Jay Novella

And then there's an even deeper issue here that bothers me.

So once these political appointees actually are empowered and they start deciding which science is acceptable –

The researchers are going to start to adapt to those politics, right?

Because, you know, there are so many scientists out there whose, you know, income is on a string.

You know, they're like, getting grants is how they pay the bills.

Right, the vast majority.

So in a well-functioning science system, the funding comes in, but there are guardrails.

It's not like there isn't that much government control.

It is being directed by the right people.

But when it turns into this, people need to continue to make that money because they're not just doing science, but they're earning money for their families, right?

Yeah.

They might avoid controversial topics and they might rewrite proposals that go in line with whatever the administration thinks is the right thing to do that month.

They might stop asking questions that are scientifically important or they might be politically inconvenient questions.

How about scientific research being done for transgender people?

That's just gone.

That's going to completely go away.

And the scientists are going to learn where the new boundaries are, and then their research is slowly going to become less independent and less poignant.

It's going to be dumbed down, or they're going to start trying to navigate through whatever that future process is going to be.

And we are going to, on the other side of this, it's one thing to just cut money to science, which we've already seen.

There's been defunding left, right, and center all over this administration.