12/17/25: Seven feel-good science stories to restore your faith in 2025 (Nature) Immense progress in gene-editing, drug discovery and conservation are just some of the reasons to be cheerful about 2025. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03505-7
12/17/25: Request for Information on Draft NIH Controlled-Access Data Policy and Proposed Revisions to NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy (NOT-OD-26-023) The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is requesting public input on its proposal to establish harmonized and transparent policy requirements for protecting human participant research data. Specifically, NIH proposes (1) establishing policy requirements for which data should be controlled-access under NIH data sharing policies, and (2) revising the NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy to simplify and harmonize requirements. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-26-023.html
12/17/25: NSF Lowers Grant Review Requirements, NIH Hunts for Phrases (Inside Higher Ed) Two major federal research funding agencies are altering their grant review processes. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is scaling back its reviews of grant proposals, according to a Dec. 1 internal memo that Science obtained and published , while STAT reported that the National Institutes of Health distributed guidance Friday ordering staff to use a “text analysis tool” to search for certain phrases. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/12/17/nsf-lowers-grant-review-requirements-nih-hunts-phrases
See also: NSF softens grant-review rules to cope with backlog (Nature) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-04067-4
12/17/25: Trump’s second term is reshaping US science with unprecedented cuts and destabilizing policy changes (The Conversation) Before 2025, science policy rarely made headline news. Through decades of changing political winds, financial crises and global conflicts, funding for U.S. research and innovation has remained remarkably stable , reflecting the American public’s strong support for investing in basic science. In his first year back in office, President Donald Trump’s relentless attempts to overhaul the federal support system for research and development has put science policy back above the fold . https://theconversation.com/trumps-second-term-is-reshaping-us-science-with-unprecedented-cuts-and-destabilizing-policy-changes-271079
12/16/25: Research Groups Oppose Capping NIH Funding of Publisher Fees (Inside Higher Ed, COGR mentioned) The National Institutes of Health received roughly 900 comments on its various proposals to limit how much of its grant dollars are eaten up by journals’ publication charges. Major science groups called the approaches wrong… “Our organizations strongly urge NIH to explore other mechanisms for addressing concerns around publication costs—approaches that recognize that neither institutions nor individual investigators have control over publication costs,” read a joint comment from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the Association of American Universities (AAU) and COGR. The groups said “these costs are controlled entirely by publishers.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025/12/16/research-groups-oppose-capping-nih-funding
See Joint Association Letter Here: https://www.cogr.edu/blog/cogr-aamc-aau-and-aplu-submit-joint-comments-nih-publication-cost-limits
12/16/25: White House Invites Suggestions for Improving U.S. Research Policy (Holland & Knight) The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) published a request for information (RFI) on Nov. 26, 2025, seeking input from academia, private sector industry groups and other relevant stakeholders on federal policies “aim[ed] to accelerate the American scientific enterprise, enable groundbreaking discoveries, and ensure that scientific progress and technological innovation benefit all Americans.” The RFI indicates that responses will “inform the formulation of Executive branch efforts to advance and maintain U.S [science and technology] leadership.” https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2025/12/white-house-invites-suggestions-for-improving-us-research-policy
12/16/25: Are Bad Researchers Bad People? (The Chronicle) The absence of humility, integrity, and open-mindedness isn’t just a moral failure. It’s a methodological one. https://www.chronicle.com/article/are-bad-researchers-bad-people
12/16/25: Fired NIH institute head sues Trump administration (Science) Jeanne Marrazzo, the former head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), today sued the federal government, which fired her on 26 September. Her suit claims it did so in retaliation for a whistleblower complaint she filed against the Trump administration. https://www.science.org/content/article/fired-nih-institute-head-sues-trump-administration
12/16/25: How my institution strengthened research despite chronic underfunding (Nature) As a scientist and administrator at Meharry Medical College — a 150-year-old private historically Black health-sciences institution in Nashville, Tennessee, with some 1,500 students — I’ve seen how hard it can be to manage on scant budgets. I urge the government to redress funding levels. In the meantime, HBCUs and TCUs can target their investments, as Meharry has done with some success. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-04050-z
12/15/25: Senators brace for another possible shutdown in January (The Hill) Senators in both parties are bracing for another government shutdown next year after Republicans blocked a proposal to extend expiring health insurance subsidies, the issue that triggered the 43-day closure that consumed much of the fall calendar. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5647112-republicans-block-subsidy-extension/
12/15/25: NIH specifies how grant reviewers should ensure alignment with Trump priorities (STAT) Signaling a move toward the next phase of change, leaders at the National Institutes of Health have sent new guidance to its staff on how to further move its $39 billion grant portfolio into alignment with the Trump administration’s priorities. https://www.statnews.com/2025/12/15/nih-specifies-how-grant-reviewers-should-ensure-alignment-with-trump-priorities/
12/15/25: More than half of researchers now use AI for peer review — often against guidance (Nature) A survey of 1,600 academics found that more than 50% have used artificial-intelligence tools while peer reviewing manuscripts. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-04066-5
12/15/25: NSF pares down grant-review process, reducing influence of outside scientists (Science) To ease the burden on a staff that has shrunk significantly since President Donald Trump took office, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is reducing the role of outside experts in reviewing grant proposals. The changes permit as few as one outside review rather than the current minimum of three, end the routine use of expert panels to discuss those individual reviews, and give program managers greater authority to recommend which proposals should or should not be funded. They are described in an internal 1 December staff memo that Science has obtained and mentioned briefly in an update to NSF’s grantmaking manual posted on 8 December. https://www.science.org/content/article/nsf-pares-down-grant-review-process-reducing-influence-outside-scientists
12/15/25: OMB Memo Outlines Contractual Requirements to Ensure Compliance With Unbiased AI Principles (Executive Gov) The Office of Management and Budget has released a memorandum outlining contractual requirements to ensure that large language models, or LLMs, procured by the federal government comply with unbiased artificial intelligence principles . https://www.executivegov.com/articles/omb-ai-contract-requirements-memo
FDA Guidance Documents (December 2025)
11/24/25: Exclusive: DOGE ‘doesn’t exist’ with eight months left on its charter (Reuters) https://www.reuters.com/world/us/doge-doesnt-exist-with-eight-months-left-its-charter-2025-11-23/
