Four things you should know this morning

IT’S never too early to learn something new like how lonely is Scotland’s Capital and who was the scientist selected to join an Antarctic expedition?

Scots marine scientist selected to join Antarctic expedition

Dr Raeanne Miller, a marine ecologist, is the only Scot to have been selected for the ­Australian-led Homeward Bound international three-week long outreach trip.

The project aims to reach 1,000 women with a science background from across the globe over the next decade and will give them the experience and support to take up and stay in leadership roles.

Dr Miller said the trip was a “really fantastic opportunity”.

Find out more about the trip

Edinburgh least lonely capital city in UK

Edinburgh residents live in the UK’s least lonely capital city, according to research by the Co-op

More than half of residents in Scotland’s capital (52 per cent) said that they don’t ever have feelings of loneliness.

The city beat off competition from the likes of Cardiff, Belfast and London.

More than half (55 per cent) of people in Glasgow say they feel lonely. Those in Aberdeen suffered the most from loneliness with 60 per cent experiencing the emotion a some point.

Bradford and Belfast fare the worst in the survey with 56 per cent of residents claiming to feel the angst of loneliness at some point.

The survey took into consideration 2,000 across the UK and showed that, as a whole, only 44 per cent of people don’t feel lonely.

What are the health risks associated with loneliness?

Cancer lessons ‘improve early detection in teens’

It’s a disease that affects up to two in five of us in Scotland.

But despite cure rates improving – and a campaign by the Scottish Government to get people talking about the signs and symptoms of cancer – it can still be a daunting subject for children.

Now research by Scottish scientists has found that by giving schoolchildren a short presentation on the disease, young teenagers are more than three times as likely to discuss cancer with their parents.

More than 2,000 12 and 13-year-olds from schools across Glasgow took part in the study, looking at whether an educational intervention by the charity Teenage Cancer Trust made a positive difference. Researchers from the University of Stirling found there was an 18 per cent increase in children recognising that unexplained weight loss could be a sign of cancer, and a 25 per cent increase in them knowing a change to a mole could be worrisome.

Boss gives 30 per cent of firm to his employees

Staff at an Aberdeen-based company are set to be thousands of pounds better off in 2016 after their boss announced he was to give them 30 per cent of the firm.

Dean Hunter, founder of human resources consultancy Hunter Adams, stunned his employees when he revealed he is to distribute the equity between them.

Mr Hunter said he took the decision to recognise those who had successfully built the business from his one-man venture in 2011 to a firm which employs 70 people and turned over £5m last year.

What did Mr Hunter say?