No wonder no-one round here knows what I do

According to a report on the BBC News, less than a third of all state schools allow pupils to study the three separate sciences at GCSE.

What rot this is. Is there a "combined humanities" course? No, you have them all separate. But apparently the powers that be decided a long time ago that combined sciences was a good thing. Even if you wanted to do separate science. I did, back when GCSEs first started, and didn't get the choice. Nothing has changed since.

In Nottingham, a mere 2% of children take Physics GCSE.

It is indefensible to refuse to offer a proper GCSE course to children. Combined science is a good course for children who wouldn't otherwise study any science, but if it is the only option then it all too often becomes the last science children do.

One, two, er....

Well, this is depressing if the future of British science and technology is of interest to you. The one for Chinese pre-entry students looks too tough for me to embarrass myself by having a go at it. The one for UK students... well, it does look rather easy.

Although to be honest, they haven't been picking like for like with this - this will be just about the toughest question in the Chinese exam versus one to see if any students need major remedial help - so a question that most students will be expected not to get (since a test that has everyone get 100% is rather pointless) versus one where they hope that no student will fail because it makes their life easier, but we need to check just in case.

Ribena Rumbled

The problem of making scientific sounding claims in your advertising is that it is always possible that someone would actually go ahead and test them. Ribena's statement that blackcurrants contain four times as much vitamin C as oranges has now landed them in trouble down under, after two schoolgirls measured the vitamin C in Ribena and found there basically wasn't any. Parent company GlaxoSmithKline state the problem only affected Ribena in Australia and New Zealand

I'm also glad someone somewhere appears to be teaching science to teenagers, rather than just teaching them to pass science exams.