Spanish researchers take political initiative

Nature : Some 2500 Spanish scientists, including 150 full professors and 4 research-center directors, have sent a petition to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the country’s prime minister, asking for changes to a science and technology law currently being debated in the country’s parliament, writes Michele Catanzaro for Nature. The petition, delivered in a letter on 22 February, is the latest move in a sustained campaign by Spanish researchers to improve long-term planning of research. Among their requests is that tenure-track opportunities be restored to the latest bill and that the state research agency the bill is creating remain independent of the government.