The true cost of abandoning science

What happens when the government turns its back on scientific research? UCLA’s Steven Furlanetto, a professor of physics and astronomy who studies ancient galaxies, powerfully and eloquently addressed this question in a recent opinion column for the Los Angeles Times.

Since the end of World War II, thanks in large part to substantial investment in research by the federal government, the United States has been the epicenter of global science and curiosity-driven investigation — in astronomy, quantum materials, evolutionary biology, biomedical sciences and many other fields.

But with recent events, Furlanetto sounds the alarm bell: America’s status, he says, will not survive the federal government’s massive funding cuts to science — both to basic scientific research at universities and laboratories and to scientific staff at federal agencies like the National Science Foundation, NASA and the National Park Service.

The debilitating cuts, he argues, “will choke off new technologies before they are only half an idea, leave fundamental questions about the universe unanswered and chase a generation of scientists to other countries.”

Furlanetto credits American taxpayers with many of the country’s postwar scientific advancements. These investments, provided through the government, have led to public goods like new technologies, ways to mitigate natural disasters (like the Los Angeles wildfires or recent floods in Texas) and strong economic growth. He points out that basic science research accounts for only one-half of 1% of the federal government’s budget — outside of Social Security and Medicare — and slashing science funding is destructive to our nation’s mission, while not very cost-saving.

America faces a crucial choice, he says: We can “remain at the vanguard of scientific inquiry through sound investment, or to cede our leadership and watch others answer the big questions that have confounded humanity for millennia — and reap the rewards and prestige. Only one of those options will make the future America great.”