ALT The Society for Developmental Biology (SDB) is alarmed by the recent workforce reductions at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other federal research agencies. These sudden and far-reaching cutbacks jeopardize the breadth and depth of scientific inquiry—including in the field of developmental biology—and imperil immediate research goals, as well as long-term innovation, and the training of the next generation of scientists. These dismissals do not enhance government efficiency. To the contrary, they eliminate highly trained experts, grant administrators, and support staff whose collective knowledge underpins critical discovery and fuels scientific momentum. Without their efforts, essential research— including research on birth defects, which kill twice as many children as cancer—will face considerable delays. The loss of such institutional memory will also undermine the capacity of these agencies to evaluate grants, maintain databases,