Sir

In your Editorial 'A new Silver Age?' (Nature 451, 1029; 2008), you highlight the urgent need for reforms in the organization of science, after science funding in Spain has been increased during the past four years. The socialist government has since been re-elected. What changes is this likely to bring?

Scientific and academic interests will be served by the newly created ministry of science and innovation, headed by biologist Cristina Garmendia, who runs a biotechnology company. The new government's composition is heartening news for scientists — for example, the minister of health is a professor of physiology, the minister of industry is an economist with a strong interest in science, and even the minister of the interior is a professor of chemistry.

Leading up to the general election of 9 March, the socialist party held out the carrots of more funding and structural reforms for science. Implementation of their programme will modernize a system that stems from one designed by the first socialist government in 1982, which first introduced grants and evaluation procedures.

Thirty years ago, I wrote an article about science in newly democratic Spain (Nature 274, 8–9; 1978). The situation has changed radically since that time, and it promises to continue to do so under a forward-looking stewardship.