The US National Institutes of Health (NIH), a massive biomedical-research funder that also employs thousands of scientists at its own laboratories,
is “totally broken and non-functional right now”,
according to a principal investigator at the NIH who asked for anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.
“We can’t #hire people. We can’t #recruit people. We can’t #talk to people on the outside. We cannot #travel,” they say.
Other government scientists, say that they can’t afford #publication #fees or the #supplies they need to process lab samples.
At the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
— which monitors Earth’s oceans and atmosphere and provides weather forecasting services
— some scientists cannot do fieldwork because many of the contractors they have historically worked with have been #furloughed.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Government Efficiency, effectively run by billionaire Elon Musk, has been sowing #fear among federal workers with its visits to various agencies, threatening possible workforce cuts and more.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01245-2