Brown sets targets for science

Science will be protected in the recession, says Gordon Brown

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has set targets to increase the number of pupils in secondary school in England taking science subjects.

In the next five years, Mr Brown wants to double the number of pupils taking "triple science", which includes biology, chemistry and physics.

He also wants to have access to science as single subjects in 90% of schools.

Mr Brown, speaking at Oxford University, says he wants to "ring-fence" science during the recession.

The prime minister emphasised the economic importance of protecting the investment in science.

Teacher training

"Some say that now is not the time to invest, but the bottom line is that the downturn is no time to slow down our investment in science. We will not allow science to become a victim of the recession," said Mr Brown.

There were promises to help redundant workers re-train as teachers

There were also promises to offer "personalised support from education consultants" for graduates made redundant from science and technology companies who are considering re-training as maths or science teachers.

Mr Brown set out targets to increase the number of pupils taking the triple science option, at present taken by 8.5% of students. By 2014, he said he wanted to double this figure, representing an extra 100,000 pupils.

There was also a target to increase the number of pupils taking A-level maths, from 56,000 to 80,000 in the next five years.

The Conservatives' Schools Secretary, Michael Gove, rejected the promises.

"The government's latest promises are completely meaningless given Labour's appalling record on science.

"The reality is that thanks to their reforms the number of children taking only one science GCSE has doubled in the last year alone, and there are whole areas of the country where not a single child sits three sciences at GCSE."

Mike Harris of the Institute of Directors said there was an important economic need to provide specialist science and maths teachers in schools to help nurture the subject and to protect the supply of graduates in these fields.

"The uncomfortable reality is that despite reservoirs of good will, considerable industry engagement and positive government intervention, the number of graduates in the key Stem [science, technology, engineering and maths] disciplines has at best remained pretty flat in recent years. This must be turned around, and quickly."

There have been warnings about the difficulty in recruiting specialist science teachers.

Last summer a report from the University of Buckingham found that almost one in four secondary schools in England no longer has any specialist physics teachers.

Psychedelic fish 'is new species'

By Lucy Williamson BBC News, Jakarta

Psychedelica was discovered off Indonesia's Ambon island

A brightly-coloured fish which bounces along the seabed has been hailed as a new species by scientists - who have dubbed it "psychedelica".

Research published in the US scientific journal Copeia says the fish was spotted by scuba divers off the island of Ambon in eastern Indonesia.

It belongs to the frogfish family, but its looks are unique even among its peers, the journal reported.

The question with this new discovery is how it went unnoticed for so long.

The new psychedelica frogfish is completely covered in swirling concentric stripes - white and blue on a peach background - radiating out from its aqua-coloured eyes.

It has a broad flat face, thick fleshy cheeks and chin, and eyes that look forward like a human's.

The fish was spotted by divers off the coast of Ambon island last year.

The divers described it moving away from them in a series of short hops, its pelvic fins pushing it off the sea bed with each bounce.

"The overall impression" says the Copeia research paper, was of "an inflated rubber ball bouncing along the bottom".

The species was first discovered almost 20 years ago, but sat on a shelf - wrongly labelled and gathering dust - until this most recent find.

It came to light when the divers were unable to identify the fish from photographs circulated among their colleagues, and sent pictures to a frogfish expert at the University of Washington.

'Bogs oaks' reveal ancient forest

Fossilised trees in Wales have proved useful to scientists

The remnants of ancient forests that once covered Britain are being revealed in fields across the Fens.

Conservationists say dozens of the "bog oaks" - which can be up to 40ft (12m) long - have been unearthed.

The remains of a forest that existed after the ice age, the trees rotted and fell into the peat soil, providing a snapshot of ancient natural history.

Conservationists say more may be discovered as the Fenland peat is drying out and oxidising.

The peat is believed to be disappearing at the rate of about an inch a year.

Although the trees are known by the local name of bog oaks, they can also be yew or pine.

BBC environment correspondent Sarah Mukherjee said they look as though they have just been felled - although some are blue or dark red from the minerals they have absorbed.