Vanessa Spedding is the Shorts editor

Trust me, I'm a doctor?

Research undertaken in Sweden and published in the open-access journal Critical Care has revealed that, in contentious cases, doctors place a higher priority on maintaining quality of life, whereas the public prioritise life-saving treatment. The researchers say that doctors will benefit from greater awareness of the public's instincts. See http://ccforum.com/content/12/1/R13 

Trust me more, I'm a doctor

Trust in scientists has been increasing over the last 10 years, a survey of 2,000 adults has found, with 83 per cent of the public now trusting them. Doctors are the most trusted profession, with 92 per cent of the public believing they tell the truth. Journalists do worst, with 19 per cent of the public trusting them. The survey was conducted by Ipsos MORI. See www.ipsos-mori.com  

A guilty pleasure

In a lunchtime address at UCL, Professor of Architecture Ian Borden suggested encouraging driving only for pleasure, not need. He argued that the pleasure people derive from driving makes them less willing to reduce their leisure-time car use than their functional car use. People will use public transport more, he suggested, if attempts to reduce car use work with, rather than against, the enjoyment of driving. 

Eco-teens

Teenagers understand climate change and the potential of science to tackle it, a survey by the Department for Children, Schools and Families has found. Four out of five teenagers say they would like a job that contributes to helping the environment.  Director of Education at the Royal Society, Professor Michael Reiss, welcomed the survey, commenting, ‘We must now turn enthusiasm into careers.’ 

Online benchmarking tool from Ecsite-UK

Ecsite-UK and the Department for Innovation Universities & Skills have created a simple online data collection tool to enable easy collection of work happening across the UK network of Science & Discovery Centres and Museums. Ecsite-UK hopes that this will provide robust evidence to say, for example, that 80 per cent of centres offer continuing professional development in science to teachers, or 100 per cent offer curriculum-linked resources for students. The tool has been piloted since April 08. More information can be obtained from Ecsite-UK: http://www.ecsite-uk.net/news/

Singing maths and science

MASSIVE is an online database with information on over 2500 maths and science-inspired songs for all audiences from children to professors. It can be searched to find a song on a particular topic and is part of the US National Science Foundation's National Science Digital Library. Find it online at www.science-groove.org/MASSIVE/

Boost for maths and science in schools

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has announced a £140 million campaign to boost science and maths teaching in schools. This includes a cinema, TV, radio and digital advertising campaign to attract more young people into science, by providing quality information about the wide range of careers available to those with science qualifications. See http://www.lookwhatyoucandowiththem.com/

Science book prizes for children

The Royal Society has announced the shortlist for its prestigious Prizes for Science Books Junior Prize. The judging panel included Brainiac's Jon Tickle and Newsround presenter Sonali Gudka. The winning book will be selected entirely by a panel of young people from over 100 schools and youth groups. For details of the shortlisted books see http://royalsociety.org/bookslanding.asp?id=6317