDonalds in the forests of Africa, that isn't really an answer. But we need to find one. A new report from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) and partners warns that an upsurge in hunting bushmeat—including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians — in tropical forests is unsustainable and that it poses serious threats to food security for poor inhabitants of forests in Africa, who rely largely on bushmeat for…