Nottingham opens 4,000-student campus in China
The University of Nottingham yesterday became the first British institution to announce the establishment of a campus on the Chinese mainland, taking advantage of legislation passed by the Chinese government that allows foreign education enterprises to be set up in the country. The campus will be at Ningbo, a historic city on China's eastern coast about four hours' driving time (and 25 minutes flying) from Shanghai. The first students will be recruited this autumn and by the end of the first phase of the development in 2008 university officials expect to have enrolled about 4,000 students.
( Independent )
Unite in joint venture to create £45m student village
The Unite Group has announced a £45 million joint venture with Lehman Brothers, the global investment bank, to develop student accommodation in Sheffield. The deal, the first in a series of new financing initiatives for Unite, would see both parties invest £4 million in a 50 per cent stake in the development, with the remainder of financing coming from bank loans. The venture would build a 1,162-bed student village in Sheffield, complete with leisure facilities such as a gym. The site - known as The Forge, is expected to open in the autumn of 2005.
( Financial Times )
World's oldest jewellery found in cave
Forty-one shells of the mollusc scavenger Nassarius kraussianus , with holes and marks in similar positions, have been found in the Blombos Cave overlooking the Indian Ocean in South Africa, archaeologists from France, Britain and Norway report in today's issue of the journal Science . The world's oldest jewellery was crafted around 75,000 years ago. The shells are marked with traces of red ochre and are at least 35,000 years older than the earliest undisputed African ornaments.
( Guardian, Independent, Daily Telegraph, Times, Financial Times )
Planet discovered by 'magnifying glass'
A planet has been discovered 17,000 light years away thanks to a magnifying technique that promises to reveal much smaller worlds. The unnamed planet, which orbits a red dwarf star in the constellation Sagittarius, is the first to be observed using a "cosmic magnifying glass" method known as gravitational microlensing. "The real strength of microlensing is its ability to detect low-mass planets," said Ian Bond of the Institute of Astronomy in Edinburgh, who led the study team.
( Times )
How sunset helps birds to navigate
Migrating songbirds check their direction each night before take-off - by taking a bearing on the setting sun. Today in the journal Science , German and American ornithologists report on how they tried to mislead thrushes by exposing them to magnetic fields distorted towards the east. It seemed to work. Released after dark, the birds flew west instead of north to their summer breeding grounds. However, once free to decide where they were, the birds noted the direction of twilight and corrected their flight northwards.
( Guardian )