Eggheads hold science fair on Capitol Hill to decry funding cuts

'The Things We’ll Never Know' show highlights what we'll be missing

President Trump's budget slashes funding for science and led to the cancellation or reduction of thousands of research programs, so scientists have staged a series of presentations to show legislators innovations that America will miss out on in the future.

The event, dubbed "The Things We’ll Never Know: A Science Fair of Canceled Grants" was held on Capitol Hill and featured 21 science exhibitions that are now canceled due to lack of funding. They include examining coastal erosion, helping disabled children learn, and researching preparation for another pandemic.

The really smart people will go to where the science is being done

"Science is what made this nation great," said Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) on X. "Every breakthrough, and our economic growth has come from science and technology breakthroughs. Those aren't going to happen much in this Trump administration. It's a tragedy."

Under the recently passed budget, funding for the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health were cut by nearly 50 percent and grants have been vetted to cancel research into "diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), environmental justice, and misinformation/disinformation," according to the NSF.

Democratic members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology organized the fair to highlight the damage being done, not just in cancelling new grants but also not renewing (and thus wasting ongoing research) on existing science.

Sumit Chanda, a professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research, had been working on drugs and disaster planning that could help stop the next major pandemic from getting out of control. The Trump administration cut his funding because "now that the pandemic is over, these funds are no longer needed," he told NPR.

Kimiko Krieger, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Johns Hopkins University, has been working on a study into why vitamin deficiencies in black men lead to higher than expected deaths from prostate cancer. The budget eliminated her NIH grant and she was told her work was "amorphous," NPR reported.

According to data from the University of California, federal research spending in relation to GDP is now at its lowest level since the 1950s.

"The impacts of these cuts would be unlike anything seen in US history," UC Associate Vice President for Federal Governmental Relations Chris Harrington said in an article published on a university website.

"Slashing funding for university research will make it harder for the US to stay ahead as other nations accelerate their progress in areas that are critical for economic and national security, like quantum computing, energy and biotechnology."

Other countries have been quick to take note and are actively wooing US academics with offers of work and funding. France, Belgium and the Netherlands all have programs offering fast-track funding and visas for academics with the right projects.

China, too, has been quick to try and snap up scientific talent, paying good salaries and offering perks like bonuses and relocation payments for those willing to move to the Middle Kingdom. The decision by the US government to crack down on Chinese student visas is also driving a flood of talent back home to China.

"The really smart people who have opportunities, you know, will go to where the science is being done, whether it's Europe or China or other places," Adam Riess, who shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 2011, told NPR. "I'm definitely hearing from a lot of colleagues who are saying, I need to look at, what's plan B.'" ®