Physicists at Oxford University are building a device that could rewrite the laws of physicsbut opponents say they are wastingtheir time. Matin Durrani reports
When Uri Geller, the celebrity spoon-bender, announced in April that he would be sending his “positive vibrations” to the England football team at this month’s World Cup, it was just the latest example of the growing interest in “pseudo-science”. But an attempt by the American Physical Society (APS) to draw a line between science and pseudo-science fell at the first hurdle in the same month, when a 210-word definition of science was rejected by the society's governing council.
Researchers, scientific societies and publishers took part in a one-day strike last month to consider how to combat racism and discrimination in science, as Peter Gwynne and Matin Durrani report
More UK students are starting science and engineering degrees without qualifications in science and maths, according to a new report on the career paths of science students. It found that more than 40% of entrants to science-based degrees in 1993 had studied a mixture of arts and sciences at A-level, compared with less than 20% in 1985. In contrast, the proportion of science undergraduates with A-levels in just science and maths had fallen from four-fifths to about one-half over the same period.
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