Take an arts degree and you could be history
A report published today shows that arts and law graduates tend to die younger than those who take science degrees. Medical students were least likely to die young, the study found, but most likely to die for alcohol-related reasons. Arts students were half as likely as medical students to die by suicide or accident. Divinity students had the lowest blood pressure, and were least likely to drink alcohol. The report, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, was compiled by researchers in Glasgow and Belfast, who followed up health records from 8,367 male students at Glasgow University between 1948 and 1968.
(THES, Financial Times, Guardian)
Scholar finds 400-year-old triumphal arch design
An Oxford scholar has found an elaborate 400-year-old design for one of seven triumphal arches for the celebration of James I's accession to the English throne. Katherine Duncan-Jones, senior research fellow in the English faculty at Oxford, stumbled across the sketch in the archives of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. The detailed drawing was part of the elaborate preparations for a state procession after the coronation in 1603.
(Times)
Students bombard 'rat' MPs with emails
Thousands of angry students are targeting Labour MPs who betrayed an election promise not to introduce university top-up fees. Student leaders have circulated the names of 'rat' MPs in marginal seats. The National Union of Students, which is backing the Daily Express campaign against top-up fees, revealed that 5,000 emails have now been sent to MPs warning them not to support the unpopular plans.
(Daily Express)
Labour of lav
A two-year study lifting the lid on city centre public toilets has won five universities a £200,000 grant from the government.
(The Mirror)