Seven days in science - 6 August 2010

There are a number of Local Heroes events and exhibits taking place over the coming weeks, including Introducing the astronomer’s assistant at National Museum Scotland and the Heroes of Transport Festival at MoSI, Manchester.

The Royal Society in the city of London walking tour takes place this Saturday (6 August). Learn all about the sites of the city and how they are linked to Fellows of the Royal Society – from Isaac Newton’s role at the Royal Mint to Humphry Davy’s experiments at Newgate prison.  Other Royal Society walks are taking place in London throughout the anniversary year.

The new Science Policy Centre blog In Verba has just been launched on the Society’s webpage. The blog will provide updates on the work of the Society’s Science Policy Centre on providing scientific advice to policymakers.

In celebration of the 350th anniversary, the Royal Society have partnered with Metro to publish a series of features across a broad range of sciences throughout the anniversary year.

Research published in this week’s Royal Society journal Biology Letters shows that on average 60% of female mongooses give birth on the same night. The research offers a convincing new explanation for the extraordinarily coordinated mongoose births and may inform theories of birth synchronicity in many other species.

A new study that will look into the decline in the number of students studying computing was also launched this week.  The study Computing in schools and its importance and implications for the economic and scientific wellbeing of the UK is being led by the Royal Society with support from 24 organisations, including the Royal Academy of Engineering, BCS Academy of Computing, CPHC (The Council of Professors and Heads of Computing), Google, Microsoft Research and several of the UK’s leading universities.