Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. has dominated space exploration, but its star could be about to wane. President Donald Trump has proposed cutting NASA's budget by a quarter, effectively cancelling current programs, jeopardizing planned missions and leaving scientists "reeling," said New Scientist. 

The draft 2026 budget, released last week, allocates just $18.8 billion to the agency, a cut of almost 25% from 2025, slashing NASA's workforce by almost a third and halving funding for its science programs. A day later, the president also "removed his nomination" of billionaire Jared Isaacman for NASA administrator, leaving the agency in "turmoil."

What did the commentators say?
It's the biggest single-year cut to NASA's budget in history and (after adjusting for inflation) its smallest budget since 1961, said space exploration advocacy group The Planetary Society. This is an "extinction-level event" for NASA's "most productive, successful and broadly supported activity: science."

The agency "faces stiff competition" from the commercial sector, said space policy expert Wendy Whitman Cobb at The Conversation. Planned and operating missions to Mars and Venus have been "targeted for elimination," with proposals instead for a commercial "Moon to Mars" program, under which NASA would use systems such as Blue Origin's New Glenn and SpaceX's Starship to send Americans off-world. NASA's mission has always been "largely centred on sending humans to space," so it will "need to grapple with what its identity and mission are going forward."

The budget also targets NASA science that has "anything to do with climate change," said Miles O'Brien on PBS. It cuts climate-monitoring satellites, eliminates green aviation programs and "zeroes out science education efforts, declaring them woke."

A lot of things "need reorientation," said Mark Albrecht, who helped lead the Trump transition team at NASA. This could result in a "big push in new science that's managed differently." But California congressman George Whitesides, a former NASA chief of staff, called it a "full-scale assault" on science in America.

What next?
The proposed budget must be debated and approved by Congress. Trump has requested that it be finalized by July 4. It could be "watered down or even scrapped entirely, especially considering the proposed cuts would remove funding to many states, including some key Republican strongholds," said New Scientist. And yet, said Whitman Cobb at The Conversation, my research suggests Congress "rarely appropriates more money for NASA than the president requests."

While we may think of mucus as merely the slimy substance that clogs our nose and gets blown into a tissue, it's so much more. It lines several body organs, acting as a first line of defense against foreign invaders, as well as aiding essential body functions like digestion and illness prevention. And now scientists are taking inspiration from mucus for new disease-fighting treatments. 

What is it made of?
It's more than 95% water, but its "key building blocks are mucins, which are long proteins decorated with complex sugars that make them look like bottlebrushes," said The New York Times. These mucins "attract and retain water, giving mucus its slippery, gel-like consistency," said New Scientist. This allows mucus to keep the passages wet. "Mucins crosslink with themselves and other compounds, creating a meshlike configuration," and the "more mucins in mucus, the denser this network becomes."

What can it do?
Mucus is a "masterpiece of biological engineering in my mind," said Katharina Ribbeck, a professor of biological engineering at MIT, to the Times. It serves several purposes, from protecting us from pathogens to helping with digestion. 

The goopy substance protects the human body by being both a physical barrier and chemical barrier. It works by "shielding the body from unwanted objects and molecules," as well as "actively interacting with foreign materials," said New Scientist. Mucus is "almost like a bouncer at an exclusive nightclub, deciding who gets through."

It also "lines all our wet epithelial surfaces," said Rebecca Carrier, a chemical engineering professor at Northeastern University, to Northeastern Global News. This includes the nose, eyes, ears, throat, lungs, stomach, and urological and genital tracts. Its composition and consistency can vary as needed. For example, "human cervical mucus becomes thinner and more watery during ovulation, enabling sperm to penetrate it more easily," said New Scientist. It might even "respond to our body's internal clocks."

How can it help further medicine?
Researching how mucus works could open exciting possibilities. Mucins contain sugar molecules called glycans that can uniquely fight pathogens. Rather than killing them, the glycans are a food source for the bacteria. Treating the microbes this way "seems to tame them, rendering them less harmful," said Ribbeck to New Scientist. Using glycans or "molecules mimicking them" could be an "alternative to antibiotics or immunotherapies."