This podcast interviews Max Kozlov, a biomedical science reporter at Nature, and Lauren Young, Scientific American Associate Health Editor, about the impact of the second Trump administration's early actions on science and health in the US. The discussion covers the confusing and chaotic initial days, including a funding freeze impacting grants, a communications freeze halting public health information dissemination (e.g., the CDC's weekly digest), and the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization. The interviewees highlight the resulting uncertainty and fear among researchers, particularly early-career scientists, leading to potential talent drain as researchers consider leaving the US. A concrete example is the concern over the interruption of mPox outbreak response due to the removal of keywords related to at-risk communities from agency websites. The overall effect is a climate of instability and uncertainty for scientific research in the US.
