I just finished reading "The Future is Peace" by Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon, which I recommend for anyone who has witnessed, with constant feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, the decades-long cycle of violence and revenge between the Palestinian and Israeli people. Go to www.iinteract.org

Those of us doing research related to women’s health have been hit particularly hard by the govt’s sabotage of the NIH. I spoke to WaPo for this piece, as painful as it was to discuss the reality my lab is facing. www.washingtonpost.com/science/2026...

Where U.S. science has been hit hardest after Trump’s first year

Here’s something interesting: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The best time to reimagine yourself as an activist was years ago, the second best time is TODAY. You can say you messed up and should have fought and then…you can fight with us. The tent is big and we need all the science fighters we can get! SO GET IN, DORKS!

The press has reported on yesterday’s Supreme Court decision as if it were only about tariffs. Wrong. It’s far bigger and even more important. Let me explain. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-supreme-courts-tariff-decision

Since I can’t sleep, here’s another hot take: The world would be a better place if everyone‘s science literacy was much better. There should be more emphasis on teaching basic science at all levels in school. Science isn’t just something nerds do, it’s the foundation of the modern world.

With federal research funding uncertain, states debate new science initiatives www.statnews.com/2026/02/20/s... via @statnews.com

I would appreciate hearing context on this issue. Is the concern that if the patient’s medication is working, and hence their clinical presentation is mild, then they would get an assessment that would result in losing benefits that enable them to get the medication?

thanks @lucksmith.bsky.social 15 years after your key paper with Nelson Lau showing the abundance & widespread nature of piRNAs from 3' UTRs, we now start to get the logic. dissecting how the Yb protein reads out U-content, and talks to the Upf1-related SF2 helicase Armitage, will be interesting.

Would add to this thorough list of harms at NIH: 1) multiyear funding, Vought’s trick to fund less new research with the same amount of $ 2) presidentializing of NIH, shifting toward a political agenda rather than science. More on that from @markhisted.org: open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...

There must be trials. Not as an emotive aspiration, rhetorical meme, or empty threat. A concrete plan. A dedicated special court for it. Structural legislation and prosecutors and funding and all the rest of it. Everything necessary for it can be done constitutionally. All it takes is the will.

🧪Scientists from our Haselbach lab captured how proteins begin to fold as they’re being made. Using cryo-EM, they visualised chaperones guiding nascent proteins on the ribosome: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67685-6

Texas A&M, Under New Curriculum Limits, Warns Professor Not to Teach Plato www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/u...

Very cool!

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41237758/ A thought-provoking perspective on animal development and tissue homeostasis.

One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Neurodevelopmental disorder–linked Argonaute mutations permit delayed RISC formation and unusual shortening of miRNAs by 3′→5′ trimming.” Explore now: https://ow.ly/hwP450XxHM6 For more trending articles, visit https://ow.ly/q6Cl50XxHGN.

All hail Caenorhabditis elegans, one of the most researched organisms on Earth. Collaborative data sharing in the nematode research community led to four Nobel Prize-winning discoveries about human development and disease. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/uNqU50Xyj4e

Where did he get that? Did he just make it up? (Does anyone know what is ‘Mortality Match’, indicated by the logo at upper left?) Sweden’s excess death rate was far greater than any of its neighbors in 2020 but got much better in 2021, presumably owing to vaccination among other factors.

The Cure Alzheimer’s Fund has awarded Dorothy P. Schafer, PhD, more than $400,000 in funding over two years for her project studying ependymal cells and their potential connection to Alzheimer’s disease: direc.to/oamk #Alzheimers #AlzheimersDisease @curealzheimersfund.bsky.social

Read this inspiring perspectives coauthored by the Worm Resource directors and worm Nobel Laureates! 4 Nobel Prizes and how they were enabled by major NIH-supported research resources (the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center, WormBase, and WormAtlas) www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Nature research paper: ZAK activation at the collided ribosome go.nature.com/4a9cika

Regulated decay of microRNAs plays a critical role in controlling body size in mammals! Check out our new paper in @genesdev.bsky.social and see thread previously posted with our pre-print 👇 for more info. Congrats to Collette LaVigne, Jaeil Han, and all authors! genesdev.cshlp.org/cgi/content/...

Droplet outbursts from onion cutting | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Paul Simon's "Surprise". Produced by Brian Emo

An excellent piece by Joachim Frank, 2017 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, about how we must resist the Trump Administration's crackdown on universities. www.usnews.com/opinion/arti...

UVA Faculty Senate passed a resolution strongly opposing the Trump “Compact.” We, at least, remain committed to the historic values and mission of the university.

Are you an alum from one of the 9 schools Trump just attacked? Sign this alumni petition now to support your school, defend democracy, and build a grassroots movement for campus freedom across America. alumni.controlshift.app/petitions/tr...

Rachael, This is funny …. But is it real? Was the video posted by Trump? … No ! …. but … was it? …. No …. (!) … (?) Am I going nuts?

You can read Mark's 2024 @dev-journal.bsky.social Review article here: doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Our officials statement on the Compact.

I am not a political pawn. I am a living, breathing human being who has dedicated her life to a scientific problem that I believe matters for human health. The article below tells our story; I hope you will read it and share it www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...

Powerful new article in NYT Magazine on cancer research [Gift Link] www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...

Went for a run, lovely voice of Patty Scialfa in my ears, the singer-songwriter’s gorgeous album, ‘Rumble Doll’ — my favorite solo album by a member of the E Street Band (other than Bruce).

Been having a lot of fun lately listening to the Night Science Podcast after stumbling on it from the article series by @itaiyanai.bsky.social and Martin Lercher, definitely recommend it if you have a passing interest in the creative aspects of how the scientific process is conducted 😄

Sad to hear that David Baltimore died. I am one of hundreds of scientists that David generously mentored, supported, and inspired. His influence on each of us was deep and lasting, and his impact on the world immeasurable. Arguably David Baltimore is one of the greatest scientists of any generation.

fb.watch/BX4G9O8w8t/?

“A scheduler for rhythmic gene expression” Gaidatzis, Graf-Landua, Woelk, Brancati, Hauser, Meeuse, Nahar, Braun, van der Does, Aluri, Kohler, Smallwood and Helge Grosshans bioRxiv. 4 September 2025, , 10.1101/2025.09.04.674194 biorxiv.org/content/earl...

New York Times on COVID vaccine evidence [Gift Link] nyti.ms/46k17Tq

thanks for this, but it does not matter if Cassidy is "livid" privately. Put up or shut up, Bill Cassidy. Take action, risk Trump's anger, help the country and save people's lives. Or do not. But don't whine about being livid in private.

Trump executive order seeks to centralize control of grantmaking under political appointees www.statnews.com/2025/08/08/t... via @statnews.com

Results so stunningly clear they inspired this classic xkcd (xkcd.com/2400/):

Certain extramural investigators have received NOAs this week listing the indirects at 15%. What's happening at your institution?

2 bits of data from new Economist/YouGov poll..... 13% support for cutting research funding to universities. 24% among Republicans. Polling on this continues to be catastrophic for the Rs, suggests Dems should be learning far harder into standing up for science and our universities. 1/

Enough is Enough! We are pressuring Congress to impeach RFK Jr. Sign the petition here (and forward the link to your friends.) www.standupforscience.net/rfk-impeachm...

As always, Ted Chiang is great in this interview. cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...