Jeff Tollefson

New York

U.S. Correspondent at Nature

US correspondent at Nature covering energy, environment and increasingly development, or pretty much anything under the sun. My views are of course my own.

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Articles

Harvard vs Trump: what this epic battle means for science

2 days ago | nature.com | Jeff Tollefson

Mary Rice was among hundreds of scientists at Harvard University who watched helplessly as millions of dollars in research funds disappeared in an instant in mid-May. Two of the pulmonologist’s grants were formally cancelled as part of a series of punitive actions taken by the administration of US President Donald Trump against the university. Little justification was given to Rice aside from a statement that her research does not align with government priorities.
Audio long read: Three ways to cool Earth by pulling carbon from the sky

4 weeks ago | nature.com | Jeff Tollefson |Benjamin Thompson

Download the 30 May 2025 long read podcastWith the world looking likely to blow past the temperature targets laid out in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, a growing number of voices are saying that carbon removal technologies will be necessary if humanity is to achieve its long-term climate goals. If these approaches succeed, they could help nations and corporations to meet their climate commitments — and help the world to halt global warming.
Trump’s call for ‘gold standard science’ has prompted an outcry: here’s why

1 month ago | nature.com | Jeff Tollefson |Dan Garisto

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order late last week mandating the overhaul of research-integrity policies to ensure that the federal government promotes “gold standard science” that is “transparent, rigorous, and impactful”. But many researchers fear that the order will do the opposite by putting US scientists and science under the thumb of political appointees — and they are mobilizing opposition.
Landmark air-pollution lab under threat from Trump cuts - can it be saved?

1 month ago | nature.com | Jeff Tollefson

A US laboratory that has been instrumental in documenting the impact of air pollution on human health is being shut down by the administration of US President Donald Trump. Scientists are rallying to save it.
US environmental agency halts funding for its main science division

1 month ago | nature.com | Jeff Tollefson

The administration of US President Donald Trump has blocked funding for research across the Environmental Protection Agency’s main science division, which employs nearly 1,500 people, according to sources inside the agency and internal e-mails seen by Nature.
Trump proposes unprecedented budget cuts to US science

1 month ago | nature.com | Jeff Tollefson |Dan Garisto |Max Kozlov

US President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 calls for unprecedented cuts to scientific agencies that, if enacted, would deal a devastating blow to US science, policy specialists say. The budget document released by the White House on Friday for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts on 1 October, is light on details, but it calls for disproportionately large cuts for federal science funding.
Will US science survive Trump 2.0?

2 months ago | nature.com | Jeff Tollefson |Dan Garisto |Heidi Ledford

In just the first three months of his second term, US President Donald Trump has destabilized eight decades of government support for science. His administration has fired thousands of government scientists, bringing large swathes of the country’s research to a standstill and halting many clinical trials.
Major European institutes join race to save US science data

2 months ago | nature.com | Jeff Tollefson

Several research institutes in Germany are joining a worldwide grassroots effort to save science data sets that researchers fear could be deleted or decommissioned on the orders of US President Donald Trump’s administration, Nature has learnt.
Three ways to cool Earth by pulling carbon from the sky

2 months ago | nature.com | Jeff Tollefson

Sometime in the next several months, a team of US scientists plans to pour a solution of antacid into the waves off the coast of Massachusetts. Using boats, buoys and autonomous gliders, the scientists will track changes in water chemistry that should allow this tiny patch of the Atlantic Ocean to absorb more carbon dioxide from the sky than it normally would.
‘Totally broken’: how Trump 2.0 has paralysed work at US science agencies

2 months ago | nature.com | Dan Garisto |Jeff Tollefson

As the administration of President Donald Trump continues its campaign to reshape the US government with spending cuts and mass lay-offs, some scientists still employed at government agencies say that their work has become impossible.