An estimated 100,000 or more employees have left US research agencies between late 2024 and mid-2026, leaving them "very lean and unable to fulfil their ambitions", according to Marcia McNutt, outgoing president of the US National Academy of Sciences, who delivered her final address on 2 June.

Her warning came days after the White House Office of Management and Budget released a proposal at the end of May that would give political appointees direct power over federal research grant decisions. The proposed rule states that "peer review remains advisory and does not replace agency discretion" — wording that would shift funding authority away from merit review toward officials who, as McNutt noted, may lack scientific training.

McNutt, a geophysicist who directed the US Geological Survey from 2009 to 2013 and has led the NAS since 2016, described this year's science policy as "filled with turmoil". She pointed to the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 and thanked Congress for rolling back the steep reductions for 2026 — a reversal that surprised some observers given the current makeup of Congress. The 2027 budget, which begins on 1 October, remains undecided.

She also flagged a talent pipeline problem. National Science Board analysis shows foreign student enrolment in US science and engineering programmes fell 9% this past autumn compared with the previous year.

Among her proposed remedies: an overhaul of academic promotion and tenure. McNutt called on universities to move away from traditional indicators — grant dollars, publication counts and citations — toward metrics that capture broader scholarly contribution, arguing this would help recruit junior faculty and retain senior ones. She cited universities that have piloted the approach.

The OMB proposal has drawn more than 26,000 comments, with researchers able to submit feedback until 13 July. Chemistry World's senior US correspondent Rebecca Trager reported that the research community mobilised broadly against the rule, though whether the administration will respond to the comments remains unclear. The changes are slated to take effect at the start of October.

The chemistry inside a 3,500-year-old material

The same programme turned to wool, a fibre humans have used for over 3,500 years, and the structural chemistry behind its measured performance: natural flame retardancy, stain resistance, stretch to roughly 70% of natural length, and absorption of up to 30% of its own weight in water without feeling wet.

Chemistry World features editor Neil Withers explained that the properties trace back to hierarchical structure. Proteins form alpha helices that twist together into coils and spirals, trapping air pockets at multiple scales — the source of wool's insulation. High sulphur content in the proteins contributes strength and water-binding behaviour through bonds distinct from oxygen and nitrogen linkages.

The apparent paradox of a fibre that both absorbs and repels water resolves at different scales, according to Withers. Microscopically, the structure takes up moisture; at the fabric level, lanolin — the natural waxy oil from sheep — gives the exterior water resistance. A drop of water beads on wool cloth before slowly absorbing. That combination lets water vapour pass through while liquid droplets do not stick, which is why wool is prized for technical fabrics requiring warmth with breathability.

Breed determines performance. Merino sheep produce high-crimp wool with tight coils, yielding softer, stretchier fibres suited to base layers. Lincoln longwools produce longer, straighter, stronger fibres better suited to carpets. The itchiness associated with wool is largely structural — longer, stiffer, less crimped fibres prick the skin — though some people do have allergies to lanolin, which also appears in cosmetics such as lipstick.

Shrinkage, Withers explained, is a mesoscale phenomenon. Individual wool threads carry keratin scales; heat, water and agitation in a washing machine cause the scales to overlap and grip each other, contracting the fabric. Once locked across every fibre in a garment, the process is effectively irreversible.

Biotechnology has done little to change wool production so far. The characteristics still come from selective breeding over centuries — "it's still grown on the back of a sheep in a field", as Withers put it — though he suggested engineering anti-shrink sheep as a future possibility.

Wool's chemistry also extends beyond textiles. Withers described one group's work using electron beam irradiation to modify sulphur groups in wool filters, enabling them to bind metal ions and distinguish between copper(II) and chromium(III) in mixed solutions — a separation relevant to industrial processing and environmental remediation. Recycling remains a pain point: wool-polyester blends mostly end up mechanically degraded and rarely return to clothing, but researchers are exploring enzymes that selectively digest the natural fibre, recovering virgin wool and leaving polyester for separate recycling.

In brief

Elsewhere on Chemistry World this week: a photochemical reaction swaps a nitrogen and carbon atom to convert pyrroles into imidazoles in a single step, leaving the rest of the molecule intact; a generalised mass spectrometry method that exploits electrophilicity ranked reaction outcomes more than 60 times faster than conventional analysis, addressing a bottleneck in high-throughput screening; Evonik announced plans to cut 3,200 jobs between 2027 and 2029 and exit its global polyester business, citing the uncertain political situation, weak growth and international competition; and an AI model fills in missing or misplaced atoms such as hydrogen in crystal structures of inorganic materials, potentially improving simulations and materials design including superconductors.

Finally, the programme marked the birth of Fred Hoyle on 24 June 1915. Hoyle coined "Big Bang" as a pejorative during a radio interview, backed the rival steady-state theory until his death in 2001, and predicted the excited carbon-12 state — confirmed in 1957 and named the Hoyle state — that explains stellar carbon formation and underpins his title as father of nucleosynthesis.

The comment window on the OMB rule runs to 13 July, and Congress's handling of the FY2027 research budget this autumn will signal whether the funding reversals of 2026 repeat.