{"id":239816,"date":"2025-02-16T00:24:38","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T00:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/16\/the-mood-is-uncertain-anxious-at-2025s-first-big-u-s-science-meeting\/"},"modified":"2025-02-16T00:24:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-16T00:24:38","slug":"the-mood-is-uncertain-anxious-at-2025s-first-big-u-s-science-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/16\/the-mood-is-uncertain-anxious-at-2025s-first-big-u-s-science-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"The mood is \u2018uncertain, anxious\u2019 at 2025\u2019s first big U.S. science meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MAR_014_25_A_598X336_option2_V02.png?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"The mood is \u2018uncertain, anxious\u2019 at 2025\u2019s first big U.S. science meeting\" title=\"The mood is \u2018uncertain, anxious\u2019 at 2025\u2019s first big U.S. science meeting\" \/><\/div> \r\n<br><div data-component=\"video-embed\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong>BOSTON<\/strong> \u2014 The official theme of the meeting of the <a href=\"https:\/\/meetings.aaas.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Association for the Advancement of Science<\/a>, held February 13\u201315, is \u201cScience Shaping Tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The unofficial theme is \u201cuncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With thousands of scientists, advocates and policy experts in attendance, AAAS is the largest science meeting to take place in the United States since the beginning of the second Trump administration. It\u2019s happening against a backdrop of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/indirect-costs-nih-biomedical-research\">threats to funding that supports research<\/a>, scrubbing public data from online sources and a purge of federal workers.<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"sn-conversion rich-text rich-text--with-sidebar\">\n<style><![CDATA[\n.email-conversion {\n  border: 1px solid #ffcccb;\n  color: white;\n  margin-top: 50px;\n  background-image: url(\"\/wp-content\/themes\/sciencenews\/client\/src\/images\/cta-module@2x.jpg\");\n  padding: 20px;\n  clear: both;\n}\n\n]]><\/style>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"rich-text embedded-conversion-content is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article-type\/deep-end-podcast?cta=top\">\n  <\/a><\/div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article-type\/deep-end-podcast?cta=top\">\n<\/a>\n\n<style><![CDATA[\n#dynamic-conversion {\n  border: 1px solid #ffcccb;\n  max-width: 100%;\n  height: auto;\n  clear: both;\n}\n]]><\/style>\n\n\n\n\n<\/aside>\n\n\n<p>Even as the meeting got under way, thousands of employees across the federal government were being fired, including scientists at the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency as part of Trump\u2019s plan to downsize the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are gathered in a moment of turmoil. It\u2019s turmoil,\u201d said AAAS CEO Sudip Parikh in a Feb. 13 welcome address. \u201cI don\u2019t want to sugarcoat that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Noted AAAS board chair Joseph Francisco: \u201cThe unprecedented nature of the last few weeks have left many of us in the science and engineering community uncertain, anxious, and fearful\u2026 These feelings are valid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers I spoke with used words like \u201cchaos,\u201d \u201cconfusion\u201d and \u201cinsane\u201d to describe the climate at their institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRight now, the prevailing sense is confusion,\u201d says Miles Arnett, who is working on a Ph.D. in bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. \u201cI went to a panel today with people who recently worked in government. No one knows what is coming,\u201d Arnett says. \u201cIt has a paralyzing effect.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some attendees distanced themselves from where they work when speaking about their experiences. One federal researcher turned his name badge around so I couldn\u2019t see where he worked before he talked to me. Others declined to give their affiliations when asking questions during scientific sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had so many people tell me, \u2018I\u2019m here as a private citizen, I\u2019m not saying what my affiliation is,\u2019\u201d says Melissa Varga, a science advocate at the Union of Concerned Scientists who is based in Washington, D.C.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in nearly every science talk, presenters alluded to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/human-rights-scientists-research-clash-goverment-crack-down\">the political situation<\/a> \u2014 if they didn\u2019t address it outright. In a session about distrust in science, political scientist Katherine Ognyanova of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. \u201cended essentially with saying, \u2018OK, well, there\u2019s more levels of misinformation than ever, and there\u2019s no guard rails, so we\u2019re kind of screwed,\u2019\u201d says biologist Emma Courtney of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. The talk ended with an illustration of a mushroom cloud captioned, \u201cThe End.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"338\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/021525_lg_AAAS_inline1.png?resize=338%2C450&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"A screen that shows a mushroom cloud with text that reads &quot;The End.&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-3150443\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/021525_lg_AAAS_inline1.png?resize=338%2C450&amp;ssl=1 338w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/021525_lg_AAAS_inline1.png?resize=288%2C383&amp;ssl=1 288w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/021525_lg_AAAS_inline1.png?resize=140%2C186&amp;ssl=1 140w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/021525_lg_AAAS_inline1.png?resize=436%2C580&amp;ssl=1 436w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/021525_lg_AAAS_inline1.png?resize=584%2C776&amp;ssl=1 584w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/021525_lg_AAAS_inline1.png?w=680&amp;ssl=1 680w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 338px) 100vw, 338px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption wp-caption-3150443\">A researcher ended her talk about distrust in science and misinformation with a picture of a mushroom cloud captioned \u201cThe End.\u201d\n<\/span><span class=\"credit wp-credit-3150443\">Emma Courtney<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to fear for their livelihoods and public safety, scientists expressed fear for the longstanding prestige of the American scientific enterprise. Several speakers cited a post-World War II \u201csocial contract,\u201d when scientists and government agreed that publicly funding basic research was a good idea and would eventually lead to economic and technological advances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until recently, that sense of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/united-states-democracy-decline-science\">intellectual freedom and opportunity in America<\/a> drew STEM students from all over the world. But discussions at the AAAS meeting suggest that could quickly change.<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"sn-conversion rich-text rich-text--with-sidebar\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-elements-27c40654034fbeecef6418d6adfe0794\" style=\"color:gray; margin-bottom:0px; font-size:.9rem;\">Sponsor Message<\/p>\n<!-- Tag ID: sciencenews-org_leaderboard_incontent -->\n\n<\/aside>\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople come to America because of the strength of science,\u201d says Nada Salem, who is from Canada and studies bioethics and medical ethics at Harvard Medical School. Salem says she is now hearing more and more international scientists talk about leaving the United States. \u201cIt\u2019s really sad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some American scientists may be looking to leave the United States too. \u201cEvery day you wake up and see something new that\u2019s very upsetting,\u201d says Aidan Zlotak, who is working on a Ph.D. in quantum physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. \u201cAs soon as I finish my degree, my first priority will be getting out of the country,\u201d he says, adding that there are a lot of quantum physics research opportunities in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Taking action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While there is general agreement that American science is under threat, there is not consensus about what to do about it \u2014 or what can be done. Tolerance for uncertainty is important for <em>doing<\/em> science, but the uncertainty in the landscape is harder for scientists to tolerate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a strong temptation among researchers to keep their heads down, keep doing science and hope for the best. But many meeting attendees expressed a desire for greater unity and collective action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYour silence is not going to protect you,\u201d said epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves of Yale School of Public Health in a session about the political determinants of health. From astronomers to zoologists, \u201cthey\u2019re coming for all of us, and the people we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just being together and talking about how to adapt is helpful for morale. \u201cAt a meeting of scientists, the best thing you can do is talk about what you <em>can<\/em> do,\u201d Zlotak says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few efforts are ramping up. The Union of Concerned Scientists is collecting signatures to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucsusa.org\/take-action\/save-science-save-lives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an open letter to Congress<\/a> opposing the Trump administration\u2019s actions against science, including the ongoing firings as well as grant freezes and proposed budget cuts. The letter has more than 50,000 signatures so far. More than 80 meeting attendees had signed on by the afternoon of February 15.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another idea is to track health, environmental, economic and other impacts of political actions, says Matt Heid, director of communications strategy at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Mass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEverything happening now will have immediate impact, but also medium- and long-term impacts that will hit every state,\u201d Heid says. Scientists should \u201ccontinue to highlight how when science is censored, when scientists are censored, people get hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One pressing example is that the CDC\u2019s Epidemic Intelligence Service, which investigates disease outbreaks and health threats in the United States and globally, is facing job cuts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/bird-flu-avian-flu-h5n1-virus\">even as bird flu spreads<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Communications researcher David Karpf of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. urged scientists not to be afraid to talk about how the attacks on research affect them. \u201cState things directly and publicly,\u201d he said in a talk. Just stating the facts is enough. \u201cThe risk to individual scientists is relatively low if you stick to saying, \u2018This is what happened, and this is what was lost.\u2019 Hold to the frame that you are reasonable and your opponent is absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some researchers are still watching their words, in light of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commerce.senate.gov\/2025\/2\/cruz-led-investigation-uncovers-2-billion-in-woke-dei-grants-at-nsf-releases-full-database\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">executive orders targeting language <\/a>about diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as gender, race and climate change.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dhara Patel, an internal medicine doctor at the Harvard School of Public Health, researches climate change and racial inequities. When applying for new grants or grant renewals, \u201cWhat do I say my project is on? I don\u2019t know what words I\u2019m supposed to use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She also wishes for more collaboration among scientists. \u201cA lot of organizations are trying to fight in their own way, but they\u2019re siloed,\u201d Patel says. For instance, efforts to preserve data that have been deleted from federal websites are happening in many different places at once. It would be useful to centralize that data and work together, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is precedent for collective action. In March 2017, after the first Trump inauguration, scientists organized a global <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/blog\/science-the-public\/we-went-march-science-dc-heres-what-happened\">March for Science<\/a> in Washington, D.C. and around the world that was attended by more than a million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"445\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/021525_lg_AAAS_inline2.jpg?resize=680%2C445&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"Protesters hold signs in support of science in front of the U.S. Capitol. \" class=\"wp-image-3150444\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/021525_lg_AAAS_inline2.jpg?w=680&amp;ssl=1 680w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/021525_lg_AAAS_inline2.jpg?resize=585%2C383&amp;ssl=1 585w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/021525_lg_AAAS_inline2.jpg?resize=284%2C186&amp;ssl=1 284w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption wp-caption-3150444\">Tens of thousands of people gathered in Washington, D.C. for the 2017 March for Science during the first Trump Administration. Several scientists are organizing a new march in response to the new administration\u2019s recent actions affecting federally funded research.<\/span><span class=\"credit wp-credit-3150444\">Jessica Kourkounis\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was just asking myself, where is that? What is everyone doing? Where is everybody?\u201d says JP Flores, a graduate student in biology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So Flores decided to start one. He connected with other graduate students who wanted to organize a march over BlueSky. The group is planning a rally called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.standupforscience2025.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stand Up For Science<\/a> on March 7 in Washington, D.C., and in at least 30 other cities around the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI felt like there are actions that individuals can take, but collective action is where you can really bring change,\u201d says Cold Spring Harbor\u2019s Courtney, one of the co-organizers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group is gathering a lot of support from individuals, but having a harder time getting sponsorships and material support from institutions and universities. That\u2019s different from last time, Flores says.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the stakes are different now. In 2017, the prevailing feeling was that science as an abstract entity was under attack. The current executive actions are already affecting scientists\u2019 day-to-day lives. Established researchers whose labs rely on federal grants may be more afraid to speak out than they were before, Courtney says. Students like her have more flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s becoming more personal than just an attack on the enterprise and belief in science generally,\u201d Courtney says. \u201cI think a lot of people have really similar goals right now in trying to protect the American scientific enterprise from the current executive orders,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I think institutions are having a hard time trying to navigate that uncertainty.\u201d<\/p><p><em>Deputy Managing Editor Cassie Martin contributed reporting to this story.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n<br>\r\n<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/defunding-research-activism-aaas\">Source link <\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BOSTON \u2014 The official theme of the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held February 13\u201315, is \u201cScience Shaping Tomorrow.\u201d The unofficial theme is \u201cuncertainty.\u201d With thousands of scientists, advocates and policy experts in attendance, AAAS is the largest science meeting to take place in the United States since the beginning [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MAR_014_25_A_598X336_option2_V02.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[606],"tags":[146126,13297,995,4286,5894,252,221,11071],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239816"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239818,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239816\/revisions\/239818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}