• GROVES OF ACADEMEFrom Lecture Halls to Jail Cells: The Rising Risks of University Research

    By Christopher J Watterson

    Universities should be clear-eyed about the need to negotiate trade-offs between research security and international engagement. National export-control authorities also need to provide adequate guidance and support to university institutions and researchers navigating increasingly onerous export-control regimes.

  • ASSAULT ON SCIENCEPanicking Scientists, Canceled Experiments – Federal Funding Cuts Turned My Work as a Research Dean into Crisis Management

    By Nara Parameswaran

    None of us in research leadership positions around the country had ever faced anything like the Trump administration’s attacks on universities and science. Countless breakthroughs that have altered the course of human and animal health have been made possible by sustained federal research investment through agencies such as NIH. Declines in support for these researchers, coupled with reduced graduate enrollment and ongoing visa challenges, risk erasing an entire generation of scientists, with consequences that will reverberate for many years.

  • SUSPICIONTrump Administration Orders USDA Employees to Investigate Foreign Researchers They Work With

    By Lisa Song and Sharon Lerner

    The new directive asks workers to check the backgrounds of foreign nationals collaborating with the department’s scientists for evidence of “subversive or criminal activity.” Their names are being sent to national security experts at the agency.

  • TARGETING SCIENCETrump’s Second Term Is Reshaping U.S. Science with Unprecedented Cuts and Destabilizing Policy Changes

    By Kenneth M. Evans

    President Donald Trump is far from the first president to be deeply skeptical of the academic research community. But his relentless attempts to overhaul the federal support system for research and development have set a new precedent for the level of mutual distrust and its consequences for scientists.

  • NOSTRUMSSenator Endorses Discredited Doctor’s Book on a Chemical He Claims Treats Everything from Autism to Cancer

    By Megan O’Matz

    Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson has a history of spreading vaccine misinformation. Now he’s giving credence to assertions about the therapeutic powers of chlorine dioxide, a disinfectant and deodorizer. “It is all lunacy,” one expert said.

  • RISKY BIOLOGICAL RESEARCHDefining Risk in Biological Research: Why Researchers Need Clearer Oversight Frameworks

    By Barbara Del Castello, Adeline Williams and John Tarangelo

    Policymakers and researchers need a consistent and transparent way to weigh the risks and benefits of risky biological research to facilitate review processes and oversight.

  • BIOSECURITYCritical Action Needed to Address Growing Biosecurity Risks

    A new report warns that biosecurity risks are increasing. Emerging technologies and other trends are making biological threats more numerous, frequent, and consequential. The report outlines how emerging biotechnology must itself be used to secure biology, akin to how software is required to secure software.

  • ASSAULT ON SCIENCECircumcision, Tylenol, and Autism? RFK Jr. Misses the Cut

    By Jeffrey A. Singer

    When public health officials use their platforms to promote pet theories instead of proven science, it’s not just sloppy—it’s dangerous. These pronouncements shape research priorities, regulatory decisions, and the information the public is allowed to hear. When science gets filtered through political agendas and personal crusades, public health becomes a tool of control rather than a source of trust. HHS officials wield enormous influence over Americans’ medical choices; that power demands humility and restraint—not speculation masquerading as science.

  • RISKS TO SCIENCE & PUBLIC HEALTHFunding Cuts, Policy Shifts, and the Erosion of U.S. Scientific and Public Health Capacity

    The U.S. continues to face mounting threats to its health, scientific enterprise, and national security. A recent report warns that proposed FY 2026 budget cuts to the National Science Foundation (NSF) could reduce its funding by more than half – from $9 billion in FY 2025 to under $4 billion. If passed by Congress, these cuts would result in an estimated ~$11 billion in economic losses.

  • How Federal Research Support Has Helped Create Life-Changing Medicines

    The Trump administration is proposing a nearly 40 percent budget reduction to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which sponsors a significant portion of biomedical research. A new study finds that over 50 percent of small-molecule drug patents this century cite at least one piece of NIH-backed research which would likely be vulnerable to that potential level of funding change.

  • ASSAULT ON SCIENCEWhy a Study Claiming Vaccines Cause Chronic Illness Is Severely Flawed – a Biostatistician Explains the Biases and Unsupported Conclusions

    By Jeffrey Morris

    At a Senate hearing on Sept. 9, 2025, witnesses supporting HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign against vaccination, presented an unpublished study, claiming the study was never published because the authors feared being fired for finding evidence supporting the health risks of vaccines. This claim was false. The study has serious design problems that keep it from revealing much about whether vaccines affect children’s long-term health.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHHow Vaccines Changed the World

    By Mariel Ferragamo

    Vaccination campaigns have nearly eradicated some of the most deadly and transmissible diseases. However, against a backdrop of a rising tide of vaccine hesitancy, and U.S. leaders pulling global support, outbreaks are cropping up again.

  • COMMON-SENSE NOTES // By Idris B. OdunewuA Shining Star in a Contentious Legacy: Could Marty Makary Be the Saving Grace of a Divisive Presidency?

    While much of the Trump administration has sparked controversy, the FDA’s consumer-first reforms may be remembered as its brightest legacy. From AI-driven drug reviews to bans on artificial dyes, the FDA’s agenda resonates with the public in ways few Trump-era policies have.

  • TARGETING SCIENCEThe True Cost of Abandoning Science

    By Steven R. Furlanetto

    “We now face a choice: to remain at the vanguard of scientific inquiry through sound investment, or to cede our leadership and watch others answer the big questions that have confounded humanity for millennia —and reap the rewards.”

  • ASSAULT ON SCIENCEFoundation for U.S. Breakthroughs Feels Shakier to Researchers

    By Max Larkin

    With each dollar of its grants, the National Institutes of Health —the world’s largest funder of biomedical research —generates, on average, $2.56 worth of economic activity across all 50 states. NIH grants also support more than 400,000 U.S. jobs, and have been a central force in establishing the country’s dominance in medical research. Waves of funding cuts and grant terminations under the second Trump administration are a threat to the U.S. status as driver of scientific progress, and to the nation’s economy.