Today’s physics news: Wednesday, 21 July

Easy GCSEs ‘a ploy to please parents eager for A grades’
Exam boards are keeping GCSEs at a “meaninglessly easy” level to please middle-class parents and protect their multimillion-pound textbook industry, according Richard Pike, chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Times

UK space industry boosted by historic agreement with Russia
Britain’s space industry is to begin a new era of co-operation with Russia, under a historic agreement between the two countries to be signed today.

Times

Astronomers detect ‘monster star’
The most massive star ever seen has been observed by an international team using the Very Large Telescope facility in Chile.

BBC 
 
How long can the Higgs boson keep hiding?
For 50 years, physicists have been hunting for the missing piece in the puzzle of the universe. At last, says author Graham Farmelo, a sighting may not be too far away

Telegraph 
 
Graphene could revolutionize DNA sequencing
A new technique no longer requires blasting DNA into pieces

Physics World