The nonsense jujitsu is absurd, but is it sincere? In some cases, it’s hard to say. In others it seems more likely that scientific illiteracy serves a cover for retribution. This week, the Commerce Department canceled federal support for three Princeton University initiatives focused on climate research. The stated reason, for one of those programs: “This cooperative agreement promotes exaggerated and implausible climate threats, contributing to a phenomenon known as ‘climate anxiety,’ which has increased significantly among America’s youth.”
Commerce Department, you’re so close! Climate anxiety among young people is definitely something to look out for. Telling them to close their eyes and stick their fingers in their ears while the world burns is probably not the best way to address it. If you think their climate stress is bad now, just wait until half of Miami is underwater.
There are two important pieces of broader context here. First is that Donald Trump does not believe in climate change, and therefore his administration proceeds as though it does not exist. Second is that Princeton University president Christopher Eisengruber had the audacity to suggest that the federal government not routinely shake down academic institutions under the guise of stopping antisemitism. Two weeks later, the Trump administration suspended dozens of research grants to Princeton totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. And now, “climate anxiety.”
This is all against the backdrop of a government whose leading health officials are Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, two men who, to varying degrees, have built their careers peddling unscientific malarky. The Trump administration has made clear that it will not stop at the destruction and degradation of scientific research in the United States. It will also misrepresent, misinterpret, and bastardize it to achieve distinctly unscientific ends.
Those dire wolves aren’t going to solve anything; they’re not going to be reintroduced to the wild, they’re not going to help thin out deer and elk populations.
But buried in the announcement was something that could make a difference. It turns out Colossal also cloned a number of red wolves—a species that is critically endangered but very much not extinct—with the goal of increasing genetic diversity among the population. It doesn’t resurrect a species that humanity has wiped out. It helps one survive.
The Chatroom
Will the United States lose its position as a leading home of scientific research?
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What Else We’re Reading
How a Small African Nation Scrambled to Appease Trump on Tariffs: The government of Lesotho offered everything from an operating license for Starlink to help with mass-deportation in the face of reciprocal tariffs. (Mother Jones)
Trump Wants to Merge Government Data. Here Are 314 Things It Might Know About You: Everything from your bank account numbers to your student loan details sit in government servers. The NYT put together an exhaustive list. (The New York Times)
Trump Takes Aim at Low-Pressure Showers With Executive Order: Make Water Pressure Great Again? OK, guess this is where we’re at now. (The Wall Street Journal)
The Download
We tried to make sense of tariffs this week in our flagship Uncanny Valley podcast. Did we succeed? Well, in fairness no one else has. Listen now.
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