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GUARDIAN Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:00:00 GMT
Whatever went on there, it would have impressed the ancient Britons. Even if it was only whispering.
Salford's clever academics, who once took me shopping in a virtual supermarket – you sat in an armchair wearing a helmet and a glove – have now recreated the sound of Stonehenge.
We are nowhere nearer cracking the mystery of the monument as a result; but who would want to be? Apart from all the mountains of remaindered books of theories, a puzzle solved is never as gripping as a conundrum still under way.
But the four-year project by Dr Bruno Fazenda and colleagues at Huddersfield and Bristol universities, has established how the shouts, speeches, songs or sacrificial screams would have sounded, whatever material they may have contained. The method has been a painstaking piece of 'archaeoacoustics', a relatively new discipline which reveals the sound quality of buildings from the past.
Fazenda says:
Stonehenge is very well known, but people are still trying to find out what it..
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GUARDIAN Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:01:19 GMT
Jury fails to agree on whether student who suffered head injury at 2010 tuition fees protest is guilty of violent disorder
Jurors have failed to reach a verdict on whether a student who suffered a brain injury at a university fees demonstration is guilty of violent disorder.
Alfie Meadows, 21, was accused of causing disruption during the 9 December 2010 demonstration in central London against plans to treble tuition fees at English universities.
But after more than two days of deliberations, a jury at Kingston crown court failed to agree on whether he was guilty.
The three-week trial of Meadows, from Brixton, south London, and four other young men heard that more than 10,000 people took part in the protest, which coincided with a vote on the proposed tuition fees increase in parliament, and the majority behaved "entirely lawfully".
But prosecutor James Lofthouse said the demonstration was also accompanied by "serious disorder and violence" against police and property. Meadows..
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GUARDIAN Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:27:13 GMT
Academic publishers do not pay peer reviewers, and lack of funds is no bar to publication in an open access journal
A spate of recent articles in the Guardian have drawn attention to lots of reasons why open access to research publications is reasonable, beneficial and even inevitable. But two recent letters columns in the Guardian, headlined "Information that we want to be free" and "Better models for open access", have perpetuated some long-running misconceptions about open access that need to be addressed.
It's not surprising that for-profit, barrier-based publishers are fighting to stem the tide, by misinformation if necessary, but researchers and the general public need not be taken in.
Richard Mollet, chief executive of the Publishers Association, claims that "publishers shoulder the administrative burden of filtering three million submissions to 20,000 journals." They do not: researchers, donating their time, do this. Publishers' role in the peer-review process is two.....
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GUARDIAN Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:05:01 GMT
Young people have been forgotten by government and face an 'unmarked field of landmines' to find a job
The latest unemployment figures, due on Wednesday, will once again highlight the unacceptable levels of youth unemployment. The last time it was this high was a quarter of a century ago, just as I was starting my first "proper" job (working on welfare policy at the Treasury).
Since 1987, the UK labour market has changed hugely – mostly for the better. It is much more dynamic and flexible, yet at the same time the protections for workers (for example, the minimum wage and laws prohibiting unfair discrimination) against exploitation and abuse are stronger. And overall, young people are better educated than at any time in our history.
So why is youth unemployment so high? Obviously, the most pressing problem is a lack of jobs, the result of macroeconomic policy failures. But the government is right to point out that youth unemployment was persistently too high even before the......
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GUARDIAN Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:30:01 GMT
University careers services have never been more important, but how good are they? Not as great as they think, say recent graduates
"My tutors were brilliant and without my course I wouldn't have the job I have, but there was no mention of careers," says Bee Pahnke, 21, who graduated last summer with a degree in creative writing from the University of Greenwich.
"In the third year we had a talk, but it all seemed to be 'if you want to do a master's and how to get published'. And I just thought, 'yes, I may do a master's and I may eventually publish a novel, but in the meantime I need and want a job.'"
Pahnke, now working as a junior writer at a business language consultancy, says that with creative jobs, there seems to be an assumption that "you have to be the luckiest person ever to land one of them. But there are jobs out there – it's a careers adviser's job to know what they are."
Her experience is not unique. Jessie Barstow, 25, who studied creative media practice at Bath...
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GUARDIAN Sun, 15 Apr 2012 20:00:05 GMT
Your editorial (An open and shut case, 11 April) offers a dangerously limited analysis of the successful role played by scientific publishers in the UK's research community. Far from being an "extraordinary racket", journals serve research communities, and publishers shoulder the administrative burden of filtering 3 million submissions to 20,000 journals, a colossal task of which the UK is a global hub. All of this needs funding, but the "direct grants" you allude to are far from universally available to research authors, especially outside the biomedical sciences. Instead, the system of subscriptions ensures that there is continuing investment in top-tier scientific journals, for which the UK has a global reputation.
The Wellcome Trust's eLife is something which all those involved in the current marketplace should welcome. Indeed, it mirrors a good deal of the innovation and experimentation which is already under way as publishers look to develop such "gold open access" models,...
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GUARDIAN Sat, 14 Apr 2012 23:02:04 GMT
The coalition has indicated new mayors will be able to seek 'hard' powers. But London's mayor already has many 'soft' powers with which to show leadership, convey a strategic vision, strike alliances and tell the city's story at home and abroadA MAYORAL VISION
He or she must develop a strategy and a story that is inclusive, compelling, innovative and far-sighted. It has to be about more than how much money Londoners will put in their pockets, a story the mayor tells abroad and at home. On Monday, the Warwick Commission publishes its report into elected mayors and city leadership. It refers to an accountability crisis and valueless politics: a surfeit of committees means nobody appears responsible for anything. The mayor must accept responsibility and express values and principles. He or she must stand for fairness, social justice, enterprise and innovation.A SKILLS GUARANTEE
The mayor, in alliance with others, must work to ensure every young Londoner is equipped with the skills,..
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