Washington Week in Science - September 11, 2026

 

A Weekly Update of Policy News and Select Funding Opportunities Compiled by Van Scoyoc Associates View this email in your browser September 11, 2026

Health   What 25 years of research have revealed about 9/11’s long-term health effects Since the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, scientists and clinicians have learned much about the enduring effects of exposure to environmental toxins and hazardous materials. A perspective paper, published Thursday in JAMA, highlights some insights from long-term follow-up of people with 9/11-related health effects, lessons learned in terms of care delivery and clinical understanding, as well as some implications for future disaster responses. The perspective paper, titled “Twenty-Five Years After 9/11—Lessons From the World Trade Center Health Program,” is authored by scientists and clinicians affiliated with the World Trade Center Health Program (WTC Health Program) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read more:  Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News   CDC merges its flu, COVID divisions to ‘strengthen operational efficiency’ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is merging its Influenza Division with the Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Diseases Division to create the Influenza and Respiratory Viruses Division (IRVD). The organizational change has been planned since the Biden administration. The new division is tasked with preventing disease, disability, and death through the control of seasonal epidemics and pandemic respiratory viral diseases. The reorganization "will strengthen operational efficiency, pandemic preparedness and laboratory capabilities while streamlining coordination across CDC, federal agencies, jurisdictions and external partners, and optimizing expertise and resources," CDC senior public affairs specialist Belsie González, MPH, told CIDRAP News. "There are no planned reductions in staff with this reorganization," she said. Read more:  CIDRAP   CDC warns of a summer spike in rabies exposures A spike in rabies cases among animals this summer has led to a rise in human exposures across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Thursday. In a new health advisory, the CDC urged doctors to be on the lookout for possible exposures and to administer vaccines and treatments as needed. Read more:  NBC News   FDA solidifies CDER, CBER leadership posts as commissioner confirmation awaits Following a months-long interregnum at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the leadership pieces are again locking into place at the regulator. In a stabilizing move, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday afternoon that it has tapped Michael Davis, M.D., Ph.D., and Karim Mikhail—who’ve been serving as acting directors of the Centers for Drugs Evaluation and Research (CDER) and the Centers for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), respectively—to occupy their posts on a permanent basis. Rather than just filling vacancies, the selections “signal the direction we are heading,” acting FDA commissioner Kyle Diamantas said in a Sept. 8 statement. Read more:  Fierce Pharma   National Security   Iran and US hit tankers in biggest wave of attacks on shipping since war began Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers, ‌in the biggest wave of attacks on shipping by both sides since the start of the six-month-old war. The attacks sent the price of oil surging, with benchmark Brent crude futures breaching $100 a barrel for the first time since July. At least one seafarer aboard a tanker was reported killed and another listed as missing. The incidents follow a month of relative calm, during which the U.S. has sought to pressure Iran through economic means. Iran said it had fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. military base in ​Jordan. Read more:  Reuters   US to seek back payment from Europe for Ukraine aid, Trump says U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would ask European nations to pay back the United States for military aid and munitions previously sent to Ukraine amid the ongoing war with Russia and appeared to signal a halt in sales to allied nations. In a social media post, Trump also slammed reports of heavily depleted U.S. munition stockpiles amid the separate war in Iran, while adding that the United States was ramping up production and stockpiling munitions. “We are taking them for ourselves, the U.S.A., rather than selling them to others, but the sales to allies will soon again, begin,” Trump wrote. Read more:  Defense News   White House reviews candidates to replace Hegseth deputy, sources say The White House has reviewed candidates to potentially replace Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg, three people familiar with the discussions told Reuters, a sign that more leadership change could come for a Pentagon already facing unusually high staff turnover. The effort, which was under way in June, has included conversations with senior lawmakers in the Senate about whether the administration’s picks would have enough support to be confirmed, said two of the people, one of whom added that the review was still going on as of late August. Read more:  Air Force Times   Cao needs special waiver from Congress to become Navy secretary President Donald Trump has announced he is nominating Hung Cao for the full-time position of secretary of the Navy. Cao has been in the acting role since former Navy Secretary John Phelan’s abrupt departure in April. Yet, Cao will need more than the Senate’s majority rule approval — his nomination from Trump will also require a special waiver to assume the post. Under 10 U.S.C. §8013, federal law requires a seven-year waiting period before former military officers can take several top civilian Pentagon jobs, including deputy secretary of defense, under secretary of defense for policy and comptroller and the service secretaries. Read more:  Military Times   Pentagon codifies fitness standards across branches The Pentagon has codified sweeping changes to military fitness requirements, some of which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered last fall. The new regulations, published Aug. 31, spell out testing timelines, standards for troops in combat arms specialties, guidelines for pregnancy and postpartum fitness and establish tracking mechanisms for testing results across the services. Read more:  Military Times   Energy   US Department of Energy closes loan for Duane Arnold restart The US Department of Energy's Office of Energy Dominance Financing has closed a loan of up to USD1.9 billion to NextEra Energy to help finance the restart of the Duane Arnold Energy Center, taking the company closer to bringing Iowa's only nuclear power plant back into operation. Duane Arnold, a single-unit boiling water reactor plant owned and operated by NextEra Energy in Linn County, Iowa, was closed down in 2020. Last October, the company announced plans to restart the shuttered plant by early 2029, pending regulatory approvals, underpinned by a 25-year power purchase agreement with Google. Read more:  WNN   DOE announces $73 million to advance domestic mining technology On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) selected four projects for $73 million in funding through DOE's Mine of the Future initiative to establish domestic testing grounds for innovative mining technologies. “These investments will prove that American innovation can redefine what’s possible in modern mining,” said Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson. “By establishing world class testing grounds, we’re accelerating breakthroughs that will strengthen our supply chains, our workforce, and our national competitiveness.” Read more:  DOE   U.S. Energy Secretary Wright says Iran nuclear deal may never happen U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Sunday said the U.S. may not reach an elusive deal to constrain Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, as the U.S.-Iran conflict enters its seventh month. “There may not be a nuclear agreement. It may be simply destroying their capabilities to do it,” Wright said on ABC News’ “This Week.” “An agreement may await the next administration in Iran. We simply don’t know that.” Read more:  CNBC   NLR campus to host US Department of Energy Geothermal Center of Excellence On Sept. 3, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office  announced the establishment of a Geothermal Center of Excellence on the National Laboratory of the Rockies’ campus to help advance geothermal energy through collaboration, research, and innovation. Led by NLR and enabled by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), the new center at NLR’s South Table Mountain Campus in Golden, Colorado, is strategically located near the areas of greatest geothermal opportunity in the western United States. Read more:  Renewable Energy Magazine   Space   Artemis II moonshot commander and pilot are hanging up their astronaut suits at NASA The two NASA astronauts who led the Artemis II moonshot earlier this year are stepping away from spaceflight. NASA announced Wednesday that Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover will no longer serve as active astronauts but will continue to support the moon exploration program as emeritus astronauts. Glover has taken a leadership job at his alma mater, California Polytechnic State University, while Wiseman’s future plans weren’t disclosed. Read more:  AP News   NASA, IBM launch AI model for lunar science NASA is bringing artificial intelligence to the study of the Moon, helping researchers transform how they analyze the Moon’s surface. In an ongoing collaboration with IBM Research and several academic institutions, NASA has launched the NASA-IBM Lunar Foundation Model, among the first open-source AI models built specifically for lunar science. The model, trained primarily on data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), is hosted publicly on Hugging Face for anyone to use, with the complete codebase available on GitHub for testing and experimentation. Read more:  NASA   Europe will go it alone on Venus mission after NASA yanks radar instrument The European Space Agency is moving “full steam ahead” with development of a robotic mission to Venus after NASA officials determined they were unlikely to fulfill a commitment to provide a US-built radar instrument for the spacecraft, the mission’s project scientist said. The European orbiter, named Envision, will map the Venusian surface at 10 times higher resolution than the last radar mission sent to Venus by NASA in the 1990s. In 2024, NASA agreed to supply a US-made synthetic aperture radar instrument, Envision’s primary means of mapping the surface of Venus, along with providing tracking and communications support through NASA’s Deep Space Network. Read more:  Ars Technica   NASA answers President’s call to establish United States Space Academy Less than two weeks after an Executive Order was signed to create the first United States Space Academy, NASA-led work is in full swing to make the academy a reality and shape the future of America’s aerospace workforce and leadership. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman chaired the first Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy meeting on Sept. 9. Following that meeting, NASA published a Request for Information Thursday seeking input from governors or their designees interested in hosting and sponsoring the up-and-coming academy in their state. Read more:  NASA . Science and Technology   Bipartisan AI safety bill gains momentum on the Hill Congress isn’t back to Washington yet, but some lawmakers were jolted awake by a round of dire AI warnings from a resigning Anthropic researcher who said “people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” Sources who spoke to Semafor said an in-the-works AI safety bill from Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Majority Leader John Thune is the only viable option to stand a chance before 2027 — and that it may be introduced as early as next week. Klobuchar told Semafor in a statement that she is working on a bipartisan agreement on “legislation for commonsense guardrails to address the risks posed by AI systems … it’s clear we need to act now and not wait.” Cruz posted on X that he’s “working with” Klobuchar and Thune “on legislation to address catastrophic risks involving biological or nuclear threats.” AI frontier labs and public advocacy groups are already giving Hill staffers feedback on the draft text, which hasn’t been publicly released. Read more:  Semafor   Fundamental Science and Engineering   The National Science Foundation is building out the government’s AI research infrastructure Last week the National Science Foundation unveiled a new “backbone” for its artificial intelligence research resource called the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Operations Center. The NAIRR Operations Center will support the broader program offering researchers access to data and other computational resources for their advanced AI research. The operations center will coordinate efforts between research resource partners and offer support and training to users working with the NAIRR. Read more:  Government Executive   Oceans and Atmosphere   The U.S. just had its hottest summer on record, NOAA says The United States just experienced its hottest summer on record, officials said, after several months of exceptionally high temperatures and expanding drought across the country. According to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, temperatures nationwide averaged 74.4 degrees Fahrenheit between June and August, which is the period known to climate scientists as "meteorological summer." It was the warmest summer the country has ever seen since temperature and precipitation records began 132 years ago. Read more:  CBS News   USDA puts $26 million behind U.S. catfish industry The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is putting new federal funding behind two different segments of the domestic catfish industry, opening $6 million in grants to expand processing of invasive wild-caught catfish while agreeing to purchase up to $20 million in U.S. farm-raised catfish. USDA announced Sept. 9 that seafood processors working with invasive wild-caught catfish can apply for grants intended to increase processing capacity, strengthen the food supply chain, and create additional markets for fishermen and watermen harvesting the species. Read more:  National Fisherman . NOAA names Mississippi State University to host new Northern Gulf research institute NOAA has selected Mississippi State University to host NOAA’s Cooperative Institute in the Gulf of America (CINGA). The mission of this cooperative institute is to promote collaborative research with NOAA to build a comprehensive understanding of Gulf ecosystems, along with the social and economic forces that define the region. “This collaboration builds on the 20-year partnership between NOAA and Mississippi State University through the Northern Gulf Institute,” said Steve Thur, Ph.D., NOAA assistant administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. Read more:  NOAA   Environment   A.I. boom poses growing public health threat, former E.P.A. officials warn A group representing more than 800 former employees of the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday sounded the alarm over the health consequences of data centers. It warned that Trump administration policies to weaken pollution safeguards and speed up approvals of the facilities threatened to exacerbate those health harms. In a report released Thursday, the nonprofit Environmental Protection Network examined pollution from power plants, gas turbines and diesel generators needed to meet data centers’ surging electricity demand. Read more:  New York Times   US states sue Trump administration for weakening endangered species protections US states filed two lawsuits on Wednesday accusing President Donald Trump’s administration of illegally weakening the federal Endangered Species Act, a landmark law that has shielded the bald eagle and other wildlife from dangers posed by development. The lawsuits by the Democratic attorneys general of 20 states and Washington, DC, were filed less than two months after the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce announced final rules that could make it easier for developers, fossil fuel companies and others to disturb lands that environmental advocates say need protection from business interests. Read more:  CNN   EPA announces scientific advances to modernize safety reviews of new chemicals and pesticides On August 27 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced two scientific advancements designed to modernize safety reviews of new chemicals and pesticides while further eliminating the Agency’s reliance on animal testing. According to EPA, the new methods will help it assess the potential inhalation and oral risks of certain chemicals and pesticides faster and with greater human relevance. Read more:  National Law Review   EPA moves to redefine “discharge of a pollutant” The EPA is proposing a change to the definition of “discharge of a pollutant” that would exempt moving boats and ships from pollution regulations. According to a document published Friday in the Federal Register, the EPA is seeking to exclude “vessels and other floating craft that add pollutants in the contiguous zone or the ocean… from National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program requirements.” The document estimates the rule would result in $1.8 million in savings, but notes that drawbacks include possible effects on water quality and marine species, as well as the management of local seafood processing. Read more:  Eos   Agriculture   Boozman set to hold another committee farm bill vote next week Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) is planning to hold another committee vote on his farm bill plans next week, in a new attempt to squeeze the farmer-friendly policies through to the full chamber ahead of November’s midterms. The panel first met in early August to debate and vote on the GOP-led package. But the legislation stalled due to opposition from committee Democrats and the continued absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) from the Capitol. Boozman hasn’t set a firm date for a committee meeting next week, he told POLITICO on Thursday. Read more:  Politico   Federal unions sue again to block USDA reorganization Federal unions are again suing to stop the Agriculture Department’s major reorganization, arguing that it will unlawfully force thousands of USDA employees to choose between relocating or losing their jobs. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, a coalition of federal unions requested a preliminary injunction to halt the USDA’s reorganization plans. The plaintiffs contend that the reorganization underway violates the Administrative Procedure Act and is occurring without congressional approval. Read more:  Federal News Network   Record diesel prices threaten farm margins as harvest begins Agri-Pulse’s Kim Chipman reported that “skyrocketing diesel costs are threatening to squeeze farm profits, just as U.S. crop growers were starting to catch a break. The average price of U.S. diesel reached a new all-time high of $5.94 a gallon on Wednesday, up four cents from the prior record set Monday over the travel-heavy Labor Day weekend, according to automobile club AAA. Prices are up 61% from a year ago.” “Prices are spiking as farmers prepare to fire up fuel-hungry equipment for round-the-clock harvest work this fall,” Chipman reported. Read more:  Farm Policy News   China buys 1 million tons of U.S. soybeans ahead of Xi visit, sources say China has bought around 1 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans this week, four traders told Reuters, as the world’s top oilseed buyer steps up purchases ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington later this month. The purchases take China’s total U.S. soybean buying to nearly half of the 25 million tons the White House said Beijing had committed to annually through 2028. Read more:  Successful Farming