Boost for paediatric drugs research
Drug companies will be encouraged to research and develop medicines specifically for children under new government plans. Lord Warner, the Health Minister, said that the new initiative will also give prescribers better information about the impact of medicines on children. Part of the £100 million provided in the Budget for research and development in the NHS will be used to promote research into drugs for children.
( Daily Telegraph )
Lost Roman capital of 1st century found in Cotswolds
An archaeologist has chanced upon a previously unrecorded Roman town in the Cotswolds. The town, which was established shortly after the Roman invasion in the 1st century, was large enough to have been a regional capital and trading centre for the wealthy agricultural area.
( The Times )
Reefs under threat from acid oceans
Pollution is turning the world's oceans acidic - and on Monday British scientists launched an investigation into the changes that may have catastrophic consequences for marine life. Oceans mop up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, so have always been very slightly acidic. But since the industrial revolution humans have dumped billions of tonnes of extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. One US laboratory has calculated that increases in fossil fuel exhausts could make the oceans more acidic than at any time in the past 25 million years.
( The Guardian )
Cosmic ray link to global warming boosted
The controversial idea that cosmic rays could be driving global warming by influencing cloud cover will get a boost at a conference next week. But some scientists dismiss the idea and are worried that it will detract from efforts to curb rising levels of greenhouse gases.
( New Scientist )
Climatic change model used to predict fall of football managers
A football manager's future is said to be as uncertain as the weather, and now a Cambridge professor has claimed that the success of England's leading team bosses can be predicted according to the planet's climatic changes. Chris Hope used a mathematical model designed to chart future climatic events to predict which of the Premiership's 20 managers stands the highest chance of losing his jobs this season - and who is most secure at his club.
( The Guardian )