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Hi all, Kim here. After living in D.C. for over two-and-a-half years, last month I finally made the trip to a national landmark: Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at the National Air and Space Museum, a hangar just across the border in Virginia that houses historic spacecraft. All this time, I had taken it for granted that the spacecraft museum would always be in my backyard. But now, new decisions in the federal government brought an unprecedented urgency given recent news — the exhibit might be losing its crown jewel, the space shuttle Discovery. Discovery was one of the five orbiters, whose wings lifted many of NASA’s space missions between the 1980s to the 2010s. Discovery was a bus for space, but its significance in American history was grander than that. It was the longest serving and highest-mileage shuttle until its retirement in 2011. During its heyday, it transported supplies for the construction of the International Space Station. It was the vessel that sent the Hubble Telescope off into the heavens, the cosmic Moses’ basket that ferried its invaluable payload into the unknown. Here’s what’s going on in a rather harebrained string of decrees: In April, two Republican senators from Texas proposed legislation to bring Discovery “back” to Houston, the home of NASA’s mission control for spacefarers. The move itself could cost up to $400 million in taxpayer money. Nevertheless, President Trump signed it into law as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. During my museum drop-in in July, it was impossible to tell that anything was amiss. Tourists still thronged the place, volunteers still gave their spiel about the marvels of space travel with gusto. Discovery lay in the back chamber, majestic and proud, spanning the length of a nine-storey building on its side. With its heat-shielded nose staring straight at me as I approached, I felt like a smelt confronting a megalodon. I wasn’t sure anyone would be willing to talk politics with me, but I got my chance when I stood in front of a giant screen, across from an unsuspecting virtual docent. Having just answered a kid’s question about fun engineering facts, now he appeared noticeably cagey. Why was Discovery moving? “It’s a political issue,” he said; there’s no good reason behind it at all. As a national treasure, Discovery should remain in — or near, technically — the nation’s capital, he said. But Texas’ governor declared that uprooting Discovery was “so Texans can see, learn from, and enjoy it for generations.” Texans. Not everyone. I could drone about politics, but I’m here to reflect on my own approach to staying civically engaged, and the pitfalls of caring only when it’s too late. How many of us get going only when something is about to disappear? The chance to see the Discovery space shuttle. Well-maintained trails in nature. Healthy public lands to freely romp on. Funding for public radio stations that keep rural communities informed. Safeguards for clean air and water. The harmless immigrant neighbor who’s a mainstay of your favorite local restaurant, until ICE came along. Yes, since Trump took office, all these things have gone or are at risk of going poof. Still, kudos to those who speak up by showing up to protests or calling their representatives; better late than never. But what does everyday engagement look like, one that doesn’t kick in only when things go sideways? It starts with finding our community and constantly checking in. Looking outside ourselves and out for one another, particularly the wallflowers and the underdogs. Acknowledging America’s history of colonialism; embracing the good, the bad, the ugly without overly judging the inheritors of that legacy. We are all the children of that history, hopefully clearer-eyed for it. Staying politically vigilant doesn’t mean we have to constantly sharpen our quickness to outrage. I think there’s a softer and less taxing approach: simply being a pleasant neighbor, an empathetic friend, a Good Samaritan — so we can actually work together, rather than spiral off into teams, each trying to score points like we’re in some competitive sports league. It goes without saying, good journalism is a key component of a well-functioning society. That’s a big part of why we at Sequencer do what we do. (If you agree, we’d appreciate your support by becoming a subscriber — better yet, as a paid member. Thank you if you already are one!) As I’m reminded by the Discovery affair, democracy is hard work. It’s never ending, and nothing can be for granted. Even that space behemoth in your backyard that you thought was too big to go. Best, Kim What we’re working on: Kim: I just published a High Country News story about another iffy federal policy pivot: the removal of roadless rule protections on swaths of Forest Service land, and the impact on wildlife. After this, I’ll have a reprieve from covering federal chaos. Time to do some more light-hearted, science-leaning stories! Dan: Over at day job, I have spent quite a long time trying to understand the Trump administration's rapid-fire decrees, which at the more science-focused agencies has been coming through confusing press releases. One recent new policy was an FDA idea around vouchers, essentially coupons for pharmaceutical companies, that those companies can use to get accelerated reviews of their drugs. In exchange, however, those companies have to promise that they will lower their drug prices. Now, that is ludicrous in a few different ways. The first is that the FDA has no legal mechanism to compel anyone to change their prices. There is nothing stopping a company from swearing they’ll definitely lower prices and then changing their mind once an approval arrives. The second is that it feels like a deeply contortionist way to avoid anything that might resemble a progressive or god forbid socialist political angle. People obviously want cheaper drugs and US politicians will do anything up to but stopping short of the kind of healthcare policy that is standard issue in basically every developed country on the planet. Is this a good way to do policy? Can the FDA reasonably do any of this bullshit? No! said several experts I talked to in a feature I wrote for BioSpace this week (exclamation mark mine). Max: Settling back into real life after an unforgettable trip to the Dolomites. Finishing up some freelance stories, and getting my ducks in a row for the American Heart Association conference in the fall. I’ll be writing some stories for Sequencer based on that trip. Aside from that, I’ve been leaning more into nature reporting lately. I have a couple dispatch-y blogs in the works that I’ll share here in the next few weeks so stay tuned. Maddie: Working on a piece on DNA storage and learning a lot! For the day job, I had a lovely discussion about poetry and meaning and reflected on nearly 50 years of activism and restoration work on Kahoʻolawe, a Hawaiian island used by the military for target practice. I also returned from a lovely little weekend trip to Haleakalā, where I learned that the “crater” I camped in is technically not a crater because it was formed via erosion, not lava directly. But the highlight was hearing a cacophony of birds at night — scores of 'ua'u, or Hawaiian petrel, which were thought to be extinct for years until they were rediscovered nesting on Maui. Really life-affirming stuff! What we’re reading: Kim: This is so messed up. How people weaponize bureaucratic systems, filing false claims of debt owed to screw their personal enemies over. And how states that administer such procedures keep failing the victims. Dan: Friend of the show Clare Evans had a really wonderful piece in Quanta this week about the memory of a cell. “A small but enthusiastic group of neuroscientists is exhuming overlooked experiments and performing new ones to explore whether cells record past experiences — fundamentally challenging what memory is.” Check it out: Max: I just finished Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte and… lol. What a ride that was. I enjoyed it a lot but I could understand how someone might hate every second of it. Message me your thoughts please & thanks. On a more serious note for science and society, here’s some important reads: 💔 ICE raids are making LA families too scared to go to the doctor 💔 Meet the Disaster Capitalists Behind Alligator Alcatraz - The American Prospect 💔 Parents want more warnings after a brain-eating amoeba killed their son on a South Carolina lake 💔‘I feel unsafe almost everywhere’: How a trans teenager's life has changed under Trump And a palate cleanser: Maddie:
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