While President Obama has pledged to protect "critical
investments in science and technology," looming cuts to the US
government's budget could severely reduce the amount of funding
these areas receive. The White House Office of Management and
Budget has released a lengthy new report covering the potential
impact of these budget cuts, which reveals that various science
agencies of note could see drastic cuts. The National Institutes
of Health, for instance, would be hit with a loss of $2.5
billion in authorized spending, while the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention would lose $464 million and the The
National Science Foundation $630 million.  NASA, meanwhile,
would see cuts as well, including having its science budget
slashed by $417 million along with $346 million less for space
exploration. Of course, these cuts are a worst case scenario,
and there's the possibility that Congress could put in place a
stop-gap budget for a short period of time — though as Nature
points out, if a new deal isn't reache