How Sequestration And The Shutdown Dealt A Body Blow To Scientists

As congressional leaders attempt the patch together a last-minute deal to fund the federal government and raise the nation’s debt limit, scientists dependent on federal funds are looking on with concern.

For nearly the past two weeks, many of them have been denied access to work, either because the agencies that employ them have been shut down or because the facilities where they operate have been closed. The Obama administration announced Friday that four of the five Nobel Prize-winning researchers currently working for the federal government were “furloughed and unable to conduct their federal research.”

Nobel Prize winners without work are the most notable examples of the damage caused by the shutdown, but the impact is far wider.