Late yesterday, Seturaman Panchanathan, whom President Trump hired to run the National Science Foundation five years ago, left. He didn’t say why, but it was clear enough. Last weekend, Trump cut more than 400 active research awards from the NSF, and he is pressing Congress to halve Congress’ $9 billion budget.
The Trump administration has targeted American scientific companies, an engine of research and innovation that has been inducted for decades. The National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and NASA are cutting or frozen budgets. Thousands of researchers have been fired or paid back.
The confusion is confusing. Isn’t science an eternal power? Does it contain disease? Would it help you compete with China? Why not attract the kind of immigrants the president says he wants? In this edition of the newsletter, you will break the huge thing to understand the fuss.
investment
American research thrives under a sponsorship system that highlights dollars that Congress has approved to universities, national labs and labs. The Knowledge Factory employs tens of thousands of researchers, bringing talent from around the world, creating scientific breakthroughs and Nobel Prizes.
Science moves slowly, so it’s a slow moving system. Discoveries are often indirect and repetitive, and include collaboration between researchers who require years of granted education to become experts. Startups and businesses that need quick returns on investments are usually unable to wait long for long money or risk.
Science is capital. With some measures, all dollars spent on research will return at least $5 to the economy.
President Trump is not patient. He reimbursed university research into AIDS, pediatric cancer and solar physics. (Two well-known researchers compiled the list Lost NIH grants and NSF Awards. ) The administration has also fired thousands of federal scientists, including meteorologists from the National Weather Service. CDC’s pandemic preparation expert. A black researcher at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. Already built for $3.5 billion over a decade, the next generation space observatory is waiting for a launch that could never happen now.
Alienate scientists
Administrative authorities provide various reasons for the crackdown: cost reduction, government efficiency, and “protecting women from gender ideological extremism.” Many grants have been eliminated because they include terms such as climate, diversity, disability, trans, or women. Some portrayed the administration’s rage, as the application included a DEI statement requested by the previous administration.
You don’t need a telescope to see where this leads. American leaders have historically seen science as an investment in the future. Will this administration seize it? One third of American Nobel Prize winners were foreign-born, but immigration crackdowns wiped out scientists like Xenia Petrova, a Russian who ages at Harvard University and is now sitting in a detention center in Louisiana. Australian scholars have stopped attending conferences in the US for fear of being detained, The Guardian reported.
Now, some American scientists are looking for an exit. France, Canada and other countries are courting our researchers. A recent poll by Nature magazine found that more than 1,200 American scientists were considering working abroad. Journal recruitment platforms were seen 32% of overseas positions more applications Between January and March 2025, this was higher than the same period last year.
Redefinition of “science”
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Source: www.nytimes.com
