Today's news

Scots increase fees by £700 for the English
University tuition fees for students coming to Scotland from the rest of Britain will be increased by about £700 a year from 2006. Scottish ministers were accused of discriminating against the English when the measures were announced in the Scottish Parliament yesterday.
( Daily Telegraph, Times )

OECD warns students about rogue colleges
Students searching for an affordable international degree risk falling prey to rogue colleges as regulation struggles to keep up with new hybrid courses, a study by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development has warned. The reputation of the growing market in cross-border higher education is being damaged by lack of co-ordination between different university systems around the world, the OECD believes, and urgently needs policing.
( Financial Times )

Ivy League college to boost international appeal
Higher tuition fees at UK universities will open the door to US institutions poaching the most talented students from Britain and overseas by offering more generous financial aid, according to Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia University in New York City. Mr Bollinger said he envisaged the proportion of foreign students at Columbia rising to 20 per cent from 4 per cent over the next decade. Columbia raises $300 million (£165 million) a year from private donations and could afford to make very tempting offers of financial help to potential students.
( Financial Times )

Alzheimer's drug has 'minimal effect'
The first independent trial of Aricept, the best-selling drug for Alzheimer's disease, has found it is only minimally effective - producing a slight, temporary improvement in memory test performance but failing to improve patients' quality of life or delay the progress of dementia. In a study for the National Health Service published today in The Lancet , researchers at Birmingham University said that the disappointing findings would also apply to cholinesterase-inhibitor drugs in the new class of Alzheimer's medication including Exelon and Reminyl.
( Financial Times, Guardian, Daily Mail )

Scientists to explore beneath polar ice cap
Marine scientists are to undertake the first systematic exploration of the Arctic Ocean beneath the polar ice cap. The exploration, which will cost more than $10 million (£5.5 million), will bring in scientists from the US, Canada, Russia and several European countries, who will use submersibles, ice-breakers, sonar detection and traditional techniques to record biodiversity in the Arctic Ocean. The project is part of the 10-year $1 billion Census of Marine Life.
( Financial Times, Independent, Times )

Scientists find gene that makes you love mother
The discovery of a gene that controls the bonding process between infants and their mothers promises new insights into autism and other behavioural disorders. An experiment in Italy has shown that knocking out a single gene transforms the way in which newborn mice relate to their mothers. The findings, by a team from the Italian National Council for Research in Rome, are published today in the journal Science .
( Times )

Hope for obese with erectile dysfunction
Obese men with erectile dysfunction may be able to improve their sexual function with exercise and weight loss, according to a study in this week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association . Erectile dysfunction affects an estimated 30 million men in the US alone. Doctors at the Center for Obesity Management, Second University of Naples, Italy, say the problem can be substantially reduced through weight loss.
( Financial Times )

Stem cells grow tooth structures
Scientists have made significant advances in re-engineering new teeth and dental tissue, according to two reports in July's issue of the Journal of Dental Research . A research group in London generated tooth structures from stem cells, mimicking the natural development of teeth. The new structures had enamel, dentin and pulp. Scientists at Boston's Forsyth Institute implanted biodegradable scaffolds to bioengineer tooth tissue. Tooth germ cells, placed on the scaffolds, grew new tissue.
( Financial Times )