The U.S. Brain Drain: How Policies Are Driving Talent Away

B-Bob · Jan 28, 2026

rimrocker said: ↑

And likely an even greater number of people with a Masters in their specialty field--biologists, botanists, foresters, chemists, engineers, and many, many more. It really is staggering.
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I live in PhD science realm, and we really are losing people. I've been to 3 big good-bye parties within the last year. But it doesn't stop with PhD brain drain.

I talked with several very talented young people this week -- not yet PhD's but newly minted BS degrees, bright people headed to grad school. They have moved permanently to Europe, and ... they were US citizens. One of them had Venezualan roots, and she told me, "how could I possibly stay in the US now?" Brilliant young computer scientists, but oh well. They gone. At least we are keeping our low talent, violent incels.

Neighbors on my block in SF. Super talented family with roots from South Asia, happily been our neighbors for 10 years on H1B Visas contributing a TON to the economy and paying a buttload in taxes. They are moving to the UK within a few months b/c of their fear of ICE, even though they are here completely legally. Their daughter -- wonderful kid, our puppy's favorite human neighbor by far -- is so terrified of ICE that she can't sleep at night.

Congrats, MAGA! Relish the hurt you are doing. Asshats, one and all.

Amiga · Mar 20, 2026 at 8:40 AM

The US risks losing its edge and its brightest minds as global competition for scientific leadership heats up, with other nations recognizing for decades that research is the pathway to economic and political power, while the US under this administration is moving backward through both anti-science, anti-research officials and policies that push talent away.

China could be the world’s biggest public funder of science within two years

China is on the cusp of becoming the world’s biggest public funder of research, according to a forecast by US academics, as stalled growth in government investment in the United States coincides with consistent rises in spending by the Chinese authorities.

According to the FSIP’s forecast, China’s public spending on research is likely to overtake that of the United States in the next two to three years.

“I think the earliest likely is 2028, plus [or] minus one year,” says Robert Conn, a specialist in research policy and science philanthropy, who co-leads the FSIP. “It could be next year, could be 2029.”

The United States has been the global leader in R&D investment since the end of the Second World War. China taking the lead in public research spending would therefore be a watershed moment. It would set the scene for the emergence of a new “hegemon” in science, says Meghan Ostertag, who studies economic policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a think tank in Washington DC.

The FSIP projection is, in some ways, conservative. It predicts that US research spending will remain flat, despite efforts by the administration of President Donald Trump to cut research budgets. At the same time, it incorporates a slowdown in Chinese research spending earlier in this decade, explains Christopher Martin, president of the non-profit organization Explorative Science Foundation in Christchurch, New Zealand, who worked on the analysis for the FSIP.

China’s increased focus on fundamental and applied research is part of a “grander strategy” by the Chinese government to be a world leader economically and politically, says Ostertag. “I think years and years ago they saw that technology and science was the way to do that, and I think the rest of the world is realizing that now.”

rimrocker · Mar 24, 2026 at 7:47 AM

Well, there it is. Handed to China on a platter.

China is on the cusp of becoming the world’s biggest public funder of research, according to a forecast by US academics, as stalled growth in government investment in the United States coincides with consistent rises in spending by the Chinese authorities.
Click to expand...

The United States has been the global leader in R&D investment since the end of the Second World War. China taking the lead in public research spending would therefore be a watershed moment. It would set the scene for the emergence of a new “hegemon” in science, says Meghan Ostertag, who studies economic policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a think tank in Washington DC.
Click to expand...

In the United States, the FSIP expects overall funding for fundamental research agencies, such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, to be broadly flat this year as the US Senate pushes back on cuts requested by the Trump administration.

However, over the coming years, the FSIP team thinks that government spending on fundamental research in the United States is likely to decline in real terms, and that Congress will be unable to fully push back against cuts requested by the White House. This puts China on track to surpass the United States in this area “within a decade”, according to Conn.

Because fundamental research sits at the beginning of the development process, it represents the “seed corn that will provide the innovations and discoveries a decade from now”, explains Conn. “That’s where we’re really going to falter, and that’s where the biggest changes tend to occur.”
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https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00618-5

mtbrays · Mar 24, 2026 at 9:07 AM

B-Bob said: ↑

I live in PhD science realm, and we really are losing people. I've been to 3 big good-bye parties within the last year. But it doesn't stop with PhD brain drain.

I talked with several very talented young people this week -- not yet PhD's but newly minted BS degrees, bright people headed to grad school. They have moved permanently to Europe, and ... they were US citizens. One of them had Venezualan roots, and she told me, "how could I possibly stay in the US now?" Brilliant young computer scientists, but oh well. They gone. At least we are keeping our low talent, violent incels.

Neighbors on my block in SF. Super talented family with roots from South Asia, happily been our neighbors for 10 years on H1B Visas contributing a TON to the economy and paying a buttload in taxes. They are moving to the UK within a few months b/c of their fear of ICE, even though they are here completely legally. Their daughter -- wonderful kid, our puppy's favorite human neighbor by far -- is so terrified of ICE that she can't sleep at night.

Congrats, MAGA! Relish the hurt you are doing. Asshats, one and all.
Click to expand...

I've got a family member finishing their science PhD in Switzerland this year. She's doing everything she can to find a job in Europe instead of the US because of the hostility and uncertainty surrounding research funding. This is anecdotal, of course, but emblematic of our society cutting of its nose to spite its face.

rimrocker · Mar 24, 2026 at 6:07 PM

10,000+ STEM PhDs are no longer employed by the federal government.

Some 10,109 doctoral-trained experts in science and related fields left their jobs last year as President Donald Trump dramatically shrank the overall federal workforce.
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The graphs that follow show the impact is particularly striking at such scientist-rich agencies as the National Science Foundation (NSF). But across the government, these departing Ph.D.s took with them a wealth of subject matter expertise and knowledge about how the agencies operate.
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https://www.science.org/content/art...ost-more-10-000-stem-ph-d-s-trump-took-office

rimrocker · Mar 24, 2026 at 6:09 PM

mtbrays said: ↑

I've got a family member finishing their science PhD in Switzerland this year. She's doing everything she can to find a job in Europe instead of the US because of the hostility and uncertainty surrounding research funding. This is anecdotal, of course, but emblematic of our society cutting of its nose to spite its face.
Click to expand...

I've got two working on grad degrees in Europe with little excitement about returning to the US. Not surprisingly, both are young women.

mtbrays · Mar 24, 2026 at 6:49 PM

rimrocker said: ↑

I've got two working on grad degrees in Europe with little excitement about returning to the US. Not surprisingly, both are young women.
Click to expand...

The worst part is that the public probably won't connect the research cuts with downstream bad consequences. Ozempic was developed by studying gila monster fasting. That's the exact type of thing disingenuous Fox News hosts pick on as examples of "waste"

SamFisher · Mar 26, 2026 at 6:21 PM

Pedo cabal canceled science because woke

@Os Trigonum what is the purpose of this?

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