Latest news

Lack of brain specialists 'alarming', says report
Thousands more specialist brain doctors are urgently needed to bring Britain’s health service up to continental European standards, experts warned today. Launching a new report, the Association of British Neurologists found that a lack of specialists for brain-related conditions such as strokes had led to an “alarming inequality” in healthcare.

Dawkins demands probe into creationist 'falsehoods'
Scientist Richard Dawkins today called for school inspectors to re-examine a school where fundamentalist Christian teachers are reported to be teaching the literal truth of the biblical story of creation. Professor Dawkins, professor of public understanding of science at Oxford University, claimed that children at the Emmanuel College in Gateshead were being taught “ludicrous falsehoods”. 

$10m IT boost for black colleges
The Oracle Corporation is to give US$10 million (£7 million) to the United Negro College Fund to help the consortium of 39 historically black colleges and universities train academic staff and students in information technology.    

Ulster peace chair award for Nobel winner
Nobel peace prizewinner John Hume, former leader of Northern Ireland’s Social Democratic and Labour Party, has been awarded the Tip O’Neill chair in peace studies at Ulster University. The chair is financed by the American Ireland Fund, and awarded annually to an eminent peacemaker, academic or politician.

Peacocks unruffled by crisis
People who adore themselves may be infuriating - but they outshine others at times of crisis, the British Psychological Society’s annual conference in Blackpool heard today. A study by Harry Wallace and Roy Baumeister from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio showed that narcissists keep their heads while all around are losing theirs because they see potential disaster as a path to glory.