Some voices conspicuously silent when it comes to Trump’s science policies

Research-intensive universities have been targeted in an unprecedented and unrelenting manner since Donald Trump retook the White House on 20 January. In April, nearly a third of the 6000-plus members of the US National Academies of Sciences, which is a nonpartisan organisation charged with providing evidence-based science and technology advice to the government, issued a dire warning. Speaking collectively as individuals, these elected members cautioned that ‘the nation’s scientific enterprise is being decimated’. Specifically, they cited slashed funding for science agencies, cancelled research grants, and investigations launched against more than 50 universities.