Protesters gathered in New York City's Washington Square Park on February 19 to protest the Trump administration's cuts to research funding.Melissa Bender/AP

On Wednesday afternoon in New York City, it hovered around 30 degrees, the sort of cold outside that makes your face sting. Despite the sub-freezing temperatures, hundreds of PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, and other scholars gathered in the West Village’s Washington Square Park to protest cuts to public research funding and the Trump administration’s crackdown on science. Signs reading, “Science Saves Lives,” “Fund the Future,” and “Defund Billionaires, Not Cancer Cures,” peppered the crowd.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump and his administration have put research funding on hold; paused communication and travel at the National Institutes of Health; removed or edited websites related to DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) at NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration; slashed funding for universities’ “indirect costs” (a move academics say will limit research); and fired hundreds of federal employees across the government’s health agencies.

“Everything’s really bad,” a postdoc named Ian told me at the protest, asking to be identified only by first name. “I needed to come out and do something about it.”

The cuts have threatened all sorts of research, from cancer and HIV studies to plant biology and climate science. “A lot of us depend on federal funding,” said Paco, a math graduate student. “It’s scary to see the tone that the current administration has taken toward science.”

“It’s sad that we have........

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