The attack on science has continued to unfold in the US. NASA, the US space agency, announced on Tuesday, March 11, that it was closing the Office of the Chief Scientist, led by Katherine Calvin, as well as the Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy, and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy branch within the Office of Diversity. In all, some 20 people will be affected by the cuts.

Calvin, a brilliant scientist in her forties, was appointed to her post in 2022 by former president Joe Biden to advise NASA leadership on science programs and science-related investments. She was also the agency's senior advisor on climate. This researcher with a specialty in global resource utilization (land, water, energy, etc.) is also co-chair of Group lll of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), dedicated to finding solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

At the end of February, she was barred by the Republican administration from attending the latest plenary session of this UN agency in China. NASA also disbanded the technical team helping to run Group lll, thereby jeopardizing the preparation of the IPCC's next report on limiting carbon emissions. Nonetheless, since Monday, Calvin had been taking part, remotely, in the first meeting of the lead authors of another IPCC special report on cities.

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