Today's news

Return to grants for poor students
Students would be paid £40 a week to go to university under a reform package published today by the Commons select committee on education. The cost of the grants for the less well-off could be met by higher, means-tested tuition fees and the end of low-interest student loans.
(Independent, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Guardian, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph)

Poet protests at blasphemy campaign
Professor James Kirkup, fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and author of a controversial homoerotic poem about Christ, has attacked campaigners who plan to read it in public today to protest against the blasphemy laws. MPs, academics and other campaigners arranged this morning’s reading on the steps of St Martin's-in-the-Field church, central London, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Gay News’s editor’s conviction for blasphemous libel when he published The Love that Dares to Speak its Name.
(Guardian, Daily Telegraph)

Men leave it too late to apply for courses
The number of applicants for PGCEs is buoyant but the teaching profession risks becoming all-female as many men are applying for courses too late and missing the boat.
(Independent)

History is the subject of today
History has become a cool subject and increasing numbers of students are signing up for university courses.
(Independent)

Hash is part of student life
The downgrading of cannabis from class B to class C will not affect students as many claim it is already an easily available part of student life.
(Guardian)

Academic row over Marlowe tribute
The construction of a window dedicated to Christopher Marlowe in Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey, has sparked an academic row. The window bears the message Christopher Marlowe 1564 - ?1593, supporting some in the Marlowe Society’s view that the playwright did not die in a tavern brawl, but faked his death and wrote Shakespeare’s plays. Other Shakespeare and Marlowe scholars believe the question mark should have been left out.
(Daily Telegraph)

Government orders inquiry into HRT
The government has ordered an urgent investigation into a US study that highlighted the risks of hormone replacement therapy. Hundreds of women called helplines yesterday after US research found HRT increased the risk of breast cancer, heart disease and strokes.
(Independent, Daily Telegraph, Times)

Meet the 7 million-year-old ancestor
An international team of scientists is today unveiling the discovery of skull of a previously unknown species of early human. The 7 million-year-old skull is believed to be a “missing link” between man and apes and was found last year in a remote region of Africa.
(Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Guardian, Independent, Daily Telegraph, Times, Financial Times)

Asthma gene identified
Scientists have identified the first ever asthma gene in a breakthrough offering new hope to sufferers of the chronic condition.
(Daily Mirror, Guardian, Independent, Daily Telegraph, Nature)

Classrooms should turn over new leaf
House plants could help children perform better, it is claimed today. Scientists at Reading University surveyed 900 pupils in 35 classrooms and found that response times were longer when carbon dioxide gas rose above 1,000 parts per million.
(Daily Mirror, Times)

Red wine can help prevent prostate cancer
Drinking red wine and eating a Mediterranean-style diet could help keep prostate cancer at bay, a study at Getafe University in Madrid has found.
(Daily Mail)

Video games harm children’s emotional growth
Video games can harm children’s emotional and creative development, according to scientists at Nihon University in Tokyo.
(Daily Mail)

Dante scholar dies
Peter Amour, one of the leading Dante scholars, has died aged 61.
(Guardian)