From today's UK papers

Guardian

A-levels: more students will achieve gold standard passes than ever before. After 50 years, the exam is well overdue for a fundamental review

Independent

Humans could be easier to clone than sheep, cattle or mice, according to scientists from Duke University, North Carolina, who have found that a crucial hurdle to the procedure does not exist for people.

Daily Telegraph

As a wide-ranging energy policy is developed, James Lovelock, independent scientist and inventor of Gaia theory, asks the government to revive atomic energy as an alternative to burning fossil fuels.

Times

Roger Pederson explains why an unfavourable political climate in the US has prompted him to pursue his scientific work in Britain.

Daily Mail

Women should give up drinking when trying for a baby, scientists from the University of Wisconsin said yesterday. Research has shown that even a small amount of alcohol drunk by women unaware they are in the early stages of pregnancy can harm the unborn child's brain and central nervous system.

For decades, comic book heroines inspired and delighted young girls. Now only one in 20 readers of comics are female, because of a growing demand for sex and celebrity-obsessed teen magazines, says a study from Sunderland University.

Miscellany

If it was a maths exam, they would have failed. A year after thousands of school pupils were given incorrect exam grades, the Scottish Qualifications Authority has erred again, miscalculating the pass rate in this year's Highers ( Guardian , Independent)

Ministers yesterday became embroiled in a row over a decision not to re-appoint Dame Helena Shovelton, head of the powerful watchdog that monitors billions of pounds spent by local government and the NHS ( Guardian , Independent , Daily Telegraph)

The French and German governments have protested against plans by Neil Kinnock, the European Commission vice-president, to reduce bureaucracy, which they say would turn Europe into an English-speaking zone ( Times , Daily Telegraph , Independent)

A pair of identical twins have been diagnosed with leukaemia, in a case that scientists believe adds to evidence that the disease develops in the womb ( Independent , Times)

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