International studies have shown that interest in science and technology among primary and secondary school students in Western European countries is low and seems to be decreasing. In many countries outside Europe, and especially in developing countries, interest in science and technology remains strong. As part of the large-scale European Union funded 'Science Education for Diversity' project, a questionnaire probing potential reasons for this difference was completed by students in the UK, Netherlands, Turkey, Lebanon, India and Malaysia. This questionnaire sought information about favourite courses, extracurricular activities and views on the nature of science. Over 9,000 students aged mainly between 10 and 14 years completed the questionnaire. Results revealed that students in countries outside Western Europe showed a greater interest in school science, in careers related to science and in extracurricular activities related to science than did Western European students. Non-European students were also more likely to hold an empiricist view of the nature of science and to believe that science can solve many problems faced by the world. Multilevel analysis revealed a strong correlation between interest in science and having such a view of the Nature of Science.

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Genotoxins cause DNA damage, which can result in genomic instability. The genetic changes induced have far-reaching consequences, often leading to diseases such as cancer. A wide range of genotoxins exists, including radiations and chemicals found naturally in the environment, and in man-made forms created by human activity across a variety of industries. Genomic technologies offer the possibility of unravelling the mechanisms of genotoxicity, including the repair of genetic damage, enhancing our ability to develop, test and safely use existing and novel materials. We have developed 3D-DIP-Chip, a microarray-based method to measure the prevalence of genomic genotoxin-induced DNA damage. We demonstrate the measurement of both physical and chemical induced DNA damage spectra, integrating the analysis of these with the associated changes in histone acetylation induced in the epigenome. We discuss the application of the method in the context of basic and translational sciences.

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This paper considers factors that influenced long-term engagement in an online community. It draws on a case study of a 6 year online collaboration amongst a group of European teachers. The email interchange between these teachers was, with their agreement, saved and used as research data; intensive group interviews were also conducted, involving all the participants in the online group. Dynamic motivation models and Csikszentmihalyi's concept of motivational flow were used to create a theoretical framework to analyse the email interchanges and group interview data so as to build an understanding of the teachers' commitment to the online community. As a result of the analysis, the existing theoretical models were modified to produce a new combined model. This incorporates ideas grounded in the participants' reasons for their sustained engagement in the collaboration. This combined model could provide a basis for planning future virtual interactions and for assessing their sustainability.