Financial Times

Scientists at North Carolina State University hope to develop better protective clothing by incorporating additives in the fibre rather than as a coating.

French government scientists say they have developed a computer model of climate change that "predicts" the last glaciation from historical data, where previous models have consistently failed. (From Nature )

The Guardian

Britain has one of the lowest levels of adult literacy in the industrialised world, according to a report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The Independent

Archaeologists at Texas A&M University are examining video of the remains of a Greek trading vessel found on the seabed 200 miles south-west of Crete. (From Archaeology )

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The Independent and the National Union of Students have launched the 2001 National Student Journalism Awards.

The foot-and-mouth crisis is forcing students to use technology to liaise with teachers, showing the potential of online and home-based learning.

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The Times

Delays between diagnosis and slaughter have allowed foot-and-mouth virus to spread, according to Mark Woolhouse of the University of Edinburgh and another government adviser, Alex Donaldson.

John O'Leary makes the case for educational league tables.

Miscellany

Women who have an epidural anaesthetic during labour may have trouble breast-feeding and bonding with their babies, scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm report. ( Daily Telegraph , Times ; from New Scientist )

Fossils unearthed in northern China show that all salamander species can be traced back to Asia, according to researchers at the University of Chicago and the American Museum of Natural History, New York. ( Guardian , Daily Telegraph ; from Nature )

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Ian Wilmut, the scientist who led the team behind Dolly the cloned sheep, says that attempts to clone a human being are dangerous and irresponsible and would hold back medical research. ( Guardian , Times )

A musical jacket that performs in tune and in time only when its wearer conducts an orchestral score correctly has been developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ( Daily Telegraph , Times )

Intense work-outs at the gym are not the best way to lose weight. Frequent moderate exercise such as walking or cycling burns off more energy, according a professor at Maastricht University, Holland. ( Daily Mail , Daily Telegraph )

British Psychological Society meeting

• Men with cancer "should not be forced to talk" ( Times )
• New Age crystal power is all in the mind ( Daily Telegraph )
• Regular Ecstasy users risk loss of memory ( Guardian , Times , Daily Telegraph )
• Men "fixed on wheels" ( Daily Telegraph )
• Chilly spots explain Hampton Court "ghosts" ( Independent , Daily Mail , Daily Telegraph )