U.S. government has lost more than 10k STEM PhDs since Trump took office

The brain drain is real: a new Science analysis says 10,109 government scientists with PhDs walked out in 2025 after Trump took office, taking a jaw-dropping 106,636 years of experience with them. Across 14 agencies, departures beat new hires 11 to 1, for a net loss of 4,224 experts—especially at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and with the National Science Foundation (NSF) feeling the pinch too. The data comes from the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and it’s a mix of people who were fired, retired, or quit. Comment sections lit up like a lab on deadline. The loudest chorus: “We’re tossing our innovation edge,” with one user warning we’ll “loose the next Apple, Google or Nvidia.” Another claimed the Veteran’s Administration is quietly hollowing out staff—freeze hiring, let people leave, then delete the job—sparking its own sub-thread of horror stories. On the flip side, a colder take: some say shrinking government is good and ask, what problem is this even trying to solve? Meanwhile, the gallows humor brigade dropped memes like “404: Scientist Not Found” and “NSF speedrun any%.” The mood swings between panic, policy nerd rage, and a small contingent saying this is a feature, not a bug.