This year, both the UK and US had major elections where the governing party lost in a big way. At moments like this, we usually focus on what these kinds of shifts will mean, if anything, for everyday life. Less at the forefront of people’s minds is the impact on scientific research. There is a tendency to think of this endeavour as separate.

But the truth is, it isn’t. There is a very obvious reason why we can’t think of the politics of those in power as separate from what happens in the world of science. Our government agencies are among those tasked with researching and…