Sir Alan Langlands, currently the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. He will take up post on 1 April 2009.
The Independent reports on research undertaken by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), in which 1,600 of the country's brightest 16 year olds took "The Five Decade Challenge" - a two-hour exam which included questions from past science papers spread over the past 43 years.
The new Schools minister is advocating a return to single-sex education in an attempt to get more girls interested in science and engineering reports The Independent. Sarah McCarthy-Fry is quoted as saying, "Girls do much better in science in single-sex classes. They sometimes feel intimidated in mixes-sex classes, with the boys hogging the limelight and putting their hands up to answer all the questions."
A new Eurobarometer report shows that the UK has some of the lowest figures for making a positive choice to study science and some of the highest figures (71%) for not being interested in a science profession. Of those respondents that said they were considering studying natural sciences and/or mathematics, the preferred professions in science were engineers and health professionals. Only slightly more than one in 10 wanted to become a researcher in the private or public sector.
Athene Donald from Cambridge University has become the second British scientist to be made a laureate of the For Women in Science awards (which are sponsored by L'Oreal-Unesco) in their 11-year history, reports The Observer. Professor Donald is quoted as saying, "It's hugely prestigious and a great honour, but the role model aspect is probably the most important thing. Having very visible, successful women who have not become complete anoraks is really important to keep girls doing science."
John Beddington, Government's chief scientific adviser, is to look into the funding of homeopathy as a treatment on the NHS, saying that he sees "no scientific evidence" that it works, reports THES.
The Commission for Environmental Pollution has called for more safety testing and tighter regulation on nanomaterials reports the Financial Times. Although there is no evidence of harm to either health or the environment it warns, "The pace at which new nanomaterials are being developed and marketed is beyond the capacity of existing testing regulatory arrangements to control the potential environmental impacts adequately." These sentiments are echoed by the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering who have both called for more research into the harmful effects of nanomaterials.
Research Fortnight reports that whilst addressing the House of Commons Business and Enterprise Select Committee on 21 October, Peter Mandelson said that he would have made a strong argument against the decision to shift science to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Referring to his time in the DTI (when it had responsibility for science and business) he is quoted as saying, "What I promoted at the time was a bridge between the research that took place in universities, the excellent science base that we have in this country and the commercial sector."
After eight years in the making, the European Commission has announced plans to strengthen the protection of animals across the EU, including a ban on experiments using great apes. The proposal would extend the ethical evaluations required before experiments with animals were authorised and set minimum requirements on housing and care, reports the Financial Times.
THES recently reported that DIUS is facing a £100m cash shortfall in funding for student grants. "Whitehall has blamed a "legacy problem" for the deficit, but some commentators have pointed to a failure to properly cost last year's expansion in the number of students entitled to maintenance grants."
