Faced with federal funding cuts, scientists are learning to communicate about what they do — and why it matters.
Scientists searching for a cure for cancer have no trouble finding public support. But for those studying potato disease, it’s a tougher sell.
The Trump administration seems to have banked on the idea that the public will see much of scientific research as wasteful or arcane. It has slashed — or proposed slashing — billions in research funding.
Faced with this existential crisis, academics are seeking new ways to rally public and political support to fight the cuts and preserve their funding.
Enter a group of Cornell University graduate students with an ambitious plan to change the way people think about science. They have recruited more than 500 researchers across all 50 states to write op-eds for local news outlets, to be published over the next week. The idea, said Emma Scales, a Cornell doctoral student involved in the effort, is to have scientists introduce themselves to the public.
More broadly, the private media industry exists to sell ad space. That means mainlining their Silicon Valley and Wall Street paymasters, not middle management at the CDC.
Even then, elections aren’t for another year and a half, and there’s no reason to believe the 2027 Congress will be more of a check on Trump than the 2019 Congress was.
Biden never bothered to get rid of DeJoy at the Post Office ffs. Why would anyone believe Chuck Schumer can stop RFK Jr from the Senate Minority after a few Page 6 Op-Eds?