Following through on his vows to shake up the U.S. government, President Donald Trump's new administration quickly issued a flurry of executive orders and other decisions, some with big implications for research and global health, sowing worry and confusion among many scientists. The White House this week proposed--and 2 days later rescinded--an unprecedented order to freeze huge chunks of federal spending, including research grants. The 27 January budget memo directed political appointees at every agency to decide whether the funds "conform with administrative priorities" as spelled out in a slew of executive orders Trump has issued since taking office. Despite withdrawing the memo, the White House said agencies must still comply with the executive orders, which ban support for programs that include promoting "Marxist equity, transgenderism, and Green New Deal social engineering policies." A federal judge had already temporarily halted implementation of the memo, which generated a public outcry.

The grant, from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, extends the Duke Autism Center of Excellence research program for an additional 5 years. Geraldine Dawson, Ph.D., director of the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, will lead a team of researchers that includes Duke faculty from psychiatry, pediatrics, biostatistics and bioinformatics, computer and electrical engineering, and civil and environmental engineering. "We are thrilled to receive this award, which allows Duke to remain at the forefront of autism research," Dawson said. "Our goal is to use advanced computational techniques to develop better methods for autism screening that will reduce known disparities in access to early diagnosis and intervention." In a project led by Dawson and Guillermo Sapiro, Ph.D., professor of electrical and computer engineering, researchers will test a digital app, used by parents at home on a smart phone, to videotape young children's behavior and interactions with their caregivers.

In 2020, IDRC and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) launched the Artificial Intelligence for Development in Africa (IAPD Africa) program. This program aims to support the AI community and policymakers in developing responsible, ethical, and equitable AI that meets the continent's challenges, under the leadership of Africa. IDRC, the International Development Research Centre, was established in Canada in 1970 with a mission "to initiate, encourage, support and conduct research into the problems of the developing regions of the world and into the application of scientific, technical and other knowledge for the economic and social advancement of those regions . IDRC sees climate change and inequality, combined with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, as major obstacles to achieving the UN's sustainable development goals, and it is these challenges that it helps to address. While the center is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, its five regional offices are located in India, Jordan, Kenya, Senegal, and Uruguay to be as close as possible to the researchers and projects it funds.

When Luke Stark sought money from Google in November he had no idea he'd be turning down $60,000 from the tech giant in March. Stark, an assistant professor at Western University in Ontario, Canada, studies the social and ethical impacts of artificial intelligence. In late November, he applied for a Google Research Scholar award, a no-strings-attached research grant of up to $60,000 to support professors who are early in their careers. He put in for the award, he said, "because of my sense at the time that Google was building a really strong, potentially industry-leading ethical AI team." Soon after, that feeling began to dissipate.