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US education advocates tackle climate change sceptics
Max Rossi/Reuters
UPFRONT
Cruise ship safety push THE design of cruise ships carrying many thousands of passengers needs urgent re-examination after the rapid and fatal capsizing of the Costa Concordia on 13 January. So says Nautilus International, a maritime trade union which was already campaigning for outsize leisure vessels to be made safer. The liner, carrying 4200 passengers and crew, was holed by a rocky outcrop just off the island of Giglio, Italy, at 9.42 pm local time. Just 45 minutes later it was listing at an angle too steep for lifeboats to be lowered from its port side. At least 11 people were killed and others are still missing. It shouldn’t be that way, says Nautilus spokesman Tony Minns. The design of watertight compartments should be such that the vessel remains
stable for much longer, perhaps by having more hull beneath the water or by installing systems that pump water to help rebalance a listing ship. “The regulators need to look at the construction of these vast cruise ships so they are better designed for survivability – so there’s a reasonable chance of getting all passengers and crew off the ship safely,” says Minns. Commercial concerns are likely to oppose significant changes, he concedes. To access picturesque quaysides without having to load passengers into boats, cruise ships have a very shallow draught. The 13-storey Costa Concordia had only 8 metres of its hull underwater. “That draught currently limits options for providing compartments that can provide reserve stability,” says Minns.
–Breached and beached–
Classroom battles A NEW front has opened in the battle over US school science curricula. After decades of fighting to keep creationism out of the classroom, US science education advocates are steeling themselves to face a new foe: climate change sceptics. Over the past few years, several US states and local school boards have introduced measures that would mean teachers must include the views of those who are sceptical of a human influence on climate change in science lessons. Three years ago, for example, Texas revised its science teaching standards to require that students “analyse and evaluate different views on the existence of global
“Climate change education in the US is kind of where evolution education was 30 years ago” warming”. The next time Texas purchases science textbooks, this standard could be used to reject books that do not include a degree of climate change 4 | NewScientist | 21 January 2012
scepticism, says Steven Newton, programmes and policy director for the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), a non-profit organisation based in Oakland, California. Similar measures have been passed in Louisiana and South Dakota. In 2011, the US National Earth Science Teachers Association informally surveyed 555 US teachers who discuss climate change issues in the classroom. Over one-third of them reported facing influence to teach “both sides” of a climate change debate. So far, there are no reports that teachers have actually been forced to teach climate change scepticism in their classrooms. To make sure that doesn’t change, the NCSE announced this week that it is adding climate change to its portfolio. Until now, the organisation has focused on supporting the teaching of evolution in schools. “Climate change education is kind of where evolution education was 30 years ago,” says Newton. Turn to page 25 for an interview with Eugenie Scott, executive director of the NCSE
Condoms cut HIV CONDOMS are to thank for falling HIV infection rates in South Africa. So say Leigh Johnson at the University of Cape Town and colleagues. They fed data from 2000 to 2008 on the country’s HIV rates, condom use and the number of people taking antiretroviral therapy (ARTs) – which reduce the chances of passing on the virus – into two computer models of viral transmission and prevalence. Condom use accounted for the
vast majority of the decline in HIV, with only up to 17 per cent due to the natural dynamics of the disease, and up to 10 per cent down to the use of ARTs (Journal of the Royal Society Interface, DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2011.0826). David Wilson at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, says the results highlight that condoms are “the most effective” way to protect against HIV epidemics. Johnson emphasises that all prevention and treatment programmes should be intensified.
China to set caps on emissions SLOWLY but surely, China is starting to tackle its greenhouse gas emissions. Last week, the National Development and Reform Commission asked five cities including Beijing and Shanghai, and the provinces of Guangdong and Hubei, to set “overall emissions control targets”. The Chinese government put out a policy paper last year saying absolute caps on emissions were the only way to establish a working carbon market.
The latest move could be a step in that direction, says Felix Preston of Chatham House, an international affairs think tank based in London. A national Chinese carbon market would be a big step towards a global market, he adds, especially if it could be linked to the European one. China has so far preferred softer “carbon intensity” targets, which limit the amount of carbon pumped out per unit of GDP but still allow total emissions to rise.
UPFRONT
Cruise ship safety push THE design of cruise ships carrying many thousands of passengers needs urgent re-examination after the rapid and fatal capsizing of the Costa Concordia on 13 January. So says Nautilus International, a maritime trade union which was already campaigning for outsize leisure vessels to be made safer. The liner, carrying 4200 passengers and crew, was holed by a rocky outcrop just off the island of Giglio, Italy, at 9.42 pm local time. Just 45 minutes later it was listing at an angle too steep for lifeboats to be lowered from its port side. At least 11 people were killed and others are still missing. It shouldn’t be that way, says Nautilus spokesman Tony Minns. The design of watertight compartments should be such that the vessel remains
stable for much longer, perhaps by having more hull beneath the water or by installing systems that pump water to help rebalance a listing ship. “The regulators need to look at the construction of these vast cruise ships so they are better designed for survivability – so there’s a reasonable chance of getting all passengers and crew off the ship safely,” says Minns. Commercial concerns are likely to oppose significant changes, he concedes. To access picturesque quaysides without having to load passengers into boats, cruise ships have a very shallow draught. The 13-storey Costa Concordia had only 8 metres of its hull underwater. “That draught currently limits options for providing compartments that can provide reserve stability,” says Minns.
–Breached and beached–
Classroom battles A NEW front has opened in the battle over US school science curricula. After decades of fighting to keep creationism out of the classroom, US science education advocates are steeling themselves to face a new foe: climate change sceptics. Over the past few years, several US states and local school boards have introduced measures that would mean teachers must include the views of those who are sceptical of a human influence on climate change in science lessons. Three years ago, for example, Texas revised its science teaching standards to require that students “analyse and evaluate different views on the existence of global
“Climate change education in the US is kind of where evolution education was 30 years ago” warming”. The next time Texas purchases science textbooks, this standard could be used to reject books that do not include a degree of climate change 4 | NewScientist | 21 January 2012
scepticism, says Steven Newton, programmes and policy director for the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), a non-profit organisation based in Oakland, California. Similar measures have been passed in Louisiana and South Dakota. In 2011, the US National Earth Science Teachers Association informally surveyed 555 US teachers who discuss climate change issues in the classroom. Over one-third of them reported facing influence to teach “both sides” of a climate change debate. So far, there are no reports that teachers have actually been forced to teach climate change scepticism in their classrooms. To make sure that doesn’t change, the NCSE announced this week that it is adding climate change to its portfolio. Until now, the organisation has focused on supporting the teaching of evolution in schools. “Climate change education is kind of where evolution education was 30 years ago,” says Newton. Turn to page 25 for an interview with Eugenie Scott, executive director of the NCSE
Condoms cut HIV CONDOMS are to thank for falling HIV infection rates in South Africa. So say Leigh Johnson at the University of Cape Town and colleagues. They fed data from 2000 to 2008 on the country’s HIV rates, condom use and the number of people taking antiretroviral therapy (ARTs) – which reduce the chances of passing on the virus – into two computer models of viral transmission and prevalence. Condom use accounted for the
vast majority of the decline in HIV, with only up to 17 per cent due to the natural dynamics of the disease, and up to 10 per cent down to the use of ARTs (Journal of the Royal Society Interface, DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2011.0826). David Wilson at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, says the results highlight that condoms are “the most effective” way to protect against HIV epidemics. Johnson emphasises that all prevention and treatment programmes should be intensified.
China to set caps on emissions SLOWLY but surely, China is starting to tackle its greenhouse gas emissions. Last week, the National Development and Reform Commission asked five cities including Beijing and Shanghai, and the provinces of Guangdong and Hubei, to set “overall emissions control targets”. The Chinese government put out a policy paper last year saying absolute caps on emissions were the only way to establish a working carbon market.
The latest move could be a step in that direction, says Felix Preston of Chatham House, an international affairs think tank based in London. A national Chinese carbon market would be a big step towards a global market, he adds, especially if it could be linked to the European one. China has so far preferred softer “carbon intensity” targets, which limit the amount of carbon pumped out per unit of GDP but still allow total emissions to rise.