Two months into President Trump’s second administration, American science and medicine are now in a state that’s both dire and ambiguous. Some of the government scientists who were fired in the past few weeks are back at work. Others have ended up in a limbo of administrative leave. Others will probably never come back. The National Institutes of Health has picked up its review of grant applications, but it is lagging far behind previous years. Meanwhile, approved grants are still getting erased.
The murky picture makes it impossible to make hard and fast predictions about what American science and medicine will be like in the future. But chaos and temporary disruptions are enough to leave marks. And some of those marks are going to cut deep.
Here are a few developments since my last email that point to lasting damage.
—The head of Africa CDC said a sharp drop in outside funding, spurred by a broad shutdown in most foreign aid by the Trump administration, will lead to two million to four million more deaths each year. CIDRAP has the story.
—The Trump administration is rolling back EPA’s air pollution protections. For every dollar that the protections cost polluters, the country makes back six dollars in savings through the reduction of asthma, cancer, and other diseases.
—The Trump administration seeks to eliminate the 1,000 EPA scientists who do research for the agency.
—Climate change is projected to have massive impacts on human well-being, from crop-killing droughts to deadly heat waves to the rise of diseases. And yet Trump administration is looking into rolling back the government’s determination that greenhouse gases are harmful.
—The Coast Guard Academy has banned the term “climate change” from its curriculum.
—The Trump administration has slashed $400 million from Columbia University, based on allegations of antisemitism. Columbia scientists are losing jobs, and research centers are closing—including centers dedicated to cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease, and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
—Other universities may face similar shocks. For example, the administration’s move to slash NIH is causing massive job freezes, layoffs, and withdrawals of grad school admission offers.
—The White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy was established by Congress in 2022. CNN reports that the office now exists in name only. “It has fallen into the abyss,” a source said.
—The US measles epidemic continues. And people in Texas are rushing to get dubious treatments endorsed by RFK.
—Meanwhile, CDC is planning to study vaccines and autism. Since the evidence is clear—there is no link—this would be seem to be a waste of tax dollars.
—A company called Vaxart created a Covid vaccine in pill form. After years of development and testing—which is being supported by up to $456 million in government support—they were on the brink of testing the pill in a Phase 3 trial with 10,000 volunteers. The Department of Health and Human Services abruptly cancelled the trial without explanation.
AIR-BORNE: LEARNING TO LIVE IN THE AERIAL OCEAN
Meanwhile…I’m delighted to share some more reviews and interviews about AIR-BORNE.
The New York Times Book Review calls it a “detailed and gripping account…AIR-BORNE shows us the ways seeing where we live means listening deeply — and being prepared to see what’s perhaps never been seen.”
The Wall Street Journal also chimes in: "A triumph for persistent scientists, perhaps, but also a pointed reminder of the complexity, fragility and deeply human dependencies of evolving science."
I talked to PJ Vogt on his podcast Search Engine. We talked how aerobiology veered off the rails decades ago, and how we all paid the price.
Here’s a conversation I had with Rufus Griscom on the Next Big Idea podcast.
I particularly enjoyed talking to journalist Megan Molteni on the Stat podcast. In 2021, she published one of the first stories rediscovering William and Mildred Wells during the Covid pandemic.
Big Think published a Q/A with me on the aerobiome.
I’ve also got some videos to share! My February 25 conversation with Jad Abumrad at 92NY is now on YouTube. And here are videos of my conversation with Maryn McKenna as part of the Atlanta Science Festival, and David Levine of Science Writers of New York.
I’ve got upcoming talks in Portland, Washington, and other spots. Here’s my current schedule. I hope to see some of you on my travels.
And finally, speaking of travels, I enjoyed this British reader’s post on Bluesky about reading—and breathing—on the train!
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