For subscribers
How the Trump administration wants to reshape American science
The consequences will be felt around the world.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Researchers, academics and protesters rally outside the Health and Human Services Building against funding freezes on research and higher education in Washington, on Feb 19.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
The Economist
Follow topic:
The annual meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science afford researchers a chance to show off what they do best. Those roaming the corridors in Boston between Feb 13 and 15 were treated to talks on everything from plate tectonics and ancient DNA analysis, to gene editing and nuclear power. All represent the cutting-edge research to be expected in a country that has long prided itself on, as per the 2025 theme, producing the “science shaping tomorrow”.
At the moment, though, it is science itself that is being shaped. Mere weeks into the second Trump administration, scientists worry that their flagship institutions are under assault. The National Scientific Foundation (NSF) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), for example, have been told to prepare for hefty reductions to their budgets and staff cuts of up to 50 per cent. Across several federal agencies, mass firings of thousands of “probationary” workers, meaning those recently hired or promoted, have already begun. Research institutions reliant on funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), meanwhile, have been warned of restrictions on how they can spend their money.
