Mars and the ESA Science Programme - the case for Mars polar science

Current plans within the European Space Agency (ESA) for the future investigation of Mars (after the ExoMars programme) are centred around participation in the Mars Sample Return (MSR) programme led by NASA. This programme is housed within the Human and Robotic Exploration (HRE) Directorate of ESA. This White Paper, in response to the Voyage 2050 call, focuses on the important scientific objectives for the investigation of Mars outside the present HRE planning. The achievement of these objectives by Science Directorate missions is entirely consistent with ESA’s Science Programme. We illustrate this with a theme centred around the study of the Martian polar caps and the investigation of recent (Amazonian) climate change produced by known oscillations in Mars’ orbital parameters. Deciphering the record of climate contained within the polar caps would allow us to learn about the climatic evolution of another planet over the past few to hundreds of millions of years, and also addresses the more general goal of investigating volatile-related dynamic processes in the Solar System.

MythBusters, or Why “the Only Difference Between Screwing Around and Science Is Writing It down"

This article focuses on the popular-science programme MythBusters to illustrate the various ways in which it employs science. On the basis of my analysis of these, I, first, argue that the popculture of the early twenty-first century generates products in which multiple uses of scientific activity are a standard. Second, it is also substantiated that this multiplication of the uses of science translates into it being forfeited in favour of entertainment even in broadcasts that are, or at least seem, targeted at it.

Graduate Joblessness: Conviction for Entrepreneurship Studies in Library and Information Science Programme of Nigerian Tertiary Institutions

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to understand what the Nigerian graduates are passing through, most especially graduate of library and information science programme of Nigerian tertiary institutions. Findings: The statistics of unemployed graduates in Nigeria as at 2011 showed that a disheartening figure of 42.7 million with over 1,8 million graduates churned out of our higher institutions yearly. It was further revealed that the unemployment rate in Nigeria stood at 38 percent in 2013 with further increase expected in succeeding years. The slow rate of economic growth and undeveloped private sector, faulty manpower planning, high expectations of the fresh graduate attitude towards some types of jobs, recruitments, the quest for higher education, inadequate educational curricular, immobility of labour, the long period of initial unemployment among graduates of higher institution, use of capital intensive technology, wide rural-urban migration Conclusion: It is evident that entrepreneurship education is important for Library and Information Science students in higher institution of learning. The training of Library and Information Science students must reflect the 21st century development in the field which is influenced by the emergence of Information Technology, hence, Library and Information Science students must have computer proficiency, familiarity with metadata, database management and application, web development and design, knowledge of electronic resources and services