Academic and government scientists will meet with officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal agencies at a daylong meeting next Thursday to discuss cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which officials have declared the largest in U.S. history. Some scientists have complained that they have not been consulted, according to a report in Nature. About 150 scientists are expected to attend the invitation-only meeting on Louisiana State University's main campus, said Gregg M. Schmidt, director of media relations for the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, one of the groups helping to organize the event. Among the break-out sessions planned are "Determining the Extent and Magnitude of the Spill," "Tracking Dispersed Oil at the Surface and Depth," and "Evaluating the Ecological and Socioeconomic Impacts of Oil."

The university at the heart of the "Climategate" scandal -- in which leaked e-mail messages among climate scientists suggested that the researchers had exaggerated or suppressed data to strengthen their claims about global warming -- has decided to broaden its internal investigation into its employees' research practies. On Thursday the institution, the University of East Anglia, announced that it would expand its inquiry to include how the university's climate unit handled data. To evaluate that matter, investigators will enlist the help of the Royal Society, Britain's national science group, according to The Financial Times. “It is important that people have the utmost confidence in the science of climate change," Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society, said in the newspaper account.

Stolen e-mail messages among climate scientists obtained by computer hackers included mention of a "trick" used to present climate data in a Nature article, but the publication's editors said today that they do not see enough evidence of wrongdoing to investigate the matter. "It is Nature's policy to investigate such matters if there are substantive reasons for concern, but nothing we have seen so far in the e-mails qualifies," said the editors in an editorial published today. They interpreted the word "trick" as a clever technique rather than an attempt to deceive.

A leading climate researcher announced today that he would temporarily step aside as head of a renowned laboratory while officials investigate statements that he and other scientists made in e-mail messages that were stolen from university servers by hackers. In the latest development in an academic scandal that has been dubbed "Climategate," the researcher, Phil D. Jones, said he would step down as director of the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia during an independent investigation into allegations that he and other climate researchers distorted findings in an effort to show a global-warming trend. "What is most important is that CRU continues its world-leading research with as little interruption and diversion as possible," Mr. Jones said in a statement published on the university's Web site. "After a good deal of consideration, I have decided that the best way to...

Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, wrote today to 23 schools that didn't reply to the American Medical Student Association's annual ethics survey, saying he wants information on their policies.

Congress has approved a bill to patch holes in the Higher Education Act, including a glitch that would have forced thousands of veterans to return federal student aid they had been awarded for the coming academic year.