Feed aggregator

Earth’s oceans are full of plastic. Though the state-sized garbage patches formed by ocean currents are the most visible, just an estimated 1% of ocean plastic lurks on the surface. The other 99% hides elsewhere in the ocean and may be found in the deep sea, mixed in with seafloor sediment. These particles are often in the form of microplastics: fragments of plastic goods degraded to less than 1 millimeter in length.

Scientists know these deep-sea plastics don’t get there by simply sinking from the surface since their distribution doesn’t match the locations of surface garbage patches. Results of laboratory experiments and seafloor sampling campaigns led scientists to suspect these plastic particles instead reach the deep ocean via turbidity currents, gravity-driven cascades of sediment-rich water that flows from rivers over the continental shelf and down to the seafloor. But no one had observed the process until now.

A new study published in Environmental Science and Technology presents the first direct evidence of an underwater microplastics “avalanche,” a turbidity current that transported plastic pollution to the bottom of a deep ocean canyon. The findings raise concerns about how microplastics may be affecting marine organisms because the same turbidity currents foster biodiversity hot spots in the same locations.

“The fact that we captured this in action proves the theory, but it also highlights the threats that microplastics pose.”

“Turbidity currents are an important process that transports sediments and nutrients to the deep sea. The question was: Do they also transport plastics?” said Florian Pohl, a sedimentologist at the University of Bayreuth in Germany who was not involved in the research. Pohl was the lead author on a 2020 study that predicted the existence of these microplastics “avalanches” using laboratory experiments.

“The fact that we captured this in action proves the theory, but it also highlights the threats that microplastics pose,” said Ian Kane, a coauthor of the new study and a sedimentologist at the University of Manchester. “This study is further evidence of the impact that we’re having on the oceans.”

Measuring Microplastics

To observe turbidity currents in action, the research team headed to Whittard Canyon, an undersea canyon in the Celtic Sea nearly 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) deep. They installed sensors in the canyon that could measure turbidity current velocity and detect sediment concentration.

The team also installed a sediment trap just above the seafloor to collect material transported by the turbidity current and drilled cores of seafloor and subseafloor sediment at seven sites at varying depths in the canyon.

Between June 2019 and August 2020, the sensors detected six turbidity currents, the first of which filled the sediment trap. An analysis of flow velocity and sediment grain size showed that the turbidity flow even carried large plastic litter, including segments of plastic fishing line. All sediment trap samples and seafloor sediment cores contained microplastic particles.

The sediment trap, which collected sediment from the first observed turbidity flow, yielded 82 microplastic items per 50 grams of dried sediment. Credit: Peng Chen

Samples of sediment from the cores revealed that the relative proportion of microplastic fragments (tiny plastic “chunks”) to microplastic fibers (from synthetic textiles) increased deeper into the canyon, indicating that fragments and fibers travel differently in turbidity currents. Pohl said he’d like to take a closer look at the fragment and fiber properties (such as the type of plastic they’re made of) to determine why.

Kane was struck by the high concentrations of microplastics found in the sediment, especially because Whittard Canyon is so far from shore—300 kilometers (186 miles). “It’s quite alarming that this material is making its way so far out into ocean basins,” he said.

The microplastics “avalanches” observed in Whittard Canyon likely also happen elsewhere in Earth’s oceans. More than 5,000 similar canyons worldwide could be important conveyors of pollution to the deep sea, the authors wrote. Some of these canyons are fed directly by rivers on land. Seasonal flash floods in Sicily, for instance, have carried large amounts of plastic litter to submarine canyons.

If Whittard Canyon is receiving a lot of plastic, it’s likely that other canyons, especially those more closely linked to rivers on land, are receiving even more, Kane said.

Plastic in the Ecosystem

The new study is a “great first step” in understanding how microplastics reach the deep ocean, Pohl said. “It’s a big piece of the puzzle to understand that these flows do indeed transport microplastics. But now there are follow-up questions, like how much [plastic] do they actually transport? And how does this relate to the overall budget of ocean floor plastics?”

The same turbidity currents that flush microplastics also bring oxygen and nutrients to the deep sea, forming biodiversity hot spots in the same locations where plastic pollution accumulates. That plastic pollution often contains toxic ingredients that are hazardous to marine organisms.

“Magnification through the trophic web is a real danger.”

Filter feeders ingest toxic plastic particles, which accumulate up the marine food chain. “Magnification through the [food] web is a real danger,” Kane said.

Much of the plastic in the ocean enters via waste management systems. Better filtration at wastewater treatment plants could be one important way to reduce the flow of microplastic fibers into the ocean, Kane said, adding that fishing and shipping are also major sources of microplastics to target for mitigation. But microplastic pollution is ubiquitous in the environment, and reducing its presence in the ocean is “a big challenge,” Pohl said.

—Grace van Deelen (@gvd.bsky.social), Staff Writer

Citation: van Deelen, G. (2025), Avalanches of microplastics carry pollution into the deep sea, Eos, 106, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EO250153. Published on 23 April 2025. Text © 2025. AGU. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors. Source: Geophysical Research Letters Sampling red snow on the Tasman Glacier in the Southern Alps following the 2019-2020 Australian bushfire/dust storm (Photo: J. Hunt 11/02/2020). Credit: Winton et al. [2024], Figure 1d

New research reveals the source of the red dust that blanketed the New Zealand Southern Alps in the summer of 2019-2020 following the severe Australian bushfires. While much attention was paid to ash from the extreme 2019-2020 Australian fires, a surprising discovery is that transport of dust generated from dust storms was also a major contributor to the composition of the atmosphere at the time.

Winton et al. [2024] analyze snow samples from the Fox, Franz Josef, and Tasman glaciers and geochemically fingerprint its origin as southeast Australia where desert dust storms transported massive amounts of red dust across the Tasman Sea. These dust storms were fueled by the same high winds that also drove the bushfires and transported an estimated 4,500 tons of red mineral dust to the snow and ice in the Southern Alps. While the dust storm event lasted only a short time, it could have long-term effects on glacier melting.

Citation: Winton, V. H. L., Charlier, B. L. A., Jolly, B. H., Purdie, H., Anderson, B., Hunt, J. E., et al. (2024). New Zealand Southern Alps blanketed by red Australian dust during 2019/2020 severe bushfire and dust event. Geophysical Research Letters, 51, e2024GL112782. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112782  

—Bin Zhao, Associate Editor, Geophysical Research Letters

Text © 2024. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

Author(s): T. V. Liseykina, E. E. Peganov, and S. V. Popruzhenko

We numerically model the ultrarelativistic dynamics of a dense plasma microtarget, in a focus of several intersecting femtosecond laser pulses of multipetawatt power each. The aim is to examine prospective experimental approaches to the search for the Inverse Faraday Effect induced by radiation fric…

[Phys. Rev. E 111, 045212] Published Wed Apr 23, 2025

This is an authorized translation of an Eos article. Esta es una traducción al español autorizada de un artículo de Eos.

After 5 years of organizing TierraFest, an annual event that celebrates the Earth sciences in Mexico, one of the things Raiza Pilatowsky Gruner has learned is that when it comes to communicating knowledge about our environment, “we scientists are not the people with the greatest authority. We all live on this planet.”

“There are many other ways to generate knowledge, to validate it and live it.”

She explained this during the event’s press conference, where she also announced the theme for this year’s festival: “Together Against the Storm.” The organizers of TierraFest didn’t want to convey the idea that scientists are the only source of solutions to problems such as climate change, said Pilatowsky Gruner. That’s been a consistent value held at Planeteando, the nonprofit behind TierraFest.

Though the scientific method is valid and important, “there are many other ways to generate knowledge, to validate it and live it,” Pilatowsky Gruner added. She believes that this philosophy has made TierraFest a safe place for diversity in an uncertain political landscape.

This week, Mexico City will host a science fair, live performances, and films for people of all ages to reflect on the relationship we all have with the planet.

Horizontal Learning

One example of the diversity at this year’s festival is its opening event, said Carla Chávez, who started as a social service intern at Planeteando and is now a regular collaborator. On 22 April (Earth Day), TierraFest kicks off with a hike in Los Dinamos National Park, a forest home to the Río Magdalena, the last free-flowing river in the Mexican capital.

“We believe in horizontal learning. We learn from them, and they learn from us.”

Chávez, a biologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), explained that Planeteando doesn’t want to be intruders in La Magdalena Atlitic, a historic community where the hike will take place. “We believe in horizontal learning,” she said. “We learn from them, and they learn from us.”

During the hike, Marisol Tovar Valentínez and her team of communal monitors—community members who volunteer to take care of their forest—will guide participants through their forest, joined by TierraFest organizers and National Geographic Explorer Daniela Cafaggi.

As part of horizontal learning, communal monitors in training will join the hike to learn from the TierraFest team and practice their skills in guiding groups. They will also share their knowledge of the forest with attendees.

Unlike Pilatowsky Gruner, Tovar Valentínez said she thinks that scientists may, indeed, have an authoritative voice over knowledge about the planet. “But not over wisdom,” she said, describing wisdom as knowledges created and protected in communities like hers. Wisdom is a continuous and living process, she said, although it is in danger of being lost as community elders die.

Tovar Valentínez said she values working with scientists, including Cafaggi, a biologist from UNAM who worked with the Atlihtic community to study bats in their forest.

Uniting Different Perspectives

On 24 April, TierraFest continues with the annual Beers to Cool the Planet event, during which scientists and activists share opinions and perspectives over drinks.

Pilatowsky Gruner explained at the press conference that organizers want to use TierraFest 2025 to highlight the importance of uniting people from different backgrounds, “Together Against the Storm.” Such unity can help individuals and communities face both climate change and global trends like extractivism, both “storms” touching the entire world.

After drinks, the celebration of diverse approaches to Earth’s challenges continues. Chávez will crawl into the skin of Carmilla Desmodus, a drag queen inspired by the iconic lesbian vampire from the book Carmilla by Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and Desmodus, the genus of blood-sucking “vampire bats.”

“Drag for the Earth” emerged as an annual event at TierraFest 3 years ago, when drag queen Bia Hollis was invited to perform. Pedro Adad Tristán Flores, the UNAM biologist behind Bia Hollis, was also a social service intern with Planeteando before becoming a regular collaborator. Since then, her collective of drag queens takes inspiration from TierraFest’s theme each year to design their wardrobe and makeup, which they explain during the show.

This year, TierraFest’s LGBTQ+ focused activities will expand to include a playback performance by the collective Xuir, in which audience members will tell personal stories while the performers interpret them live. Organizers will prompt stories about the intersection between scientific work and LGBTQ+ identities.

Showing Attendees the World

On 26 April, TierraFilme will present another edition of films about planet Earth. For the first time, this event will be held at the Papalote Children’s Museum, a space dedicated to science communication for kids, and will kick off with episodes from the National Geographic docuseries A Real Bug’s Life. Attendees will see short films from Mexico and throughout Latin America on topics such as the effect of waste, the loss of Indigenous languages, and the impacts of urban expansion.

Events at TierraFest will wrap up on 27 April, when El Rule Cultural Center, the festival’s longtime home, will once again host the TierraFest Science Fair. Activists and scientists will showcase their work for adults and children in more than 20 workshops on water, air, Earth, and life. From life in Paleozoic seas to contemporary issues like the impacts that an undersea pipeline might have on whales, these Earth scientists are focused on better understanding the planet and sharing that knowledge with all.

—Roberto González (@ggonzalitos), Science Writer

Citation: González, R. (2025), Knowledge flows both ways at TierraFest 2025, Eos, 106, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EO250158. Published on 22 April 2025. Text © 2025. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

body {background-color: #D2D1D5;} Research & Developments is a blog for brief updates that provide context for the flurry of news regarding law and policy changes that impact science and scientists today.

On 21 April, the Environmental Protection Agency notified hundreds of employees working on diversity, equity, and inclusion and environmental justice issues that they would be fired or reassigned to other positions.

Citing two executive orders that aim to end DEI programs and to implement the Department of Government Efficiency, a notice sent to employees by Travis Voyles, assistant deputy administrator of the agency, said the reduction in force “will directly benefit the American people and better advance the Agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment.”

In February, the EPA placed the entire, nearly 200-person Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights staff on leave. The agency then reinstated dozens of the positions in March. As reported by The Washington Post, the new “reduction in force” will cut 105 staffers, effective 31 July, and reassign another 175, effective 29 June.

Earlier in the day on 21 April, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin held a press briefing at EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C. When asked how he would ensure the agency’s work reflected the Trump administration’s priorities, he said he was soliciting input from staff on how they think the agency could operate better.

 
Related

•  EPA to fire or reassign nearly 300 staffers working on environmental justice, DEI
•  EPA begins layoffs of environmental justice staff
•  E.P.A. Set to Cancel Grants Aimed at Protecting Children From Toxic Chemicals
• Get Involved: AGU Science Policy Action Center

“Number one is I think it’s incredibly important for us to fulfill all statutory obligations,” he said. “Two, I do not want to lose one good employee, and we’re going to be very thoughtful and deliberate in how we go forward.”

As reported by The New York Times, the EPA is also planning to cancel tens of millions of research grants researching topics such as the health effects of pesticide exposure, wildfire smoke, and Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (also known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals”).

These updates are made possible through information from the scientific community. Do you have a story about how changes in law or policy are affecting scientists or research? Send us a tip at eos@agu.org. Text © 2025. AGU. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

A research team has uncovered surprising evidence of cross-border pollution reaching the Arctic, originating from an Icelandic volcanic eruption. The researchers used a cutting-edge combination of satellite and ground-based monitoring to track sulfur dioxide emissions from the Sundhnukagigar volcano, which erupted in 2023. This toxic gas traveled over 2,000 kilometers to reach the Svalbard Islands, causing severe smog in the region.

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a proposed method of carbon dioxide sequestration that involves spreading crushed silicate minerals on soils to drive chemical reactions that form carbonate minerals: Essentially, the idea is to boost the natural process of rock weathering, in which carbon is transferred from the atmosphere into rocks. But few large-scale field studies of ERW exist, making it difficult to determine the technique's practical feasibility and what factors might limit or enhance its success.

Beneath the surface of the Southern Ocean, vast volumes of cold, dense water plunge off the Antarctic continental shelf, cascading down underwater cliffs to the ocean floor thousands of meters below. These hidden waterfalls are a key part of the global ocean's overturning circulation—a vast conveyor belt of currents that moves heat, carbon, and nutrients around the world, helping to regulate Earth's climate.

A research team led by Prof. Mao Miaohua at the Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a method for predicting storm surges. This innovative approach enhances the quality of typhoon wind field modeling through the use of a hybrid wind field.

A study led by Prof. Zhang Nannan from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has introduced an innovative geological knowledge-constrained method for extracting entities and relationships from textual data.

body {background-color: #D2D1D5;} Research & Developments is a blog for brief updates that provide context for the flurry of news regarding law and policy changes that impact science and scientists today.

From a flurry of executive orders to a new Department of Government Efficiency, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has introduced a broad agenda promising to usher in “the Golden Age of America.”

The agenda includes major and minor changes to science policy. Our new tracker lets you sift through chronology and categories critical to the Earth and space sciences:

• Climate & Energy
• Environment & Health
• Federal Workforce
• Universities and Academia

View the tracker in full screen here.

Science and scientists are affected by a much wider range of policies, of course—immigration, trade, social justice. Scroll to the end of this post for a broad list of comprehensive and targeted trackers.

We encourage you to visit these trackers to better understand the scope and sequence of the administration’s actions and statements.

Comprehensive

• Akin: Trump Executive Order Tracker
• AP: Tracking Trump’s Presidential Promises
• CNN: Tracking Trump’s Executive Actions
• Dentons: Trump Administration Tracker
• Forbes: Trump Tracker
• The Guardian: Tracking Trump – updates on the presidency’s first 100 days
• Mayer Brown: Trump 2.0 Executive Order Tracker
• New York Times: All of the Trump Administration’s Major Moves
• Sheppard Mullin: Trump Administration Executive Actions Tracker
• Wall Street Journal: The Trump Tracker

Science, Climate, and Academia

• The Chronicle of Higher Education: Tracking Trump’s Higher-Ed Agenda
• Climate Action Campaign: Trump’s Climate and Clean Energy Rollback Tracker
• Environmental Data & Governance Initiative: Federal Environmental Web Tracker
• Grant Tracker: NIH Grant Terminations in 2025
• Guarini Center: Plastics Litigation Tracker
• Harvard Law School Environmental & Energy Law Program: Federal Environmental Justice Tracker
• Inside Higher Education: International Student Visas Revoked
• Journals No Longer Being Indexed by ERIC
• National Council of Nonprofits: Executive Orders Affecting Charitable Nonprofits
• Sabin Center for Climate Change Law: Inflation Reduction Act Tracker
• Sabin Center for Climate Change Law: Silencing Science Tracker
• Science: Trump Tracker

Government Data, Funding, and Layoffs

• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: Trump Firings Tracker
• CNN: Tracking Trump’s Overhaul of the Federal Workforce
• The Data Rescue Project
• The Impact Project: The Impact Map
• OpenOMB: Tracking apportionments
• Tracking Missing and Modified Government Documents & Information – PILOT

Litigation

• Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse: Clearinghouse is tracking Trump Administration litigation and challenges
• Just Security: Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
• Lawfare: Trump Administration Litigation Tracker
• Littler Mendelson: Rescinded Order Tracker
• National Conference of State Legislatures: Congressional Review Act – Overview and Tracking
• New York Times: Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
• SCOTUSblog: Emergency Docket 2024-25
• U.S. News & World Report: These Are the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Executive Orders
• Washington Post: Which Trump initiatives have been halted, or allowed, for now

Immigration

• American Immigration Lawyers Association: Tracking Notable Executive Branch Action during the Second Trump Administration
• Immigration Policy Tracking Project

Trade

• Atlantic Council: Trump Tariff Tracker
• Reed Smith Trade Compliance Resource Hub: Trump 2.0 Tariff Tracker
• Tax Foundation: Trump Tariffs

Political Appointees

• AP: Trump Cabinet confirmation status: Which nominees have been confirmed?
• Washington Post and Partnership for Public Service: Political Appointee Tracker

Project 2025

• Project 2025 Tracker

Tracking the Trackers

• Harvard Law School Environmental & Energy Law Program: Trackers from Other Institutions
• UC San Diego Library: U.S. Government Information: Trump Trackers

These updates are made possible through information from the scientific community. Do you have a story about how changes in law or policy are affecting scientists or research? Send us a tip at eos@agu.org. Text © 2025. AGU. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

Source: AGU Advances

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a proposed method of carbon dioxide sequestration that involves spreading crushed silicate minerals on soils to drive chemical reactions that form carbonate minerals: Essentially, the idea is to boost the natural process of rock weathering, in which carbon is transferred from the atmosphere into rocks. But few large-scale field studies of ERW exist, making it difficult to determine the technique’s practical feasibility and what factors might limit or enhance its success.

To address this knowledge gap, Anthony et al. conducted a 3-year, ecosystem-scale study to assess ERW in a California grassland environment, as well as the benefits of enhancing applications of crushed rock with organic additives.

The researchers spread finely crushed metabasaltic rocks across test plots in Browns Valley, Calif., in each of the 3 years. Along with the crushed rock, some of the applications included compost or a combination of compost and biochar (in this case, burned pine and fir left over from local logging). Other plots were treated with only compost, and a group of control plots received no treatment. Throughout the year, the team monitored each plot for levels of soil organic and inorganic carbon, pore water dissolved carbon, aboveground biomass, and greenhouse gas emissions.

The results showed that the rock-only plots sequestered only small amounts of carbon, though they helped reduce organic carbon losses compared with the control plots. Combining crushed rocks, compost, and biochar yielded the best results; in addition to sequestering carbon, the mixture both reduced nitrous oxide emissions and increased methane conversion, resulting in increased greenhouse gas mitigation overall.

The researchers estimate that if the combination of all three materials were expanded to cover 8% of California’s total rangelands, it could sequester up to 51.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. However, that amount is about a quarter of the theoretical maximum for carbon sequestration from ERW in the area, according to the authors, indicating that achieving theoretical yields may be difficult in practice.

The authors note that their study took place during a drought, which may have decreased sequestration. They also point out that other “life cycle” emissions associated with ERW, such as those generated by producing, transporting, and applying treatments, must be factored into full assessments of the method’s impacts. (AGU Advances, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024AV001480, 2025)

—Nathaniel Scharping (@nathanielscharp), Science Writer

Citation: Scharping, N. (2025), Compost and biochar could boost carbon sequestration by crushed rock, Eos, 106, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EO250083. Published on 22 April 2025. Text © 2025. AGU. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors. Source: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

A clear and consistent framework for the detection and classification of all cyclones — ranging from hurricanes and winter storms to monsoon-related events — is beneficial for the scientific research community because it can aid process-level understanding, enhance the efficiency of operational forecasting, and increase effective communication of risks. Ultimately, such a framework can safeguard lives and infrastructure.

Han and Ulrich [2025] present a novel detection and classification framework called the System for Classification of Low‐Pressure Systems (SyCLoPS). The authors use the data-driven framework to classify 16 different types of low-pressure systems across the world.  SyCLoPS — a suitable designation based on the all-seeing Greek mythical Cyclops — is a fitting designation for a system designed to detect and track all kinds of storms, anywhere in the world.

SyCLoPS was used to identify more than 379 thousand distinct storm tracks through high-resolution global data sourced from the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting’s global data product between 1979 to 2022. The author’s approach — the first to classify all low-pressure systems using a single global dataset — can be applied to any dataset that includes a basic set of atmospheric parameters, enabling consistent characterization and categorization of low-pressure systems. The implications are significant. Why? Because such a framework can use historical data to understand past trends and can be used to perform analysis of future projections, to improve understanding of likely changes.

Maintaining a consistent framework for the detection and classification of all cyclones is essential for improving understanding of how a warming climate may influence their frequency, landfall patterns, and impact zones. These changes could affect both densely populated urban areas and non-urban regions, including key agricultural zones that may become more vulnerable to storm activity. This study represents an important step toward building a unified framework for consistently identifying and linking past and future projections of storm systems.

Citation: Han, Y., & Ullrich, P. A. (2025). The system for classification of low-pressure systems (SyCLoPS): An all-in-one objective framework for large-scale data sets. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 130, e2024JD041287. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JD041287

—Matei Georgescu, Associate Editor, JGR: Atmospheres

Text © 2024. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

Microplastics, tiny plastic particles found in everyday products from face wash to toothpaste, are an emerging threat to health and ecology, prompting a research team to identify what keeps them trapped in stream ecosystems.

body {background-color: #D2D1D5;} Research & Developments is a blog for brief updates that provide context for the flurry of news regarding law and policy changes that impact science and scientists today.

The National Science Foundation has cancelled hundreds of grants to researchers working on projects related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as misinformation and disinformation.

In a statement posted on its website, NSF director Sethuraman Panchanathan wrote that the agency’s efforts to promote the progress of science should not preference some people, such as women or those from underrepresented groups, over others.

 
Related

•  NSF starts to kill grants that violate Trump’s war on diversity efforts
•  National Science Foundation cancels research grants related to misinformation and disinformation
•   Get Involved: AGU Science Policy Action Center
 

“Research projects with more narrow impact limited to subgroups of people based on protected class or characteristics do not effectuate NSF priorities,” he wrote. “Awards that are not aligned with NSF’s priorities have been terminated, including but not limited to those on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and misinformation/disinformation.”

A post on the Department of Government Efficiency’s X account said NSF had cancelled 402 grants, worth $233 million.  

Great work by @NSF canceling 402 wasteful DEI grants ($233M in savings), including $1M for “Antiracist Teacher Leadership for Statewide Transformation”.

See the NSF update below. Grant awards will be based on merit, competition, equal opportunity, and excellence. https://t.co/Zptp92uBkm

— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) April 19, 2025

Funding was cancelled for a range of projects including one studying efforts to limit the spread of inaccurate information online and another using community-based science to research the effects of extreme heat in racially and ethnically diverse communities.

I got an email yesterday afternoon that my NSF SPRF Postdoctoral Fellowship was terminated. My grant focused on testing interventions to address online misinformation and I was 8 months into a two year appointment.

— Maddy Jalbert (@maddyjalbert.bsky.social) 2025-04-19T16:43:38.391Z

The announcement follows a 21 January executive order from President Trump that ordered all executive departments and agencies to terminate all “dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) or “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA).”

I’m so angry & heart broken. My NSF CAREER grant was stolen today; dream project supporting science teachers/students as climate justice action researchers, tackling urban heat. Truly transformative, the culmination of my life’s work, we won’t stop, not in this climate crisis. Gonna fight like hell!

— Tammie Visintainer (@proftv.bsky.social) 2025-04-19T05:37:10.060Z

The NSF statement also cited President Trump’s 20 January executive order (one of 26 signed on his first day in office): Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship. “Under the guise of combatting ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation,’ the Federal Government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens,” the order read.

Noam Ross, a computational researcher and the director of rOpenSci, and Scott Delaney, an epidemiologist at Harvard, created an Airtable form in which researchers can report their grant cancellations.

These updates are made possible through information from the scientific community. Do you have a story about how changes in law or policy are affecting scientists or research? Send us a tip at eos@agu.org. Text © 2025. AGU. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

Publication date: Available online 15 April 2025

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): JiaWen Xie, JingGang Miao, YuXuan Cui, ZongQi Zhao, Ying Lu

Publication date: Available online 15 April 2025

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Natalia Kleimenova, Liudmila Gromova, Sergey Gromov, Liudmila Malysheva

Publication date: Available online 12 April 2025

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Guiling Zhao, Yuan Wang, Xu Wang

Publication date: Available online 11 April 2025

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Ujjal Senapati, Tapan Kumar Das

Publication date: Available online 11 April 2025

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Qiong Zheng, Huangteng Zhu, Qing Xia, Zixiao Guo, Lihong Zhu