Science & technology | Your loss

America is in danger of experiencing an academic brain drain 

Other countries may benefit. Science will suffer

illustration showing two black-and-white bird wings carrying laboratory beakers instead of bird bodies
Illustration: Ben Hickey

Matthias Doepke was impressed when he moved to America as a graduate student in the 1990s. Academic pay was better than in his native Germany and university departments were slick and organised. But what he appreciated most was the attitude. “You come to the US and you have this feeling that you are totally welcome and you’re totally part of the local community,” he says. In 2012 he became a professor of economics at Northwestern University in Illinois, and in 2014 became a naturalised citizen.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Your loss is our loss ”

From the May 24th 2025 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition
Alfafa fieldsYuma, Arizona.

Climate change will hurt the richest farmers—and the poorest

Even with realistic adaptation, crop yields will fall as temperatures rise

illustration of a Rubik’s Cube floating in a digital space. One visible face of the cube features a robot head, while another shows a human face

How to find the smartest AI

Developers are building fiendish tests only the best models can pass


The antenna for the Chinese Spectral Radioheliograph.

Are China’s universities really the best in the world?

Nature’s prestigious index says yes


Meet the moths that use the stars to find their way

The skill was previously thought unique to humans and certain birds

The world needs to understand the deep oceans better

Otherwise it cannot protect them properly

Is the “manopause” real?

If it is, it is nothing like the menopause