Science: Arun Majumdar, founding director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), may soon become undersecretary for the US Department of Energy (DOE). Although Majumdar has been acting undersecretary since March, the Obama administration did not officially nominate him until November. The confirmation process is expected to take several months, althoughhe appears to have strong bipartisan support after his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday. In the meantime, there is speculation about whether Majumdar will also retain his position at ARPA-E or whether someone else will be nominated to head that agency.
The finding that the Saturnian moon may host layers of icy slush instead of a global ocean could change how planetary scientists think about other icy moons as well.
Modeling the shapes of tree branches, neurons, and blood vessels is a thorny problem, but researchers have just discovered that much of the math has already been done.
January 29, 2026 12:52 PM
Get PT in your inbox
PT The Week in Physics
A collection of PT's content from the previous week delivered every Monday.
One email per week
PT New Issue Alert
Be notified about the new issue with links to highlights and the full TOC.
One email per month
PT Webinars & White Papers
The latest webinars, white papers and other informational resources.