Tough Times

As part of its austerity budget, Spain may cut funding for research and development by a quarter, reports the Nature News Blog. The draft budget containing the cut, which would bring R&D funding back to 2005 levels, was presented to the Spanish parliament last week. "The decrease in science investment is worse than expected," says Carlos Andradas, president of the Confederation of Spanish Scientific Societies. A €743 million cut was originally announced, but the Nature News Blog adds that the amount has changed to more than €2 billion, which would bring the budget to €6.4 billion from €8.5 billion, though that is not yet final.