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U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Welcomes Appointments of Commissioners
WASHINGTON, July 17 -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued the following news release:
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U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Welcomes Appointments of Commissioners
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomes the reappointments of Rachel Laser and Asif Mahmood and new appointments of David A. Anderson, CeCe Heil, Gunisha Kaur, and Gene Mills.
Asif Mahmood was reappointed to USCIRF by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) after serving as elected Vice Chair during his first USCIRF appointment. Mahmood is
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WASHINGTON, July 17 -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued the following news release:
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U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Welcomes Appointments of Commissioners
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomes the reappointments of Rachel Laser and Asif Mahmood and new appointments of David A. Anderson, CeCe Heil, Gunisha Kaur, and Gene Mills.
Asif Mahmood was reappointed to USCIRF by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) after serving as elected Vice Chair during his first USCIRF appointment. Mahmood isa practicing physician and human rights advocate.
"We warmly welcome the appointments of David A. Anderson, CeCe Heil, Gunisha Kaur, and Gene Mills to the Commission," said Commissioner Asif Mahmood. "Their skillsets offer an invaluable perspective to the work of the Commission as it confronts threats to freedom of religion or belief."
Rachel Laser was reappointed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Laser is the President and CEO of American United for Separation of Church and State as its first female leader.
"The work of the Commission is crucial to advancing freedom of religion or belief abroad and conveys to the world that it is a priority for the United States," said Commissioner Rachel Laser. "We look forward to working with the new Commissioners to advance international religious freedom."
David A. Anderson was appointed to USCIRF by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). He is the founder and President of Gracism Global, working to build bridges across the deep divides of race, faith, culture, and wealth. He is also the senior pastor of Bridgeway Community Church, reaching a multicultural congregation from over 52 nations.
CeCe Heil was appointed to USCIRF by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD). She is Senior Counsel and International Legal Director for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). She is a human rights attorney who advocates for religious freedom, rule of law, and the protection of vulnerable faith communities worldwide.
Gunisha Kaur was appointed to USCIRF by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). She is a physician, medical anthropologist, and scientist with two decades of experience and fieldwork in human rights. She has worked to bring clinical care informed by her scholarship to some of the world's most urgent humanitarian crises.
Gene Mills was appointed to USCIRF by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). As the President of Louisiana Family Forum, he brings years of experience working on issues involving life, liberty, and limited government in the Louisiana political landscape.
USCIRF thanks for their service the former Commissioners whose terms ended on May 14, 2026: Mohamed Elsanousi, Maureen Ferguson, Vicky Hartzler, Stephen Schneck, and Meir Soloveichik.
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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a commissioner, please contact USCIRF at media@uscirf.gov.
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Original text here: https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/releases-statements/uscirf-welcomes-appointments-commissioners
NASA Study Finds Near-Earth Asteroid Is Actually Comet
PASADENA, California, July 17 (TNSres) -- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued the following news:
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NASA Study Finds Near-Earth Asteroid Is Actually Comet
The object looks like an asteroid but moves like a comet, so astronomers used some of the most powerful observatories on the planet to confirm its identity.
New research led by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California has revealed the identity of a puzzling near-Earth object by precisely tracking its motion through space and using powerful observatories that image faint celestial objects.
This object has
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PASADENA, California, July 17 (TNSres) -- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued the following news:
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NASA Study Finds Near-Earth Asteroid Is Actually Comet
The object looks like an asteroid but moves like a comet, so astronomers used some of the most powerful observatories on the planet to confirm its identity.
New research led by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California has revealed the identity of a puzzling near-Earth object by precisely tracking its motion through space and using powerful observatories that image faint celestial objects.
This object hasa dual personality: Past images hadn't revealed obvious cometlike activity, suggesting it might be an asteroid, but its motion recently proved to be irregular like that of a comet. The scientists detailed their findings in a study published (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02913-7.epdf?sharing_token=9Tyupu4lm8WCiQN9V4uRpNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0O84-m2iWHZz4iV2hT32uLAbHe5sb0xl89wktx4_l0h7YzBZMRyDOSyjQNggyMpO13q_DgXU9bhmcGdlhgM_FYaPgkyxjrDRZbEUugt7jKl1K-HJuNbYtqdlXGXWfBi114%3D) in the journal Nature Astronomy.
The puzzle began on Aug. 28, 2025, when the object, provisionally known as the asteroid 1998 SH2, passed safely within 2 million miles (3 million kilometers) of our planet during its 41/2-year orbit around the Sun. Researchers looking to observe 1998 SH2 with NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) planetary radar system had calculated its position using data from previous orbits and factored in the effects that the gravity of the Sun and planets would have on its path. But when 1998 SH2 didn't show up where they expected, they realized that something unanticipated had been influencing the object's motion.
Object tracking
By using optical astrometry to precisely measure the object's position in the sky, the researchers were able to identify the cause.
"After we measured the nongravitational perturbations affecting the motion of 1998 SH2 and recognized they weren't compatible with the object being an asteroid, we suspected the object could be an active comet," said Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer with NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at JPL and study lead.
Although 1998 SH2's orbit around the Sun had been well-tracked from 1998 to 2016, the object had completed two solar orbits without additional observations by telescopes until the 2025 DSN attempts. Analyzing all observations collected since the object's discovery in 1998, researchers determined the perturbations to 1998 SH2's motion and hypothesized that the object may be generating a small thrust by venting gas into space, causing it to deviate from its predicted path.
This venting results from the Sun heating ice mixed with rocky material, turning the ice into a gas. With regular comets, this activity forms a trademark bright tail and coma -- the gas and dust surrounding a comet's nucleus. But when an object produces gas and dust in much smaller quantities, its tail and coma may not be detectable to most observatories.
Tail, coma emerge
The August 2025 close approach to Earth of 1998 SH2 provided the perfect opportunity for the paper's authors to gather observational evidence of visible cometary activity. They reached out to astronomers at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, a 3.6-meter (12-foot) optical/infrared telescope near the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the 1.5-meter (5-foot) European Southern Observatory's Danish Telescope in La Silla, Chile, to observe. Astronomers at the powerful European Southern Observatory's 8.2-meter (27-foot) Very Large Telescope on the Chilean mountain Cerro Paranal also tracked the object.
"The images we collected from these observatories showed a weak but clear tail, thus confirming that 1998 SH2 is, in fact, a comet," said Olivier Hainaut, an astronomer with the European Southern Observatory and coauthor of the study. "That's how science works -- you form a hypothesis, and you set out to test it. This data is exactly what was needed to confirm our hypothesis that 1998 SH2 was a comet."
As an outcome of the investigation, 1998 SH2 will receive an additional comet provisional designation, P/1998 SH2.
Planetary defense implications
The research also sheds light on another, even more unusual, class of objects called dark comets. Like 1998 SH2, dark comets exhibit significant irregularities, or perturbations, in their trajectory but lack other visible evidence of comet activity -- there's no coma, tail, or visible outgassing. These enigmatic objects fall into two distinct populations: larger ones with orbits similar to those of Jupiter-family comets (short period comets with highly elliptical, or eccentric, orbits), and smaller ones that orbit closer to the Sun. Since the 2016 discovery of the first dark comet, about a dozen more have been identified.
The paper's authors suggest that many of the larger dark comets, which have orbits like 1998 SH2's, could turn out to be regular comets if astronomers get the right opportunity to observe them with powerful telescopes capable of imaging incredibly faint objects. And by analyzing the motion of all near-Earth objects using precision astrometry data, researchers may reveal more comets that were previously designated as asteroids if they exhibit cometlike nongravitational perturbations.
"This work shows the importance of continuously tracking near-Earth objects," said Farnocchia. "Because of outgassing, the motion of comets is more significantly perturbed than that of asteroids. Detecting these perturbations can be an important diagnostic tool for planetary defense that will help understand which objects may be comets rather than asteroids, how their orbits evolve, and how that influences their Earth impact risks."
Hunting for near-Earth objects
NASA's upcoming Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor will collect data that can be used to support this effort. The first space survey telescope to be built for planetary defense, this next-generation mission will seek out some of the hardest-to-find near-Earth objects, such as dark asteroids and comets that don't reflect much visible light.
NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, the Goldstone Solar System Radar Group, and NEO Surveyor all are managed by JPL and supported by the agency's Planetary Defense Coordination Office in Washington. Caltech in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA. The DSN receives programmatic oversight from the SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program office, also at NASA headquarters.
More information about planetary radar, NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, and near-Earth objects can be found at:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroid-watch
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Original text here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-study-finds-near-earth-asteroid-is-actually-comet/
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: First Atmosphere Detected on a Habitable-Zone Rocky World
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, July 17 (TNSjou) -- The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics issued the following news release:
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First atmosphere detected on a habitable-zone rocky world
The discovery marks a major milestone in the search for life on planets beyond our solar system
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In a major milestone in the search for life on other planets, astronomers have detected, for the first time, an atmosphere surrounding an Earth-like, rocky planet orbiting within the habitable zone of another star.
The finding provides the strongest evidence yet that worlds with conditions similar to Earth
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CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, July 17 (TNSjou) -- The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics issued the following news release:
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First atmosphere detected on a habitable-zone rocky world
The discovery marks a major milestone in the search for life on planets beyond our solar system
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In a major milestone in the search for life on other planets, astronomers have detected, for the first time, an atmosphere surrounding an Earth-like, rocky planet orbiting within the habitable zone of another star.
The finding provides the strongest evidence yet that worlds with conditions similar to Earthin composition and temperature, with the potential to support life, could exist beyond our solar system.
"An atmosphere is essential for a planet to support life as we know it," said lead author Collin Cherubim, who recently earned his Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University.
"This is the first time anyone has found an atmosphere on a rocky planet in the habitable zone of another star."
Published today in Science (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea9708), the study reports observational results detecting helium escaping from the atmosphere of LHS 1140 b, a rocky exoplanet about 48 light-years from Earth. Motivated by theoretical predictions, the discovery provides evidence that the planet possesses an atmosphere.
The planet orbits a red dwarf star within the star's habitable zone, or the region where temperatures and environmental conditions are within the range that could support liquid water on the planet's surface.
Astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets, including a few rocky worlds within their stars' habitable zones, but determining whether those planets have atmospheres has remained a great challenge.
"Twenty years ago we wondered whether other terrestrial-type planets even existed," said Robin Wordsworth, Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard and one of Cherubim's dissertation advisors. "Then we learned they're common, and found some in the habitable zone. The next question was whether any of them had managed to keep an atmosphere. Now we know at least one has."
Although other studies have found rocky planets in the habitable zones of their stars, this study is the first to clearly demonstrate the presence of an atmosphere, one that has existed for billions of years.
Cherubim and his colleagues' theoretical model predicted that LHS 1140 b has an upper atmosphere rich in helium that is slowly escaping into space.
To test their prediction, the team used the Warm Infrared Echelle (WINERED) Spectrograph on the Magellan Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. They observed a rare alignment, where LHS 1140 b and another planet transited their star on the same night.
Although one planet showed no evidence of an atmosphere, the other, LHS 1140 b, showed helium escaping from around it, confirming that it retains an atmosphere.
Cherubim's joint advisor David Charbonneau, head of the Harvard Department of Astronomy and astronomer in the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, was initially skeptical of Cherubim's plan because it was the product of a mathematical calculation and had never been observed before for a rocky world.
But when the results came in, he was convinced.
"Collin analyzed the planets we knew about and predicted that this one would have a helium atmosphere," Charbonneau said. "Then he organized telescope time, got the data, and the detection was statistically rock solid."
The findings suggest that ground-based observations searching for escaping gases may become an important tool for studying atmospheres on rocky exoplanets.
The planet's atmosphere has likely survived for more than three billion years, the astronomers say, making it a valuable target for future observations.
Cherubim said he'd like to determine the atmosphere's full composition and eventually investigate whether the planet has surface oceans or other characteristics associated with habitability. He and his colleagues will also use his model to search for similar worlds.
"This has been a model validation, and hopefully it's just the first of many more observations to come," he said.
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About the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian is a collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory designed to ask, and ultimately answer, humanity's greatest unresolved questions about the universe.
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Original text here: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/first-atmosphere-detected-habitable-zone-rocky-world
SBA Expands Use of Palantir Software to Accelerate Pandemic Fraud Crackdown
WASHINGTON, July 15 -- The Small Business Administration issued the following news release on July 14, 2026:
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SBA Expands Use of Palantir Software to Accelerate Pandemic Fraud Crackdown
Advanced Technology Will Strengthen SBA's Fraud Analysis and Enforcement Efforts on Behalf of Small Businesses and Taxpayers
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Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a new phase in its anti-fraud initiative in which it is deploying Palantir Technologies (Palantir) software to advance the agency's ongoing efforts to identify, investigate, and help prosecute fraud in pandemic-era small
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WASHINGTON, July 15 -- The Small Business Administration issued the following news release on July 14, 2026:
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SBA Expands Use of Palantir Software to Accelerate Pandemic Fraud Crackdown
Advanced Technology Will Strengthen SBA's Fraud Analysis and Enforcement Efforts on Behalf of Small Businesses and Taxpayers
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Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a new phase in its anti-fraud initiative in which it is deploying Palantir Technologies (Palantir) software to advance the agency's ongoing efforts to identify, investigate, and help prosecute fraud in pandemic-era smallbusiness relief programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (COVID EIDL) program. This collaboration formalizes the Fraud Prevention Pilot Program that the agency launched earlier this year with Palantir software, using advanced technology and artificial intelligence to surface data and leads, support criminal enforcement, and assist in the recovery of funds for American taxpayers.
"Under the Biden Administration, the SBA's pandemic relief programs saw staggering levels of abuse that robbed taxpayers and small businesses alike, accounting for as much as 20% of the more than $1.2 trillion in aid meant for Main Street," said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. "The Trump SBA's initiative, powered by Palantir software, will strengthen our ability to expose fraudulent actors, support criminal enforcement actions, and recover stolen funds with advanced technology and artificial intelligence. No amount of fraud is acceptable -- whether it is $10,000 or $10 million -- which is why the SBA is deploying these tools to accelerate our work to surface wrongdoing and ensure those who cheated taxpayer-funded programs face consequences. The American people deserve accountability and a federal government that has the controls to prevent fraud in the first place, and that is exactly what the SBA will continue to deliver."
Palantir software will enhance the SBA's data analysis capabilities to support its fraud detection efforts as the agency continues to address fraud across COVID-era relief programs in coordination with the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice, the SBA Office of Inspector General, and other law enforcement partners. These tools will help the agency analyze large datasets, flag anomalies, identify potential indicators of coordinated schemes, accelerate investigative leads, and identify funds obtained through false or fraudulent applications for further action.
The initiative advances the SBA's ongoing state-by-state efforts to root out pandemic relief fraud, recover taxpayer dollars, and hold bad actors accountable. To date, the agency has announced suspensions of over 150,000 pandemic borrowers in five states tied to over $10 billion in suspected fraud. Suspended borrowers are prohibited from receiving future small business and disaster loans and are not eligible for other SBA programs such as federal contracting in the 8(a) Business Development Program. Suspensions to date include:
* 112,000 California borrowers tied to $8.6 billion in suspected fraud
* 27,000 Ohio borrowers tied to $1.1 billion in suspected fraud
* 6,900 Minnesota borrowers tied to $400 million in suspected fraud
* 1,500 Maine borrowers tied to $93 million in suspected fraud
* 7,800 Wisconsin borrowers tied to $375 million in suspected fraud
In partnership with the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, the SBA also launched its largest fraud enforcement action to date -- and the largest referral package in agency history -- by referring more than 560,000 suspected fraudulent borrowers tied to $22 billion in pandemic-era loans to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for collection.
As these efforts continue, the SBA remains committed to aggressive oversight, strong interagency coordination, and accountability for those who defrauded programs intended to help legitimate small businesses, as well as implementing preventive measures in its ongoing programs.
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About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of entrepreneurship. As the leading voice for small businesses within the federal government, the SBA empowers job creators with the resources and support they need to start, grow, and expand their businesses or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
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Original text here: https://www.sba.gov/article/2026/07/14/sba-expands-use-palantir-software-accelerate-pandemic-fraud-crackdown
Multilateral Development Banks Increase Climate Finance to $163 Billion in 2025, Supporting Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Growth
WASHINGTON, July 15 (TNSrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following news release:
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Multilateral Development Banks Increase Climate Finance to $163 billion in 2025, Supporting Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Growth
* Multilateral development banks' climate finance in low-and middle-income countries jumps 21% to $103 billion last year, according to their new annual report.
* MDB adaptation finance in low- and middle-income economies rose 31% to $35 billion, and mitigation finance rose 16% to $68 billion.
* MDBs on track to meet their 2030 climate-finance projections
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, July 15 (TNSrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following news release:
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Multilateral Development Banks Increase Climate Finance to $163 billion in 2025, Supporting Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Growth
* Multilateral development banks' climate finance in low-and middle-income countries jumps 21% to $103 billion last year, according to their new annual report.
* MDB adaptation finance in low- and middle-income economies rose 31% to $35 billion, and mitigation finance rose 16% to $68 billion.
* MDBs on track to meet their 2030 climate-finance projectionsacross all their countries of operation.
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Multilateral development banks (MDBs) including the Inter-American Development Bank Group increased climate finance to record levels in 2025, reinforcing their role in supporting climate-resilient and sustainable economies. Climate finance by MDBs in low- and middle-income countries jumped 21% from the previous year to an all-time high of $103 billion while MDB climate finance across all countries of operation rose 19% to a record $163 billion.
The results, published today in the 2025 Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks' Climate Finance, confirm that MDBs are on track to meet their 2030 projections announced at the United Nations climate conference COP29 in Baku in 2024.
In low- and middle-income economies, MDB climate finance has doubled over the past five years. Of the $103 billion amount in 2025, mitigation accounted for the largest share at $68 billion while adaptation finance continued to grow rapidly to $35 billion. Private-sector mobilisation in these countries reached $35 billion.
In high-income economies, MDB climate finance in 2025 also remained substantial, meeting or exceeding 2030 targets five years in advance and supporting primarily mitigation efforts with $53 billion, alongside targeted adaptation investments of $7 billion. Private finance mobilisation in these countries reached $80 billion.
MDB climate finance
At COP29 in Baku, MDBs set out financial efforts to help countries achieve ambitious climate results. By 2030, they projected to provide $120 billion annually in collective climate finance for low- and middle-income countries, including $42 billion for adaptation, while mobilising an additional $65 billion a year from the private sector. For high-income countries, MDBs project $50 billion a year in climate finance by 2030, including $7 billion for adaptation, alongside a further $65 billion in mobilised private finance.
At COP30 in Belem, MDBs reaffirmed their commitment to continue to work together as a system to assist clients, helping them benefit from the opportunities of climate smart development.
Advancing transparency
MDBs are advancing their joint digitalisation efforts to improve the transparency, accessibility and usability of climate finance data.
Launched in April 2026, the pilot version of the MDB Climate Finance Dashboard complements the joint summary report by providing more granular data, detailed breakdowns and the full set of harmonised methodologies used by MDBs. Through interactive tables and visualisations, stakeholders can explore climate finance data in a more flexible and intuitive way, enhancing both understanding and usability.
MDB joint reporting on climate finance
The 2025 MDB climate finance reporting is coordinated and prepared for publication by the EIB, with assistance from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The reporting combines data from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), the EBRD, the EIB, the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDBG), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the New Development Bank (NDB) and the World Bank Group (WBG).
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About the IDB Group
The Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) is the leading source of financing and knowledge for improving lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. It comprises the IDB, which works with the region's public sector and enables the private sector; IDB Invest, which directly supports private companies and projects; and IDB Lab, which spurs entrepreneurial innovation.
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REPORT: https://www.eib.org/files/publications/20260117-130726-2025-joint-summary-report-on-mdbs-climate-finance-en.pdf
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Original text here: https://www.iadb.org/en/news/multilateral-development-banks-increase-climate-finance-163-billion-2025-supporting-climate
Comments of the National Academy of Medicine on OMB's Proposal to Alter the Federal Grantmaking Process
WASHINGTON, July 15 -- The National Academy of Medicine issued the following news:
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Comments of the National Academy of Medicine on OMB's Proposal to Alter the Federal Grantmaking Process
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The approach the United States has taken to funding biomedical and health research for more than seven decades rests on a straightforward premise: awards are chosen through rigorous, independent, competitive peer review, within priorities that elected leaders set through statute and appropriations. That approach has delivered enormous returns, including steep declines in deaths from cancer, heart disease,
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WASHINGTON, July 15 -- The National Academy of Medicine issued the following news:
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Comments of the National Academy of Medicine on OMB's Proposal to Alter the Federal Grantmaking Process
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The approach the United States has taken to funding biomedical and health research for more than seven decades rests on a straightforward premise: awards are chosen through rigorous, independent, competitive peer review, within priorities that elected leaders set through statute and appropriations. That approach has delivered enormous returns, including steep declines in deaths from cancer, heart disease,and infection; life-saving advances in transplantation, maternal and fetal care, and treatment of genetic and neurological disorders; and the promise of new cures through gene- and immune-based therapies. It has also sustained decades of U.S. leadership in science and innovation and driven nationwide economic growth.
The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) proposed rule, Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance, threatens to fundamentally alter this proven system and compromise the ability of the American scientific enterprise to deliver ongoing benefits to taxpayers. Alongside the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and hundreds of other aligned organizations, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) submitted a formal public comments to OMB detailing concerns with key provisions and urging action to preserve the primacy of independent, merit-based review and sustain the scientific workforce that is vital to national competitiveness and security. A high-level summary of the comments appears below.
Access the NAM's complete comments here: Comments of the National Academy of Medicine on the Proposed Rule, Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance
Summary
The NAM supports appropriate measures to ensure accountability and legal compliance in the use of federal research funds. However, several elements of the proposed rule would introduce uncertainty and potential bias into a system that depends on predictability and independence.
The rule would insert discretionary, non-technical review by political appointees ahead of funding decisions, potentially overriding objective processes designed to select the most meritorious projects to advance national priorities. It would expand agencies' authority to terminate active, multi-year awards for non-scientific reasons, disrupting years-long clinical trials, research cohorts, and laboratory work that cannot simply be paused without harming the ability to achieve valid results and honor obligations to people who contribute to biomedical research by participating in clinical trials.
The rule could curtail the ability of scientific and medical organizations to convene independent experts and disseminate research findings free of political influence and could impede essential international scientific collaboration. It could also restrict legitimate scientific research that measures how health outcomes differ across communities, including research that is essential to serving rural, low-income, and chronically ill populations. Finally, the rule risks destabilizing support for fellowships, traineeships, and other mechanisms that sustain the pipeline of early-career scientists.
Such significant disruption could have economic and national security ramifications. U.S. investment in basic and applied research remains larger than that of any other nation, and it has helped drive many of the major scientific advances of the modern era, advances whose benefits have extended far beyond our borders. It allows the United States to help lead global conversations about public health, regulation, and scientific norms. The biomedical enterprise is also a pillar of our national security, supporting America's biodefense and pandemic response.
The biomedical enterprise employs millions of Americans and anchors regional economies. It produces medicines that change people's lives and allow them to be more productive. Sustaining this enterprise requires a scientific and engineering workforce commensurate with the size of our economy and the scale of our scientific aspirations. The enterprise took decades to build, and once it erodes, rebuilding it could take a generation.
The OMB's proposed changes would add significantly to an already sizable burden on the workforce; for example, funding constraints and immigration policies introduced in 2025 and 2026 have already reduced, by the thousands, the number of next-generation scientists available to serve the nation. In this context, the NAM comment calls on OMB to demonstrate how its proposed changes will protect and enhance, rather than erode, the size and quality of the nation's current and future scientific workforce.
The NAM welcomes the opportunity to work with OMB toward a final rule that advances transparency and accountability without compromising scientific integrity and innovation.
Media inquiries: Molly Galvin (mgalvin@nas.edu)
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Original text here: https://nam.edu/news-and-insights/comments-omb-proposal/
CfA Astronomers Win Share of Roman Space Telescope's Inaugural General Investigator Program
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, July 15 -- The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics issued the following news release:
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CfA Astronomers Win Share of Roman Space Telescope's Inaugural General Investigator Program
Four major projects and seven CfA researchers will lead and co-lead investigations spanning the Milky Way, exoplanets, black holes, and the earliest galaxies
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The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian was strongly represented in the newly announced Cycle 1 General Investigator Program from the Roman Science Support Center with four scientists leading and three co-leading
... Show Full Article
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, July 15 -- The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics issued the following news release:
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CfA Astronomers Win Share of Roman Space Telescope's Inaugural General Investigator Program
Four major projects and seven CfA researchers will lead and co-lead investigations spanning the Milky Way, exoplanets, black holes, and the earliest galaxies
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The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian was strongly represented in the newly announced Cycle 1 General Investigator Program from the Roman Science Support Center with four scientists leading and three co-leadinginvestigations.
"I would like to congratulate every CfA astronomer whose programs were accepted as a Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator," said CfA Director Lisa Kewley. "They will be leading groundbreaking astronomical discoveries in a large range of topics, including the structure of our Milky Way, galaxy evolution at cosmic dawn, black hole growth, explosive transients, and the formation and evolution of exoplanets."
The full list of selected CfA programs are:
CfA PI-led programs
#19012: Foundational Value-Added Data Products for the Roman Galactic Plane Survey
* Principal Investigator: Catherine Zucker (SAO)
* Co-Is: Cameren Swiggum (SAO), Christina Lindberg (SAO)
* Science Focus: This program focuses on mapping the structural topography of the Milky Way. Using infrared data from Roman's Galactic Plane Survey, Dr. Zucker's team will analyze how starlight is absorbed and scattered to construct highly precise 3D dust maps of the interstellar medium, allowing scientists to model star formation environments across the galaxy's disk.
#19019: An Archival Deep Drilling Kuiper Belt Search in the Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey
* Principal Investigator: Kevin Napier (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
* Co-Investigator: Matthew (Matt) Holman (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
* Science Focus: This solar system investigation uses archival data of Roman's high-cadence wide-field survey of the Galactic Bulge to conduct deep drilling searches for faint trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Dr. Napier and the team are utilizing these data to test models of planetesimal formation, and to search for yet-undetected populations of objects in the distant Solar System.
#19065: Illuminating Dark Energy and Black Holes with Strong Gravitational Lensing in the Nancy Grace Roman Space Observatory Era
* Principal Investigators: Rodrigo Cordova Rosado (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
* Co-Principal Investigator: Kim-Vy Tran (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
* Co-Is: Rong Xu (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Sam Ecclestone-Browne (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
* Science Focus: This program leverages the ASTRO 3D Galaxy Evolution with Lenses (AGEL) survey framework to identify and catalog massive samples of strong gravitational galaxy-galaxy lenses. By analyzing how Roman's high-resolution, wide-field imaging stretches light from background galaxies into beautiful cosmic arcs, the team can map out the distribution of dark matter halos and place new constraints on dark energy and early black hole growth.
#19076: A Comprehensive Census of Roman and Rubin Transient Host Environments from Low to High Redshift
* Principal Investigator: Anya Nugent (Harvard)
* Co-Principal Investigator: V. Ashley Villar (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
* Science Focus: This program utilizes a dual-survey approach leveraging both the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the Roman Space Telescope. Drs. Nugent and Villar will execute a large-scale demographic study of the environments where cosmic transients (such as supernovae and exotic stellar explosions) occur, spanning a massive evolutionary timeline from the local universe out to deep cosmic dawn.
CfA Co-Is:
1. 2001: Fengwu Sun, Zihao Wu - Roman eXtreme Deep Field (RDF); Galaxies
2. 2002: Christina Lindberg - Legacy Survey of Andromeda & Triangulum; Stellar Pops
3. 2004: Andrew Vanderburg - The Roman-Kepler Legacy Survey; Exoplanets
4. 19008: Catherine Zucker - Gas and dust in/front of the Galactic Center; ISM
5. 19017: Fabio Pacucci - Beating Cosmic Variance: UVLFs at Cosmic Dawn; Galaxies
6. 19021: Anya Nugent - High-Redshift SN Program with WFS RISE; Stellar Physics
7. 19033: Fengwu Sun - Little Red Dots at z~0.5-2 with HLWAS; AGN
8. 19058: Andrew Vanderburg, Jennifer Yee - Explainable Al Early Microlensing; Discovery; Exoplanets
9. 19059: Andrew Vanderburg, Jennifer Yee - Disentangling FFPs from Stellar Flares; Exoplanets
10. 19063: Mike Smith - R-HIVE: SFH-Morphology-Environment; Galaxies
11. 19075: Hyerin Cho, Ramesh Narayan, Angelo Ricarte - BH-Galaxy Coevolution of Extreme; Galaxies; AGN
12. 19080: Jiwon Han - RAGHAB: Galactic Hunt for Astrometric; Binaries; Stellar Physics
13. 19081: Peter Blanchard - High-Redshift & Exotic Transients in HLTDS; Stellar Physics
14. 19100: Daniel Eisenstein, Zihao Wu - A Shining Cosmic Dawn (z>8 LFs/clustering); Galaxies
* * *
Original text here: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/cfa-astronomers-win-share-roman-space-telescopes-inaugural-general-investigator-program
