A group of 27 creationist scientists has written to the education secretary arguing against any narrowing of England's school science curriculum to focus on Darwinian evolution. 

Their letter is in response to a previous letter from 36 academics, expressing alarm that creationism theory - the Biblical account of the origins of life - was being taught in schools. 

That letter sought a tightening up of the curriculum to prevent creation stories being presented as anything but myth. 

The row began with reports that a leading school - Emmanuel City Technology College in Gateshead - was teaching creationism. 

'Unproven' 

The latest letter argues for the teaching of alternative theories in science. 

"We find it most inappropriate that some well-meaning scientists have given the impression that there can only be one scientific view concerning origins," the group says. 

"By doing so they are going way beyond the limits of empirical science which has to recognise, at the very least, severe limitations concerning origins. 

"No one has proved experimentally the idea that large variations can emerge from simpler life forms in an unbroken ascendancy to man. 

"A large body of scientific evidence in biology, geology and chemistry, as well as the fundamentals of information theory, strongly suggest that evolution is not the best scientific model to fit the data that we observe." 

Surprise 

The group's spokesman is Andy McIntosh, professor of thermodynamics and combustion theory at the University of Leeds and author of Genesis for Today, a book about the modern relevance of the Biblical book of Genesis. 

"My colleagues and I want schools to teach children how to think, not what to think," Dr McIntosh said. 

"I am surprised that other scientists would only support teaching and learning in Darwinian evolution. 

"Education should be analytical not dogmatic, particularly when dealing with science." 

In March, the then chief inspector of schools, Mike Tomlinson, asked the chairman of the governors at Emmanuel for clarification of the school's policy on science teaching and for samples of children's work. 

A spokesperson for the inspectorate, Ofsted, has confirmed that the school has replied. 

She said the new chief inspector, David Bell, had not yet had time to consider the issue. 

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The letter to the Education Secretary, Estelle Morris

Teaching of Origins in Schools 

The undersigned academics, scientists and educationists are deeply concerned that the reasonable position taken by the QCA in National Curriculum science and by Ofsted concerning the teaching of origins at secondary level has been challenged. (We write as a group of individuals and consequently the views expressed do not necessarily represent the view of those organisations with which we are associated). 

The National Curriculum requires that Darwinian evolution is put across as the dominant scientific theory but also requires that pupils are taught "how scientific controversies can result from different ways of interpreting empirical data". Science should be taught with the critical appraisal of alternative theories. Such debate concerning opposing theories provides rigour in scientific method and contributes to the development of critical thinking by pupils. 

We find it most inappropriate that some well-meaning scientists have given the impression that there can only be one scientific view concerning origins. By doing so they are going way beyond the limits of empirical science which has to recognise, at the very least, severe limitations concerning origins. No one has proved experimentally the idea that large variations can emerge from simpler life forms in an unbroken ascendancy to man. A large body of scientific evidence in biology, geology and chemistry, as well as the fundamentals of information theory, strongly suggest that evolution is not the best scientific model to fit the data that we observe. 

We ask therefore that, where schools so choose, you ensure an open and honest approach to this subject under the National Curriculum, at the same time ensuring that the necessary criteria are maintained to deliver a rigorous education. 

People are set to live increasingly long lives, and reaching 100 will soon be "commonplace", say experts. 

They say that although there is no prospect of immortality, the trend for living increasingly long lives looks set to continue. 

Centenarians - 100-year-olds - will become unexceptional within the lifetimes of people alive today, according to Jim Oeppen, from Cambridge University, UK, and Dr James Vaupel, from the Max Plank Institute for Demography in Rostock, Germany. 

They said there was no sign there was a natural limit, as some experts had predicted. 

Each time one has been suggested, it has been exceeded within five years. 

Increased life expectancy

The researchers' suggestion that life expectancies could rise is based on patterns seen since 1840. 

This is far from eternity: modest annual increments in life expectancy will never lead to immortality

Researchers Jim Oeppen and Dr James Vaupel

Since then, the highest average life expectancy has improved by a quarter of a year every year. 

If that trend continues, the researchers say people in the country with the highest life expectancy would live to an average age of 100 in about six decades. 

The researchers wrote in the journal Science: "This is far from eternity: modest annual increments in life expectancy will never lead to immortality. 

"It is striking, however, that centenarians may become commonplace within the lifetimes of people living today." 

Average lifespan around the world is around double what it was 200 years ago. It is now around 65 for men and 70 for women. 

Japanese women are currently the likeliest to live long lives, on average reaching 84.6 years of age. 

Japanese men are the second longest male survivors, reaching an average age of 77.6 years old. 

'No ceiling'

The British rank well down the list. Men come in at 14th in the world table, living to an average age of 75 while women are in 18th place, living on average to 79.9. 

In France, there is a big difference between men and women's life expectancy. 

Men came 16th in the world table, with an average lifespan of 74.9, with French women in fourth place with a life expectancy of 82.4 years. 

British women have a life expectancy of 79.9

Mr Oeppen, senior research associate at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, said: "One of the assumptions is that life expectancy will rise a bit and then reach a ceiling it cannot go through. 

"But people have been assuming that since the 1920s and it hasn't proved to be the case. 

"If we were close to the ceiling we might expect the survival of Japanese women now to be improving at a slower rate. But the improvement in Japan is among the fastest in the world." 

He added: "I think there is a ceiling, but we don't know where it is. We haven't got there yet." 

Mr Oeppen and Dr Vaupel said their predictions meant even the highest forecast for numbers of elderly people in the future could be too low, affecting decisions over pensions, health care, and other social needs. 

Political reaction

Frank Field, Labour MP for Birkenhead and chairman of the all-party committee on pensions, welcomed the report. 

He called for an independent body to be set up to examine the need for an increase in the retirement age. 

He said: "If you look at life expectancy in 1948, when the state pension was introduced, and take that as a reasonable length of time to receive a pension, you would have a retirement age of 74 today." 

Click here to check out your life expectancy

Women and children have been advised against eating shark, swordfish and marlin. 

The Food Standards Agency is advising that pregnant women, women who intend to become pregnant, infants and children under 16 to avoid the fish. 

Officials said the advice was precautionary and follows a survey, which found high levels of mercury in those fish. 

Large predatory fish like shark, swordfish and marlin can contain relatively high levels of mercury

Food Standards Agency

Mercury can harm the nervous system of an unborn child if the fish is eaten regularly by its mother. 

In a statement, it said: "Large predatory fish like shark, swordfish and marlin can contain relatively high levels of mercury in the form of methylmercury, which can harm the nervous system of an unborn child 

"Infants and children may also be at greater risk from mercury poisoning because they eat more food relative to their body size in comparison with adults." 

Officials said occasional consumption of shark, swordfish or marlin as part of a balanced diet by any other adults is unlikely to result in harmful effects. 

But they advised people against eating more than one portion each week of either shark or swordfish or marlin. 

The FSA surveyed 336 fresh, frozen and processed sea fish and shellfish for mercury content, including trout, salmon, tuna, halibut, hoki, sea bass, lobster, mussels and prawns. 

Levels of mercury in fish other than shark, swordfish and marlin did not give cause for concern. 

Further advice

The findings will be considered by the independent expert Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) at its next meeting in June. 

It will decide if further advice needs to be given to members of the public. 

Sue Davies, Principal Policy Adviser for Consumers' Association, welcomed the FSA decision to issue advice. She added: "The Food Standards Agency must ensure that the message gets through to high risk groups. It's appalling that, as a result of environmental contamination, some fish now contain toxic levels of chemicals, and can't be enjoyed by consumers." 

Offficial figures suggest that 1506 tonnes of shark and swordfish were consumed in the UK in 2001 compared with 244,366 tonnes of cod and haddock, the most popular fish. 

Medical experts suggest that people eat two portions of fish a week, one of which should be oily, as part of a balanced and varied diet. 

Eating fish has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks. 

US scientists are closer to knowing the sources of last year's anthrax attacks. 

They have found a "fingerprint" series of genetic markers which can be used to tell the difference between very similar strains of the bacterium. 

It will greatly facilitate the analysis that will lead to the answer

David Selman Stanford University

The team at The Institute for Genomic Research (Tigr) and Northern Arizona University compared the DNA sequence of anthrax from an attack in Boca Raton, Florida, in October 2001, with a laboratory strain. 

The identification of "signatures" means it could eventually be possible to work out where the anthrax used in the 2001 attacks came from. 

The agent which causes anthrax is called Bacillus anthracis and the strain used for research in the US came from a dead Texan cow in 1981. 

It was intended for military research and passed to other labs in the US and Europe. 

Evolving differences

It is likely that anthrax cultured in different labs has evolved slight variations as it has multiplied. 

The fingerprinting techniques would, if the researchers expand them to cultures from all labs, allow scientists to build a database tying specific cultures to specific labs. 

The scientists involved are not keen to comment on research done in co-operation with the FBI, but another microbiologist told Reuters news agency that the research would allow scientists to proceed and answer the question of the fatal strain's origin. 

"It will greatly facilitate the analysis that will lead to the answer," Stanford University's David Selman said. 

Database call

Tigr's president, Claire Fraser, is calling for the development of a database of different strains of anthrax and other potential biological warfare agents. 

She says that such a database could be used to track down the source of biowarfare attacks and help researchers develop better vaccines and treatments. 

There are about five million base pairs or genetic "letters" in the code of the deadly organism's DNA. 

By comparison, human DNA contains several billion base pairs. 

The US team used modern genetic sequencing technology to read off the letters of the code and spot differences in the sequence, some as small as one letter. 

Their results appear in the journal Science. 

Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen - one of the most prominent traitors in US history - has been sentenced to life imprisonment. 

Blood is on his hands

Randy Bellows, Asst US Attorney

Hanssen pleaded guilty to spying charges, after a deal with his prosecutors last year. 

An FBI agent for 25 years, Hanssen was charged with selling secrets to Moscow for $1.4m in money and diamonds. 

He gave thousands of pages of highly classified material to the Soviet Union and later to the Russian Government, telling them about American plans to keep the country functioning in a nuclear war. 

Hanssen: Spied intermittently over a 20- year period

He also disclosed the presence of a listening tunnel underneath Moscow's embassy in Washington. 

Two KGB double agents he betrayed were subsequently executed by the Russians. 

Speaking outside court after the sentencing, Assistant US Attorney Randy Bellows said: "He [Hanssen] is certainly responsible for the death of several individuals who chose to help the United States. 

"Blood is on his hands." 

'Shamed'

Mr Bellows told the judge before sentencing that Hanssen "broke every major promise he made" and that he "took the nation's most critical secrets... and used them as personal merchandise". He called him "the cruellest kind of thief". 

Hanssen told the court he was "shamed" by what he had done. 

I could have been a devastating spy, but I didn't want to be a devastating spy

Robert Hanssen

He told US District Chief Judge Claude Hilton who sentenced him: "I betrayed the trust of so many. I've hurt so many deeply. For all this, I stand ready to accept the sentence of this court." 

Hanssen was arrested in February last year after allegedly dropping off classified material at a park near his home in suburban Virginia to be picked up by his Russian handlers. 

He was just a few years from retirement at the time of his arrest. 

In July last year, the former agent admitted 15 counts of espionage and one count of conspiracy to commit espionage in a spying career spanning more than two decades. 

Prosecutors dropped their attempt to seek the death penalty in exchange for the former agent's full co-operation in disclosing his spying activities. 

'Deceitful'

"There is no way that I can justify what I have done," Hanssen told investigators during the interviews. 

Many have wondered about Hanssen's motives - he has only said the damage he has caused could have been much greater. 

"I could have been a devastating spy, but I didn't want to be a devastating spy," he said. "I wanted to get a little money and to get out of it." 

Hanssen had originally pleaded not guilty and a trial had been set for October 2001.