Nature: In the wide-ranging shake-up of government that accompanied Gordon Brown’s arrival as Britain’s new prime minister, science got both a new home and a new minister in charge. Although the move had not been announced at the time Nature went to press, the new minister will be Ian Pearson, previously Minister of State for Climate Change and Environment.In a complex game of departmental division and recombination, Pearson will take office not in the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which used to be home to the science brief, but in the newly formed Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). This department marks a fusion between parts of the old DTI and part of the old Department for Education, and will also contain a new Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser.
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
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