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Experts split after Royal Society backs animal testing
The scientific world was divided last night after the Royal Society published a report (The use on non-human animals in research: A guide for scientists) claiming animal research is essential for human welfare. Its view is being strongly challenged by researchers at four leading universities - Yale, Edinburgh, Bristol and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who are calling for an urgent review of all such research to reduce the suffering of laboratory animals in a paper in the British Medical Journal .
( Daily Mail )

Teachers in pay strike
Teachers at Bradford College and Rother Valley College in Dinnington, Yorkshire, are due to strike today in a dispute over pay. Members of NATHFE called for the action after claiming the colleges were not implementing a pay deal in full.
( Yorkshire Post )

Vicar, 93, gets PHD
Rev Edgar Dowse was awarded a doctorate for his thesis on 'The Soul in Relationship to God' by the London School of Theology, Northwood, Middlesex, making him the oldest person in the world to gain a PhD.
( Daily Mirror )

Appointment
The Russell group of 19 university has appointed Michael Carr, Liverpool University's registrar, as its first executive director.
( FT )

Students and lecturers to protest over reforms
The University of Bath and Bath Spa University College is braced for a two-day strike over pay which could mark the start of months of discontent. Academics, who claim a new pay deal is leaving them out of pocket, will be joined tomorrow by students protesting about variable top-up fees.
( Bath Chronicle )

English 'in decline' as a language
The proportion of the world's population that grows up speaking English is in decline, and Mandarine Chinese will become the next 'must learn' language, according to David Gradol, a language expert, writing in the journal Science .
( Daily Telegraph , Independent )

Code of conduct for science editors
Editors of medical and scientific journals take a step towards self-regulation today with the publication of their first editorial code of conduct, designed to ensure accurace, maintain scientific integrity and avoid conflicts of interest. The code, from the London-based Committee on Publication Ethics, gives editors a duty to take action whenever they encounter examples of research misconduct and breaches of publication ethics.
( FT )

Remains of Darwin's HMS Beagle located
Scientists have located HMS Beagle's remains beneath 5m of mud near Potton Island in the Essex Marshes, according to a survey carried out with ground-penetrating radar by Robert Prescott, a marine archaeologist at St Andrew's University.
( FT )