Summary

Trump plans to eliminate NIST’s Atomic Spectroscopy Group, which maintains crucial atomic measurement data used globally in fields like nuclear fusion and astronomy.

The Atomic Spectra Database, relied on by scientists and engineers, may be at risk, sparking backlash from researchers and lawmakers.

Critics warn that cutting the group will harm scientific progress and U.S. leadership in technology.

Representative Zoe Lofgren condemned the move as uninformed and potentially harmful to national security. A petition to save the group has gathered over 1,700 signatures.

  • Mardukas@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    The proof that the US is being dismantled could not be clearer. There is no other explanation for the fact that science is being actively targeted to this extent.

    • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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      5 days ago

      MAGA is like a real-time massive Dunning Kruger demonstration playing out in real time. These people don’t even have a basic understanding of what a government actually does. They just assume “it can’t be that hard, let’s just fire everyone and figure it out later.”

    • frunch@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Liquidating the country. This is reminding me of the leveraged buyouts that were all the rage for a min

    • kibiz0r@midwest.social
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      5 days ago

      Neo-cons: Man, I wish we could just liquidate the entire country.

      MMT: We’ve been looking at the national debt all wrong. It’s not a burden, it’s a measure of all the assets in the country. The only way to “pay off” the national debt would be to liquidate the entire country.

      Neo-cons: Repeat that last part? … Guys, I have an idea. I really, really care about the national debt. It’s a big problem. We gotta solve it. Who’s with me?

    • Monument@lemmy.sdf.org
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      5 days ago

      I mean, Trump literally wants to do a crypto pump and dump by selling the U.S. gold reserves to fund the crypto exchange.

      From the perspective of someone who wants the U.S. to succeed, you could not do something dumber.
      From the perspective of someone who wants to extract every scrap of value from the country and then cut it loose while fleeing somewhere else to try to spend the trillions of whatever currency they think they’ll wind up with, it makes perfect sense.

      I just had a messed up thought. Maybe the talk of Trump having a ‘revenge tour’ isn’t revenge on individual people, but revenge on the entire country for not electing him in 2020.

  • GingaNinga@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    When does it end?! These reference values are super important especially in medicine! This stuff is just unhinged, dangerous and stupid

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      Gotta be honest: anyone surprised by this stuff has just straight up not been paying attention. I have zero patience for this shit. The plan has been on the open internet for over half a fucking decade. They said they were gonna follow it. They’re following it. You’re not allowed to be surprised.

      • rock_hand@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Not everyone can pay attention about everything. I get the sentiment but there are certain “fundamentals” that I think even republicans/magas are surprised to see going away. Try to be cool with your fellow posters who might not have the time, resources or experience to know what you do. We aren’t all coming from the same place and position here.

  • crumbguzzler5000@feddit.org
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    5 days ago

    I’m also waiting for them to make cuts to CISA and ruin the great standing the agency has in the world of cyber security