Today’s physics news: Friday, 6 November

Call for guidelines to free science from politics

Senior scientists, including president of the Royal Society Martin Rees and former government chief scientist Robert May, are calling on the government to establish a new set of guidelines to guarantee that scientific advice remains free from political interference following the sacking of its chief drugs adviser David Nutt.  In related news, Lord Drayson, the science minister, has expressed his dismay at Professor Butt’s dismissal.
Guardian
BBC
BBC (Drayson on Nutt)

Climate deal out of sight

Senior government figures, including the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, have admitted that international powers are unlikely to reach a legally-binding agreement at COP15.The Independent
BBC

Punishing exam boards that ‘dumb down’

The Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Dr Richard Pike, has decided that exam boards should be fined if they are found guilty of dumbing down their exam papers, as they are accused of doing to meet education market forces.
The Independent
BBC

Bread stalls LHC

A small piece of bread was found in one of the LHC’s cooling machines which has led to further small delays.  Physicists are CERN cannot explain where the bread came from – one physicist has suggested to The Times it might have come from a passing bird or dropped from an aeroplane.
The Times