From today's UK papers

Financial Times

Plans to set up a Welsh baccalaureate for university entrance have been dealt a blow by the refusal of the International Baccalaureate Organisation to become involved.

Researchers from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology have revived an old technique for monitoring the earth's climate, by measuring the "earthshine" visible on the dark side of the moon.

Research from the University of Texas has thrown light on how molecules moving round in a liquid can slow down without crystallising, to produce glassy materials.

The Guardian

M. F. Swaminathan, a geneticist credited with being the father of India's green revolution, says the world will only be adequately fed if governments adopt "people friendly" farming methods that include genetic modification technology.

Bees use reasoning to get to the nectar, according to research from the University of Berlin and colleagues from Narbonne and Canberra.

The Independent

A mini British Library for art is to be set up at the Tate Britain gallery in London.

One of the commonest operations of childhood - the insertion of grommets to treat glue ear - may be worthless, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh suggest.

Richard Dilks, from his recent experience as an undergraduate, cannot see why the government should give Oxford and Cambridge a third more money than other universities.

Daily Mail

Children with dyslexia can achieve normal reading and writing standards with only a short course of intensive lessons, scientists from Florida State University say.

Daily Telegraph

Gender bending chemicals that mimic the effects of oestrogen are common in sunscreens, a team of researchers from the University of Zurich has found.

Scientists at the Cambridge University Centre for Brain Repair believe they have found a way of encouraging nerves to mend in damaged spinal cords, offering hope for the treatment of paralysed patients.

Red wine could provide the inspiration for new ways to treat Aids, sleeping sickness, heart disease and cancer, and can even rejuvenate blood and skin, experts have told a symposium at Université Victor Segalen in Bordeaux.
 
To the alarm of Russian intellectuals a new Slavo-centric history of the world, developed by mathematicians at Moscow University, is attracting growing numbers of converts. It suggests that Britain was once part of a Russian empire.

The Times

Tiberius might have dismissed him as something of a sexual Puritan, but in Bill Clinton the world met the modern incarnation of a Roman emperor, Judith Hallett of the University of Maryland told the Classical Association.

Miscellany

An African antelope in a safari park was probably the initial source of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in British cattle, according to Roger Morris of Massey University, New Zealand. ( Guardian , Independent , Daily Mail , Daily Telegraph , Times )

The UK government is drawing up legislation to outlaw human reproductive cloning. ( Guardian , Independent )

Aromatherapy is all in the mind, according to scientists from the University of Munich. ( Independent , Daily Mail , Daily Telegraph , Times )

Organic apples are sweeter tasting, better for the environment and more profitable for growers, a study at Washington State University suggests. ( Independent , Daily Telegraph )

The Oxford Union has been criticised for inviting David Irving, recently defeated in court over his views on the Holocaust, to take part in a debate.
( Guardian , Daily Telegraph )