Four things you should know this morning

Panda Tian Tian may be cloned in the future Picture: Ian Rutherford

Edinburgh Zoo’s pandas might be cloned

A team of experts at Edinburgh Zoo have taken the first step towards cloning pandas.

Tian Tain and Yang Guang have, so far, not had any success in mating, despite the zoo’s best efforts.

Now scientists have taken tissue samples from the bears’ mouths and managed to isolate the complex “building block cells”.

This project is seen as the first key stage of the cloning process and is lead by a team of experts from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Roslin Embryology, the School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Durham University and the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda

Find out what Dr Bill Ritchie - who helped create Dolly the Sheep - had to say >>>

Scots can get bio-mechanical shoes to help with knee pain

A new project being launched in Scotland, known as Apos-Therapy, are hoping to transform the lives of those suffering from knee pain.

The footwear contains four adjustable pods which are built into the sole of the shoes to adjust the gait.

More than half of Scots aged 35-60 suffer from knee pain, and the shoes, designed by orthopaedic surgeons and physiotherapists, help correct the way a person walks, reducing knee pain.

Find out where you can buy these here >>>

Our Indian Summer is coming to an abrupt end

The unusually warm late Autumn weather the country has been experiencing will come to a sudden end this week, with expected thunderstorms.

Half a months rain is expected to downpour later this week, over the course of just a few hours, bringing with it risks of localised flooding.

Lower temperatures are expected from today, and the Met Office has issued a yellow warning for the north-east, particularly Angus and Aberdeenshire.

Where else is the bad weather expected to hit? >>>

More women in business increases performance

A diverse gender mix at senior levels helps a business perform more successfully, according to the Institute of Leadership & Management.

Despite this, only five women are chief executives of FTSE 100 companies, despite statistics showing that girls regularly outperform boys in the classroom.

With females making 83 per cent of purchases, women will play an increasingly powerful role in shaping consumer markets in the coming years.

Find out when women’s pay is expected to outstrip men’s >>>