Launched in November and overseen by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Genesis Mission aims to accelerate scientific breakthroughs through AI. The initiative comes at a time when America finds itself in a race for global tech dominance, particularly with China, as the two are rapidly developing AI.
“There’s going to be a winner and there’s going to be a loser, whether that means economically, in terms of national security or in terms of general prosperity,” said Evans.
“The shutdown basically just compounded uncertainty to what's already going on for the lives of researchers and people that rely on both work in the federal government and rely on the federal government to do their science,” Evans said, noting that the resolution to continue funding the government only lasts through January.
Evans and other science advocates discuss the next step for researchers following the end of a historic government shutdown.
Evans notes while every government shutdown harms scientific research, the 2025 shutdown in the U.S. is especially damaging because it comes amid broader efforts to politicize science, making the disruption far more serious than just a temporary funding lapse.
In this piece for The Conversation, Salah Ben Hammou and Jonathan Powell argue that the coup in Madagascar highlights how regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community weaken their own legitimacy when they continue to endorse unpopular or undemocratic leaders domestically.