With Congress yet to pass a budget, the country is facing a government shutdown unless lawmakers reach an agreement by midnight tonight. In addition to shuttering many government offices, the shutdown would likely cause present serious difficulties for federal government-funded research. Difficulties Such As...
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A wide range of government-backed research---from biologists studying stem cell lines to oceanographers gleaning climate information from maritime sensors---wouldn't be funded during the shutdown. The delay will ruin some experiments, and leave others with large gaps in their data. One stem cell researcher estimated the shutdown would cost his lab $10,000 per person, and told NatureNews, "One day is tolerable, three days is a killer."
Scientists working on NASA's IceBridge project---a study using special aircraft to survey ice in Greenland---would get on their planes and (dejectedly, one assumes) head back to the States.
Clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health would be ...
