Evidence is mounting that the word of the year for 2026 could well be nihilism. Nothing matters. Meaning is void. Science is suppressed. Nonsense is flooding the zone of public discourse. In the contention between signal and noise, noise often seems to be winning.
Breaking American Institutions of Science
We note with regret that the integrity of our institutions of scientific institutions of great renown is straining to a breaking point. This week, four more scientists and leaders at NIH explained in Stat News that they are leaving NIH because:
“We protest the hypocrisy of an NIH leadership that claims to protect academic freedom while censoring grants and staff communication. Instead of applying our skills and knowledge to science, we have been instructed to tell scientists competing for NIH funding to remove words like ‘equity,’ ‘diversity,’ ‘minority,’ and ‘underserved,’ regardless of the scientific appropriateness of these terms or the significance of the projects. To this day, grants continue to be ‘realigned’ with administration priorities, a clear form of ideological coercion. The damage to research and destabilizing effects on the scientific workforce will be long lasting.”
Much of the credibility of CDC has been destroyed in service to political agendas that have replaced the pursuit of science and health. FDA is in turmoil. Health policy appears to favor scoring points and grabbing headlines more than leading us toward better health.
In short, our institutions of science and health are in serious trouble.
Guidance to Ignore
What is coming out of this mess is more noise than signal.
Many states and credible health organizations have quickly moved to reject new vaccine recommendations that do more to promote fear and make children vulnerable than to promote better health.
Nutrition scientists and policy advocates are picking over the muddled mish-mash of new dietary guidance for sound bites that might actually help while discarding nonsense embedded in them. Favor eating whole foods? Sure. Go for beef fat in your fries? No thanks.
Toward Something Better
This is a stress test.
Yes, we are seeing many prompts for nihilism. But instead, it may be that that the chaos in public policy, health, and science will create opportunities for fresh thinking and a surge of innovation. That is the hope we will seize. Stress can make us resilient and be a spark for innovation.
So we must step up. Beyond merely discerning the problem, each of us has an opportunity to be creative in finding a better way. Leadership can take us in a better direction with a sense of common purpose.
Click here and here for perspective on overcoming nihilism and finding inspiration in the midst of chaos.
The Last King. Empty Throne. Painting by Nicholas Roerich / WikiArt
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January 16, 2026 at 7:57 am, Christine Rosenbloom said:
Thanks for this… I needed it today.
January 16, 2026 at 8:01 am, Mary-jo said:
Totally agree. We can start the process by stopping the rhetoric on DISTRUSTING THE EXPERTS and suggestief to mothers they are not good if they DO trust the experts. There’s a vast difference between questioning experts and distrusting them! The best information we have, the best scientific studies done are borne from questioning the status quo, while still valuing andcredoecting the scientists and experts whose work and recommendations based on best technology and info at the time!
January 16, 2026 at 9:48 am, Athena said:
I appreciate your newsletters so much! This is an elegantly written discussion on something that simply would have made me feel my total exasperation even more if I had found out nihilism was the word of the year on my own lol, but instead it again reminds us to feel hopeful, which I appreciate.
I remember learning about the concept of nihilism as a teenager and I never really felt like I could comprehend it, but I just knew that I hated the concept. Now I feel like nihilism makes more sense to me in a world that has changed so much all around me.
I haven’t had as much time to read your newsletters but I appreciate them just as much as ever. (Public schools are being undermined and schools closed, including my kids’ school, one of the top ten primary schools in Oregon—knowledge is under attack in all areas, it seems.)
Anyway, thank you for continuing to write about things that matter and for reminding about resilience and finding inspiration. <3