Modern scientific societies are increasingly vulnerable due to their dependence on membership fees and journal subscriptions, which are being challenged by the rise of virtual networking and open-access publishing.
The fewer solicitations you have, the less time grant applicants have to figure out which of our pigeonholes they fit into. In the past, a solicitation might have been for an individual program, which means it's attached to an individual program officer and a specific dollar amount. Now, instead of going to one program officer's area, the NSF will use technology to better route applications to wherever within the agency they can best be reviewed.
The biotechnology company Thermo Fisher Scientific is closing its Franklin facility, impacting up to 80 workers, the company said. In a statement to Boston.com, Thermo Fisher said it is closing its chemical analysis facility by the end of 2026. Most of the work will move to other U.S. facilities, as the company adjusts operations to meet current customer demand. The company said impacted workers will receive job transition support, with many employees relocating to other Massachusetts-based facilities.
For nearly 100 years, the United States has been the world's leader in a wide variety of scientific fields. No other country has: invested as much in fundamental scientific research, has made more scientific breakthroughs and scientific advances, has attracted more scientific researchers to move there to conduct their research, or has conducted more projects and been home to more scientists that have won Nobel Prizes.
The Department of Homeland Security has shut down after lawmakers failed to meet a midnight Friday deadline to fund the agency and its workforce of more than 260,000 people. The department saw its baseline funding expire after lawmakers left town for a week-long recess, but without a deal to rein in the conduct of federal immigration officers. Democrats say that after two U.S. citizens were shot dead by immigration officers in Minneapolis, they need reforms cemented into law before agreeing to fund the department.
Brain drain refers to circumstances in which highly trained experts from underdeveloped and overexploited countries migrate to wealthier international job markets. Such loss of human capital can be catastrophic for a nation's development, as a shortage of trained workers tends to strain critical sectors like healthcare and education. Now the United States government - which once fielded as many as 281,000 scientists and engineers - is experiencing a similar phenomenon.
Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., sent a letter Thursday to NSF interim director Brian Stone asking the agency to revoke China-linked entities' access to the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support - or ACCESS - program, according to a copy of the missive first seen by Nextgov/FCW. ACCESS is a free, nationwide collection of supercomputing systems made available to academics and other researchers. It's frequently used across U.S. institutions and national labs to assist with national security and economic research.
