“Even a small break from employment for children has significant negative associations with wages,” according to professor of sociology and social policy Sylvia Walby reported the Observer. Research for the Equal Opportunities Commission found every year a woman takes off work for childrearing cuts one percent off her earnings for the rest of her life.

The brains behind the batcane – Dr Dean Waters, Professor Brian Hoyle and Professor Deborah Withington – made appearances on Calendar, Sky News, Channel 4 News, BBC Radio 4 You and Yours and BBC Breakfast on White Cane day to talk about the device that uses bat physiology to help blind people get around. The cane is now available to the public after successful trials in the US.

Patients in the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis can have their symptoms reversed by the drug Remicade, Professor Paul Emery explained to BBC Look North. The successful trials of the drug were also covered by the Daily Mail, BBC Radio Leeds, Yorkshire Evening Post and Yorkshire Post.

Sebastien Sainsbury’s bid for Leeds United collapsed but sport management expert Professor Bill Gerrard had already warned in the Times: “I hope he has done his homework before building people’s hopes up. Since Adulant took over, 14 groups have looked at Leeds and only one is still standing. What did the other 13 see?”

Twenty-first century Leeds: geographies of a regional city by Leeds geographers Professor John Stillwell and Dr Rachael Unsworth (Reporter 502) was featured in the Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post and on BBC Radio Leeds.

EU Commission President Barroso’s announcement that he would re-shuffle and reconsider his designate team following opposition from members of the European Parliament was discussed by Professor Juliet Lodge on BBC Radio Humberside. She said that after MEPs’ cross-examination of Commissioners designate, some were found to be wanting. She added that Roco Buttiglione’s views on homosexuality and single mothers were particularly unacceptable because of the commitment to human dignity, equality, and tolerance in the new Constitution.

Joan Ransley from the institute of health sciences and public health research joined BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours to discuss the importance of Britain’s most missed meal of the day. “Breakfast is very important, it breaks the overnight fast and it can be 18 hours since the body had any food or nutrients. People who don’t eat breakfast can gain weight – they can have chaotic eating patterns and tend to take on more calories and snack more.”

Emeritus Professor Edgar Jenkins from the centre for studies in science and mathematics education joined BBC Radio 4 Today programme, BBC Radio Oxford and Radio Five Live to talk about the Royal Society’s suggestion that all students between the ages of 14 and 19 should be taught how to reason scientifically.

Dr Carmel Toomes’ work on a ‘blindness gene’ (Reporter 502) was reported by the BBC, the Yorkshire Evening Post and Optician magazine, among others.