Ethical discussions about genome-editing are inextricable from questions about government funding and regulation of science.

But some experts' assumptions about the workings of government are now up in the air, @mmolteni.bsky.social writes.

www.statnews.com/2025/05/27/g...

NSF employees explained to @dangaristo.bsky.social and @maxkozlov.bsky.social that they've been instructed to search for specific language — such as "women" and "people of color" — in abstracts and titles of grants to flag.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

While the NSF website says it can't pause or delay payment for active awards based on actual or potential non-compliance with Executive Orders, it also says the agency is continuing its "ongoing review of our award portfolio to identify active grants in the context of recent Executive Orders."

That same webpage says that "NSF can not take action to delay or stop payment for active awards based solely on actual or potential non-compliance with the Executive Orders," though that appears to be what it did this past week.

But in the FAQ on its webpage about Executive Orders, updated on Sunday, Feb. 2, the NSF says it executed a shut down of its payment system because of "extraordinarily high volume."

Here the NSF says that its online payment system is down "while NSF performs a comprehensive review of the award portfolio to ensure compliance with recent Executive Orders."