From the GPS in your phone to the fluoride in your tap water, federally funded research has quietly shaped nearly every part of daily American life.
From the laboratory to your pocket
Federal research has a habit of paying off in ways nobody predicted.
Four decades of funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute produced Gleevec, a targeted therapy that transformed leukemia treatment. Scientists studied cancer genetics to find the specific cancer-causing gene to build a molecule and block the exact protein driving cancer growth. The success of Gleevec created the blueprint for many other targeted cancer treatments.
NASA’s work has produced more than 2,000 technologies. One of which is the CMOS active pixel sensor, invented in the 1990s by Scientist Eric Fossum and his team to shrink cameras for space missions. The CMOS camera made a commercial shift and is now used in mass production for consumer electronics, such as smartphones, and medical devices like dental X-ray imaging.
Scientific monitoring helps us as well. The Centers for Disease Control’s PulseNet network uses DNA fingerprinting of foodborne bacteria from sick people to map the code of germs and find the links. This system spots outbreaks fast and has prevented an estimated 270,000 illnesses by catching salmonella, E. coli and listeria outbreaks early.
Why science matters
Federal investment in scientific research has protected the health of Americans, revolutionized jobs and technology, and driven U.S. innovation in a global competitive market, delivering proven returns for taxpayers. Americans recognize this: Some 84% agree the federal government should fund basic scientific research.
Yet federal science agencies lost 117,840 employees from September 2024 to February 2026, according to the Partnership’s Cost of Cutting American Science tool, creating instability across universities, nonprofits and private companies that depend on federal support and partnership. These disruptions have shaken the morale of federal scientists: In a March 2025 Nature Magazine survey of more than 1,600 scientists, 75% said they were considering leaving the U.S.
How this impacts the future
Federal funding cuts are forcing young researchers to self-censor their projects or move them abroad, threatening both scientific innovation and the U.S. economy. Billions of dollars have been wiped from research budgets, and almost 8,000 grants have been cancelled at the NIH and the National Science Foundation.
Cuts to the federal workforce and research contracts have eroded our ability to remain a leader in biomedical research and development, and when the federal government pulls back, states are left to absorb the cost. Since the downsizing of the CDC, laboratories across the country have paused diagnostic testing for rabies, monkeypox and other diseases.
Many young American scientists have sought opportunities abroad, as universities across Europe, Australia and Asia have taken advantage of the weakening of federal science and openly encouraged American graduates to pursue their projects with them.
What this looks like in your state
Cuts are not just impacting our future—the effects are real today and are impacting every aspect of life, including school access for students with disabilities in Oregon’s poorest rural communities, research and clinical trial funding in Boston, Massachusetts, and more.
If you are worried about how the cuts might be affecting you, your community and the nation asa whole, then check out our interactive science tracker to find stories and learn about ways you can get involved to help us protect federal science.
Author: Abigail Gioffre
Photo credit: “NEI laboratory research” by NIH Image Gallery, CC BY-NC 2.0