Science
How Long Should a Species Stay on Life Support?
Decades into their recovery program, black-footed ferrets still don’t have a clear-cut path to leaving the endangered-species list.
Katherine J. Wu
Katherine J. Wu is a staff writer at The Atlantic. She holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from Harvard University. Before joining The Atlantic in 2021, she was a science and health reporter for The New York Times focused on COVID-19. She won a Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communication in 2022, a Science in Society journalism award in 2021, and the Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award for Young Science Journalists in 2020. At The Atlantic, she covers science.
Featured
Latest
‘This Is Not How We Do Science, Ever’
The Trump administration is manipulating government-sponsored research to get the answers it wants.
Alex Wong / Getty Trump’s Revenge on Public Health
The attacks on HIV research are just the beginning of unraveling decades of progress.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy The NIH’s Most Reckless Cuts Yet
Ending clinical trials with no warning can put patients at risk.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty. What It Really Means to ‘Give Infectious Disease a Break’
The Trump administration isn’t just dismantling protections against illnesses. It’s inviting them right in.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Rebecca Noble / Getty; Janis Latvels and Nicholas Sherman / AFP / Getty. The NIH’s Grant Terminations Are ‘Utter and Complete Chaos’
The Trump administration is rapidly canceling hundreds of grants, in the most aggressive attack yet on American science.
Illustration by Jonelle Afurong / The Atlantic. Sources: pagadesign / Getty; John Scott / Getty; Michael Burrell / Getty. America Is Botching Measles
Vaccination is the only way to prevent measles infection, a fact the Trump administration has downplayed.
Mary Conlon / AP Inside the Collapse at the NIH
Administration officials pressured the NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.
Jordan Lye / Getty The NIH Memo That Undercut Universities Came Directly From Trump Officials
NIH officials said they were given no advance warning and less than an hour to post the memo publicly.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: J. Scott Applewhite / AP. The Erasing of American Science
How far can the Trump administration bend U.S. research before it breaks?
Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Irving Haberman / IH Images / Getty; ComicSans / Getty. CDC Data Are Disappearing
The agency has already removed scientific data from public view. More could follow.
Smith Collection / Gado / Getty
