US scientists slam research funding cuts

Research funding cuts, canceled programs, abandoned studies, and young scientists' careers in jeopardy — these are the realities that have emerged in the months since US President Donald Trump took office, according to thousands of scientists who have signed open letters warning that the administration is undermining US science and higher education.

"We see real danger in this moment … We are sending this SOS to sound a clear warning: the nation's scientific enterprise is being decimated," says a national open letter signed by nearly 2,000 prominent US scientists, including numerous Nobel Prize winners.

Since taking office, Trump and his team have dramatically altered the country's scientific research infrastructure — cutting funding, terminating grants, defunding laboratories, and impeding international scientific collaboration, according to the letter released on Monday.