Trump Cuts Funding: Key Brain Research Lost

A professor's vital research into enhancing human intelligence, specifically mathematical and spatial visualization skills, has been significantly disrupted by funding cuts. The project, backed by a $1.5 million U.S. Navy grant as part of the attention control program, aimed to improve these critical skills through nine weeks of intensive training while participants were in f.M.R.I. machines. Early results indicated the training was effective and revealed no neural activity differences between genders, challenging previous assumptions about such tasks.

However, the grant was canceled late last year, halfway through the project. This abrupt halt meant only two-thirds of the necessary brain scans were obtained, and the data could not be fully analyzed. Approximately one-third of the total funding was lost, forcing the research team to seek alternative sources for personnel supported by the grant. The department cited a shift in priorities from basic to applied research as the reason for closing the entire program, a move that risks stagnating future scientific discovery.