In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at the potential beginning of a U.S. brain drain, Hubble’s 35th birthday, a better quantum internet, more accurate GPS and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here.
Thanks to budget cuts, the U.S. may be becoming a less attractive place to do scientific research and develop new technology. At least, that’s a suggestion from Nature, which revealed that “US scientists submitted 32% more applications for jobs abroad between January and March 2025 than during the same period in 2024.” That follows the results of a poll last month finding that 75% of researcher respondents were considering looking for jobs in Europe and Canada.
Over the past few months, hundreds of NIH and NSF grants have been terminated, and new grants from the NIH are down by about $2.3 billion this year–a nearly one-third contraction. Leaked budget proposals suggest that the Trump Administration is considering massive cuts to scientific agencies, slashing budgets by as much as 50%.
This turmoil in basic research is also impacting one of America’s strengths: attracting talent from abroad. 35% of all American Nobel laureates have been immigrants and that group comprises 15% of all Nobel Prize Winners. What’s more, over 55% of startups worth $1 billion or more were founded by immigrants. This culture may soon change–the Nature data finds that applications to U.S. institutions from abroad have plummeted 41% this year.
Stay tuned.
The Hubble Telescope Turns 35 Years Old
This week, the Hubble Space Telescope celebrates the 35th anniversary of its placement in orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery. NASA released four new images from the space telescope to mark the occasion, showing off Mars, nebula NGC 2899, the Rosette Nebula and spiral galaxy NGC 5335.
Over the course of its life, Hubble has been used for more than 1.7 million observations of over 55,000 objects across the universe. Its data has been used in more than 22,000 research papers and comprises over 400 terabytes. Not bad considering its shaky start–it was launched with a flaw in its primary mirror that required repairs made in orbit by astronauts in 1993.
This celebration comes, as I mentioned last week, at a time when NASA is facing a severe threat to its mission: A leaked budget suggests its science budget might be slashed by 50%, and the Nancy Roman Space Telescope is on the chopping block.
In response to questions about this budget proposal from the Senate, Jared Isaacman, Trump’s pick to head the space agency, said he wasn’t party to discussions about it. He went on to say he would advocate for “as much funding as the government can reasonably allocate” and that he opposed canceling the Roman Space Telescope.
DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK: QUANTUM NETWORKS ON REGULAR EQUIPMENT
Quantum communications offer the potential for completely secure communication because physics basically prohibits any interception of it. But the challenge of building out quantum networks has been one of scale: So far they’ve required specialized cooling equipment, which is expensive and limits its reach. But a new study published this week in Nature demonstrated successful delivery of quantum information over 250 kilometers on a conventional telecommunications network, potentially opening the door to scaling up a quantum internet.
FINAL FRONTIER: NEW ATOMIC CLOCKS WILL REFINE RELATIVITY
The European Space Agency sent two of the most accurate atomic clocks ever built to the International Space Station this week. The clocks will be connected to Earth using microwave and laser links to enable synchronization. The precise nature of the clocks will also be used to measure the gravitational redshift of the Earth, which will enable scientists to refine their understanding of Einstein’s theory of Relativity. (And, more practically speaking, that could help make GPS positioning more accurate.)
FORBES CALLED IT: A SOFT BRAIN IMPLANT WORKED IN CLINICAL TRIALS
In 2022, I wrote about Axoft, a company that’s developing brain-computer implants made of soft materials to treat neurological conditions such as cerebral palsy. At the time, the company had just raised $8 million. This week, Axoft announced the results of the first clinical trial of its brain implant. Tested in four different patients, the study found that its implant, called Fleuron, can be safely implanted and removed with no safety complications and with significantly less scarring than conventional brain-computer implants. Once implanted, the device was successfully able to read brain signals from individual neurons, a key part of the test.
WHAT ELSE I WROTE THIS WEEK
In my other newsletter, InnovationRx, Amy Feldman and I wrote about the impact of Medicaid cuts on maternal healthcare, a $400 million obesity bet, a study of bias in clinical AI, Amgen’s AI hire from Nike, and more.
SCIENCE AND TECH TIDBITS
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has successfully completed a flyby of a three-mile-wide asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, sending back video of the celestial body as it did. The spacecraft will go on to take closeups of nine other asteroids in the solar system.
The head of the National Science Foundation, Sethuraman Panchanathan, has resigned. He had 16 months left to go in his term, but gave no reason for the sudden departure.
An algorithm developed by researchers at ETH Zurich improves outputs from AI models, new research findings reveal. It works by directing large language models to contextual data around a subject to improve the odds it will predict a correct response to a question. It also seems to improve the reliability of smaller models, reducing the need to train them on computationally-intense datasets.
A Chinese research team has successfully operated a thorium-powered nuclear reactor. This is a major step forward for nuclear power, as thorium poses fewer risks as a fuel than uranium, and the design itself makes them incapable of melting down.
Researchers at MIT have developed a metamaterial that is both stretchy and strong. But beyond that, they discovered the technique they used to do it can be applied to other materials. Future research will be directed toward developing stretchy glass, ceramics and textiles.
A new injection could help repair damaged tissue after a heart attack, report scientists at Northwestern University and UC San Diego. It consists of “protein-like-polymers” that target chemicals in the body that prevent cardiac cells from healing, potentially preventing later heart failure.
PRO SCIENCE TIP: EXERCISE TO PROTECT YOUR BRAIN
Your brain requires enormous amounts of energy to keep going, accounting for about 20% of the total calories in your brain. When your body starts to run low on fuel–particularly glucose–it uses your liver to turn ketones into a backup source. But when those run low, your brain turns sluggish and your cognitive performance is diminished. New research out of the University of Missouri shows that even in this low-energy state, exercise restores some of your brain’s performance. This is particularly promising for people with cognitive impairments, which are often linked to disruptions in the liver’s ability to produce ketones. It’s also just one more study in a long list showing how important exercise is for keeping your brain sharp.
WHAT’S ENTERTAINING ME THIS WEEK
As I put together this newsletter, I’ve been listening to Dream Into It, the first album legendary rocker Billy Idol has put out in over a decade. He might be pushing 70, but he’s still got it. This is a banger of an album that includes three great duets with Avril Lavigne, Alison Mosshart and Joan Jett. The songs are definitely in Idol’s range of pop-punk, but don’t sound dated at all. Best three tracks: “Too Much Fun”, “Wildside” and “Still Dancing.”
