- An academic has criticised Sir David Attenborough鈥檚 wildlife documentaries for ignoring gay animals, the Daily Mail reported on 9 February. Brett Mills, senior lecturer at the University of East Anglia鈥檚 School of Film, Television and Media Studies, said that the broadcaster鈥檚 programmes over the past two decades have consistently overlooked homosexuality in the wild despite its being 鈥減retty much everywhere in the animal world鈥, the newspaper stated. For instance, the 2002-03 series The Life of Mammals featured footage of two male chimps embracing, described as an act of friendly affection, when it could have shown a tender homosexual clinch, Dr Mills said. Sidelining the issue, even unintentionally, skewed people鈥檚 view of what is natural for both humans and animals, he added.
- Long-faced people such as David Cameron and Abraham Lincoln are viewed as natural leaders, particularly in troubled times, a study has suggested. University of St Andrews researchers showed volunteers male and female faces whose features could be manipulated to make them appear taller or shorter, reported the Independent on Sunday on 10 February. Asked to show an ideal leader in peacetime, participants elongated the face of a man by 6 per cent, but for war they stretched it by 45.8 per cent, said the paper in Evolutionary Psychology. 鈥淥ur results suggest we turn towards the most dominant-looking people for leadership, especially when we are faced with a threat,鈥 said Daniel Re, who led the study.
- A fresh plagiarism scandal has hit Angela Merkel鈥檚 government after her education minister resigned over accusations that she had copied large chunks of her PhD thesis, the Financial Times reported on 10 February. Annette Schavan stepped down from the German chancellor鈥檚 Cabinet after a University of Dusseldorf commission decided that her 1980 thesis contained frequent unattributed quotations that amounted to 鈥渄eliberate deception through plagiarism鈥, the paper said. Two years ago, Ms Schavan criticised Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who was then defence minister, after he was accused of plagiarism. He resigned his position shortly afterwards. Ms Schavan, who intends to fight the university鈥檚 decision, has also lost her doctor of philosophy title - a severe blow in a country where doctorates are often used as a form of address.
- University of Sussex students staging a sit-in protest against plans to outsource 235 campus jobs have gained celebrity supporters. Up to 50 students occupied a floor of Sussex鈥檚 conference centre on 7 February after a 300-strong march against privatisation plans. Students have complained that the way proposals to transfer university jobs to private companies have been instigated shows 鈥渁 blatant disregard for the views and wishes of the campus community鈥, while a lack of openness by management was 鈥渆roding the spirit of Sussex鈥. Among those signing a statement supporting the protest鈥檚 aims were Sir Jonathan Miller, a former fellow of neuro-psychology at Sussex, Peter Hain, a former Labour Cabinet minister and Sussex alumnus, and Peter Capaldi, the star of The Thick of It. Sussex said that there will be no redundancies or change in the pay and conditions of transferred staff.
- A judge has criticised the University of Salford for pursuing an expensive libel case against a former lecturer who compared his managers to Hezbollah, The Daily Telegraph reported on 12 February. Mr Justice Eady said that Salford had abused the legal process in its three-year action against Gary Duke, who was sacked in 2009, the paper said. Dr Duke, a former lecturer in sociology, wrote on a blog that the militant Islamic group Hezbollah was more 鈥渁ccountable and transparent [than] the current ruling regime at Salford鈥. However, the judge said that if any 鈥渄efamatory鈥 remarks were made, they appeared to be aimed at the vice- chancellor, Martin Hall, or his deputy, Adrian Graves, rather than at Salford as a whole. 鈥淚 regard it as wholly unreal, and indeed an abuse of the court鈥檚 process, for these proceedings to continue on the basis that the only claimant is the university when the conduct to be examined 鈥 would be that of Dr Graves and Professor Hall,鈥 he said. The university is considering an appeal but said it was a 鈥減oint of principle to safeguard its reputation when employees are subjected to unjustified鈥riticism鈥.
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