When Emily Williams heard the federal shutdown had ended, she picked up her phone and hoped it wasn’t too late to get her team’s research up and running. Williams, an avian ecologist with the National Park Service, studies Canada Jay breeding populations in Alaska. Her work had been on hold since the partial government shutdown began on December 22, and so she hustled to book staff flights and file permits. She also hopped in her car and drove four hours to Anchorage to personally drop off jay blood samples and buy basic supplies she’d been forbidden to purchase until the federal government reopened. Many researchers and scientists suffered similar frustrations and delays due to the shutdown. For some, valuable time was lost, while for others their work was strangled by red tape. And those projects that were saved from cancellation remain in limbo since President Trump announced that the end of the shutdown is contingent on passing a federal budget that includes...