Bird Brain: An Exploration of Avian Intelligence, by Nathan Emery
A crow named Betty is one of the highlights in a fascinating study of an exciting area of research, says Tim Birkhead

A crow named Betty is one of the highlights in a fascinating study of an exciting area of research, says Tim Birkhead

The good, the bad and the offbeat: the academy through the lens of the world鈥檚 media

This week鈥檚 bookish things to do: brush up your Shakespeare, explore a mother of a holiday, put paid to the rentiers and count the cost of London鈥檚 Olympics

Christopher聽Phelps surveys a field that lends itself to interdisciplinarity, while a British scholar laments that UK institutions prefer Americans for Americanists

A round-up of recent recipients of research council cash

This graph shows the dominance of Russell Group universities in attracting quality-related research funding from Hefce, which is based on the results of the REF

The official weekly newsletter of the University of Poppleton. Finem respice!

Nearly 70, his mortgage paid and his children settled, John Kirkaldy realises it鈥檚 not too late to indulge in a globetrotting adventure
In 鈥淪ome Russell Group universities 鈥榗ould opt out of the TEF鈥欌 (News, 1 September), Chris Husbands is quoted as saying: 鈥淭he TEF will give students a powerful piece of additional information to...
Peter Taylor-Gooby鈥檚 admission that his research has had minimal social impact is refreshing (鈥淧rofessor turns to novel writing as his research 鈥榟ad no impact鈥欌, News, 1 September). I wonder if one...
The use of essay mills is a big problem (鈥淢ake trouble for the essay mills鈥, Opinion, 1 September), and the sector as a whole seems to be in denial. It鈥檚 becoming a minor epidemic at my institution,...
The article 鈥淯niversity language departments 鈥榓t risk鈥 as recruitment slumps鈥 (News, 19 August) continues the sorry saga told each summer of dwindling numbers applying for language degrees, fuelled...

Stephen Banks worries that the push to show real-world engagement may bury the 鈥榙eep knowledge鈥 we ought to treasure

Some lecturers will rightly encourage forms of student interaction that are impossible for those covering their faces, Eric Heinze argues