By Nadia Drake edited by Lee Billings An aerial view of the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. Budgetary challenges and crumbling infrastructure at the station helped scuttle the U.S.-led Cosmic Microwave Background Stage 4 (CMB-S4) project. Amid simmering anxiety about the future of federally funded science, the U.S. government has quietly withdrawn support…