What It Takes to Make Scientific Discoveries Happen

Dr. Elisabeth Adkins Marnik, PhD, is the science education and outreach director at MDI Biological Laboratory and the chief scientific officer of Those Nerdy Girls.

Look around. What do you see? A cell phone? A computer? Maybe you’re outside, surrounded by grass, trees, and plants? Now, take a deep breath and hold it—do you feel the expansion of your lungs inside your chest? All of this experience involves science! 

Science is a way for us to understand and learn about the world. It explains the functioning of our lungs and heart, the way ibuprofen works when we have a headache, how trees convert sunlight into energy, and so on. Ultimately, science influences every aspect of our lives in some way. 

But this understanding doesn’t just come to us. We learn about the world through decades of careful scientific research. Research requires time, patience, trained staff, equipment, supplies, laboratory space, and more. Importantly, this research requires money—the components of science are not free.  

The Cost of Research 

Research expenses for a specific project fall into two categories known as direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include items that are specifically needed for the project, such as lab supplies, specific equipment, and staff salaries.  

Indirect costs, also known as facilities and administration fees, cover things that are essential to the research but are not tied to just one project. This category includes things like maintaining shared laboratory equipment, cost for the lab space, utilities, and administrative support. These resources are needed to ensure scientists can carry out their work. Skilled professionals cannot do bench research in a dark and unheated lab space.  

Scientific progress depends on these financial investments. Without funding, we risk slowing down or completely stopping advancements that could improve health, technology, and our overall quality of life. 

In the United States, this funding comes primarily from the federal government, through institutions like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). 

The NIH funds biomedical research and training. It is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. The NIH funds projects that explore disease mechanisms, develop new treatments, and seek to improve public health.  

The NSF funds research in a variety of scientific fields, including computer science, engineering, marine science, and physics. The advancements made in these fields help us learn more about topics that can lead to the development of new technologies, improve our understanding of space, and more. 

Together, these agencies help make the U.S. a leader in scientific research. Unfortunately, many discussions are happening right now about whether federal funding for scientific research, or even science itself, is important. There have been proposed cuts to indirect costs, and grant cancellations have been occurring left and right.  Combined, these developments make scientists very concerned.  

As someone working at a small, independent nonprofit research institution, I see firsthand how critical federal funding is to scientists’ ability to conduct research and train students. Without that funding, many of the advancements and discoveries we take for granted today wouldn’t exist. But many people don’t understand the importance of scientific funding, or how this system works. We can all benefit from understanding this system and explaining it to others.  

How is federal funding for scientific research obtained? 

Imagine you’re a new scientist who has just started running your own laboratory at a local university. You have a fantastic idea for a research project that involves studying how to better treat multiple sclerosis. You need money to do this research, so you write a grant proposal. The proposal outlines what you want to do, how you want to do it, why it is important, who will help you do the work, and more. It takes months of hard work, but you finally get to hit “submit.” Then you wait for months for an answer about whether or not your grant will be funded.  

Let’s go through what normally happens for an NIH grant after you hit that submit button: 

Fast forward six months. You finally get a notice about your grant status. You open the notification and see the score, and your heart sinks. The score is not good enough for your study to be funded. This is the sad reality for most scientists, especially when submitting their first proposal. Only about 21 percent of research grants submitted are funded. If you receive a bad score, you know that you have to try again. You may repeat this process, refining your proposal until you secure funding to do the research. 

Overall, the grant process is competitive and stressful, but it pays off. You can find examples of all the different types of research NIH has supported at NIH Reporter, or explore NSF-funded projects here. 

Why does science funding matter? 

Federal support for scientific research is critically important. Here are three of the many payoffs for both the scientists being funded and society. 

1. Scientific discoveries improve lives. 

Science fuels the creation of new cures, treatments, and technologies. For example, the FDA recently approved the first treatment for sickle cell anemia that uses the genetic engineering technology called CRISPR. The initial discovery of and work to understand CRISPR involved bacteria and were funded by the NIH. Other examples of the impact of NIH or NSF research include the Internet, LASIK eye surgery, and improved treatments for cystic fibrosis. More examples can be found on the NIH and NSF websites. 

Without federal funding, we would lose or delay medical breakthroughs and technological advances that could save or improve lives. 

2. Science boosts the economy. 

The research ecosystem in the U.S. supports the economy in all 50 states and U.S. territories. A recent report found that every $1 the NIH spends on funding research gives a $2.56 return on investment. This investment provides salaries for scientists, technicians, students, and other support staff, as well as boosting the economy in other ways, such as through the purchasing of supplies and equipment. In 2024, the NIH funded 407,782 jobs in the U.S., and every state saw job growth and economic benefit.  

If federal funding decreases or disappears, people will lose their jobs, the economy will suffer, and scientists may choose to leave the U.S. Countries, including France, have already announced programs to recruit U.S. scientists. 

3. Science education is critical for workforce development. 

NIH and NSF funding supports summer research internships, graduate training, and postdoctoral fellowships. These experiences give students the opportunity to work in a lab, learn how to think like a scientist, and conduct research for their degrees. Such programs provide essential training that ensures we have new generations of scientists. 

Without this investment, we will lose talented people who could have contributed to the future workforce and to scientific discovery. We are already seeing programs being paused, cut, or reduced in size in response to concerns over decreases in federal funding.  

The bottom line 

Science funding isn’t just about scientists. It also creates jobs, bolsters our economy, and helps us have a healthier and economically strong future. So, the next time you pick up your phone, take a deep breath, or swallow a medication, remember that science helps us understand these things and so much more. And science needs funding to keep making progress. It is our responsibility as concerned citizens to help the people around us understand the importance of federally supported research. 

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