{"text":[[{"start":7.69,"text":"Andy Burnham has not bestowed his famous smile on science since taking office two weeks ago. While his messages of hope have mentioned technology and AI, the new UK prime minister has not talked of the need to nourish the basic research that underlies innovation and wealth creation."}],[{"start":24,"text":"Nor have his actions reassured scientists. Many are upset that the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, set up in 2023 by the previous Conservative government and just getting into its stride, is being merged into the business and trade department. The reorganisation inevitably presages more disruption. The new business secretary Jonathan Reynolds must make sure science and technology are not swamped within the larger department."}],[{"start":50.92,"text":"Then came last week’s announcement of cuts in government support for physics and astronomy. Casualties included scientific funding for the renowned Lovell radio telescope at Jodrell Bank near Manchester, reduced UK participation in overseas astronomy projects and an end to British participation in the upgrade of a key particle detector at Cern near Geneva. All lessen UK clout in global science."}],[{"start":76.28,"text":"While these cuts were a legacy from the Starmer administration, the timing is unfortunate for his successor — particularly the threatened end to active observation at Jodrell Bank, which since the 1950s has played a key role in some of radio astronomy’s biggest breakthroughs, from quasars to gravitational lenses predicted by Albert Einstein."}],[{"start":96.12,"text":"A public campaign for money to maintain operations at the Lovell telescope deserves to succeed, along with efforts to reverse some of the other cuts. But the fundamental imbalance between researchers’ expectations and available funding will remain."}],[{"start":111.12,"text":"Last year’s public spending review awarded UK Research and Innovation, the country’s main science agency, a slight increase over four years from £9.2bn in 2026-27 to £10bn in 2029-30. But all the extra money will go to “strategic government and societal priorities” including AI, supporting innovative companies and strengthening infrastructure such as computing. UKRI’s core commitment to curiosity-driven research will remain flat in cash terms and fall significantly in real terms."}],[{"start":143.04,"text":"The part of UKRI hit hardest is the Science and Technology Facilities Council, which operates international projects and national labs in physics and astronomy. These energy-intensive fields are particularly vulnerable to rising costs and currency fluctuations. STFC said the cuts announced last week were worked out in consultation with researchers, but they still shocked some of those affected."}],[{"start":167.8,"text":"Facilities that serve commercial users as well as academics will have to make more effort to raise money from external sources. For example, the Diamond synchrotron in Oxfordshire, which emits intense radiation for materials testing and drug discovery, could increase contributions from corporate users. But it is harder to see companies funding telescopes whose raison d’être is to investigate outer space."}],[{"start":191.28,"text":"Britain is far more dependent on universities for its scientific activities than other European countries, which have larger state-funded networks such as Germany’s Max Planck and Fraunhofer centres. Yet many UK universities are struggling to survive financially without making harmful cuts that would hit the pipeline of future scientific talent as well as current research."}],[{"start":212.88,"text":"Until now, Whitehall has largely seen universities as independent institutions that should be left to sort out their own problems. It may go against Burnham’s devolutionary grain but the government needs to take a more strategic overview of the academic sector’s struggles before they inflict serious harm on the country’s scientific enterprise. Curiosity-driven research remains the wellspring from which wealth-creating technologies will emerge."}],[{"start":238,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1785829249_4955.mp3"}