TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| UK climate scientist to temporarily step down LONDON (AP) -- The chief of a prestigious British research center caught in a storm of controversy over claims that he and others suppressed data about climate change has stepped down pending an investigation, the University of East Anglia said Tuesday.... hosted.ap.org |
DNA study charts Melbourne's ancestry Researchers have revealed a snapshot of Melburnians' ancestry dating back thousands of years. abc.net.au |
First Jesus-era house discovered in Nazareth NAZARETH, Israel (AP) -- Just in time for Christmas, archaeologists on Monday unveiled what may have been the home of one of Jesus' childhood neighbors. The humble dwelling is the first dating to the era of Jesus to be discovered in Nazareth, then a hamlet of around 50 impoverished Jewish families where Jesus spent his boyhood.... hosted.ap.org |
Engineers 'can learn from slime' The way fungus-like slime moulds grow could help engineers design computer and communication networks, say researchers. news.bbc.co.uk |
Blame BBC for poor weather forecast Michael Fish fails to recognise why the BBC and the Met Office share the blame for poor public confidence in forecasts, particularly those on television (Fair weather friends, 19 January).In the early 1970s it fell to me to represent the BBC in the first contract negotiation with the Met Office that involved money. The sum was modest but the pass was sold. Until then, both bodies stood toe-to-toe in a ring defined by concepts of public service. Each argued its corner as to how best to inform, educate and entertain in a relationship based on mutual interest. The likes of George Cowling, Bert Foord and Jack Scott exemplified the on-screen integrity needed by the Met Office to help justify huge expenditure on some of the largest computers in the world; the corporation recognised how a two-minute forecast, written and presented by the weatherman, could assure a bigger audience for BBC1's 9 O'clock News.And now? The BBC makes its demands and the Met Office rakes in the revenue but, because the customer knows best, it no longer uses the forecaster's own expertise to explain weather on its own terms. Instead, it espouses the standards of the marketplace, with computer graphics dictating the pace of a subjective presentation; a triumph of style over substance.If the Met Office were to recognise that real revenue would accrue if its name was a byword for sheer forecasting competence, it might once again insist on more say in how forecasts are presented. In turn, the BBC might recognise the benefit of packaging that expertise in a way that is not as subservient to the visual presentation. If less money changes hands that would make it all the harder for the competition to shout about how much better it could do the job, when it would be no more than a middleman dependent on forecasts from the Met Office and shrugged shoulders from the BBC.Hugh SheppardOdiham, HampshireWeatherTelevision industryBBCMeteorologyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |