Today's papers

Students told degree may be linked to appearance
Students may have to smarten up and get rid of their dreadlocks and facial piercings if they want to get their degrees, university leaders said yesterday. Sir Roderick Floud, president of Universities UK, said that 'employability' could become part of the assessment process for degrees if it encouraged closer ties with the workplace.
(Independent, Times)

Male GPs 'under threat' as female trainees take over
Men are becoming an endangered species in medicine. Women now make up 60 per cent of the intake into medical schools, up from 50 per cent ten years ago, the British Medical Association conference in Harrogate was told yesterday.
(Times, Telegraph, Guardian)

Oldest walking legs found in Scotland
A fossil has been discovered in Scotland that has the oldest legs designed to walk on land ever seen by scientists. The four-legged, five-toed creature, which looked like an ungainly crocodile, shuffled around Auchenreoch Glen 350 million years ago and represents a missing link in the animal world, according to Dr Jenny Clack of the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology.
(Telegraph)

Academics join quest for Cromwell's £2bn treasure fleet
A project to locate a sunken fleet of 60 Cromwellian ships loaded with treasure worth £2 billion was launched yesterday. The University of St Andrews, Scottish Natural Heritage and diving firm Subsea Explorer have joined forces to try to find the fleet, which sank 350 years ago off Dundee.
(Independent, Mail)

How can intellectuals be so unreasonable?
Susan Bassnett, pro vice-chancellor of the University of Warwick, argues that the recent expulsion of Miriam Schlesinger from the editorial board of a respected journal for merely being Israeli is unjustifiable.
(Independent)

Britain leads way in beating cancer
Britain is leading the world in the battle against lung and breast cancer. The country has seen the biggest reduction in deaths from the disease in the developed world, according to figures announced by Cancer Research UK.
(Times, Mail, Telegraph, Independent, Guardian)

Hasty doctors put couples through IVF too soon
Couples are needlessly having gruelling and expensive fertility treatment because doctors are too hasty in concluding that they are infertile, research by David Dunson of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in North Carolina suggests.
(Times, Telegraph, Guardian)

Pregnant smokers a threat to grandchildren
Women who smoke while pregnant may reduce their chances of having grandchildren. Researchers at Leeds University have discovered that smoking damages the reproductive system of unborn baby girls.
(Telegraph)

In search of lost times
Sheila Hale, wife of the brilliant Renaissance scholar Sir John Hale, reveals how she refused to give up when he had a stroke at the age of 69 and had been written off by doctors as a hopeless case.
(Guardian)

Mein euro
In the wake of the row over Rik Mayall's Hitler spoof for the euro 'No' campaign, historian Andrew Roberts argues that the German dictator was the first Europhile.
(Mail)

Elton tops bill at academy
Sir Elton John was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Royal Academy of Music yesterday. Principal Curtis Price said: 'The thing about Elton is that he has such a solid classical music background. He understands the value of harmony and counterpoint.'
(Times, Telegraph)

The school of hard mops
Giles Whittle goes to Hackney Commmunity College, one of Europe's leading centres for the dissemination of cleaning science, to learn how to handle fake versions of vomit, urine and blood and generally brush up on scrubbing etiquette.
(Times)

The science of fair shares
By day Professor Richard Kitney teaches biomedical systems engineering, by night he gives occasional talks to academics and students on how to launch a successful spin-off. Academics at Imperial College London talk about equity splits and divided loyalties.
(Financial Times)

New universities ten years on
Ten years after polytechnics were made universities, David Walker asks if they are living up to their educational potential.
(Guardian)

African legal pioneer dies
Anthony Allott, who was a professor at the School of African and Oriental Studies and who founded African law as an academic discipline, has died aged 77.
(Guardian)

German theologian dies
Professor Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt, the German theologian who championed 'radical doubt', has died aged 73.
(Times)

South African crop scientist dies
A. H. Bunting, professor of agriculture at the universities of Reading and Nairobi, has died aged 84.
(Times)