SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Science has gotten snarled in the political funding changes this week. A flurry of action by the Trump administration has scientists, agencies and universities scrambling to understand the impact. NPR science correspondent Jonathan Lambert has been looking into this. Hi, Jonathan.
JONATHAN LAMBERT, BYLINE: Hi, Sacha.
PFEIFFER: So how did all these recent moves by the administration affect the world of science?
LAMBERT: So I follow the National Science Foundation, and on Monday, I started hearing that dozens and dozens of meetings were being abruptly canceled. These meetings are to hash out which research proposals to fund, ranging from civil engineering to environmental science. And it's not clear now when or even if they'll resume, meaning that those projects are in limbo.
PFEIFFER: And why did the meetings get canceled?
LAMBERT: So the NSF said that it needed to figure out how their grant-making process complied with Trump's executive actions, especially those that prohibited diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in federal contracting and spending. Then on Monday, the White House sent out a memo directing agencies to pause all federal grant spending while they figure out how to comply with executive orders. So it created a lot of confusion.
PFEIFFER: Yeah, I bet. But that memo, as we've reported, was rescinded. So has the funding flow resumed? Is it - has it not kicked back in?
LAMBERT: So it was rescinded on Wednesday, but the first action about DEI still stands. And as of when we're talking on Thursday, the National Science Foundation is still freezing existing funds for grants. And the reason it's so complicated for NSF specifically is because it's congressionally mandated to weigh how their grants will increase the participation of underrepresented groups in science. The Trump administration is saying, in effect, that it can't do that, and so that makes it a bit legally complicated.
PFEIFFER: Yeah. On a practical level, how is this affecting scientists and the work they're trying to do?
LAMBERT: So on an individual level, some scientists are now unable to get paid money from grants that they've already won, money that also funds their rent and food. I spoke with one plant biologist who tried to withdraw the remainder of her yearly grant - something that she's legally allowed to do - on Friday. And she was notified yesterday that her funds were frozen. She spoke on the condition of anonymity because she fears speaking out publicly could jeopardize her career and her funding. She doesn't know when or if she'll get paid and so can't go to her field sites in the Southwest where she studies how plants are adapting to drier weather. And there are hundreds of researchers with her kind of grant in a similar boat right now.
Most federal grants don't go directly to individuals, but to their institutions instead. And amid all this confusion, some universities are telling researchers to put certain aspects of their research on hold. One person in that situation is Peter Savage, an immunologist at the University of Chicago. His lab maintains a population of hundreds of mice to develop new cancer treatments.
PETER SAVAGE: If we really had a substantial stoppage or delay in funding, we would have to basically euthanize a lot of the mice. And that's sort of the equivalent of like a farmer, you know, losing a crop for a whole season.
LAMBERT: It would take months to rebreed those mice to do their experiments.
PFEIFFER: Wow.
LAMBERT: I also spoke with Jonathan Stine at Penn State, who studies how to prevent fatty liver disease, a condition that impacts 100 million people in the U.S. He's worried about the jobs of the 15 people in his lab. And overall, given all that's happened in just the first weeks of the Trump administration, many scientists are extremely worried about the next four years.
PFEIFFER: I bet. That's NPR science correspondent Jonathan Lambert. Thank you.
LAMBERT: Thank you.
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