The impact of the Trump cuts on Antarctic research in the US: a case for a more inclusive science: the story of the National Science Foundation
Tonka bean trees might make themselves into lightning rods to edge out the competition. Trump cuts threaten US scientific leadership in Africa and how to build a more inclusive defence of science.
Scientists say that changes under the Trump administration are undermining plans for US research in Antarctica, from penguin surveys to urgent work to understand the continent’s melting ice. There are three research stations located on the icy continent, which deliver a hefty dose of soft power. The National Science Foundation has a budget and staff that are in dire straits. The Trump administration rehired several important programme officers after firing them.
Nature analysed the extent and breadth of these actions, in order to understand how they have clawed back over US$2 billion allocated to scientists in the US. Our analysis reveals the project topics, NIH institutes and US states affected the most.
Tonka bean trees survive lightning strikes that kill off competitors in the Panama rainforest: A 50-year challenge for scientists to protect the public from genetically modified organisms
Tonka bean trees (Dipteryx oleifera) in the Panama rainforest might make themselves into lightning rods to edge out the competition. Researchers using a system of sensors and cameras found that tonkas can survive a hit from a lightening bolt, but the impact kills off competitors outside of the tree. Surviving the strikes could result in a 14-fold increase in seed production over the tree’s lifetime, researchers estimate. “There’s a quantifiable, detectable hazard of living next to Dipteryx oleifera,” says forest ecologist and study author Evan Gora.
Mitochondria — the supposedly static energy factories that reside inside cells — seem to actually be expert travellers, skipping from one cell to another. The transfer of mtDNA has been seen in a wide variety of cells and organisms. Cell owners donate their energy to their friends during times of need, according to some studies. Other research suggests that mitochondrial transfer can be a lethal weapon that cancer cells deploy to gain an advantage. But what this means for human health is still a mystery — if it happens inside the human body at all.
“Elected officials will not be compelled to protect scientific institutions if scientists take no steps to defend them,” argues social scientist Fernando Tormos-Aponte, who offers lessons for resistance drawn from environmental and other social movements. His recommendations for US scientists:
In 1975, a pivotal meeting took place at the Asilomar Conference Center in California: the International Congress on Recombinant DNA Molecules, known ever since as the Asilomar conference. The rules were created to ensure that research on genetically modified organisms is safe. Fifty years later, a Nature editorial explores what it might take to move the dial on analogous issues today. Certainly it would take more than a single gathering of some 140 people drawn from high-income countries, says the editorial.
Scientists have identified immune mechanisms that archaea andbacteria use to fight off viruses. In the hopes of finding another revolutionary tool such as CRISPR–Cas, researchers constantly keep a eye on the battlefield. 11 min read.
Source: Daily briefing: Tonka bean trees survive lightning strikes that kill their competitors
Why science is so neglected in the 21st century? (The Science Podcast | 32 min listen) Why airborne diseases have been overlooked for centuries, and why the US government has acted accordingly
The lack of traction gained by the work of public-health, a general scepticism of the idea, and the discreet nature of bioweapons research are just some of the reasons why airborne diseases were overlooked for hundreds of years. (Nature Podcast | 32 min listen)
The scientific fields that have been hit hardest are related to the health of trans people, and the broader community which includes the gay, bisexual, and lesbian community.
Nature didn’t get a response from the US Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institute for Allergy and Infections Diseases about their concerns about the terminated research.
Of the projects that have already been terminated, less than 4% involved HIV/AIDS, but more than 20% related to COVID-19. One reason for the focus of these cuts is that the Trump administration has said that the COVID-19 pandemic is over and people in the United States have moved on from it. Another potential reason is that HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects sexual and gender minorities (LGBT+); Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office on 20 January, directing the US government to stop acknowledging the fact that a person’s gender can differ from their sex at birth.
Tilghman says these actions deny a small but real percentage of the population answers to critically important questions about their health. “You cannot eliminate a segment of the population by executive order, but you can harm them greatly.”
Trump’s team has taken aim at research grants at Columbia because they were targeted for cancellation due to their failure to protect Jewish students from harassment during the Gaza war protests.