Michelle Dang

And on that point, I mean, I should say that this has been on the US for a long time now and the whole world has been used to that. There's other countries that could be replacing the US and could be putting money into international aid.

And on that point, I mean, I should say that this has been on the US for a long time now and the whole world has been used to that. There's other countries that could be replacing the US and could be putting money into international aid.

This just comes at a time when the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland have also said they might cut contributions, which tells us this is part of a... Just a bigger story here.

This just comes at a time when the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland have also said they might cut contributions, which tells us this is part of a... Just a bigger story here.

Okay, so time for some good news. But to get to the good news, we will need some more bad news. So grants looking into COVID research have been cut. And when your team at Nature asked...

Okay, so time for some good news. But to get to the good news, we will need some more bad news. So grants looking into COVID research have been cut. And when your team at Nature asked...

Health and Human Services, why they told you the HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago, which is quite startling because according to the CDC, more than 6,000 people died from COVID in the U.S. in the past three months. And then there's folks with long COVID.

Health and Human Services, why they told you the HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago, which is quite startling because according to the CDC, more than 6,000 people died from COVID in the U.S. in the past three months. And then there's folks with long COVID.

There was another big reversal, which is that big chunks of this study called the Women's Health Initiative had also been on the chopping block. We've talked about this study on this show before. It's basically tens of thousands of women being tracked for more than three decades. Super, super important study. Certain parts of that study had been terminated.

There was another big reversal, which is that big chunks of this study called the Women's Health Initiative had also been on the chopping block. We've talked about this study on this show before. It's basically tens of thousands of women being tracked for more than three decades. Super, super important study. Certain parts of that study had been terminated.

But then there was this huge outcry from scientists saying, some senators, even some celebrities, and the department decided to refund it. This is a time, though, when a lot of researchers have been scared into silence. And, you know, I think as reporters, both of us have experienced this, where we'll reach out to someone who just says, not right now, I can't talk to the press.

But then there was this huge outcry from scientists saying, some senators, even some celebrities, and the department decided to refund it. This is a time, though, when a lot of researchers have been scared into silence. And, you know, I think as reporters, both of us have experienced this, where we'll reach out to someone who just says, not right now, I can't talk to the press.

But do you think this actually tells us that your best chance of getting research is to speak up in this moment, as hard as that might be?

But do you think this actually tells us that your best chance of getting research is to speak up in this moment, as hard as that might be?

And I think for some scientists, they might be feeling like, hey, I didn't sign up for this, you know, to be running these campaigns to try and get my funding back. In fact, we talked about this a little bit with Seema Lakdawalla, who's a virologist at Emory.

And I think for some scientists, they might be feeling like, hey, I didn't sign up for this, you know, to be running these campaigns to try and get my funding back. In fact, we talked about this a little bit with Seema Lakdawalla, who's a virologist at Emory.

And nerds are fighting back with lawsuits too. So just this week, a bunch of researchers and physicians sued the NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services over the cuts to grants for LGBTQ research. After the break, a controversial executive order. Some say it could stop critical research in its tracks. But others reckon that it just might save us from a new pandemic.

And nerds are fighting back with lawsuits too. So just this week, a bunch of researchers and physicians sued the NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services over the cuts to grants for LGBTQ research. After the break, a controversial executive order. Some say it could stop critical research in its tracks. But others reckon that it just might save us from a new pandemic.

Plus, will all these cuts boost the economy? Coming up. Welcome back. Now, we're going to talk about a new executive order from the Trump administration that's got some scientists pretty nervous. And before we get into the details of the executive order, I just want to talk about a big part of the reason that it came down, which is because of this big and very interesting question of...

Plus, will all these cuts boost the economy? Coming up. Welcome back. Now, we're going to talk about a new executive order from the Trump administration that's got some scientists pretty nervous. And before we get into the details of the executive order, I just want to talk about a big part of the reason that it came down, which is because of this big and very interesting question of...