Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by btown 2 hours ago
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.

2 comments

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.

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.
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.

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.