Trump’s Executive Orders Create Confusion for Researchers

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

The first few weeks of the Trump administration have been marked by chaos and confusion for the nation’s health and science agencies. A funding freeze broadly targeting language around diversity, equity and inclusion has agencies evaluating research and initiatives. A hold on public communications from health agencies is affecting public health reporting to people in the U.S.—and to the World Health Organization. Entire websites have gone dark as agencies have tried to comply, though archivists are preventing critical datasets from disappearing. Max Kozlov, a Nature reporter who covers biomedical science, joins host Rachel Feltman to walk through what the next four years might hold for research and researchers in the U.S. Overall, the orders have caused uncertainty for scientists in the nation, and associate health editor Lauren Young discusses the frustration and fear she’s hearing from them. Read more of Max Kozlov’s reporting: –Trump Abruptly Cancels Crucial Science Reviews at NIH, World’s Largest Public Funder of Biomedical Research –Exclusive: How NSF Is Scouring Research Grants for Violations of Trump’s Orders –Chaos Erupts in US Science as Trump’s Team Declares Freeze on Federal Grants E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Lauren Young. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:27.8	slash UK slash AI for people. For Scientific American Science quickly, I'm Rachel Thalbman.
0:34.3	We're 18 days into the second Trump administration, and when it comes to the president's impact
0:39.3	on health and science, things have been pretty chaotic.
0:43.5	There's been sweeping confusion around a plan to freeze federal funding.
0:48.1	Much of health agencies' communications with the public have been put on hold, and the president
0:52.7	has signed a blur of executive orders.
0:56.2	So what comes next?
0:58.7	Here to help us understand some of the implications is Max Kozlov.
1:02.7	He's a reporter at Nature covering biomedical science.
1:13.6	Max, thanks so much for joining us to chat today.
1:14.3	Of course.
1:17.4	So a lot has been going on in Washington. The president signed a ton of executive orders in his initial days.
1:21.7	There have been potential funding freezes.
1:25.0	For folks who haven't been paying attention, what would you say the sort of
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