As Trump targets research, scientists share anxiety, grief

At the annual gathering in Boston of one of America's oldest scientific societies, the discussions touched on threats to humankind: runaway artificial intelligence, toxic "forever chemicals", the eventual end of the universe.

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BOSTON -

But the most urgent threats for many scientists were the ones aimed at them, as the Trump administration slashes the federal scientific workforce and cuts back on billions of dollars in funding for research at universities.

"Angst and anxiety and, to a certain extent, grief," is how Dr Sudip Parikh, who leads the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the organization hosting the conference, summed up the mood on Feb 15. News about layoffs at government agencies rippled across conference-goers' phones.

"It's like we're getting hit from all sides," said Dr Roger Wakimoto, vice-chancellor for research at the University of California, Los Angeles.

President Donald Trump's administration and Republicans in Congress have sent universities reeling with crackdowns on diversity initiatives, threats to endowments and potential deportations of students in the country without legal status.

Scientists worry that the most far-reaching changes could still be to come, affecting the cornerstones of public research funding in the US: the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation.

Together, the two agencies fund thousands of projects each year, supporting hundreds of thousands of researchers and other workers at institutions in every state. The agencies provide the financial backbone for American efforts to treat cancer, address rising sea levels, advance quantum computing and much more.