By cracking down on immigration and defunding scientific research, the United States is slowly losing its position as the world leader in research and development, argues Holden Thorp, editor of Science journal and former chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Thorp tells host Steve Clemons that the US government had made a concerted effort over the past 80 years to fund scientific research, but with the changes ushered in by the administration of President Donald Trump, Thorp predicts the results will be “bad for science in general, and also for the US role in innovation”.