Scientists Have a Nerdy Inauguration Moment With #USofScience

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets outgoing President Barack Obama before Inauguration. The scientific community fears the incoming president will make scientific research a low priority with his incoming administration. Carlos Barria/REUTERS

President Obama will go down in history as a commander in chief who unfailingly supported discovery and innovation in science and medicine. While in office, the now-former president launched several medical research programs, including the Precision Medicine Initiative and the National Microbiome Initiative. He signed the 21st Century Cure Act that while many say gives far too much power to the pharmaceutical industry, also provides billions of dollars to the National Institutes of Health, including former-Vice President Joe Biden's cancer moonshot. While in office, Obama took a number of actions to promote environmental health by passing key pieces of legislation, including the Clean Power Plan, to slash carbon emissions from power plants.

President Donald Trump, on the other hand, has already proved to be less of a friend to the sciences. The president is known to be a climate change denier and anti-vaxxer, and has selected cabinet members who many critics claim indicate that scientific and medical research (and some say, reason) are far at the bottom of the priority list of the 45th President of the United States.

Many in the scientific community are terrified about what the future may bring for their own work and furthering just about every area of science and innovation. On Friday, Inauguration Day, as Trump took his oath of office, scientists took to Twitter with the hashtag #USofScience, a geeky celebration—and a necessary distraction—to remind the world just how awesome science is. The hashtag was inititially proposed by an Ice Age ecologist and conservationist on Thursday, the day before the Inauguration.

I'm in! How about a hashtag? #USofScience? https://t.co/AEsvxf1ljR

— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) January 19, 2017

By the time Trump's hand lay on the bible, Twitter was blissfully distracted by the marvels of amazing animal behavior, technology, genetics and scientific tidbits from many other diciplines.

Some PhD. students used the opportunity to shamelessly plug their dissertation or research projects. Others made a call to action and protested the new president. For most, it was a reminder that the country would be nowhere without its drive and ability to discover and innovate—regardless of one's political persuasion.

Here are some of the best tweets from the marine biologists, palentologists, chemists, engineers, physicians and other scientists in the Free World.

Instead of #inaug2017, read @crumpetliz's new paper on what shapes the vaginal microbiota of baboons. #USofScience https://t.co/Bc7hCXEX6u

— Mauna Dasari (@chumblebiome) January 20, 2017

Appreciate that flu shot? We change it every year because we understand viral DNA and it's ability to mutate quickly. #USofScience

— Imogene Cancellare (@biologistimo) January 20, 2017

Enjoying this tweet on your cell phone? Thank Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood actress, immigrant, and inventor. #USofScience pic.twitter.com/gTWZ4c2fUE

— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) January 20, 2017

My PhD work was on large Arctic rivers. Some of the rivers are the size of the Mississippi, and chock full of organic carbon #USofScience pic.twitter.com/o2xp1SxYD6

— Claire G. Griffin (@polargriffin) January 20, 2017

Currently starting my PhD research on snow leopard genetics. Focus=understanding how they are structured across range. #USofScience

— Imogene Cancellare (@biologistimo) January 20, 2017

#USofScience the reason United States became a supoerpower was through our mastery of science and it's advancement. Don't let Trump ruin it

— pernicious grass (@itatiVCS) January 20, 2017

This is my lab mate looking at lupus patient cells under a 🔬. She's studying how lupus changes what cells look like. #USofScience pic.twitter.com/jK7KTLbH3N

— Danielle Fanslow (@DaniFonz) January 20, 2017

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Jessica Firger is a staff writer at Newsweek, where she covers all things health. She previously worked as a health editor ... Read more

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