U.S. will lose great minds, and cost will be devastating
Scientists are leaving to work in other countries
By: Tania Lombrozo
Your Turn
Guest columnist
..... Three years from now, a child will be diagnosed with migraines. in five years, a parent will be diagnosed with dementia. You'll learn of a neighbor who struggles with bipolar disorder; a friend with a rare cancer; a colleague with ongoing symptoms form COVID-19. In eight years will develop chronic pain. Your child, now older, will develop an interest in science, and leave the country to pursue it.
.....
You will not be alone. Millions of other Americans will suffer from chronic disease and infection. And millions of Americans - most of us, really -will not know about the lost science that might have made a difference.
..... We will not know about the halted clinical trials that would have led to new therapies. We will not know about the imminent discoveries from labs that were forced to shut down. We will not know about the young people who decided to leave science or the country rather than pursuing research that would have led to breakthroughs in treatments for Alzheimer;s or mental health.
..... In the fact of death or suffering or mere nuisance, we will surely ask: Why me? Why her? What could have been different? Psychological research finds hat in moments of adversity, that's what many of us do. But we won't really know the answers.
..... Science is a long game: We invest in discovery and in people, and some of the time that translates into a vaccine that prevent cancer or a strategy that can help children with dyslexia learn to read. If we fail to invest in science and scientific training now, our future selves and our children will be the ones to suffer.
..... But they won't know about the revolutionary antiviral that might have made a difference; the immune therapy that would have saved a parent; the treatment that would have eased their pain.
Scientists, academics leave the US as universities come under attack
..... As I write this, nearly 2.500 grants form the National Institutes of Health have been ended or delayed. Scientists and academics based in the U.S. are already leaving for Canada and other countries. More than 1,800 employees of the National Science Foundation are being displaced, with no clear plans for their relocation.
..... The universities that train scientists and provide the infrastructure for science are under attack - through canceled funding and potentially catastrophic changes to the basic funding and education model that has supported science since World War II. And, in early July, [2025] the Senate Appropriations committee met to discuss budget proposals for several science agencies, including the National Science Foundation, for which President Donald Trump is seeking a 56% cut.
..... There are many reasons to support science, science education and higher education more broadly. Science is among our species; greatest cultural achievements; it is a source of wonder and awe. Support for science yields substantial economic returns and cements our country;s position as a global leader .
..... But the threat of losing some of this wonder and economic advantage isn't what keeps me up at night. What keeps me up at night is thinking about the millions of moments of human suffering prevent by divesting in science and the people who pursue it.
..... It's the decades of lost science that, for most of us, will be invisible but devastating.
..... Tania Lombrozo is the Arthur W, Marks '19 Professor of Psychology at Princeton University and the director of the Concepts & cognition Lab. Her research examines how humans explain and understand the world around them.