Category Archives: Science

Cuts in science funding?

By Jane Orient, M.D.

Public Health Watch: What Is the State of American Science?

Are you worried that the U.S. will lose its preeminence in science if DOGE manages to achieve massive cuts in spending?

Universities are loudly lamenting the termination of grants and the slashing of the “overhead” portion that goes to the institution rather than to the researcher. “The weeks ahead may be the greatest test the US scientific community has ever faced,” writes editor-in-chief H. Holden Thorp (Science 2/28/25).  But is the threat to science a loss of funding—or the lock that the system places on innovation or discoveries that disrupt the status quo, as shown below.

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Medicaid Expansion Harms Continue

By Jonathan Small

A key plank of Obamacare (the federal “Affordable Care Act”) allowed states to expand Medicaid programs to include able-bodied adults and not just the medically needy.

When expansion was narrowly approved by a public vote in Oklahoma in 2020, everyone knew it would require the diversion of up to $300 million annually in state tax dollars. But advocates called that a bargain since federal tax dollars would cover 90 percent of costs.

Obviously, it meant little to the average citizen if they pay for expansion with taxes paid to the state or taxes paid to the federal government, but that’s the kind of argument that too often passes for logic in politics.

But now the folly of buying that argument is becoming apparent.

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Breast Cancer: African American Women

By Steven C. Quay, MD, PhD

Breast cancer is one of the most pressing health challenges faced by women across the United States, but the burden is not shared equally. African American women face higher rates of death from breast cancer, are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive forms of the disease, and experience significant disparities in access to care. The fight against breast cancer must be a priority, not just during African American History Month, but throughout the year, as understanding and addressing these disparities can save lives.

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Pardoning Fauci, Ditching the WHO

By Dr. Steven Quay, MD, PhD

What’s Next for Pandemic Preparedness?

Analysis: What if the next pandemic isn’t a warning shot, but a global catastrophe with a death rate ten times that of COVID-19—and the same broken systems are still in charge? This is the question we should be asking as the actions of two Presidents during the transition of power have unfolded.

In the last hours of his administration President Biden pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the face of the pandemic for many Americans. And one of President Trump’s first executive orders was to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization or WHO. Both speak to our preparedness for the next pandemic, and whether it is a laboratory enhanced pathogen.

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California Wildfires NOT Climate Driven

by Anthony Watts

This story originally appeared at WattsUpWithThat.com with the title, “Why California Wildfires are NOT Climate Driven: A Historical and Meteorological Perspective“

The tragic wildfires currently raging in Los Angeles have reignited the predictable chorus blaming climate change for natural disasters. As articles from outlets like Axios, Newsweek, and the BBC demonstrate, there’s a growing tendency to tie every fire, flood, or storm to climate change. However, a closer look at history, meteorology, and land management reveals that these claims are often oversimplified by low-information journalists, and fail to address more immediate, actionable causes.

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