Thousands of U.S. research and grant programs related to science stuttered, stopped or never even got a chance to begin in 2013 because of federal funding shortfalls and a partial government shutdown.
The spending cuts known as “sequestration” that were triggered in March sliced $9.3 billion from federal research and development projects, according to an analysis from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
In response, the 24 federal agencies that conduct research — from the Department of Defense to the U.S. Department of Agriculture — slowed the pace of lab work, instituted hiring freezes and cut grant programs.
At the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the country’s largest financial supporter of basic medical research, the sequester led to $1.6 billion in cuts (a 5 percent reduction from 2012) and the loss of 20,000 jobs. With less grant money and fewer scientists, research stalled on cancer, the influenza ...
