Europe steps up funding to attract U.S. scientists facing cuts under Trump

As the Trump administration reduces research funding and tightens restrictions on universities, European leaders are offering financial incentives to lure American scientists.

Catherine Porter and Roger Cohen report for The New York Times.

In short:

French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced major investments to attract U.S.-based researchers, including a €500 million EU initiative a $113 million commitment from France.
Trump administration policies, including funding freezes and attacks on diversity and climate science, have caused concern among American academics and prompted lawsuits from major universities like Harvard.
European universities, such as Aix Marseille University, are launching programs to provide refuge for scientists affected by U.S. policy changes, while debates continue over Europe’s own research funding levels.

Key quote:

“In the United States, once a paradise for researchers, academic freedom is being challenged. The line between truth and falsehood, between fact and belief, is being weakened.”

— Elisabeth Borne, France’s education minister

Why this matters:

Scientific research thrives in environments where inquiry is open and funding is stable. As the U.S. government imposes new limits on federal support and subjects universities to ideological litmus tests, Europe is seizing the moment to position itself as a haven for researchers. This shift has profound implications not just for the careers of individual scientists but for the global scientific enterprise. Disciplines like climate science, public health, and biomedical research could see talent migration, potentially altering where and how breakthroughs occur. Furthermore, limiting scientific freedom in the U.S. may erode public trust in academic institutions and weaken responses to health and environmental challenges. Europe’s proactive stance may cushion the impact of these policies, but the long-term effects of such an academic brain drain — and the political forces driving it — remain uncertain.

www.nytimes.com

Credit: Pierre Lemos / Unsplash+

Toxic chemicals and climate change work together to harm fertility across species

In a recent review published in NPJ Emerging Contaminants, researchers examine how toxic chemicals can reduce fertility in both humans and wildlife, and how these effects are worsened by climate change.

In short:

Animals - including insects, fish, reptiles, birds, humans, and other mammals - are constantly simultaneously exposed to synthetic chemicals and the impacts of climate change, including rising temperatures.
Both of these stressors can harm fertility, and many of the impacts found are similar across species, such as effects on sperm and eggs.
The stress caused by these exposures also impacts overall health, harming animals’ ability to adapt to a changing environment and worsening global biodiversity loss.

Key quote:

“To build a sustainable future, we must recognize that chemicals, once released, don’t simply disappear. Instead, they contribute to the larger issue of driving humanity towards the exceedance of planetary boundaries when considered in combination with climate change and other planetary-level impacts.”

Why this matters:

While climate change and toxic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are both individually well-established as health threats, few studies have examined the implications of the widespread simultaneous exposure experienced by humans and wildlife. Many EDCs can also impact health across multiple generations, meaning their harm continues long after the original exposure. To better tackle the issue of EDCs, the authors of this study emphasize the need for strong regulations that address chemicals by class, rather than individually.

Related EHN coverage:

Declining PFAS levels in seabird eggs reflect impact of regulatory action
Op-ed: A stalled global plastic treaty threatens our future fertility (written by two of the lead authors of the above study)

More resources:

ChemTrust: Wildlife and the environment – Endocrine disruptors
Stockholm Resilience Center: Planetary Boundaries: The safe operating space for humanity

Brander, S. et al. (2026). Impacts of environmental stressors on fertility and fecundity across taxa, with implications for planetary health. NPJ Emerging Contaminants.

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Europe steps up funding to attract U.S. scientists facing cuts under Trump

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