The mathematical physicist Freeman Dyson once saw scientists as rebels, fighting other academics who don’t respect them. Scientists now have far more fearsome opponents.
A worrying precedent for how things may play out in the Trump administration occurred in 2012 when North Carolina’s legislators passed House Bill 819. By prohibiting the use of models of sea-level rise to protect people living near the coast from flooding, the bill damaged the ability of state officials to protect its coastline, resources and citizens. It also prevented other officials from fulfilling their duty to advise and protect people against threats to life and property.
In the current superheated U.S. political climate, many scientific findings are charged with being agenda-driven rather than the outcomes of checked and peer-reviewed investigations.
Read the full story by Dr. Robert P. Crease at Physics World.
Now we must mobilize for science, again…
When the state fails to promote scientifically informed public health practices, the burden of responsibility falls on us all. Convincing public health agencies to support science-based policy requires knowledgeable people to make their voices heard. This publication asks, what are you willing to do?
Should science be political?
At this point in time, with U.S. President Trump’s administration attacking institutions such as the US CDC, NIH, USAID, WHO, and their people and functions, whether science should be political seems like a rhetorical question. To us, the only logical answer is that science must be political to protect not only scientific progress but also society at large, in particular its most vulnerable members. Funding decisions, appointments to scientific roles, policy recommendations, and science implementation are often heavily influenced by politics. We should strive to make these political links and implications of science visible and not let them go unchecked. Denying the links between science and politics leaves a gap that can be filled by demagogues to denounce science.
The Lancet Infectious Diseases
Citing government overreach, Louisiana won’t promote vaccination, surgeons general say
On Feb. 14, the State Attorney General of Louisiana announced it will no longer encourage vaccinations, alarming health experts amid a growing measles outbreak in neighboring Texas. Vaccine events have been banned and public health staff have been ordered not to promote vaccination. The action comes the same day as the confirmation of vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Trump cuts threaten a ‘generation of scientists’ as many weigh leaving US
The Trump administration’s planned cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) not only threaten essential biomedical research in the US, but the livelihoods of researchers – and some are seriously considering leaving the country. On 7 February, the administration implemented a policy that would cut NIH funding to research institutions by over two-thirds. A federal judge has since blocked the cuts – for now.
In war against DEI in science, researchers see collateral damage
“Am I going to be somehow identified as an immigrant that’s exploiting federal funding streams and so I would just get deported? I have no idea,” said cell biologist Shumpei Maruyama, an early-career scientist and Japanese immigrant with permanent residency in the U.S., upon seeing his research on a U.S. Senate Committee (Republican-led) “anti-woke” watch list. “That’s a fear.” The 3,483 flagged projects total more $2 billion and represent more than 10 percent of all NSF grants awarded between January 2021 and April 2024. The list — and other moves against DEI initiatives in research — are reversing decades-old bipartisan policies intended to strengthen U.S. science.