Today's news

Universities to get guidance on tackling extremism
Britain faces a serious threat from Muslim extremists trying to recruit university students to terrorism, the Higher Education Minister, Bill Rammell, will warn today. Mr Rammell will release new guidance on what lecturers should do to tackle violent groups targeting vulnerable undergraduates and preaching hatred on campus. The guidance contains advice on how to respond if staff suspect groups are circulating extremist literature to students or if they are concerned about radical speakers visiting a university. Mr Rammell insisted Muslims were not being singled out, but he stressed that the threat from Islamic radicals must be faced head on.
The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Times

University report into sectarianism sparks controversy
Celtic and Rangers football clubs were urged yesterday to wage a united campaign against sectarianism. A study into the problem of religious hatred on the terraces has argued that rather than tackling the issue separately, the Scottish Old Firm clubs should join forces to offer a single message. It is one of several recommendations for the clubs made by Bert Moorhouse, a leading sociologist from Glasgow University, after a ground-breaking fans’ consultation. He has gathered views from supporters’ groups around the country on how best to tackle sectarianism.
The Times

SNP's plea to young Scots to stay in country
Graduates and other young Scots should stay in the country after completing their education instead of seeking work elsewhere, the Scottish National Party said yesterday. Alex Salmond, the Nationalist leader, made the appeal as he launched a charm offensive aimed at young voters. Some 25,000 young Scots leave the country every year, according to the SNP, depriving the Scottish economy of talent. "The young Scots we lose every year have been educated at a total cost of £1.6 billion," Mr Salmond told economics students at Strathclyde University.
The Scotsman

Emory University gets $261 million gift
Emory University in the US is receiving $261.5 million (£139.7 million) from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, one of the largest financial gifts in the history of higher education, school officials announced yesterday. Most of the money - $240 million - is intended to replace two large medical buildings and modernise other outpatient services. The rest will be spent on renovating a health services administration building and advancing Emory's strategic plan. "We are excited and deeply gratified by the confidence in Emory's future expressed by this gift from the Woodruff Foundation," James Wagner Emory’s president, said in a prepared statement.
The Guardian

'Lizard Isles' reveal natural selection at work
Natural selection, the keystone of evolution, can switch direction in a matter of months, a novel experiment on lizards reveals. Jonathan Losos of Harvard University and colleagues visited a dozen tiny isles in the Bahamas. They tagged hundreds of tiny Anolis sagrei lizards, which show natural variation in the length of their legs. In half of the islands, they introduced a larger lizard species, Leiocephalus carinatus , which preys on A. sagrei . Twice within a year, the smaller lizard evolved changes in its body and behaviour to outwit the introduced predator.
New Scientist, The Times

Lose weight on red wine diet
A substance found in red wine could double endurance as well as cut weight and reduce the risk of diabetes, according to a new study. High levels of the substance - called resveratrol - could help shed weight and boost tolerance for exercise because it activates a “longevity gene”, according to a study published in the journal Cell by Sirtris Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was led by Johan Auwerx of the University Louis Pasteur.
The Daily Telegraph