Nature News: Italian scientists are worried that a shake-up of the nation’s space agency will put commercial and defence interests ahead of research.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is in the process of replacing the president of the Italian Space Agency. He is removing the agency’s current head, astrophysicist Giovanni Bignami, and installing business executive Enrico Saggese, who heads the space division at Finmeccanica, Italy’s largest aerospace firm.