--- title: "Scientists Forced to Go on OnlyFans After Their Funding Was Cut" description: "After the Trump administration cut billions in research grants, scientists have started an OnlyFans accounts to keep their work going." date: "2026-08-01" modified: "2026-08-01" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/science-energy/scientists-onlyfans-trump-cut-research" categories: - "Biology" - "Finance" - "Future Society" - "Science & Energy" --- # Scientists Forced to Go on OnlyFans After Their Funding Was Cut ![A photograph of a Marmot in which the Marmot has been pixelated.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Shutterstock* When you're a scientist relying on government funding to conduct your research, and that government suddenly yoinks all your money in the name of "efficiency," you have to get creative to keep the lights on. Such has been the experience of Daniel Blumstein, a biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, renowned for his work on studying the ground-dwelling rodents known as marmots. After the Trump administration cancelled billions of dollars in federal research grants last year, he and his colleagues decided to start creating content dedicated to the charming mammals — on OnlyFans. As [*SFGate* reports](), their account, called "OnlyMarms," promises near-daily "unfiltered yellow-bellied marmot content from the Rockies." Subscribing is free, but users can leave tips on the cute photos and videos they post, which goes towards funding the research. It's a win for everyone: shy gooners have a convenient explanation for all the OnlyFans transactions in their bank accounts, and the scientists get to keep doing the work they're doing. Thank you, marmots, for being so adorable. "Sometimes I'm just posting the videos I think will get the most 'aws,'" Emily Renkey, a student in Blumstein's lab who started the account, told *SFGate*. "But my favorite is when I find footage of a particular behavior and I can use that to educate people." The Trump administration's cost-cutting regime has crippled scientific research in the US. In efforts led by Elon Musk's now defunct Department of Government Efficiency, it cancelled more than 1,700 grants worth some $1.4 billion at the National Science Foundation in 2025. In 2026, the NSF has so far awarded just a fraction of the $9 billion grant money it has typically distributed in recent years, and the White House has [proposed slashing its budget]() by nearly half for the 2027 fiscal year. Many of the grant cancellations were clearly politically motivated, [targeting research into climate change]() — and even research that simply contains the word "climate" — something Trump has called a "hoax." Even more flagrantly, the administration [recently admitted]() in court documents that it canceled research grants in certain states "based solely" on whether they supported Trump in the 2024 election. Why marmot research ended up in the administration's crosshairs is anyone's guess, but it's invaluable work. Blumstein and his colleagues have spent years closely tracking the charming rodents, forming what is one of the longest-running studies of free-living mammals in the world, according to *SFGate*. These long-term projects ask "some of the most important questions in our time," Blumstein said, providing our best window into studying evolution in real-time. But their value may not be immediately obvious to the people in charge of crunching the numbers. Historically, this hasn't been a problem for Blumstein, as his program had received funding from the NSF for over a decade. But now, under the new regime, he's applied to renew the grant three times, before the agency told him to stop applying at all. "After the third time, our program officer told my colleague... that they will never fund us because they think we have too much data," Blumstein told *SFGate*. "I don't even know how to parse that sentence. It's nuts." Blumstein's marmot program, as it stands, is running on fumes. OnlyMarms has only brought in a few hundred dollars, and the lab is looking for more traditional sources of funding, too. **More on science funding:** [*Trump Orders Construction of Powerful Quantum Computer*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()