“So maybe we could sing about all those good people,” says Collins while he grabs a guitar.

“The most fundamental resource for progress in science is not the technologies or the buildings. It’s all the good people who do it,“ says former NIH director Francis Collins. “They are all of you who are here today to declare your support for this noble human enterprise.”

At least 2000 attendees are here now. “We need more and more people. Thousands here in DC is great, but there are hundreds of thousands of millions of Americans, and it affects all of us, so let’s keep building a movement,” says Haley Chatelaine, vice president of UAW 2750 NIH fellows united.

Time for speakers. Surgeon and health researcher Atul Gawande says he has seen several scientists leaving their dreams behind, holding their whole careers in boxes after being fired. Scientists arte targets because “Science doesn’t always give the answers that power wants,” he says.

The dozens quickly turned into hundreds of attendees. Some show their faces, while others cover them out for fear of facing retaliation. “Science saves lives,” “Think while it's still legal,” “We cannot afford to lose a generation of scientists,” some signs say.

Protestors demand the reinstatement of federal research funding, rehire of federal employees, and defense of DEI accessibility.
“We are reacting to the worst possible outcome of what could have happened last time, and what the March for Science organizers were afraid of,” a co-organizer said.

🚨 #StandUpforScience2025 Rally Live from Washington D.C. 🚨 Dozens of people start gathering in the Lincoln Memorial to protest against Trump's administration attacks on science.

Researchers, students and federal scientists are present.

I’ll be covering the event today for @nature.com. Stay tuned 🧪

💥Exciting news: I just joined the @nature.com team as a reporter! I’ll be writing lots of science policy, environment, archeology and misconduct stories.
Please send tips to humberto.basilio@us.nature.com 🔎

I finally received my copy of The Craft of Science Writing by @theopennotebook.bsky.social! I wrote a chapter on how to break into English-speaking media as a non-native English speaker. Please share it with all your international fellow journos/communicators who want to start writing in English! 🥰

Thanks to the @pictoline.extwitter.link folks for this beautiful infographic: