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.
It’s a good idea, but I’m skeptical of its efficiency in the sense that the people who approve of these cuts aren’t likely to read those op-eds. I kinda suspect a lot of those people don’t read at all.
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?
It’s less about directly reaching certain people and more about educating the public in an attempt to indirectly shift the overall anti-intellectual bias that is very commonplace in certain communities.
Would’ve been nice if we had started 30 years ago, but better late than never.
I would wager that they CAN NOT read.
hahahahahahahahahahahaha
Man, I have wasted so much oxygen trying to get even somewhat sensible people to view the world in a different way than they currently do. Good luck.
Until Trump makes that illegal.
Better get on it quickly, becuase RFK just appointed a new CDC vaccine committee full of antivax idiots, after firing everyone who understood anything.
How about this for a solution:
Move to Canada
Move to Europe
There are places where science and scientists aren’t vilified, but celebrated. Why fight to be able to be awesome?
