Just yesterday, I had a conversation with an MD/PhD at one of the major teaching hospitals in Boston. There is a lot of uncertainty right now - a lot of funding has already been lost, and there are real risks around more funding being lost in the future (just as one example, the administration's plans to limit reimbursement rates will cost the Boston area teaching hospitals hundreds of millions a year in research funding - the plans are currently on hold pending a court case). There are also risks around visas - many researchers are on visas. She has scaled back some of her planned research. She's concerned about bringing on grad students and postdocs - if she starts a multiyear project for a grad student and then loses funding in the middle, or they lose their visa, that would be devastating for that person's career, and for the research project.
Your comment is intended as sarcastic, but what you are describing is 100% happening. Industry does not fund a lot of the education and early-career work of scientists doing basic research. Most of those PhDs are funded through federal grants. Fewer grants and more uncertainty means fewer opportunities for young people to go into the field, which means fewer people choosing to go into the field.
Your comment is intended as sarcastic, but what you are describing is 100% happening. Industry does not fund a lot of the education and early-career work of scientists doing basic research. Most of those PhDs are funded through federal grants. Fewer grants and more uncertainty means fewer opportunities for young people to go into the field, which means fewer people choosing to go into the field.