“I would like to welcome you to my final article. At first I was able to deliver my monthly column on time, but my submissions have become increasingly delayed, and this is my first since November. The problem is that I have spent the past two years being sued for libel.”

Science writer Simon Singh bows out of writing a column for the Guardian, as the pressure of his legal battle with the British Chiropractic Association takes its toll.

“Scientists have noticed a major reduction in the number of requests, particularly from high profile media, who often have same-day deadlines. Media coverage of climate change science, our most high-profile issue, has been reduced by over 80 per cent.”

Environment Canada says a rule requiring interactions between its scientists and journalists to be sanctioned by the government has brought with it some problems (Montreal Gazette).

“Salaries of university heads in the UK are comparable with those in competitor countries and are also in line with remuneration packages for directors and chief executives of public and private organisations of a similar size. As the role and importance of higher education have grown, so have the demands on the offices of vice-chancellors.”

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, defends the pay of UK university heads, as a new survey shows over 80 of them earn more than the Prime Minister (Guardian).

“We would have seismometers in every building, or at least on every block. And in tall buildings, we’d have multiple sensors [on different floors]. That way, we would be able to actually get much higher detail, images of how the ground shakes during an earthquake.”

Elizabeth Cochran, of UC Riverside, tells the LA Times how earthquake monitoring could be improved by using the accelerometers in laptops to measure shaking.