From today's UK papers

Universities ask for £10bn extra
Universities will need £9.94bn extra investment over three years if they are to meet government targets on widening access and transferring knowledge to industry, vice-chancellors said yesterday. Financial Times

Thousands shun university education
More than 20,000 of the most able schoolchildren are shunning the chance to go to university every year according to a study carried out in 750 schools and colleges by the National Foundation for Education Research. Most schools cite financial worries as the biggest deterrent. Nearly all of the pupils who turn down the chance are from disadvantaged areas. Independent

Naughty nineties changes nation's sex life
Young people have more partners before settling down; men and women are more likely to have affairs; and twice as many women have homosexual encounters as ten years ago. This is the sex life of the nation, according to a study published today by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the National Centre for Social Research. Independent , Daily Telegraph , Times , Guardian

European MPs support embryo research funding
European plans for controversial stem-cell research overcame a serious hurdle yesterday when members of the European Parliament threw out a report calling for a ban on public funding of human embryo research. Guardian , Independent

Apes and humans share speech ability
Gorillas and chimpanzees possess a rudimentary speech centre within their brains that until now was thought to be unique to humans, scientists from the Yerkes Primate Research Centre at Emory University in Atlanta have found. Independent

Race to stop firms patenting African plant
An unconventional alliance of South African scientists and traditional healers is frantically trying to spread information about an indigenous plant which can help people infected with HIV - before the pharmaceutical industry markets it in expensive drug form. Independent

Mexican crops tainted by GM corn
Scientists from the University of California are dismayed by their discovery that some of Mexico's native varieties of corn grown in remote regions have been contaminated by DNA from genetically modified varieties. Daily Telegraph , Guardian

Wellcome breaks historic link with Glaxo
The Wellcome Trust, the world's largest medical research charity, made an historic break with its past yesterday by selling the bulk of its remaining stake in GlaxoSmithKline for £1.78 billion. Independent

Student pays £35 for Hirst-class bargain
After waiting three days and three nights in freezing temperatures, William Hackman bought two of the biggest art bargains of the year for £70 yesterday. The 22-year-old student from Farnham, Surrey, paid £35 for a postcard-sized original by Damien Hirst which is thought to be worth up to £4,000. Daily Telegraph , Times