It’s science!


Oh. It’s an experiment.

Man, I wish we were in the control group.

If you think the cartoon is too extreme, try reading Science magazine.

Similar conversations are taking place across the country as the federal government has paused or terminated billions of dollars of grants, proposed slashing research funding by more than 40% for key research agencies in the next fiscal year, and tried—so far without success—to cut overhead payments to universities. In response, graduate schools have reduced the size of their incoming cohorts and faculty have been anxiously watching their budgets and worrying about their own careers. “My lab is definitely going to shrink,” says Arthi Jayaraman, a chemical engineering professor at the University of Delaware.

So is U.S. academic science as a whole—perhaps dramatically. Numbers released in May by the National Science Foundation (NSF) indicate that if Congress approves the cuts to the agency proposed by the White House, the number of early-career researchers it supports could fall by 78%—from 95,700 undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs during this fiscal year to 21,400 in 2026. Young researchers supported by other agencies would also be hit, and even senior faculty worry about their future. “It’s a nightmare,” Simon says. “I really fear for the future of science.” (NSF declined to comment for this story.)

Me, too.

Comments

  1. Reginald Selkirk says

    …and even senior faculty worry about their future.

    Hey, not a problem. I can just retire early. (Watches Republicans mess about with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while the threat of tariffs tanks my retirement fund.)

  2. moarscienceplz says

    Assuming sanity ever returns to this country, we need a robust and formal system of public outreach for all publicly funded science programs. Every scientist should be expected to spend a certain amount of time communicating to laypeople, adults and children, what they are working on, and why it is worthwhile. In addition, we should have a government agency that does this full-time, to help the scientists with this effort.
    A big reason FDR’s programs were popular during the Depression is they hired filmmakers and other artists to help communicate to the voters what was being done and who was actually benefiting.

  3. robro says

    Moving out of the US would be a serious consideration if it weren’t so complicated. Plus my partner will only consider the UK which doesn’t seem to offer a lot of opportunities for US retirees to settle there, even if you own property there…she regularly follows real estate listings in London…and have income resources. Easy if you marry a UK citizen or get a job in the UK, but neither of those options are available to us. EU countries seem more open, particularly France and Portugal.

    I’ve looked into declaring myself a “refugee” but that doesn’t seem to be an option either.

  4. charles says

    I feel secure enough that I only slightly considered the Philippines “Special Resident Retirees Visa” program.I’m secure, but immigrants are a large part of my life. My daughters are citizens born in another country with one US parent,that makes me feel they may become targets. It would be fair to say their mother was where she was to get a connection to the us, it only took from 1972 until 2007 for her to get here.

  5. says

    Will will massive magat cult and their war on science succeed? At this point, the smart money* says it will.
    *smart money is a euphemism for ‘billionaire fascist thugs’ money.
    AT THIS POINT WE ARE ALL UNWILLINGLY RIDING THE DEATH SPIRAL (I just hope the ride ends without killing too many of us)

  6. says

    Did I read that Roadkill F*cking Kennedy Jr said, ‘ooh that’s sciencey!’
    NO, he’s too busy killing people to bother with such an innocuous comment.

  7. John Morales says

  8. daulnay says

    This pogrom of science reminds me of the Spanish driving out the Jews; it’s been thought that Spanish economic stagnation and the mercantile/industrial flowering of other countries afterwards were partly a result of Spain driving out the Jewish craftsmen and merchants.