Science writing is one of the most exciting niches in journalism--science writers get to travel, meet intelligent and interesting people and report on new developments from the dramatic and groundbreaking to the quirky and peculiar. Science writers may specialize in one of the traditional natural and physical sciences--biology, geology, physics, and chemistry--or write about anthropology, archeology, medicine and health, engineering, space and planetary science, mathematics or the environment.

Breaking into the science writing field can be daunting due to the scarcity of mid- to low-range markets, but the field is rewarding. You don't have to have a science background to be a successful science writer. John McPhee, famous for his lyrical geology articles in The New Yorker (some of which are collected in the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Annals of the Former World), studied English, not geology. If you do have a science background, that can help you, but overcoming your training to use technical language may be an obstacle.

Education

While almost every writers' organization seems to offer travel writing courses, science writing courses are rare. Health and medical writing courses are most commonly taught, but colleges and universities occasionally offer more general science or environmental writing courses. Be sure to look carefully at the instructor's publications before deciding whether to take the course. Seminars on science, environmental and medical writing are sometimes offered at regional or national conferences. These courses and seminars can be a great introduction to the field or help you polish your skills.

Some science writers, particularly those aiming at a staff position, may find a graduate degree is the way to go. Graduate degrees are expensive, however, so consider your options carefully. Some respected science and medical writing graduate programs are offered at MIT, Columbia, University of California--Santa Cruz and Boston University.

Professional Organizations

Several professional organizations provide networking opportunities and resources for science writers. Many offer discounted student membership, and some resources are available to nonmembers.

Joining local and regional organizations can also be a great way to network.

Read All About It

In addition to the basic freelance writing books, these books for science writers provide more specific information about everything from finding stories and markets to tips for conveying complex technical information clearly.

Ideas Into Words: Mastering the Craft of Science Writing, by Elise Hancock (2003)

This slim book leans more towards craft than marketing, and provides a solid and enjoyable introduction to how to write about science.

A Field Guide for Science Writers (1st ed.), eds. Deborah Blum and Mary Knudson (out of print)
A Field Guide for Science Writers (2nd ed.), eds. Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson and Robin Marantz Henig
These two editions have very different content, and both are a mine of information for the aspiring science writer. They cover different markets and types of writing in detail, with contributions from leading science writers.

Finding Markets

Everyone knows about the big general science magazines like Discover and National Geographic, which are prestigious and pay well, but are also hard to break into. Mid-range specialized magazines like Archaeology and Astronomy may be better targets for some, but they don't have equivalents in all science disciplines.

Fortunately, many magazines accept science stories with the right angle. A forestry magazine might be interested in an article on how a study on bird ecology impacts forest management. Alumni magazines frequently publish articles about science by professors or alumni of the institution. Ecotravel is a booming trend frequently covered by travel magazines.

Don't discount other ways to make ends meet--writing about science for nonprofit organizations, private labs, and businesses is the bread and butter of many science writers, if less glamorous than being a staff writer for Discover.

Break In!

As with any other writing niche, science writers can break in with good, timely writing and perseverance. So research those markets, start sending queries and don't give up!

A meteorite that exploded as a fireball over California's Sierra foothills this past spring was among the fastest, rarest meteorites known to have hit Earth, and it traveled a highly eccentric orbital route to get here.

The researchers found that the meteorite that fell over Northern California on April 22 was the rarest type known to have hit Earth -- a carbonaceous chondrite. It is composed of cosmic dust and presolar materials that helped form the planets of the solar system.An international team of scientists presents these and other findings in a study published Dec. 21, in the journal Science. The 70-member team included nine researchers from UC Davis, along with scientists from the SETI Institute, NASA and other institutions.

The scientists learned that the meteorite formed about 4.5 billion years ago. It was knocked off its parent body, which may have been an asteroid or a Jupiter-family comet, roughly 50,000 years ago. That began its journey to Sutter's Mill, the gold discovery site that sparked the California Gold Rush.

As it flew toward Earth, it traveled an eccentric course through the solar system, flying from an orbit close to Jupiter toward the sun, passing by Mercury and Venus, and then flying out to hit Earth.

The high-speed, minivan-sized meteorite entered the atmosphere at about 64,000 miles per hour. The study said it was the fastest, "most energetic" reported meteorite that's fallen since 2008, when an asteroid fell over Sudan.

"If this were a much bigger object, it could have been a disaster," said co-author and UC Davis geology professor Qing-zhu Yin. "This is a happy story in this case. "

Before entering Earth's atmosphere, the meteorite is estimated to have weighed roughly 100,000 pounds. Most of that mass burned away when the meteorite exploded. Scientists and private collectors have recovered about 2 pounds remaining.

UC Davis is 60 miles west of the El Dorado county towns of Coloma and Lotus, where pieces of the meteorite were found on residents' driveways and in local forests and parks.

When the meteorite fell, Yin, whose lab contains some of the country's most specialized equipment to measure the age and composition of meteorites, searched for and collected pieces of the fallen meteorite with students and volunteers. He also led a 35-member subgroup of international researchers to study and share information about the meteorite's mineralogy, internal textures, chemical and isotopic compositions and magnetic properties.

Meteorites like Sutter's Mill are thought to have delivered oceans of water to Earth early in its history. Using neutron-computed tomography, UC Davis researchers helped identify where hydrogen, and therefore water-rich fragments, resides in the meteorite without breaking it open.

For the first time, the Doppler weather radar network helped track the falling carbonaceous chondrite meteorite pieces, aiding scientists in the quick recovery of them, the study reports. Yin expects that the weather radar data in the public domain could greatly enhance and benefit future meteorite recoveries on land.

"For me, the fun of this scientific gold rush is really just beginning," said Yin. "This first report based on the initial findings provides a platform to propel us into more detailed research. Scientists are still finding new and exciting things in Murchison, a similar type of meteorite to Sutter's Mill, which fell in Victoria, Australia, in 1969, the same year Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin returned the first lunar samples to the Earth. We will learn a lot more with Sutter's Mill."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided byUniversity of California - Davis.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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1. P. Jenniskens, M. D. Fries, Q.-Z. Yin, M. Zolensky, A. N. Krot, S. A. Sandford, D. Sears, R. Beauford, D. S. Ebel, J. M. Friedrich, K. Nagashima, J. Wimpenny, A. Yamakawa, K. Nishiizumi, Y. Hamajima, M. W. Caffee, K. C. Welten, M. Laubenstein, A. M. Davis, S. B. Simon, P. R. Heck, E. D. Young, I. E. Kohl, M. H. Thiemens, M. H. Nunn, T. Mikouchi, K. Hagiya, K. Ohsumi, T. A. Cahill, J. A. Lawton, D. Barnes, A. Steele, P. Rochette, K. L. Verosub, J. Gattacceca, G. Cooper, D. P. Glavin, A. S. Burton, J. P. Dworkin, J. E. Elsila, S. Pizzarello, R. Ogliore, P. Schmitt-Kopplin, M. Harir, N. Hertkorn, A. Verchovsky, M. Grady, K. Nagao, R. Okazaki, H. Takechi, T. Hiroi, K. Smith, E. A. Silber, P. G. Brown, J. Albers, D. Klotz, M. Hankey, R. Matson, J. A. Fries, R. J. Walker, I. Puchtel, C.-T. A. Lee, M. E. Erdman, G. R. Eppich, S. Roeske, Z. Gabelica, M. Lerche, M. Nuevo, B. Girten, S. P. Worden. Radar-Enabled Recovery of the Sutter's Mill Meteorite, a Carbonaceous Chondrite Regolith Breccia. Science, 2012; 338 (6114): 1583 DOI: 10.1126/science.1227163

The climate after the largest mass extinction so far 252 million years ago was cool, later very warm and then cool again. Thanks to the cooler temperatures, the diversity of marine fauna ballooned, as paleontologists from the University of Zurich have reconstructed. The warmer climate, coupled with a high CO₂ level in the atmosphere, initially gave rise to new, short-lived species. In the longer term, however, this climate change had an adverse effect on biodiversity and caused species to become extinct.  

The scientists chart the temperature curves in detail in Nature Geoscience, demonstrating that the climate and the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere fluctuated greatly during the Early Triassic and what impact this had on marine biodiversity and terrestrial plants.  Until now, it was always assumed that it took flora and fauna a long time to recover from the vast mass extinction at the end of the Permian geological period 252 million years ago. According to the scientific consensus, complex ecological communities only began to reappear in the Middle Triassic, so 247 million years ago. Now, however, a Swiss team headed by paleontologist Hugo Bucher from the University of Zurich reveals that marine animal groups such as ammonoids and conodonts (microfossils) already peaked three or four million years earlier, namely still during the Early Triassic.

Alternate cooler and very warm phases

For their climate reconstruction, Bucher and his colleagues analyzed the composition of the oxygen isotopes in conodonts, the remains of chordates that once lived in the sea. According to the study, the climate at the beginning of the Triassic 249 million years ago was cool. This cooler phase was followed by a brief very warm climate phase. At the end of the Early Triassic, namely between 247.9 and 245.9 million years ago, cooler conditions resumed. 

Climate and carbon cycle influence biodiversity

The scientists then examined the impact of the climate on the development of flora and fauna. “Biodiversity increased most in the cooler phases,” explains paleontologist Bucher. “The subsequent extremely warm phase, however, led to great changes in the marine fauna and a major ecological shift in the flora.” Bucher and his team can reveal that this decline in biodiversity in the warm phases correlates with strong fluctuations in the carbon isotope composition of the atmosphere. These, in turn, were directly related to carbon dioxide gases, which stemmed from volcanic eruptions in the Siberian Large Igneous Province. 

Species emerge and die out

Through the climatic changes, conodont and ammonoid faunae were initially able to recover very quickly during the Early Triassic as unusually short-lived species emerged. However, the removal of excess CO2 by primary producers such as algae and terrestrial plants had adverse effects in the long run: The removal of these vast amounts of organic matter used up the majority of the oxygen in the water. Due to the lack of oxygen in the oceans, many marine species died out. “Our studies reveal that greater climatic changes can lead to both the emergence and extinction of species. Thus, it is important to consider both extinction rates and the rate at which new species emerged,” says Bucher.    

Bucher and his colleagues are convinced that climate changes and the emission of volcanic gases were key drivers of biotic recovery in the oceans during the Early Triassic: Cooler climate phases encourage biological diversification. Warmer climate phases and very high CO2 levels in the atmosphere, however, can have a harmful impact on biodiversity. 

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Dec. 20, 2012 — A research team led by Willy Tegel and Dr. Dietrich Hakelberg from the Institute of Forest Growth of the University of Freiburg has succeeded in precisely dating four water wells built by the first Central European agricultural civilization with the help of dendrochronology or growth ring dating. The wells were excavated at settlements in the Greater Leipzig region and are the oldest known timber constructions in the world. They were built by the Linear Pottery culture, which existed from roughly 5600 to 4900 BC.

The team's findings, which have been published in the international scientific journal PLoS ONE, afford new insight into prehistoric technology. The study was conducted by archaeologists and dendrochronologists from the Institute of Forest Growth in Freiburg, the Archaeological Heritage Office of Saxony in Dresden, and the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL in Birmensdorf, Switzerland.

The four early Neolithic wells were constructed from oak wood. In addition to the timber, many other waterlogged organic materials, such as plant remains, wooden artifacts, bark vessels, and bast fiber cords, as well as an array of richly decorated ceramic vessels, have survived for millennia hermetically sealed below groundwater level. With the help of dendrochronology, the scientists were able to determine the exact felling years of the trees and thus also the approximate time at which the wells were constructed.

The tests revealed that the wood comes from massive old oak trees felled by early Neolithic farmers with stone adzes between the years of 5206 and 5098 BC. The farmers cleaved the trunks into boards, assembling them to make chest-like well linings with complex corner joints. Using state-of-the-art laser scanning technology, the scientists collected data on the timbers and tool marks and documented the highly developed woodworking skills of the early Neolithic settlers. The very well-preserved tool marks and timber joints testify to unexpectedly sophisticated timber construction techniques.

In the course of the sixth millennium BC, the nomadic hunting and gathering lifestyle gave way to a sedentary lifestyle with agriculture and stock breeding in Central Europe. This break in the history of humankind has been termed the "Neolithic Revolution." A sedentary lifestyle required permanent housing, and houses are inconceivable without a developed woodworking technology -- in other words, the first farmers were also the first carpenters. Until now, however, archaeologists have only succeeded in unearthing the soil marks left by their houses.

The precisely dated wells will enable scientists to conduct more detailed studies on the important role of timber construction techniques for humankind's adoption of a sedentary lifestyle.

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Dec. 20, 2012 — Scientists studying how songbirds stay on key have developed a statistical explanation for why some things are harder for the brain to learn than others.

Their results, showing that adult birds correct small errors in their songs more rapidly and robustly than large errors, were published in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Sober's lab uses Bengalese finches as a model for researching the mechanisms of how the brain learns to correct vocal mistakes.

Just like humans, baby birds learn to vocalize by listening to adults. Days after hatching, Bengalese finches start imitating the sounds of adults. "At first, their song is extremely variable and disorganized," Sober says. "It's baby talk, basically."

The young finches keep practicing, listening to their own sounds and fixing any mistakes that occur, until eventually they can sing like their elders.

Young birds, and young humans, make a lot of big mistakes as they learn to vocalize. As birds and humans get older, the variability of mistakes shrinks. One theory contends that adult brains tend to screen out big mistakes and pay more attention to smaller ones.

"To correct any mistake, the brain has to rely on the senses," Sober explains. "The problem is, the senses are unreliable. If there is noise in the environment, for example, the brain may think it misheard and ignore the sensory experience."

The link between variability and learning may explain why youngsters tend to learn faster and why adults are more resistant to change.

"Whether you are an opera singer or a bird, there is always variability in your sounds," Sober says. "When the brain receives an error in pitch, it seems to use this very simple and elegant strategy of evaluating the probability of whether the error was just extraneous 'noise,' a problem reading the signal, or an actual mistake in the vocalization."

The researchers wanted to quantify the relationship between the size of a vocal error, and the probability of the brain making a sensorimotor correction. The experiments were conducted on adult Bengalese finches outfitted with light-weight, miniature headphones.

As a bird sang into a microphone, the researchers used sound-processing equipment to trick the bird into thinking it was making vocal mistakes, by changing the bird's pitch and altering the way the bird heard itself, in real-time.

"When we made small pitch shifts, the birds learned really well and corrected their errors rapidly," Sober says. "As we made the pitch shifts bigger, the birds learned less well, until at a certain pitch, they stopped learning."

The researchers used the data to develop a statistical model for the size of a vocal error and whether a bird learns, including the cut-off point for learning from sensorimotor mistakes. They are now developing additional experiments to test and refine the model.

"We hope that our mathematical framework for how songbirds learn to sing could help in the development of human behavioral therapies for vocal rehabilitation, as well as increase our general understanding of how the brain learns," Sober says.

The research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Deafness and Communications Disorders, the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke and the National Institute of Mental Health.

Once upon a long time ago, living in ancient Egypt had its good times as well as its bad times. Some scribe wrote that during the good times, kindness within the family seemed to increase the ability of Egyptians to get the most out of life. Egyptian pyramid builders had to know about the stuff of geometry and the scribe figured out that there were two sorts of geometry. One sort was about lifeless things like stone pyramids and the other sort was about living feelings. The feeling stuff was different, because it could be used to think about ideas that went on forever, while the lifeless stuff did not. The living geometry was used to try and figure out about the feeling stuff belonging to the geometry that went on forever. They called that the sacred geometry of the immortal soul.

We know a bit about this subject because it was used to describe the meaning of ancient Egyptian paintings that were painted during the 1st Kingdom of Egypt. Egyptian writings in stone tells us that about 4000 years ago a terrible drought wiped out the 1st Kingdom and one hundred years later the people restored government back into existence. However, new rules applied, the geometry used to explain mercy, compassion and justice had to be used to put those ideas into political law. We might refer to the people doing this as belonging to a sort of mystery school. Some Greeks, including our old school friend Pythagoras, went to Egypt to learn more about the secrets of these Mystery Schools.

After a while several Greek Universities were set up to figure out more about the eternal mysteries and the ancient Greeks added more good stuff ideas to those of mercy,compassion and justice, including love, freedom, and truth. In geometry all of these ideas had to balance each other in order to correctly solve political and scientific problems. Things got more and more complicated and the universities decided to invent a science devoted to the living stuff as well as the logic about the dead stuff. Their life-science was known as the Science for Ethical Ends. The idea of good and evil was sorted out. Good was about the health of the universe and evil was figured out to be the destructive property of unformed matter inside the atom. Those Greeks were getting so clever they figured out a way to measure how much the earth weighed and how far away it was from the sun and they had figured out some pretty incredible stuff about atoms.
Pythagoras learned about The Music of the Spheres, that as the moon and stars moved about they sang a sort of song that could be heard by the atoms moving about within humans. This sort of musical communication between celestial bodies and small atoms is well known today and it's a bit like the communication force that shatters a wine glass when singing a high note. The moon could be considered to influence the female fertility cycle and therefore the celestial music might represent a science to explain a mum's love and compassion for children.

All the ethical stuff had to be put into a medical science to guide ennobling government so that humans could learn how to evolve to become good enough to act for the good of the spiritual universe. Spiritual in that ancient science referred to modern day spooky holographic stuff, anyhow, by being good, that is, by caring for the holographic environment, humans could become godlike and avoid extinction from the evil residing within the atom. This science was called The science of universal love and its teachers were called Saviours, saving humanity from atomic evil. It was taught throughout Italy during the 1st Century BCE and Cicero the Roman Historian complained that it was not suitable for Roman rule.

The science of universal love was a strange idea about a whirling force that pulled little bits of material stuff together to make worlds, which we know today was an attempt to explain the effects of gravity. As well as doing this the whirling force, called the Nous, was thought to evolve intelligence in the universe. It was thought that when the Nous had created parts of the universe it went away to create more parts, leaving humans to evolve as part of universal creation. The idea of good being for the health of the universe and that humans could, in some mysterious way, become responsible for such goodness became a source of intense study for several hundred years, until the Romans burnt down the Great Library of Alexandria and most of the ancient scrolls were lost

Attempts to rediscover the lost science became known as the Renaissance. Things got into a fine old pickle causing the greatest scientific mix up imaginable. The Knights Templar dug up some of the ancient scrolls from underneath a temple in Jerusalem and decided that Jesus Christ was the greatest teacher of the lost science, and hundreds of years later The President of America Thomas Jefferson wrote his own Bible about it. The East India Company sent Charles Darwin on a voyage to find the secrets of evolution and he came back to write that the universe was ruled by the same scientific laws that governed the running of steam engines. Albert Einstein thought that was a great idea and science became so ridiculous that it became impossible to even think scientifically about the magical importance of a young mothers love for her child.
The world had gone chasing after money, the silly science that we got stuck with, is falling into a mess causing a global economic confusion. Recently the ancient science of spiritual reality has been photographed working within the human DNA and we appear to be in danger of changing into some form of robot ruled by bits of endless governmental forms to fill out. All around the world scientists are trying to measure the loving forces that come into play between a mum and her baby. Einstein's steam engine law, considered that when all the heat in the universe gets lost into cold space all life must be destroyed, is no longer considered to be a complete picture of everything. The female loving force does not allow for that to happen at all.
The amazing thing about the new science struggling to emerge from a world of greed is that a new medical science has been created by some of the world's greatest scientists. A mother's love and compassion is so essential to future human survival that not only are the ancient mysteries being upgraded into a new science but as mothers become aware of their importance, the magical song of life can now be measured by delicate instruments. Already plans are in existence based upon a mother's lullaby to her babe, to be put into a computer game quite the opposite to the existing computer games of violence and destruction, so that the leaders of commercial gain might be able to balance their enterprises.
Professor Robert Pope

http://www.science-art.com.au Professor Robert Pope is the Director of the Science-Art Research Centre of Australia, Uki, NSW, Australia. The Center's objective is to initiate a second Renaissance in science and art, so that the current science will be balanced by a more creative and feminine science. More information is available at the Science-Art Centre website: http://www.science-art.com.au/books.html Professor Robert Pope is a recipient of the 2009 Gold Medal Laureate for Philosophy of Science, Telesio Galilei Academy of Science, London. He is an Ambassador for the Florentine New Measurement of Humanity Project, University of Florence, is listed in Marquis Who's Who of the World as an Artist-philosopher, and has received a Decree of Recognition from the American Council of the United Nations University Millennium Project, Australasian Node. He is also registered with the Oprah Winfrey Ezine Bookclub as a classified Platinum Expert Author.

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Computer Science is very broad field based on the studies of hardware and software design. Computer science covers different areas of designing, installation and maintenance of complex systems. Major subjects of the computer sciences include computer systems, maintenance of communication network and development of core digital technologies. Areas of specialties include artificial intelligence, computer vision and machine behavior. Basic aim of computer science studies is to investigate algorithms and use of computer systems to solve problems of business and government. Computer science professionals create and maintain most effective computer systems with latest technology. Computer science is one of the rapidly growing industries at present. Many universities offer associate, bachelor, masters and doctorate degrees in computer Sciences.


Major Areas of Specialization
In combination to general subjects universities offers specialization in different areas of computer sciences. These areas include software development, language development and modification, system development, algorithms, hardware maintenance, database systems, numerical analysis and information management.
Skills Earned
Online degrees in computer sciences develop number of specific skills in the students. Some important skills include the following:
o You will be able to create and apply new technology.

o Software design and analysis

o Identification of problems and solution

o Complete multitask with in defined time frame

o You will learn to work independently as well as in teams.

o Also learn how to identify errors and rectify these errors

o You will able to select the correct programming language and hardware systems to complete assigned project.

o You will effectively use operating systems, text editors and compilers in documenting of programs.
Online Degrees Available in Computer Sciences

In addition to degrees offered by traditional universities different top accredited online universities and colleges also offer online degrees in computer sciences. These degrees include Online Associate Degree in Computer Science, Online Bachelor Degree in Computer Science, Online Master Degree in Computer Science and Online PhD Degree in Computer Science. Online education has now become a good option for many people who are not able to join traditional institutes due to some personal and financial reasons. Online Education is also beneficial for working professionals who wants to gain progress in their fields and want to upgrade careers with latest knowledge. Online degrees prove more beneficial if you also join any internship program. You can join different careers after earning online degrees in computer sciences. You can join number of different careers in the field of computer science such as software designing, computer and software sales, programming, computer system development, networking manager, computer hardware professional, computer game development, graphics designer and system manager. These are some examples of opportunities available for computer science degree holders.
Career Path for Online Degrees in Computer Sciences
Computer science consists of theoretical programming and advanced computing solutions. Computer scientists can work in three different areas.

o Computer Scientist design and build software

o Also design useful methods to solve computing problems such as storage of data in databases, transmit data over networks and new methodologies to solve security problems.


o Formulation of new and improved approaches to use Design and Application of Software Computer science professionals design software for various purposes including web development, interface design, security issues and mobile computing. Majority of computer science graduates join this career path. Bachelors in computer science provides gateway to enter this field of software designing and its application. Graduates can also continue their education and gain masters degree in computer sciences. You can find jobs in large or small software houses, companies providing computer services and every kind of large organization such as industry, government, banking, healthcare etc.


Develop New Ways to Use Computers Instead of designing software computer professionals also find new ways to modernize the use of computers. This can achieve by making advancement in computer technology. Computer graduates who are involved in advance graduate work in research university, industrial research and laboratory invent new and improved ways to use computers. The basic aim of such innovations is to simplify the use of computers and computer users can enjoy using computers with new and improved devices and methods. These devices include robotics, computer vision and digital forensics. Dot-com language is the example of such progress in computer sciences.


Discover Effective Ways to Solve Computing Problems
Computing problems can be solved by developing and applying computer science theories and algorithms. Computer science professionals make use of these two i.e. theories and algorithms to discover best possible solution of severe computing problem. To join this field as career students are required to have graduate degree to Ph.D. level with current working experience in a research university, industrial research and development laboratory.


The basic aim of computer science is to explore algorithms, design efficiency and application of computer systems to solve the problem of businesses and government organizations. Computer professionals maintain and formulate effective ways with latest technology. Computer science is rapidly growing industry. You will have lot of opportunities to work as computer professional. Number of computer users is increasing day by day and that's why development and maintenance of computer system has become important issue. More and more trained professionals are required to fulfill the needs of industry.

Science and mathematics are not cool subjects, say students. Consequently, if these subjects are compulsory, students opt for an easier stream in secondary school and are less likely to transition to university science programs. In addition, female students are under-represented in areas such as mathematics, physics and astronomy. Around the world, the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) are in grave trouble in secondary and tertiary institutions. But worse, STEM university graduates may not work in a field of their expertise, leaving STEM agencies and organizations to hire from a shrinking pool.
In 1995, 14 percent of Year 12 secondary school mathematics students studied advanced mathematics, while 37 percent studied elementary mathematics, according to the Australian Mathematical Science Institute. Fifteen years later, in 2010, 10 percent were studying advanced mathematics and 50 percent took the easier option of elementary mathematics. The Australian Mathematical Science Institute revealed that basic mathematics was growing in popularity among secondary students to the detriment of intermediate or advanced studies. This has resulted in fewer universities offering higher mathematics courses, and subsequently there are reduced graduates in mathematics. There have also been reduced intakes in teacher training colleges and university teacher education departments in mathematics programs, which have resulted in many low-income or remote secondary schools without higher level mathematics teachers, which further resulted in fewer science courses or the elimination of specific topics from courses. For some mathematics courses, this is producing a continuous cycle of low supply, low demand, and low supply.


But is it actually a dire problem? The first question is one of supply. Are universities producing enough quality scientists, technology experts, engineers, and mathematicians? Harold Salzman of Rutgers University and his research colleague, B. Lindsay Lowell of Georgetown University in Washington D.C., revealed in a 2009 study that, contrary to widespread perception, the United States continued to produce science and engineering graduates. However, fewer than half actually accepted jobs in their field of expertise. They are moving into sales, marketing, and health care jobs.


The second question is one of demand. Is there a continuing demand for STEM graduates? An October 2011 report from the Georgetown University's Centre on Education and the Workforce confirmed the high demand for science graduates, and that STEM graduates were paid a greater starting salary than non-science graduates. The Australian Mathematical Science Institute said the demand for doctorate graduates in mathematics and statistics will rise by 55 percent by 2020 (on 2008 levels). In the United Kingdom, the Department for Engineering and Science report, The Supply and Demand for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematical Skills in the UK Economy (Research Report RR775, 2004) projected the stock of STEM graduates to rise by 62 percent from 2004 to 2014 with the highest growth in subjects allied to medicine at 113 percent, biological science at 77 percent, mathematical science at 77 percent, computing at 77 percent, engineering at 36 percent, and physical science at 32 percent.
Fields of particular growth are predicted to be agricultural science (food production, disease prevention, biodiversity, and arid-lands research), biotechnology (vaccinations and pathogen science, medicine, genetics, cell biology, pharmagenomics, embryology, bio-robotics, and anti-ageing research), energy (hydrocarbon, mining, metallurgical, and renewable energy sectors), computing (such as video games, IT security, robotics, nanotechnologies, and space technology), engineering (hybrid-electric automotive technologies), geology (mining and hydro-seismology), and environmental science (water, land use, marine science, meteorology, early warning systems, air pollution, and zoology).


So why aren't graduates undertaking science careers? The reason is because it's just not cool -- not at secondary school, nor at university, nor in the workforce. Georgetown University's CEW reported that American science graduates viewed traditional science careers as "too socially isolating." In addition, a liberal-arts or business education was often regarded as more flexible in a fast-changing job market.
How can governments make science cool? The challenge, says Professor Ian Chubb, head of Australia's Office of the Chief Scientist, is to make STEM subjects more attractive for students, particularly females -- without dumbing down the content. Chubb, in his Health of Australian Science report (May 2012), indicated that, at research level, Australia has a relatively high scholarly output in science, producing more than 3 percent of world scientific publications yet accounting for only about 0.3 percent of the world's population. Australian-published scholarly outputs, including fields other than science, grew at a rate of about 5 percent per year between 1999 and 2008. This was considerably higher than the global growth rate of 2.6 percent. But why isn't this scholarly output translating into public knowledge, interest, and participation in science?
Chubb promotes a two-pronged approach to the dilemma: 1. science education: enhancing the quality and engagement of science teaching in schools and universities; and 2. science workforce: the infusion of science communication into mainstream consciousness to promote the advantages of scientific work.


Specifically, Chubb calls for creative and inspirational teachers and lecturers, as well as an increase in female academics, for positive role modeling, and to set science in a modern context. Instead of restructuring and changing the curriculum, he advocates training teachers to create ways to make mathematics and science more relevant to students' lives. Communicating about science in a more mainstream manner is also critical to imparting the value of scientific innovation. Chubb is a fan of social media to bring science into the mainstream and to change people's perception of science careers and scientists. Social media can also bring immediacy to the rigor, analysis, observation and practical components of science.


In practical terms, the recent findings on student attitudes to STEM subjects, their perception of scientific work, and the flow of STEM graduates to their field of expertise, may be improved by positively changing the way governments, scientists, and educators communicate science on a day-to-day level.
Contextual, situational, relevant science education is more likely to establish links between theory and practical application. This can be demonstrated through real-world applications, including science visits and explorations in the local environment, at all levels of education. Even university students should avoid being cloistered in study rooms, and be exposed to real world, real environment situations. Furthermore, science educators advocate the use of spring-boarding student queries, interests, and motivation into extra-curriculum themes that capture their imagination and innovation. Therefore, enabling students to expand core curricula requirements to include optional themes, projects, competitions, and activities chosen by individual students, groups, or school clusters lead to increased student (and teacher) motivation and participation. In addition, integrating and cross-fertilizing science with non-science subjects and day-to-day activities (e.g. the science of chocolate, sport science, technical drawings, artistic design, and clothing design) can powerfully place STEM subjects firmly into practical applications. "Scientists in residence" programs, in which local scientists work periodically in school and university settings, can inspire students and provide two-way communication opportunities. In addition, international collaborations between schools of different regions or countries through a range of technologies demonstrate and reinforce collaboration in the scientific workplace -- as a way to build a cadre of experts, exchange ideas, network, cooperate, economize, and create culturally diverse outcomes of excellence.


These approaches can provide a more realistic concept of the work scientists perform from a local to a global perspective.

Dr. Martina Nicolls has 25 years of experience as a humanitarian aid development evaluator and advisor for international governments on education, child labor, peace, science, community development, gender, and management. In addition to numerous academic articles, she is the author of The Sudan Curse; Kashmir on a Knife-Edge; and Bardot's Comet.