Physicist Susie Sheehy causes a hydrogen explosion at last year’s British Science Festival
The UN General Assembly has called a high-level meeting on a health issue, for only the second time in its history. In 2001 it was HIV-Aids; this time it will be non-communicable diseases (NCD). Developing countries now suffer more premature deaths from NCDs (primarily heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease) than developed countries, thanks in part to tobacco, alcohol and inactivity. The historic New York summit on 19th and 20th September—President Obama may attend—is recognition that a “co-ordinated global response” is required to stop fledgling healthcare systems from collapsing under the strain.
The British Science Festival, one of the biggest in Europe, bursts into Bradford on 10th September. As well as famous faces giving the lowdown on highfalutin’ ideas, check out the up-and-coming Cambridge cosmologist Andrew Pontzen riffing on dark matter. Family events include the Science of the Circus and the Dr Who Science Show; teenage detectives can case out CSI Bradford, which is about DNA fingerprinting (www.britishscienceassociation.org/web/BritishScienceFestival)
An imminent period of high pressure is predicted for the Met Office as a parliamentary inquiry into its science remit gets under way. The public weather forecasting service, formerly part of the Ministry of Defence, has suffered a blizzard of criticism from climate change sceptics and owners of wet barbecues. Its computer models have attracted frosty scepticism, and the question of privatisation hangs in the air. Submit pun-free evidence by 14th September via www.parliament.uk.
Should ugly people get government aid? That’s one question contained in the new book Beauty Pays (Princeton University Press), a no-warts-and-all exposé of how attractive people earn more, marry better and enjoy a wealth of positive discrimination. Economist Daniel Hamermesh’s theory accords with psychological research suggesting that beauty can be measured objectively.
The UN General Assembly has called a high-level meeting on a health issue, for only the second time in its history. In 2001 it was HIV-Aids; this time it will be non-communicable diseases (NCD). Developing countries now suffer more premature deaths from NCDs (primarily heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease) than developed countries, thanks in part to tobacco, alcohol and inactivity. The historic New York summit on 19th and 20th September—President Obama may attend—is recognition that a “co-ordinated global response” is required to stop fledgling healthcare systems from collapsing under the strain.
The British Science Festival, one of the biggest in Europe, bursts into Bradford on 10th September. As well as famous faces giving the lowdown on highfalutin’ ideas, check out the up-and-coming Cambridge cosmologist Andrew Pontzen riffing on dark matter. Family events include the Science of the Circus and the Dr Who Science Show; teenage detectives can case out CSI Bradford, which is about DNA fingerprinting (www.britishscienceassociation.org/web/BritishScienceFestival)
An imminent period of high pressure is predicted for the Met Office as a parliamentary inquiry into its science remit gets under way. The public weather forecasting service, formerly part of the Ministry of Defence, has suffered a blizzard of criticism from climate change sceptics and owners of wet barbecues. Its computer models have attracted frosty scepticism, and the question of privatisation hangs in the air. Submit pun-free evidence by 14th September via www.parliament.uk.
Should ugly people get government aid? That’s one question contained in the new book Beauty Pays (Princeton University Press), a no-warts-and-all exposé of how attractive people earn more, marry better and enjoy a wealth of positive discrimination. Economist Daniel Hamermesh’s theory accords with psychological research suggesting that beauty can be measured objectively.
