Two snippets of London science-y news dominating the press this weekend: first the news that Colin Firth has been credited as a co-author on a paper published in April in Current Biology. The paper comes from Firth guest editing the Today programme in December, for which Professor Geraint Rees of UCL’s Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience performed an MRI scan of the brains of a Labour and a Conservative MP to look for differences. This rather unscientific activity was expanded into a 90 participant study by Professor Rees and his colleague Dr Ryota Kanai which concluded that that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala.
On the education front, several equally big names have been busy, with the announcement of a private university to be founded in London: the New College of the Humanities. Philosopher AC Grayling is behind the initiative and will be its first master: subjects taught will include the humanities, economics and law and amongst those already signed up to teach are Richard Dawkins, Niall Ferguson, Steven Pinker and Steve Jones.
The for-profit university which has secured private funding, will be based in Bloomsbury and tuition fees will be £18,000 per year – twice the limit for public universities, and the cause of much of the controversy so far. Entry requirements will be the University of London’s minimum requirements and graduates will receive a UL degree as well as a separate diploma, but the university will not participate in UCAS and will run an entirely separate entry system.
Predictably views are heated on this matter and there are opinions all over the MSM and blogosphere. Linking to all would be impossible, but you can see a good flavour by following them on Twitter at @NewCollegeH. Elsewhere, you might start by reading AC Grayling’s thoughts on the matter and mainly for amusement, I link to Boris Johnson’s column on how he had a similar idea but would have called it Reject’s College. Oddly, his hasn’t launched yet.