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/ 1 November 2005
Religion and science clashed in a drab Pennsylvania courtroom over a test case that could decide how evolution is taught in United States schools. The civil trial, triggered last year by a classroom battle, marks the beginning of the first major legal assault on evolution science in 18 years.
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/ 1 November 2005
Leaders of the industrialised world meeting at the Group of Eight summit in Scotland agreed to help develop professional skills through networks between higher-education institutions and centres of excellence in science and technology. This is a big shift in aid policy from the current focus on primary education.
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/ 1 November 2005
With the spread of bird flu prompting fears of an epidemic or even pandemic that could kill humans by the million, a Chinese spice hitherto associated with the pleasures of aperitifs has suddenly assumed key medical significance. The fruit known as star anise has an ingredient vital to a drug to fight the strain of avian flu that has already killed more than 60 people in Asia.
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/ 1 November 2005
Teachers from across the country descended on Hilton College in Pietermaritzburg last month for Intel’s professional teacher-development conference on information and communication technology. The theme of the conference was Innovation in Education and computer and education experts spoke on how best to integrate ICT into the curriculum.
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/ 1 November 2005
Fed up with sudoku? Why not have a go at decoding (p-n) x 100/(p-1), a formula, which features at the Mind Sports Olympiad in Manchester, 11 days of brain-busting fun. Not that the formula is part of any competition; it is simply a way of calculating the number of points scored in the pentamind contest, where p is the number of players and n is a participant’s position in any given tournament.
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/ 1 November 2005
When foreign Muslims, including from some conservative Muslim countries, visit South Africa, they are usually stunned that there are so many mosques with no women’s facilities. That some mosques do have women’s facilities does not placate them. And when visiting some mosques that accommodate women, they become despondent to see torn carpets in tiny rooms that pass off as ”women’s sections”.
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/ 1 November 2005
The National Business Initiative and petroleum outfit Engen have joined hands to launch an innovative programme aimed at providing ”professional development” to mathematics and science teachers. Called Education Quality Improvement Partnerships, the programme is a timely boost to the government’s efforts to address the problem of poorly qualified maths and science teachers.
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/ 1 November 2005
”Now, I do believe in the declaration, notwithstanding its Western origins or its anthropocentric bias. The document, for all citizens of the world, including Muslims, is one of the most significant foundations for co-existence and pluralism. Muslims cannot have their cake and eat it,” writes Professor Farid Essack.
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/ 31 October 2005
The UN Security Council on Monday adopted a resolution demanding full Syrian cooperation with the UN probe into the murder of Lebanon’s ex-premier. The resolution calls for Damascus to detain suspected nationals and urges states to impose a travel ban and a freeze of assets on individuals designated as suspects in Rafik Hariri’s killing.