The number of research grants awarded by the US National Science Foundation in 2026 is a fraction of the five-year average, although funding could soon start to flow more freely. Credit: B Christopher/Alamy

More than halfway through the fiscal year, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded many fewer new grants than it usually would have by this point, with particularly big hits to grants in areas such as the social sciences and biological sciences. The delays have left many researchers bewildered and anxious, uncertain whether money will be available for crucial projects and staff salaries.

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Agency staff members, who spoke to Nature on the condition of anonymity, attribute the hold-up to factors including an unusually late distribution of money to the NSF’s eight main divisions, called directorates, and protracted haggling between Congress and the administration of US President Donald Trump about what the NSF should be…