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Scientists worry these cuts could eliminate crucial data sources used to study how climate change affects respiratory disease, cognitive decline in the elderly, and preterm births. The agency's chief climate scientist was already let go earlier this year.

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The Trump administration's proposed budget would cut NASA spending to 1961 levels, slashing Earth science funding by more than half. Nearly 4,000 NASA staff have already opted for early retirement amid uncertainty. The White House described cuts as an attempt to refocus NASA on space exploration.

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In Indianapolis, researchers are using NASA data to track Lyme disease by studying blowfly gut contents. The flies feed on white-footed mice (Lyme reservoirs), and NASA's environmental data helps map where the disease might spread as the climate warms.

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🧵NASA isn't just about space missions. The agency's satellites collect 25 terabytes of Earth data daily, tracking air pollution, temperature changes, and disease patterns that have become crucial for public health research worldwide.

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Warsaw uses 8 clams hooked to computers to monitor drinking water quality. When pollutants are detected, the clams close their shells, triggering an early warning system. It all traces back to an accidental Prozac spill in a college lab. 🔗: undark.org/2025/08/14/excerpt-proza…

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 31/07/2025

Historically, cancer research has probed the drivers of the disease’s evolution. But some scientists are widening their scope to study patients who survive against the odds. 🔗: undark.org/2025/08/11/cancer-super-…

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The numbers are staggering: 59% of U.S. counties lack air quality monitoring sites, leaving more than 50 million Americans in "monitoring deserts." These gaps disproportionately affect rural areas and communities with higher poverty rates. 🔗https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 22/07/2025

Uri Manor's lab used $1.5M over two years to develop imaging tools for hearing loss research. When his grant was terminated in April, he worried about four trainees "whose careers now hung on a political whim." 🔗: undark.org/2025/07/11/interview-hea…

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 13/07/2025

59% of U.S. counties lack air quality monitors, creating "monitoring deserts" mostly in rural South/Midwest. Counties with higher poverty rates and more Black/Hispanic residents are more likely to lack monitors. 🔗: undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi…

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 08/07/2025

Just 10 years ago, U.S. air pollution was a success story. Now wildfires are "erasing the gains" from decades of emission controls, pushing air quality to hazardous levels hundreds of miles away. 🔗: undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi…

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 22/06/2025

Opinion: Conservative distrust of science helped set the stage for its dismantling. Can scientists bridge the partisan divide? 🔗: undark.org/2025/06/19/opinion-maga-…

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"I'm not different. I'm not changed," Bhattacharya insists. Yet even supporters question whether he can maintain his principles inside Trump's administration. As one former ally put it: "I think he was overly optimistic." Read more: undark.org/2025/05/27/jay-bhattacha…

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Now Bhattacharya faces a contradiction. The free speech champion leads an agency freezing billions in university funding. "This is a loaded gun for the federal government to essentially become provost and president of any university that takes federal funds," warns one First Amendment expert.

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His Great Barrington Declaration called for "focused protection" — shielding the vulnerable while allowing others to "build up immunity through natural infection." It "went absolutely viral," but Fauci called it "dangerous." The document made Bhattacharya a hero to pandemic skeptics.

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 20/05/2025

🧵 Five years ago, Jay Bhattacharya was a Stanford health economist studying vulnerable populations. Today, he runs the NIH, the world's top biomedical research agency. His journey from pandemic critic to Trump's science chief reveals a story of how COVID-19 reshaped American institutions.

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5/7 The proposed 2026 budget would further cut HHS discretionary spending by 26%, including nearly $18B from NIH and halving the CDC budget. The administration states it aims to reduce waste and inefficiency.

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 20/05/2025

3/7 Domestically, the administration is reducing CDC HIV branch offices and canceling hundreds of federal grants to health departments, universities, and nonprofits working on HIV/AIDS. At least 230 HIV-specific NIH grants have been terminated.

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 20/05/2025

1/7 The Trump administration has implemented significant cuts to HIV/AIDS programs both internationally and domestically, potentially threatening recent progress that saw a 12% decline in new HIV infections from 2018 to 2022.

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 16/05/2025

In a new opinion piece, Julia Yarkoni examines alternatives to active-shooter drills, which may contribute to teacher burnout. 🔗: undark.org/2025/05/15/opinion-alter…

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 15/05/2025

4/ Marcus Munafò, a professor of biological psychology and deputy vice chancellor and provost at the University of Bath and the former editor-in-chief of Nicotine & Tobacco Research, said the impact could affect academic freedom.

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 15/05/2025

1/ Researchers pulled their paper from a federal journal after editors asked them to remove the word "equitably" and demographic data to comply with executive orders on DEI. "It's the principle," anthropologist Tamar Antin said.

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 30/04/2025

4/ Reworld Waste, which runs the incinerator near Grabarek, acknowledges PFAS enters their facility: "We don't market our municipal waste combustors to destroy PFAS, but we know that it's in the waste that comes in." Meanwhile, Grabarek's pleas for stack testing have gone unanswered.

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 30/04/2025

2/ His blood contained PFAS levels 3-6 times higher than average Americans. "It's on my mind all the time. You know, you wake up in the night, that's what you think of," Grabarek said. His farm sits just 2.5 miles from an incinerator that's operated since 1991.

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 30/04/2025

1/ Jerry Grabarek, a 73-year-old Connecticut dairy farmer, has watched the gray plume from a nearby incinerator for decades. Last December, worried about what he was breathing, he paid $357 to get his blood tested for "forever chemicals." The results shocked him.

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 18/04/2025

Scientists have long studied great apes learning words, yet their first linguistic breakthroughs rarely receive the celebration human first words do. Washoe the chimp's first sign was a beckoning "come-gimme" gesture at age 1-2. 🔗: undark.org/2025/04/18/wilo-apes-cro…

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 09/04/2025

1/ Health apps are everywhere — with ~350,000 on the market helping users track weight, find therapists, and more. But as their popularity grows, so do concerns about privacy, effectiveness, and lack of regulation. 🧵

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 12/03/2025

Microbiologist Helen Onyeaka dreamed of using microbes to fight malnutrition as a teenager in Nigeria. Now, she’s working on Chlorella vulgaris, an algae that could one day be used as flour for green bread and cakes. 🔗: undark.org/2025/01/29/new-food-bact…

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 11/03/2025

Gateway, a deep-space station orbiting the Moon, launches in 2027—but not everyone’s convinced it’s the right move. Smart investment or an unnecessary stop? 🔗: undark.org/2025/01/22/g...

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 11/03/2025

Punjab’s groundwater crisis has been decades in the making. The Green Revolution brought prosperity, but also depletion. Can India balance food security with water sustainability? 🔗: undark.org/2025/02/03/downstream-in…

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 10/03/2025

🧵While NIH funding cuts appear to target elite universities with massive endowments like Harvard and Yale, the reality is that less-wealthy institutions and research hospitals nationwide may be hit hardest. 🔗: undark.org/2025/03/10/nih-funding-c…

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 25/02/2025

Seeking sources: Have you encountered stigmatizing language or misinformation in health apps? We're looking to speak with users about their experiences for a reported piece on health tech. DM or reach out: claudia@undark.org

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Undark Magazine @undark.org · 25/02/2025

Punjab’s groundwater is disappearing fast—dropping nearly 20 inches per year. Wells once dug at 100 feet now reach 500 feet, tapping into aquifers contaminated with uranium, lead, and arsenic. What happens when the water runs out? 🔗: undark.org/2025/02/03/downstream-in…

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5/5 Today at 66, Lazo leads the Association of Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared of Paine, fighting to preserve memory of the victims. 🔗: undark.org/2025/02/19/history-futur…

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4/5 Decades later, evidence revealed the men were executed hours after their capture, never held in the places families desperately searched.

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3/5 For weeks, months, years, families searched detention centers, including Santiago's National Stadium. "Nothing, nothing, nothing," Lazo recalls.

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2/5 Before dawn on Oct. 16, 1973, armed men with painted faces took Flor Lazo's father and brothers. She was 15.

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1/5 Paine, a small agricultural area 30 miles south of Santiago, suffered the worst per-capita repression of Pinochet's regime. 70 people were forcibly disappeared. 🔗: undark.org/2025/02/19/history-futur…

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