Rupa Patel reflects to Plus on her work as a financial engineer
Shapes, patterns and the laws of nature — how humans see the world through symmetrical glasses
Come and meet staff from the Millennium Mathematics Project, the organisation behind Plus at the Education Show in Birmingham from March 22nd to the 24th.
The MMP's stand is GG84 at the Birmingham NEC, so if you're visiting the show, come and say hello to Plus and the rest of the staff from the MMP.
Plus reported some time ago that the Secure Hash Algorithm SHA-1, on which the security of all electronic communication depends, came dangerously close to being cracked, thanks to the work of the Chinese mathematician Xiaoyun Wang (see The dangers of cracking hash).
Now the US National Institute of Standards and Technology is responding. This year it will launch a competition to find a new algorithm to replace SHA-1. Cryptographers sharpen your pencils!
A recent poll conducted in the US by Research!America showed that while US citizens feel that public understanding of maths and science is poor, they are well aware of its importance. The vast majority (85%) recognise that maths and science are very important, but over half (52%) feel that the US isn't performing as well as other nations in maths and science education. Maybe surprisingly, 87% rate being a scientist as one of the most prestigious careers, yet 75% can't name a living scientist. Sixty-four percent don't think average Americans are knowledgeable about science, and 76% think it is very important that young people are encouraged to pursue scientific careers, and that more opportunities for these careers are created.
Most people questioned felt that scientific advances in the medical and health sector were the most important to society, but many recognised that research in this area depended on maths (56%) and other maths based fields including computer science (62%), physics (58%) and engineering (49%).
A huge majority (97%) recognised that science research is important to the US economy and 94% also saw that it can create jobs and higher incomes. Global issues also scored highly with 67% seeing scientific research as very important in addressing global warming and 61% in eliminating poverty and hunger around the world.
And, interestingly for Plus, 70% wanted more media coverage of science and research.
"To address today's unprecedented opportunities in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics workforce, we must retool our education system to educate our young people in math and science more effectively and nurture the innate abilities of all young people, regardless of gender or race, to enter a STEM field of study," concluded Arden Bement, the director of the US National Science Foundation.
