Jeffrey Mervis

ScienceAdviser: Tiny tubes may let neurons communicate directly Today in Science and science: Why women live longer than men, evidence that wildfires are worsening, and more

One word can make a world of difference if you're the head of an NSF directorate. Read why in this newsletter. www.science.org/content/arti...

NCAR avoids furloughs but tightens belt as bigger cuts loom www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. court orders NIH to restore killed grants to California researchers Judge says district court is proper forum to protest mass grant terminations

California researchers take heart from nuanced ruling in suit to get grants reinstated www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump visa policy requires universities to pay huge fee to hire foreign scholars U.S. employers to pay $100,000 for every new H-1B visa

US universities must now decide if hiring a foreign scientist is "worth" spending an extra $100K. www.science.org/content/arti...

Under Trump, NSF faces worst crisis in its 75-year history Political directives have undermined agency's independence and record of supporting the best basic research

How far can NSF bend before it breaks? Science looks at what's happened to the agency under Trump. www.science.org/content/arti...

House panels charge U.S. National Academies with producing partisan studies Pending spending bill urges agencies to find other sources of scientific advice

Despite its 162-year-history of service, congressional Republicans tell federal agencies not to seek the advice of the National Academies. www.science.org/content/arti...

ScienceAdviser: Can two new studies put cancer microbiome research back on track? Today in Science and science: Surprising insights from marsquakes, the ecological impact of free-roaming buffalo, and more

Having a hard time tracking how Congress might revamp indirect costs? Here's what you need to know. www.science.org/content/arti...

ScienceAdviser: The taming of the horse Today in Science and science: Clues from Mars’s mantle, water pollution affects air quality, and more

Last week the chairman of the House science committee tried to convince an academic audience that Musk and DOGE has helped to regain public trust in government and science. What could go wrong? www.science.org/content/arti...

NSF could be moving down the street Government sets requirements for new space that sound like nearby patent office campus

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Lin ordered NSF to reinstate the suspended UCLA grants by 19 August or explain why it hasn't complied with her order. The case is Thakur v. Trump.

Judge Lin rejected NSF's arguments that her earlier injunction didn't apply because the new batch of grants were only suspended. But Lin said that was a distinction without a difference and that NSF had violated the Administrative Procedures Act by failing to provide an adequate explanation.

US District Court Judge Rita Lin today ordered NSF to reinstate the 300 grants to UCLA that it suspended on 30 July, saying the agency violated a preliminary injunction she issued in June on a different set of grants to UCLA researchers. 1/2

Trump order aims to politicize decisions on federal science grants Researchers worried by plan giving political appointees more control over where funding goes

Deconstructing Trump's latest directive on managing federal research: how bad is it? www.science.org/content/arti...

Has NSF defied a court order by suspending 300 UCLA grants? Federal judge to hear arguments relating to preliminary injunction to restore funding for other UC grants

NSF's suspension of UCLA grants could run afoul of injunction against earlier terminations. www.science.org/content/arti...

Why a top economist discounts Trump’s claim U.S. jobs data are ‘rigged’ A former head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics rebuts reason why president fired the agency’s leader

Revisions to BLS job numbers are the norm, not the exception, says former commissioner Erica Groshen, who explains why Trump's criticism is misguided. www.science.org/content/arti...

Congressional panels resist White House proposals for sharp cuts in indirect cost rates Three spending panels say a 15% cap isn’t the right answer to nagging concerns about how universities are reimbursed

GOP appropriators oppose 15% cap on indirect cost rates and tell Trump to work with research community on a better approach www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. research community says new indirect cost model is still too complicated Proposed changes to avert huge cuts in reimbursement get pushback at town hall

Nobody likes the current system for paying indirect costs. But the new proposed model being pitched to Congress and OMB also took a beating this week. www.science.org/content/arti...

Senate panel raises hopes that NSF will restore killed grants Republicans promise to work with Democrats to salvage defeated amendment

It's too early to take to the bank, but the Senate may come to the rescue of researchers whose NSF grants were cancelled www.science.org/content/arti...

Congressional spending panels continue to push back against proposed Trump research cuts House committees give a real boost to DOE science and shrink size of cuts to NSF and NASA science

Can't get enough of the status of research in the FY2026 budget? Here's the latest from the House. www.science.org/content/arti...

In advance of tomorrow's town hall, here's the real story of what universities are hoping to gain from a new way to calculate indirect costs www.science.org/content/arti...

Senate spending panel would rescue NSF and NASA science funding Its support for a flat budget is a sign of congressional resistance to drastic cuts Trump has proposed

One small step... Senate appropriators indicate they plan to protect NSF and NASA science from Trump's drastic cuts. www.science.org/content/arti...

Democrats stage a science fair of canceled grants to show what’s been lost Partisan fight over Trump cuts heats up as Congress works on 2026 spending bills.

House Dems hold a poster session for politicians (although few came) www.science.org/content/arti...

Prestigious NSF graduate fellowship tilts toward AI and quantum Students in the life sciences are shut out of latest cohort of 500 fellows

NSF has awarded 500 more graduate fellowships, but at what cost to the program? www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. National Academies adopts new business model to weather a financial storm Realignment of major program units aims to improve efficiency and make up for loss of federal contracts

NAS President Marcia McNutt says deep Trump cuts provided the "trigger" to restructure the National Research Council www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. academics call for reforms in research overhead payments, hoping to avoid drastic cuts Coalition offers two models it says increase accountability and reflect the “true costs” of research

Can US researchers stave off huge cuts to indirect cost payments by convincing Congress and the White House there's a better way? Tomorrow an academic coalition outlines a "fairer" and "more transparent" system that reimburses for the full cost of research. www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. college is first to decline federal science grants because of new DEI language Williams College says NSF and NIH requirement related to discrimination “undermines” academic freedom

Exclusive: Confusion over new DEI language from NSF and NIH leads Williams College to be first institution to pause accepting any grants www.science.org/content/arti...

New National Academies board will wade into math wars Gates Foundation grant enables cash-strapped body to create unit seeking to bridge gap between mathematicians and math educators

Tired of the math wars? The US National Academies is standing up a new panel that holds to negotiate a truce over how best to teach the subject www.science.org/content/arti...

Final NSF budget proposal jettisons one giant telescope amid savage agencywide cuts Trump’s 57% proposed cut to agency would drop grant success rates to 7% and gut education and training

Trump's detailed vision for NSF's 2026 budget is not a pretty picture. www.science.org/content/arti...

Will NSF’s flagship training program survive under Trump? Despite 50 Nobelists and 75,000 alumni, NSF’s graduate research fellows could be a vanishing breed

After 73 years, is NSF's graduate research fellowship program circling the drain? www.science.org/content/arti...

What does Trump’s call for ‘gold standard science’ really mean? Critics worry new executive order allows political appointees to determine how science is used in policy decisions

Gold standard or fools' gold? www.science.org/content/arti...