Essay by Eric Worrall
Oh no – what if all the climate alarmists leave and never come back?
‘We Are Witnessing a New Brain Drain’ as Scientists Flee America for France
A French university says it’s providing safe harbor to American scientists from Yale, Stanford, NASA, and the NIH.
By Matthew Gault Published March 13, 2025
Aix Marseille University in France has said that 40 U.S. scientists have “answered the call” it put out earlier this month offering safe harbor to fleeing Americans. Scientists in the U.S. under the Trump regime are facing a sudden loss of funding and stricter regulations on speech and areas of research. According to Aix Marseille University President Eric Berton, some of them will find a home in France.
In a press release about its “Safe Space for Science” initiative, the University announced that the 40 U.S. scientists included people from Stanford, Yale, NASA, the National Institute for Health, and George Washington University. It said that most of their research topics were related to “health (LGBT+ medicine, epidemiology, infectious diseases, inequalities, immunology, etc.), the environment and climate change…as well as the humanities and social sciences…and astrophysics.”
Aix Marseille University put out the call to American scientists on March 7 as news continued that the Trump administration was pulling funding from many universities and putting heavy restrictions on research topics. “We are witnessing a new brain drain,” Benton said on March 12. “We will do everything possible to help as many scientists as possible continue their research. But we cannot meet all the requests alone.” He then called on the French and European governments for help.
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Read more: https://gizmodo.com/we-are-witnessing-a-new-brain-drain-as-scientists-flee-america-for-france-2000575654
This isn’t the first time France has pulled a stunt like this.
Despite generous French offers of financial support, last time France offered safe haven, many climate scientists stayed in the USA.
Perhaps this time things will be different, and all the alarmist climate scientists will move to Europe.
To be fair, France has a well funded academic system, but that is pretty much where it stops. There is a reason France isn’t home to startups like Google and Facebook. High taxes and excessive regulations in France deter US style entrepreneurs and startups.
France makes no secret of their hostility towards large corporations. France and other European nations regularly slam “Anglo-Saxon capitalism”, by which they mean laissez-faire capitalism – a French position which is rather sad and historically inaccurate.
The very phrase “laissez-faire” is of course French, a phrase coined in the 17th century, back when French philosophers saw economic freedom as a path to liberation from feudalism and economic stagnation. The French sadly retreated from this glorious moment of near freedom, and in modern times have in my opinion re-instated elements of the ancient feudal system, which has created a tightly controlled command economy overseen by feudal bureaucrats, a straightjacketed form of capitalism where the French and European state is always firmly in control.
Despite all this, for scientists who never plan to ever do anything economically productive, France could be a good opportunity. Being a court philosopher in a feudal state is a well paid job, so long as your philosophy pleases the lord.
Parlez vous francais? Can you speak French?
Je ne parle pas Francais (if I remember my junior high school French correctly).
Dont worry, most French people have good English, they just like to pretend that they don’t so they can eavesdrop your conversations and hear what you are saying about them!
Merde 🙁
Is that French for GOOD RIDDANCE?
They would be self deporting, like deranged leftists Richard Gere (Portugal), Ellen Degerass (UK), and Rosie O’Donnell (Ireland)
Will they leave all their federal benefits, retirements, healthcare, etc. behind?
You misspelled Degenerate
Actually Portugal is a really good place to live. California climate without the lunatics.
I reckon Anglos would have translated that as Mad!
How to Pronounce MERDE In French correctly | French Pronunciation
Merde relates to good riddance, as otherwise you would full of it.
Not in my experience, perhaps your colleagues in the university but the Functionaires steadfastly refuse to speak anything but French. Very few of the people you deal with on a day to day basis like the Butcher, Baker and Candlestick maker will speak English.
I have found a way to avoid much of the “attitude” about language in France (Paris, of course, is hopeless).
Simply smile and offer the appropriate greeting (bon jour or whatever) followed by a simple “apology” (S’il vous plait, pourrais-je parler anglais? = Please, may I speak English?)
Most of the time, you will get a smug smile in return and some version of “What do you want?”
The point is; since you have already politely confessed that you are an ignorant fool, the French person does not have to waste time proving it to you.
Totally wrong.
Just speak to them in your best-remembered high school French. Those who do not either call the gendarmes or run away screaming will immediately decide the conversation is best conducted in English.
When I lived in France, I knew a couple of people (native English speakers) whose job was to “edit” (basically rewrite) articles by French scientists (in the pharmaceutical industry) to be published in journals. These scientists probably could speak/write English, but technical jargon is its own language and a native speaker specialized in jargon is an asset. The French recruit these people from the US.
Emily in Paris comes to mind
Considering the political philosophy of many academics, France might suit their politics better.
Maybe average US-IQ will start to increase!
This may be one of those rare situations where the average IQ in both countries goes up.
Having tried in the past to engage some of them in scientific discussion, after the Canadian media latched onto them by name and trumpeted their mandatory latest dire predictions, it became quickly obvious that climate modellers, sea ice modellers and the like are not real scientists, just navel-gazers, circular reasoners, technicians, and what we used to call ‘applied mathematicians’ far distant from the frontiers of mathematics or science. These people do not seem to bring anything to the table as far as I could see, for example iceberg risk for offshore drilling rigs and shipping. Of course those icebergs are not sea ice. So in this case I agree with Trump that NOAA, NSIDC and NASA could do with some trimming.
“These people do not seem to bring anything to the table as far as I could see, “
That is because you did not look at it from Putin’s perspective. This is a great defensive move by France, as President Putin is rightfully scared by such people.
Easy Peasy. With global warming/climate change, ice melts, no icebergs, no risk. 🙂
Alternatively for the “scientists” and other loonies trying to save the planet, shut down oil, no offshore drill rigs, still no risk. Conveniently ignored is the huge risk to economies and society by shutting down fossil fuels.
How can we get them to take them all? That is my question.
Brain drain? More like draining a cyst.
The “climate” IQ of the USA will become positive….
… and the “climate” IQ of France will drop below zero !
Looking forward to that pain in my ass subsiding.
More like draining an abscess, because there is a lot of damage caused underneath the scab that you don’t see until it ruptures.
Zoot alors! Does this mean there will be more reports of beumb cyclones? Merde!
Does your dueg batt?
That is not my derg.
The more free-loading so-called alarmist ‘climate scientists’ that leave America for France, the stronger American science will become. Mais peuvent-ils parler français ?
This migration will decrease the average IQ of both France and U S
Increase! ?
Seems to be a Francophile.
I will help them pack.
Will they claim refugee status and be put up in hostels with all the fringe benefits?
Some of the USAID budget could be spent to charter planes to fly them over.
Drop them off in Greenland. They can swim the rest of the way.
Wouldn’t be at all surprised if Macron’s offer of a million a head for ‘scientists’ to relocate to France was meant to be syphoned off from USAID.
It would be an acceptable price to pay, if we are to be rid of them en permanence!
According to the socialists that I know laissez faire capitalism is defined as anything short of pure communism.
Mann will fit right in. Doesn’t speak French, censored for lying to the DC court, heavy weight from apparently enjoying Penn State croissants too much.
True story from long ago. I was in a long and typically French inefficient passport line pre Schengen on a morning flight from Munich to Paris. A Frenchman behind kept elbowing me to the side, and finally tried to cut in front. I grabbed him by his puny shoulders, swung him forcibly aside the line, then cursed him out in semi-fluent French (four years of high school plus the Harvard bilingual exam does NOT make one truly French fluent. But it sufficed.) My fellow travelers in the long line behind from Germany applauded this American, whom I then thanked in fluent German. French customs then stamped my American passport REAL quick.
Old US Army joke. Like new French Army rifle for sale. Never fired, only dropped once.
Old US Army joke. Why do French tanks have five speeds in reverse but only one in forward? The one in forward is in case they get attacked from the rear.
So, was I ever in the US Army? (Correct answer involves my USAA membership since 1978– way before Gronk recently helped them greatly cheapen expanded membership.) USAA was founded for military commissioned officers (very select risk pool). I was totally for later expansion to noncoms (also a very select risk pool—they actually run the military).
Expansion to anyone having just served I was against because not select, so average rate liability went way up.
And now to anyone having ever served in the last four generations?—an abomination risk pool wise. Gronk, stuff it. USAA, shame on betrayal for money.
I went elsewhere for insurance about five years ago afyer 40+ years with USAA. Their “military” thing is now just a marketing tool for sign-ups and retention.
They are now in the business of being a giant financial services company; not so much a champion of service members. The ad budget for TV exposure during sports programming must be astronomical.
Do these climate scientists need help packing? I’m sure a lot of us would be more than happy to see them out provided they purchase only one-way tickets.
Sacre vert!
Good one! Deserves more than an up vote.
From the article: “Scientists in the U.S. under the Trump regime are facing a sudden loss of funding and stricter regulations on speech and areas of research.”
This is the liberal media’s way of saying, ‘Putting the term “climate change” into every grant proposal will no longer guarantee funding.’
Looks like some of them don’t understand English, let alone French. When other people are suddenly permitted to speak their minds, so that the immunity they enjoyed from dissent disappeared, that’s not stricter regulations on speech it’s just that they now have nothing to say.
BS, America has the First Amendment. American scientists can say whatever they like, ideally with evidence to support their assertions.
Yeah, Trump is not restricting climate scientists’ speech. They get to whine all they want. Trump won’t stop them. He might make fun of them, but he won’t stop them.
except when one expresses doubt about Zionist genocide (wait for it…)
There is no zionist genocide. The only genocide happening in Israel is Hamas trying to kill as many Jews as possible. It’s in their charter after all.
Beyond that, nobody is being punished for what they are saying. Mahoud is being deported because he violated his student visa and for his participation in violent demonstrations as well as committing trespass and vandalism.
Well looky here – someone who thought his free speech would be censored for expressing an extreme political opinion. But here we are, mindless opinion and all. Yeah. Free speech is a thing. It’s irritating at times to put up with it, but that’s exactly why we DO put up with it. And fight for it.
It would improve both countries.
You have a very low opinion of the French. In my experience some of them are good people. Not all are like Manu Micron and his conjoint-père.
Moving to France (Or any European country for that matter) you have to be able or prepared to become able to live in the language.
As an adult think systematically watching local TV for at least an hour every day, whether you understand it or not.
Read, every day, some well written general interest magazine with a wide variety of everyday subjects. Cosmopolitan is excellent, it covers everything from health to finance and work. You have to spend another hour with a dictionary making sense of a particular piece, then you rephrase what it says in the form of questions or changes to the sentences. You only need one copy, it will take months to work through it.
You have to get a vocabulary list. Most languages will have available a list of the 1,000 or so most common words and the common expressions they occur in. You systematically commit these to memory.
You also have to learn grammar. Berlitz and some other schools will try to teach by the ‘direct method’, how children learn a language from their parents. This is very inefficient for adults whose brains are no longer in that phase. Grammar of a language is the structure on which you can hang vocabulary and phrases and expressions and the adult educated mind can use it to great advantage. Its unfashionable but its an enormous time saver.
I well remember learning a European language with help from Berlitz and asking my teacher with great frustration to just for heavens sake tell me, is this the past imperfect? The subjunctive? The accusative? Berlitz protocol is you don’t, but she relented, explained things in those terms and it helped enormously.
I doubt many of our climate scientists are going to be ready for this. But its what is required to be an expat, and its what immigrants to the US have traditionally had to do.
Even after nine years French at school (French German College in Berlin)
you may speak French “fluent” but you are missing what I call “every day French” to express special vocabulary f.e. if you have probs with your car.
That may have changed now, but as I Ieft school and moved to Southern France, I just had these probs, but I could solve them explaining around what my prob was. 😉
I’ve written for a living, most of my life. I learned more about grammer studying German than my native English.
I learn to use language by reading it and listening. The formal study of grammer always seemed kinda anal to me. I can’t imagine anything more deadly to having a normal life than obsessing over”past imperfect”, “subjunctive” and “accusative”. What exactly are those, anyway 🙂
Peace
I learned more about grammer studying German than my native English.
German grammer is an horror, but don’t talk about Latin. 😂😁
It’s all Greek to me.
Yes, you pretty much have to if you want to speak it well and correctly. At least if you are starting to learn it at over 10 you pretty much have to.
ich sehe den Hund. Accusative.
je veux que tu aillies a la poste. Subjunctive.
Gender: der die das in German. De and het in Dutch/Flemish. Le and la in French.
The difference between past perfect and imperfect: as in this famous passage from the Sentimental Education:
Il voyagea.
Il connut la mélancolie des paquebots, les froids réveils sous la tente, l’étourdissement des paysages et des ruines, l’amertume des sympathies interrompues.
It happened continuously over a period in the past. That’s imperfect. See also the marvellous para early on when Frederic goes to the Bois, sees the carriages, which has the sense that he used to do it. Then suddenly the tense changes and we are in a particular occasion where afterwards he has gone to a cafe. The effect, its a technique but also something more, is to convey in the same para the feeling of a long period of loneliness and boredom and also convey and bring to that the vividness of a particular occasion,
I’m not advocating the study of grammar. Just that if you know the basics, it makes learning languages such as German or French a lot quicker and easier for English speakers.
Of course you can do it the Berlitz way, kids do it, and lots of adults do their best and make progress with it. You can also find out about a city by walking around it. But having a streetmap, and knowing how to use it, makes it a lot faster. Try it with your next language.
Nostalgia is really just a grammar lesson. We find the past perfect and the future tense.
^^^^^ This comment deserves some kind of award
Au revior.
Adieu, not Au Revoir.
The former means you will never see that person again, whereas the latter means the opposite.
There’s another problem with moving with young children, if you expect to return home. You’ll carry on talking your own language with them at home, and they will appear fluent. But they will be in class in the new language and surrounded by media and other children talking it, so this will become their first language.
Then when you go home and put them in school, you’ll discover they actually don’t have the same language level as the kids who have been totally brought up in that language. There will be real catchup needed before their writing skills and ability to use the language for mastering other subjects can match the requirements.
I doubt this migration is going to become a thing on any scale.
More like a bane drain.
Or maybe dain bramage (apologies to Dave Grohl).
Climate refugees !!!
Those ‘stricter regulations’ presumably are: free speech applies, and now you may investigate the influence of the Sun on climate, and entertain the notion that Covid came out of a lab.
That’s the beauty of a free market system, balancing supply and demand. Of course, if they don’t want to move they could always learn to code (before AI makes that endeavour irrelevant). 😉
US – Internet
France – Minitel
France has a reputation for being high tech due to its well-developed nuclear industry. However, France’s own indigenous attempts at developing nuclear technology (Magnox reactors) faltered. Things didn’t really take off until they adopted (i.e., purchased) the technology developed by Bettis and Westinghouse. That’s the technology that still runs their (government owned) nuclear industry today.
“There is a reason France isn’t home to startups…” – scientific research is decided by the bureaucracy and politicians to meet there lofty notions and ambitions of World-leading Europe-forte, competition is a dirty word because new ideas/products/ replace old industries and products and losses in sacred jobs-forever causing continuous strikes, and harmonisation and regulatory conformity prevents the differences from norms that innovation requires to succeed.
“stricter regulations on speech and areas of research” your decisions. Nope, you can research whatever the hell you want just don’t expect the government to fund your decisions.No regulation on speech just don’t
claim what you say is an official position.