The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority yesterday said it will not be able to provide student loans this fall for the first time in its 26-year history, leaving more than 40,000 families without an important source of tuition funds just weeks before college classes begin.

The nonprofit lending authority, which last school year provided $510 million in loans, said it has been unable to secure funding to provide private student loans due to the ongoing turmoil in the nation's credit markets. The agency had already disclosed in April that it would no longer offer federally backed student loans.

It is now contacting the tens of thousands of students to whom it has made loans in the past, urging them to seek other options.

Source: http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2008/07/29/no_funds_to_lend_to_40000_students/

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A tiny tree-shrew that lives on alcoholic nectar could - pound for pound - drink the average human under the table, scientists have discovered.

Chemicals in the hair samples showed that on any given night, a tree-shrew had a 36% chance of being drunk by human standards.

The shrew's resistance to intoxication suggests its body must have an effective mechanism for breaking down alcohol.

This should not come as too much of a surprise: scientists believe the animals - which are distant relatives of humans - have had 55 million years of evolution to adapt to their boozy lifestyle.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7530720.stm

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The House is expected to debate a bill today that would repeal a 1913 state law that prevents gay and lesbian couples from most other states from marrying in Massachusetts.

The state Senate voted earlier this month to strike down the 95-year-old law. The repeal is one of several measures the House is expected to take up today, according to David Guarino, a spokesman for House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi.

Advocates of same-sex marriage rights are hopeful the repeal of the 1913 law will pass the House and be signed by Governor Deval Patrick before the end of the month. If that happens, the last obstacle to same-sex marriage in Massachusetts for nonresidents would be removed, making the state the second to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry regardless of their place of residence.

Source: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/