Why Fund Science? Just Ask NASA. Or the NIH. Or the NSF. Or DARPA.
You enjoy GPS. You survived COVID with vaccines. You’re probably reading this on the Internet with a screen filled with quantum dots. So let me ask:
Why the hell are we defunding the agencies that made all that possible?
The Trump administration’s genius-level idea to slash basic science funding would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous. This is like taking a blowtorch to the blueprint of American greatness.
So let’s talk about what’s actually on the chopping block:
🔬 NIH (National Institutes of Health)
Helped isolate a hormone in Gila monster venom that led to blockbuster diabetes and obesity drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.
📡 JHAPL (Johns Hopkins APL)
Created the technology behind GPS — which started as a tool to track subs and now helps you find the nearest Starbucks
📡 DARPA
The internet — and now Trump wants to defund the very agency that made cat videos, Google Maps, and your Tinder date possible. Genius.
🧪 NSF (National Science Foundation)
Funded the femtosecond laser research that gave us bladeless LASIK surgery.
Supported the CAPTCHA technology that stops bots from buying up all the Beyoncé tickets online. Bankrolled basic quantum research that now powers your TV screen — and won a 2023 Nobel Prize.
👂 NSF (again)
Gave a grant to a professor at Gallaudet University to analyze and ultimately validate American Sign Language as a full-fledged language.
🚀 NASA
Partnered with Black & Decker to develop a cordless moon drill… which later became the Dustbuster. Yes, moon dust to living room dust — that’s the federal innovation pipeline.
🐛 USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
Eradicated the flesh-eating screwworm from the United States. If you don’t know what that is, you’re lucky — and you can thank government scientists.
Let’s be clear: None of this came from billionaires in rocket ships. These breakthroughs came from public funding, from federal scientists, from research for the public good — not profit.
So what can you do when a president with a gold-plated toilet decides to gut the very institutions that gave you the modern world?
You fight back. Here’s how:
🧭 13 Ways to Defend Science from the Anti-Science Agenda
1. Protect vaccination programs
2. Push state-level funding
3. Get mad in public — scientists, speak up
4. Sue. Hard.
5. Support scientific societies
6. Donate wisely — groups like GiveWell
7. Create mini-NIHs funded by donors
8. Use opioid settlement money for actual addiction treatment
9. Fund patient-led research
10. Join humanitarian orgs
11. Build new science alliances
12. Replace defunded studies
13. Call your senator
So next time someone tells you government doesn’t innovate, kindly ask them if they enjoy seeing where they’re driving, breathing air that’s not full of screwworms, or being able to read this on a quantum-dot display.
If they say yes? Tell them to fund science.
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