From today's UK papers

Financial Times
Invasion of habitats by alien species is destroying native ecosystems and inflicting economic damage running into billions of dollars a year, according to the Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN).

The Guardian
Peter Scott, vice-chancellor of Kingston University, asks whether Britain's higher education sector can maintain the fine balance it has evolved between mass access and high standards.

Lynne Segal, professor of psychology and gender studies at Birkbeck College, London, writes that academics nearing retirement are just as vulnerable to prejudice as other older people.

Donald MacLeod says that Simon Schama's seminar on liberty and slavery at Fathon.com, set up by academic and other institutions in Britain and the United States, is a hot new weapon in the webucation war.

Andrew McNeill, co-director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, writes that with their drink problem, the British should not scoff at Americans.

Peter Kingston writes that by not planning to extend nationwide the education maintenance allowances, the government is losing its nerve over radical reform.

The Independent

Translators are civilisation's unsung heroes, argues Susan Bassnett, pro vice-chancellor of Warwick University, in a talk given at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

The Daily Mail
Life-threatening food allergies are becoming an increasingly middle-class problem as the demand for exotic products rises, a research team at Imperial College London's School of Medicine has warned.

The Daily Telegraph
A diary entry reports the disappointment in Leeds that a joint honorary degree from the city's universities could not be awarded to Nelson Mandela.

The Times
Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine have discovered why catching a cold can sometimes be good news for cancer sufferers.

Southampton University scientists are trying to develop pollution-fighting plants that can reclaim poisoned land quickly.

America was not discovered in 1492 by Christopher Columbus on behalf of Spain - because he had sailed to the New World seven years earlier on a secret mission for the Pope, according to Ruggero Marino, a writer and historian.

Miscellany
Nero's Golden House, a hidden wonder of ancient Rome that was reopened to the public after 20 years of restoration, was closed when a chunk of the ceiling in a corridor of the underground complex crashed to the floor after heavy rain. ( Guardian , Times )

A positive mental outlook can stave off Alzheimer's disease and help you live longer, reports a University of Kentucky study of hundreds of American nuns. ( Daily Telegraph , Times )