Scientists at a Stand Up For Science rally
Edited by
Peter A Rodgers

Science Under Threat in the US

The new administration in the US is conducting an assault on science and scientists – how should the scientific community respond?
Collection
LivingBetterThroughChemistry, via Wikimedia Commons
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Science is under attack in the US. The new administration is terminating existing grants, preventing the review of new grant applications, and threatening to cut the "indirect costs" paid to universities for research. It is also firing staff at the National Institutes of Health and other agencies, reversing efforts to make the scientific workforce more diverse and inclusive, pulling out of international bodies such as the World Health Organization, and seeking to exert greater control over universities by threatening to withdraw federal funding for research.

The articles in this collection make clear that the actions of the Trump administration are already damaging science in the US, and are likely to have an adverse impact on the American biomedical workforce in the long-term. The articles also call on individual researchers and university leaders to make the case for science to their elected representatives and to the public at large, and for universities to do their best to support ongoing research projects, and to only stop recruiting new PhD students as a last resort.

Image:LivingBetterThroughChemistry, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Collection

  1. Science Under Threat in the United States: Campaigning for science and scientists

    Adriana Bankston
    A Congressional Science & Technology policy fellow outlines some options available for responding to the blatant attacks on science and the scientific workforce in the US.
  2. Science Under Threat in the United States: How to make science more efficient

    Stuart Buck
    DOGE needs to completely rethink its efforts to increase the efficiency of the federal agencies that fund research in the US.
  3. Science Under Threat in the United States: The NIH is a sound investment for the US taxpayer

    Nicholas W Gilpin
    Research funded by the National Institutes of Health is essential for improving the health of Americans and developing new drugs and treatments for a wide range of diseases.
  4. Science Under Threat in the United States: Feeling abandoned but energized

    Vaughn S Cooper
    Many individual researchers are frustrated by the response - or the lack of a response - from universities to a growing crisis.
  5. Science Under Threat in the United States: How scientists and institutions should respond

    Ran Blekhman
    Individual researchers and university leaders need to make the case for science to their elected representatives and to the public at large.
  6. Science Under Threat in the United States: The impact on undergraduate students

    Reenie Tian, Kamna Kalkunte ... Mayank Chugh
    Anti-science policies, funding cuts, scientific censorship and the US withdrawing from international commitments are worrying members of the ReForm Lab at the College of William & Mary.
  7. Science Under Threat in the United States: Research turns hope into reality

    Anna C Greene, Casey S Greene
    Two scientists describe how an acute myeloid leukemia diagnosis underscores the need for continued federal support for research and access to care.

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    Jon R Lorsch, Lawrence A Tabak, Monica M Bertagnolli

Contributors

  1. Peter A Rodgers
    Features Editor, eLife, United Kingdom