[epistasis]

The other thing they've done is make it possible to cancel any grant at any time if it goes against the politics of the current executive administration.

Science has flourished in the US precisely because it could proceed without whimsical political picking and choosing, entire areas of science have flourished that would never have happened otherwise.

That's not to say that politics is completely out of science, Congress has done things like ban any research money for gun safety, for example. But that had to make it through Congress, a vote across party lines, instead of just being the political whim of some bureaucrat that can cancel whatever they want whenever they want.

For every issue you read about here on HN, there are about 10 other policy changes designed to destroy the US's scientific infrastructure. It doesn't get much attention because of all the other chaos going on, and scientists tend to be pretty quiet and try to stay apolitical, but it is truly a full-on crisis in the scientific research community right now. You won't see immediate effects, but in 10-20 years when China zooms ahead of the US on all research fronts and the US is left out of key technology and science directions, we will feel it then.

[btown]

And the non-cancellable nature of grants is not just a nice-to-have, it's absolutely critical for research with upfront capital costs (buying equipment, building labs, etc.)

The very _fact_ that this is a policy is disrupting research, even if specific grants haven't been cancelled. Some universities are stepping in to backstop, but it's a powerful chilling effect.

[Loquebantur]

People here are missing that they're not dismantling random things. There is a system to it, the objective of which is far more sinister than mere ideology.

The sensors in question here are crucial to monitor the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

They don't want that monitored because it is currently breaking down. Not some arbitrary far away time, now.

The science of this gets astroturfed into some nonsense "we don't really know". We do.

But conveniently, now the data to show this to the incredulous won't exist.

[smackeyacky]

When did evidence ever change the minds of the incredulous? The whole debate has become so polluted by the forces who want no action on climate change we can’t even use the original description any more.

[epistasis]

Some of the specific grants that have been cancelled are shocking in the negative effect they will have on the ecosystem. Cutting off Sean Eddy, a giant in DNA analysis, just baffles the mind:

https://www.npr.org/2026/05/11/nx-s1-5807995/some-researcher...

There's not even any political angle to pursue here, it is just lighting knowledge on fire with no grander purpose.

[vkou]

> There's not even any political angle to pursue here, it is just lighting knowledge on fire with no grander purpose.

Fucking with people who are capable of reading and writing is the political angle. Pol Pot took this sort of logic a few steps further in Cambodia a few decades ago.

MAGA, meanwhile, is only 'considering' suspending things like habeas corpus.

[pvaldes]

Understandable, as DNA analysis takes all the fun from raping people without consequences, making it much more inconvenient to hide. Criminals from the entire planet hate DNA analysis with passion. War criminals and sex criminals specially.

[saalweachter]

A professor I worked for in college was a big fan of how the US funding was fragmented, with some coming from the NSF, some from NIH, Energy Ag, each branch of the military... if one department had a loon in charge, the others would keep things running smoothly.

[epistasis]

Yeah, that was one massive benefit of the fragmentation of scientific funding, just like how in the private sector there's a great diversity of funders, of employers, etc. etc. etc.

All that's now been reduced to a single kill switch at the very top, and they're trying to change all the non-political positions into political appointees so that they have control not only with a veto at the top, but control of every single decision along the entire way, without any of that pesky scientific merit getting in the way.

[toomuchtodo]

https://www.project2025.observer/

[Duwensatzaj]

>Science has flourished in the US precisely because it could proceed without whimsical political picking and choosing

Please don't take this as a defense of the Trump administration pulling these ocean sensors, but the previous administration also had political demands on grants. One of the better articles about this I've found is "Politicizing science funding undermines public trust in science, academic freedom, and the unbiased generation of knowledge" - https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/research-metrics-and-an...

This ended up getting grants cancelled because they'd throw in a line so the DEI checkbox would get checked, and then Cruz went through with a hacksaw and cancelled the grant for it, as Scott Alexander found - https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/only-about-40-of-the-cruz-w...

[dragant]

This is a good point but its apple vs oranges. This administration is literally politicizing and destroying science funding.

[Duwensatzaj]

Agreed on the second part, it's pretty terrible. Just absolutely wasteful, and the proposed centralization of research funding is the wrong direction.

Disagree on the first. It wasn't as crude, but the politicization was absolutely there.