Author: Kim Berard
It must be said that these are serious times for American science. Between Trump’s budget cuts, Trump’s attacks on leading research universities, and the normalization of misinformation/disinformation, scientists are losing their jobs, fleeing to other countries, or simply trying to keep a low profile in hopes of continuing to do science.
But some scientists are fighting back and giving them more power. Literally.
Lest you think I'm a chicken, prematurely warning that the sky is falling, the warning signs continue. Written by Virginia Gewin natureReport Insiders warn dismantling federal agencies could put science at risk. “It's not just EPA. The science is being undermined at many agencies,” one former EPA official told her. Worse, one former official warned, “Now they're starting to give misinformation and put the government seal on it.”
A third researcher added: “My biggest concern is the damage to the next generation of scientists. I always advise students to look for other jobs.”
It's not just students looking for jobs outside government. Katrina Northrop and Rudy Rue write washington post Regarding the brain drain to China. “Over the past decade, large numbers of academics—many with some family ties to China—have crossed the Pacific, attracted by Beijing’s all-out efforts to become a scientific superpower,” they said. They cited the example of 50 tenured Chinese-American academics who have left American universities for China. Most are in STEM fields.
“The United States is increasingly skeptical of science — whether it’s climate, health or other areas,” Jimmy Goodrich, an expert on Chinese science and technology at the University of California’s Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation, told them. “In China, science is seen as a key solution to propel the country into the future.”
They point out that four times as much as China spent on R&D in the United States four years ago, spending now is essentially flat at best.
I take to heart the warning of Wang Dan, a researcher at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution:
Think of it this way: China is an engineering nation that prioritizes construction projects and technology as the solution to all problems, while the United States is a society of lawyers obsessed with protecting wealth by making rules rather than producing material goods.
We've seen what lawyer governments do, creating laws and regulations to protect big corporations and the super-rich while making everything so complicated that, voila, more lawyers are needed. Maybe it's time to see what scientists and governments can do.
When scientists (or engineers) are in charge, we can put a man on the moon within a decade, or develop a pandemic vaccine within months. Our Congress can't even pass a budget when lawyers are in charge.
exist atlantic monthlyKatherine J. Wu discusses the new wave of scientists running for office. At the center of this effort is 314 Action, which bills itself as “the only organization in the nation focused on recruiting, training and electing Democrats with science backgrounds to public office.” Action 314 president Shaughnessy Naughton told Ms. Wu that this year alone the organization had received 700 applications from scientists interested in becoming candidates, seven times what it normally expected.
Wu cited data from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University showing that only 3% of state legislators are scientists, engineers or health care professionals, and most of them are Republicans. 314 Action believes it can help change that. Its website states:
Bottom line: When candidates run on their scientific credentials and gain support to get their message across, they win. 314 Action candidates are first and foremost scientists, not politicians. We are working to elect scientists who can tackle pressing shared challenges such as the climate crisis, reproductive rights and health care and secure a better future for us all.
It claims to have raised about $8.6 million to help elect 400 endorsed candidates, including four U.S. senators, 13 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, nine candidates for statewide offices and more than 300 state and municipal candidates. Wu reports that Hawaii's Josh Green, the only Democratic doctor currently serving as state governor, has teamed up with 314 Action to launch a $25 million campaign to elect 100 new Democratic doctors to office by 2030.
“Politics is coming to us,” pediatrician Anne Andrews told Ms Wu. “You can’t fight bad politics by remaining apolitical.”
Running for office is just one way scientists (or people who care about science) can fight back. Take Standing Up for Science, an organization that believes in protesting loudly and proudly. Science Stands Up, which was launched just this year in response to the Trump administration’s actions, describes itself as “a political activist organization dedicated to defending and advancing America’s science ecosystem, which is the cornerstone of democracy, freedom, and progress.”
Its mission:
We believe science is the lifeblood of American democracy and freedom. Through a bold strategy that combines activism, information campaigns, grassroots organizing and political advocacy, We are mobilizing people to fight for science and democracy now and for future generations.
SUFS is actively involved in the “No King” protests and is conducting an important and interesting impeachment effort against HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called “Impeachment Quacks,” which includes a toy duck.
Founder and CEO Colette Delawalla, MA, MS, successfully managed the organization while pursuing her Ph.D. (Obviously a mom). She saw the need once Trump took office. “These traditional organizations simply don't think it's that important to communicate with the public in a meaningful way,” she told NOTUS. “Any one of these organizations — and I know this because I’ve done it — on January 21, 2025, in less than 24 hours, they can set up a 501(c)(4) nonprofit sector based on what they’re already doing, and allocate some money, build a small team, and start getting political.” There were so few people doing that that she started her own organization.
Both the 314 Action and scientific stand-up deserve our support.
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Scientists are not angels (e.g. James Watson, William Shockley), and perhaps holding them accountable is not the answer. But realistically, could they do any worse than our current politicians? We are rapidly entering an era of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, synthetic biology, and many other advances, while grappling with climate change, microplastics, income inequality, and many other challenges. Who do you think is best equipped to deal with these issues: lawyers or scientists?
