The Prototype: American Scientists Are Looking For Jobs Abroad

The development of scientific research and technology in the United States may face challenges, perhaps due to budget cuts. According to Nature, the number of American scientists applying for overseas jobs increased by 32% from January to March 2025 compared with the same period in 2024. A previous poll showed that 75% of the researchers surveyed were considering searching for jobs in Europe and Canada.

Hundreds of NIH and NSF grants have been terminated in the past few months, with NIH’s new grants down by about $2.3 billion this year, a drop of nearly one-third. The leaked budget proposal shows that the Trump administration is considering sharply cutting budgets for scientific institutions, with a possible reduction of up to 50%.

The turmoil in the field of basic research has also affected one of the major advantages of the United States: attracting overseas talents. 35% of the US Nobel Prize winners are immigrants, and immigrants account for 15% of all Nobel Prize winners. In addition, more than 55% of startups with valuations of $1 billion or more are founded by immigrants. This situation may change soon - Nature magazine data shows that the number of applications from overseas institutions plummeted 41% this year.

Please pay attention to follow-up reports.

Hubble Telescope celebrates its 35th anniversary

This week, Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its 35th anniversary of its launch into orbit by the Discovery Space Shuttle. NASA released four new images taken by Hubble, showing Mars, NGC 2899 nebula, Rose Nebula and spiral galaxy NGC 5335.

During its service, Hubble conducted more than 1.7 million observations of more than 55,000 objects in the universe. Its data has been used in more than 22,000 research papers, with a data volume of more than 400TB. Given its initial twists and turns—the flaws in the main mirror when it was launched, requiring astronauts to do orbital repairs in 1993—this is pretty good.

As I mentioned last week, this celebration comes as NASA is facing a serious threat to its mission: a leaked budget shows that its scientific budget could be cut by 50%, and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is at risk of being cancelled.

In response to Senate’s doubts about the budget proposal, Trump-appointed Space Agency Director Jared Isackman said he was not involved in the discussion. He went on to say he would fight for "as much money the government can reasonably allocate" and that he opposed the cancellation of the Roman Space Telescope.

Discovered this week: Quantum networks on ordinary devices

Quantum communication has the potential for communications to be completely secure, as physics essentially prohibits any interception. But the challenge in building quantum networks is scale: so far, they require dedicated cooling equipment, which is both expensive and limits their application range. But a new study published this week in Nature proved that the successful transmission of quantum information 250 kilometers away on traditional telecommunications networks could open the door to expanding the quantum Internet.

Final Border: New Atomic Clock Will Improve Relativity

This week, the European Space Agency sent two of the most accurate atomic clocks ever to the International Space Station. These clocks will be connected to the earth using microwave and laser links for synchronization. The accuracy of these clocks will also be used to measure the gravitational redshift of the Earth, which will allow scientists to improve their understanding of Einstein's theory of relativity. (More practically, this helps improve the accuracy of GPS positioning.)

Forbes predictions come true: Soft brain implants succeed in clinical trials

In 2022, I wrote about Axoft, which is developing brain-computer interfaces made of soft materials for the treatment of neurological diseases such as cerebral palsy. At that time, the company had just raised $8 million. This week, Axoft announced the results of its first clinical trial of brain implants. The study, tested in four different patients, found that its implant called Fleuron can be safely implanted and removed without safety complications and significantly less scarring than traditional brain-computer interfaces. After implantation, the device successfully reads brain signals from individual neurons, a key part of the test.

My other posts this week

In my other newsletter InnovationRx, Amy Feldman and I wrote about the impact of Medicaid cuts on maternal health care, a $400 million obesity bet, a study on clinical AI bias, Amgen recruits AI talent from Nike, and more.

Science and technology knowledge

NASA's Lucy spacecraft successfully completed a flight of a three-mile-wide asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, and sent back videos of the object during the flight. The spacecraft will continue to take pictures of nine other asteroids in the solar system at close range.

National Science Foundation Director Seturaman Panchanathan has resigned. He still has 16 months in office, but he did not explain the reason for his sudden resignation.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an algorithm that can improve the output of artificial intelligence models, a new study found. It improves its chances of predicting correct answers to questions by directing large language models to contextual data around topics. It also appears to improve the reliability of smaller models and reduce the need to train them on compute-intensive datasets.

A Chinese research team successfully operated a thorium-powered nuclear reactor. This is a big step forward in nuclear power development, because thorium as a fuel has less risk than uranium and its design itself makes it impossible to melt.

MIT researchers have developed a metamaterial that is both elastic and strong. But beyond that, they also found that the technology they used to make it could be applied to other materials. Future research will focus on the development of retractable glass, ceramics and textiles.

Scientists at Northwestern University and the University of California, San Diego report that a new injection could help repair damaged tissue after a heart attack. It consists of "protein-like polymers" that target chemicals in the body that prevent heart cells from healing, which may prevent later heart failure.

Scientific advice: Exercise protects the brain

Your brain needs a lot of energy to continue running, accounting for about 20% of the brain's total calories. When your body starts to lack energy—especially glucose—it uses your liver to convert the ketone body into backup energy. But when this energy is also exhausted, your brain becomes dull and your cognitive ability will decline. A new study from the University of Missouri shows that even in this low energy state, exercise can restore parts of the brain's function. This is especially beneficial for people with cognitive impairment, which is often associated with impaired liver ability to produce ketones. This is also one of many studies that demonstrate the importance of exercise in keeping the brain sharp.

My entertainment this week

As I put together this newsletter, I've been listening to legendary rock singer Billy Aidor's first album, Dream Into It, released in a decade. He may be almost 70 years old, but he is still great. It's a great album, which includes three great duets with Avril Lavine, Alison Moshart and Joan Jett. These songs are definitely in Aidor's pop-punk style, but they sound out of style at all. The three best tracks: "Too Much Fun", "Wildside" and "Still Dancing".

More from Forbes

Forbes Elon Musk is running out of the idea of ​​saving Tesla Author: Alan O'Nsman Forbes Brokers' Favorite Downside Protection Securities is thriving Author: Sergey Klebnikov Forbes Magical Money: A $15 billion dollar cosmic startup and its anonymous billion dollar investor Mysterious case of Phoebe Liu

The above is the detailed content of The Prototype: American Scientists Are Looking For Jobs Abroad. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!