• 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.

  • ASSAULT ON SCIENCERFK Jr Is Wrong About mRNA Vaccines – a Scientist Explains How They Make COVID Less Deadly

    By Deborah Dunn-Walters

    In announcing the cancellation of US government support for research into mRNA vaccines, Kennedy has claimed that mRNA vaccines “encourage new mutations and can actually prolong pandemics” – a misleading statement that contradicts the scientific consensus on viral evolution and effects of vaccination. The false assertions by RFK Jr. and other vaccine-skeptics notwithstanding, mRNA vaccines do not cause viruses to mutate. Mutations are part of viral evolution: a natural process that happens regardless of our intervention. What vaccines do is give us a fighting chance.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSArgonne, UT to Strengthen Collaboration in Battery Sciences and Critical Materials Development

    New memorandum of understanding expands joint research to accelerate U.S. battery innovation and secure critical materials supply chains.

  • HOBBLING U.S. INNOVATION Attacks on the U.S. Innovation Ecosystem Are an Attack on a Wellspring of American Prosperity

    By Neera Tanden, Ryan Mulholland, and Adam Conner

    The Trump administration’s attacks on the country’s science and innovation ecosystem — its cuts to federally funded R&D; its war on higher education; and its aggression toward immigrants, including skilled immigrants — are dismantling America’s science and technology advantage—putting the country’s future prosperity at risk. This frontal assault on the key source of U.S. industry’s competitive advantage is not a recipe for American greatness; it is a recipe for long-term decline.

  • IRAN’S NUKES Significance of the Targeted Nuclear Scientists in the 12-Day War

    By Institute for Science and International Security

    The June 2025 war between Israel and Iran, called the 12-Day War, saw the killing y the Israeli military of many Iranian nuclear scientists who participated in or are linked to Iran’s nuclear weapons program.  the elimination of these nuclear scientists deprived Iran’s nuclear weapons program of its most capable and experienced personnel.  This act weakened Iran’s base for building nuclear weapons, eliminating needed expertise and hard-to-get management experience.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHFDA Layoffs Could Compromise Safety of Medications Made at Foreign Factories, Inspectors Say

    By Victoria Malis, Katherine Dailey, Sadie Leite, Debbie Cenziper, and Megan Rose

    Beyond staff cuts, the departures of some longtime investigators in recent months have left less experienced people tasked with rooting out dangerous manufacturing practices.