Today's news

Sharp increase in working students
The number of university students forced to seek a job in order to live and reduce debts has risen dramatically, according to a joint report by the Trades Union Congress and the National Union of Students. According to the study 630,000 students took a job in the current year to support themselves. This was 54 per cent more than in 1996. Some 55 per cent of young people from managerial and professional backgrounds had taken jobs compared with 61 per cent of students from families with a history of manual working. Students worked an average of 14 hours a week, although one in five was putting in a 20-hour week, the report said.
The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Scotsman

Doctor's fake CV fooled university
A trainee surgeon who conned Cambridge University dons into awarding him a fellowship has been suspended for 12 months for dishonesty. Matthew Williams-Gray, 29, an Oxford graduate, invented a CV full of diplomas, scholarships and published research. He claimed to be a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, to have published four research papers and to have teaching and clinical experience. He was appointed acting director of studies and preceptor in anatomy at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 2002. Dr Williams-Gray of Castle Camps, Cambridge, then boasted to fellows and students that he was a neurosurgeon, the General Medical Council was told.
The Times

Gallic private eyes seek respectability by degrees
The image of a French private eye as a shady character asking questions through a cloud of smoke in a sleazy bar is to give way this autumn to the world of exams, when a state university launches the first degree course in private investigation. Forty students are starting the three-year bachelors programme at a division of the Universite Pantheon-Assas Paris II, which is leading the way in a government initiative to impose standards on a profession known for its ambiguous relations with the law. "The detective has for too long been burdened with the image of the crafty outsider, who gets the proof in breach of the law and privacy," said Michel Le Forestier, director of the Association of Certified Investigators. "The image of the PI drinking in a shabby little office does not help our status."
The Times

Dylan Thomas 'may have been dyslexic'
Genius or drink, or a combination of the two, are traditionally cited as the causes for Dylan Thomas's colourful, poetic and often extraordinary imagery and use of language. But, according to a new academic theory, the explanation may be simpler. The Welsh poet, who set his masterpiece Under Milk Wood in the fictional town of Llareggub - Bugger All written backwards - was a dyslexic and suffered from word blindness. This thesis, to be presented in a paper next month by Alexandra Davies, , a PhD English student at Hull University, has, not surprisingly, infuriated Thomas's disciples, who insist that it was genius that inspired some of the nation's best loved poetry.
The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail

Sigma signs deal to help sell Robert Gordon's technology
Sigma Capital Group, the Edinburgh-based finance house, is looking to strengthen its ties with academia after signing a 25-year deal to help commercialise technologies developed by Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University. Under the terms of the partnership, the city firm will receive equity in any spin-out companies and a share of income from licensing. Although no figure has been placed on the agreement, Robert Gordon has a strong track record when it comes to turning research projects into viable businesses.
The Scotsman

Fruit juice reduces risk of Alzheimer's
Drinking fruit and vegetable juices greatly reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. In a study published in The American Journal of Medicine , scientists followed 1,800 subjects for ten years and found that those who drank juices more than three times a week were four times less likely to develop the disease, compared with those who drank juices less than once a week. The benefit was particularly marked for those who carried a genetic marker linked to late-onset Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of the disease that typically occurs after the age of 65.
Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times

Astronomers plot to overturn planet definition
Pluto's status could shift yet again as astronomers mount a grassroots campaign to readdress the definition of a planet. More than 300 researchers have signed a statement denouncing the recently adopted definition that relegates Pluto to "dwarf planet" status, and some are planning a conference in 2007 to hash out an alternative definition. Last week, scientists at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Prague, Czech Republic, voted to approve a new planet definition that recognises only eight planets.
New Scientist

Soil reaction may require bigger cuts in emissions
Far bigger cuts in greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought could be needed to prevent dangerous climate change, a leading scientist warned yesterday. Peter Cox, a climate modeller at Exeter University, said changes in the soil and oceans over the coming decades could make it much more difficult for the atmosphere to cope with carbon dioxide spewed from cars, power stations and aircraft. Professor Cox told the annual meeting of the Royal Geographical Society in London that warmer temperatures could force soils across the world to release their stocks of carbon, potentially driving up global temperatures by an extra 1.5C.
The Guardian