Contrary to common perceptions, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards grants to younger applicants at about the same rate as it does to older ones (M. L. Heggeness et al. Cell Stem Cell 19, 15–18; 2016). Older researchers do win more grants, the study found, but that is because more applicants are older. This could be because scientists receive tenure-track positions later in life, or because younger scientists are taking jobs outside academia, the authors say. For typical 'R01' type grants, applications from people under 40 have declined since the 1980s, but the number of applicants aged 60–64 grew by 40% between 2005 and 2014. In 2014, funding rates were 23% for this group, compared with 25% for researchers aged 35–40 and 19% for researchers under 35.