Last week, I talked to Latif Miller and Lulu Miller, the hosts of Radiolab, about this newsletter—in particular, how I’ve been tracking the dismantling of US science and medicine. They folded our conversation into their latest episode, out today.
Their episode drives home how a lot of the things we take for granted today emerged out of basic scientific research decades ago. But no one who did that research could predict how their findings would inspire applications. The scientists just did the work out of curiosity. That PCR test that showed you had Covid? It emerged from the search for life in Yellowstone hot springs in the 1960s—a search supported by the National Science Foundation.
I show up at around 35:00 in the episode to connect that story to what’s happening right now, explaining how the ongoing cuts and chaos threaten the basic-research pipeline.
After I finished talking to Latif and Lulu, I sent them a stream of emails as more news came out. I wanted to let them know about even more dire developments in what was already a dire story. Here is the latest:
—My colleague Katrina Miller and I reported on some of the hundreds of active grants from the National Science Foundation that were killed over the past week. Two days after our story came out, the director of NSF resigned.
—I wrote about a planet 120 light years from Earth harbors that might harbor life. (Here’s a video chat I had about the finding on The Hill.) It’s a tantalizing find, but far from definitive proof. NASA has built a next-generation space telescope that could reveal more clues about life in the universe. But proposed cuts to NASA means that it may never get off our planet.
—One way that the Trump administration is dismantling US science is by getting rid of the physical spaces where scientists do their work. NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, located on the campus of Columbia University, was the place where some of the most important research in the history of climate science has taken place. The Trump administration is giving up its lease on the GISS building, NASAWatch reports.
—The National Weather Service is preparing for fewer forecasts and degraded service due to cuts. Happy Hurricane Season, y’all!
—Trump officials are now claiming that destroying the habitat of an endangered species is not “harm.”
—The Trump administration has proposed cutting NIH’s discretionary budget by a third.
—The Centers for Disease Control is getting rid of teams that track lead poisoning, gonorrhea, hepatitis B, and injuries.
—The measles outbreak has gotten so big that NYT design wizard Jonathan Corum has made a map so that we can keep it straight. Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy is eroding childhood immunization in the United States in a number of ways.
—NIH is amassing private medical records [emphasis mine] for their planned study on autism, CBS News reports.
I could go on and on. But you get the idea.
IN HAPPIER NEWS
Tomorrow I’ll be in Montclair, New Jersey, to talk about AIR-BORNE at the Montclair Literary Festival. If you’re in the area, please join me! Details here.
—Here are three fun podcasts that have just come out about AIR-BORNE: Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda, Our Opinions Our Correct with Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders, and the Nature podcast.
—In the New York Times I wrote about a stunning map of a (mouse) brain, the “de-extinction” of the dire wolf (heavy on the quotation marks, waiter), and a Denisovan fossil from Taiwan.
—And finally, an article in Nature about scientists with tattoos gave a nice shout-out to my 2013 book, Science Ink.
That’s all for now. Stay safe!
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