February 19, 2026
From petri dish to petty drama
We're no longer attracting top talent: the brain drain killing American science
Labs go dark, Europe bakes cookies, and the comments explode
TLDR: US research budgets are being cut and NIH hiring is frozen, prompting fears of a brain drain just as drug‑resistant “superbugs” surge. Commenters split between “Europe is winning (and has cookies),” political blame, and skepticism that the doom narrative or NIH career ladder were ever that simple—stakes are global
A dire warning about antibiotic‑resistant “superbugs,” plus massive US research cuts and an NIH hiring freeze, had the commentariat doing what it does best: turning panic into popcorn. The article says billions were slashed, thousands of grants axed, and early‑career scientists are eyeing the exits—fueling a brain drain just as the CDC warns these bugs infect millions yearly and kill tens of thousands. Cue the chorus: one user quipped, “Come to Europe, we have cookies,” sparking a whole cookies-for-PhDs meme.
Then the debate got spicy. Europe‑boosters asked if the EU could end up with a sustainable lead in science, while one commenter argued that if places with efficient healthcare also lead in research, the world wins—because the US’s “dogshit” health system and great labs don’t add up to a coherent strategy. Others weren’t buying the doom: a skeptic called the “set up your own NIH lab” path too rosy even in good times.
And the politics? Oh, it showed up with a megaphone. One take claimed the administration sees smart people as a threat, tying lab cuts to a broader culture war. Meanwhile, union talk among young NIH researchers added drama of its own. TL;DR: superbugs are rising, budgets are falling, and the comments section is a battlefield
Key Points
- •CDC warned in April 2025 that antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” cause over 3 million U.S. infections and up to 48,000 deaths annually, with a global toll near 5 million deaths each year.
- •Following Trump’s return to the White House, billions were cut from U.S. research budgets; nearly 8,000 NIH/NSF grants were canceled and over 1,000 NIH employees were fired.
- •NIH labs face multibillion-dollar contract cuts, hindering equipment maintenance and jeopardizing experiments; an NIH hiring freeze limits early-career advancement.
- •A new union for young NIH researchers formed under the UAW has nearly 5,000 members organizing in response to the cuts and hiring freeze.
- •Science reported that across 14 federal research agencies, departures outnumbered new hires by 11:1, with the federal workforce losing over 10,000 postdocs in the last year.