Today's news

Ethical red tape is stifling us, say medical researchers
NHS red tape and ethical safeguards brought in after the Alder Hey body parts scandal are stifling research into new medicines, according to researchers. They argue that excessive paperwork, restrictions on approaching study volunteers and seemingly arbitrary judgments by ethics committees have deterred many doctors from getting studies up and running. "That's a disaster and it is absolutely not in the public interest," said Jenny Hewison, a clinical researcher at Leeds University. Along with Andy Haines at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, she has written to the British Medical Journal criticising regulations connected with consent from research volunteers.
The Guardian

World must race to develop green energy, urges Rees
An urgent project on the scale of the Apollo moon landings is needed to boost research into green energy sources and save the planet from environmental disaster, according to Britain's top scientist. Writing in the US journal Science today, Sir Martin Rees, president of Britain's most prestigious scientific institute, the Royal Society, expresses dismay at G8 leaders' "worrisome lack of determination" to accelerate development of new energy sources, given the expected 50 per cent rise in the world's energy needs - and carbon dioxide emissions - in the next 25 years.
The Guardian

Dictionary comes to the rescue of students
Thousands of undergraduates are so poor at spelling and grammar that a special dictionary has been launched to help improve their basic writing skills. The Compact Oxford English Dictionary for Students was produced because lecturers were complaining about the time they spent teaching undergraduates how to construct sentences and essays. It follows a study by the Royal Literary Fund which highlighted the need for improvement in undergraduates' communication skills. As well as more than 150,000 words, the dictionary includes a section covering basic grammar, punctuation and letter-writing.
Daily Telegraph , The Independent , The Times

Blood test can give early warning of breast cancer
A blood test that can reveal if a woman has breast cancer - and at an earlier stage than is possible with current tests - has been shown to work in a trial led by a British-based scientist. The results of the first trial, published today, also suggest that the method could be adapted to identify melanoma and detect prostate and ovarian cancers at the disease's "silent'' phase, when a person looks and feels normal.
Daily Telegraph

'Miracle' girl who became face of Live Aid triumphs with graduation
The image of a young Ethiopian girl ravaged by hunger and 15 minutes from death came to symbolise Live Aid's 1985 plea for money for the victims of the devastating famine. Birhan Woldu, described as a "miracle baby", survived the 1984 humanitarian crisis and was seen as a symbol of hope for Ethiopia. Yesterday, in a triumphant reversal of fortune, she graduated from university with a diploma in agricultural science after studying at the Wukro Technical and Vocational College in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, where she grew up.
The Independent

Britain's first hybrid orchid is discovered
A hybrid of two endangered orchid species that is new to Britain has been recorded by wildlife experts. The discovery was made by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust at Hartslock Nature Reserve in south Oxfordshire. Morphological analysis by London's Natural History Museum confirmed that, for the first time in the UK, monkey orchids and lady orchids on the site have interbred to produce an intermediate variety. Genetic analysis proved the plant was a new hybrid.
The Independent

Letters
The commercialisation of stem-cell research.
The Independent