Why does the government fund research at universities?
28 May - 27 mins
Podcast Series
Planet Money
American universities are where people go to learn and teach. They're also where research and development happens. Over the past eight decades, universities have received billions in federal dollars to help that happen. Those dollars have contributed to innovations like: Drone technology. Inhalable Covid vaccines. Google search code.
The Trump administration is cutting or threatening to cut federal funding for research. Federal funding for all kinds of science is at its lowest level in decades.
Today on the show: when did the government start funding research at universities? And will massive cuts mean the end of universities as we know them?
We hear from the man who first pushed the gove...
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