{"id":365905,"date":"2025-02-12T17:56:11","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T16:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=365905"},"modified":"2025-02-12T17:56:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T16:56:13","slug":"teardrops-at-the-national-science-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=365905","title":{"rendered":"Teardrops at the National Science Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest \u201cDOGE, baby, DOGE!\u201d by\u00a0 David Middleton<\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I receive daily emails from the American Association of Science of America (News From Science), listing some of their latest headlines. I subject myself to this torture because it\u2019s a great source of material for me to mock and ridicule in WUWT posts. This morning\u2019s News From Science was a treasure trove of ridicule-worthy material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Male chimps ask for sex in different \u2018dialects\u2019<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Earth\u2019s inner core might harbor volcanoes and landslides<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Spacecraft probing cosmic evolution spies an \u2018Einstein ring\u2019<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Alzheimer\u2019s scientist resigns after university finds \u2018data integrity concerns\u2019 in papers<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. How a cancer researcher lost a gender-related grant to Trump\u2019s executive orders<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. \u2018My boss was crying.\u2019 NSF confronts potentially massive layoffs and budget cuts<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. NIH slashes overhead payments for research, sparking outrage and lawsuit<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Congress could soon erase Biden rules on archaeology, climate, and the environment<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. \u2018Madness\u2019: Trump freeze on global HIV prevention efforts sparks disbelief, anger<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. New journal co-founded by NIH nominee raises eyebrows, misinformation fears<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Since I am too cheap to actually subscribe, I can only get access to a few articles per month. So I zeroed in on headlines 5 and 6, because 5 seemed to really justify 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Science Insider: Science and Policy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2018My boss was crying.\u2019 NSF confronts potentially massive layoffs and budget cuts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Trump could propose slashing agency\u2019s budget by two-thirds<\/strong>
    7 Feb 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Two major political bombshells hit the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) this week. The first was an official communication from the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM): Prepare for the possible layoff of half of your 1600-member staff as soon as this spring. The second, still a rumor, is equally shocking: President Donald Trump may ask Congress to cut your $9 billion budget by two-thirds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The potential double whammy came as NSF has suspended business as usual to find out<\/a> whether any research it is already funding clashes with a series of executive orders issued by Trump, including one to stop efforts to increase workforce diversity. And it has sparked anxious discussion of what such massive cuts would mean for the second-leading government funder of U.S. academic research behind the National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [\u2026]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cMy boss was crying when she told us,\u201d says one NSF employee who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. \u201cThis is not something NSF wants to be doing,\u201d the employee says. \u201cBut they weren\u2019t given a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [\u2026]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The White House is floating a $3 billion number for NSF, sources tell Science<\/em>. By comparison, the agency\u2019s current budget is $9.1 billion, and former President Joe Biden\u2019s 2025 request, submitted in March 2024, was for $10.2 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [\u2026]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Such cuts would likely force NSF to eliminate large portions of its broad portfolio, which ranges from operating one-of-a-kind telescopes at the South Pole to supporting elementary school science and math education. And it would almost certainly reduce a researcher\u2019s chance of winning an NSF grant\u2014currently one in four\u2014to the point that researchers might look elsewhere for support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI mean, if the success rate drops to 10%, why bother even applying?\u201d says one higher education lobbyist. \u201cResearchers may decide to leave the United States if they can\u2019t get funding here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [\u2026]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Science!<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Having worked in the private sector since 1981 and having paid a buttload of income tax over the past 44 years, I don\u2019t have a lot of sympathy for these people because\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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