"Due to the recent layoffs at NOAA, all members of the External Affairs team were relieved of their duties." www.noaa.gov/external-aff...

Marco Rubio was my senator. He and his staff politely listened to me, and their support was vital in getting hammerhead sharks protected in Florida waters. I was cautiously optimistic that he might maybe be a voice of reason. Yesterday shattered that.

Regarding #NIH websites, including #RePORTER, #PubMed, #NCBI, being down: - This appears to be due to an issue with domain-name lookup. The websites are up, the lookup is (partially) broken - It could be caused by a denial-of-service attack or a misonfiguration 🧵 with explanation and workaround:

Elon Musk has shut down a team of tech-savvy civil servants responsible for developing the IRS’s free tax-filing service and improving government websites. As a result, 90 employees were immediately locked out of their devices and informed that their jobs were deemed non-essential.

Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦 ✊

Last night, the chapel facade of Magdalen College was lit up ahead of #RareDiseaseDay. A disease is classed as rare when it affects fewer than 1 in 2000 people and there are over 3.5 million people living with a rare condition in the UK alone. 📷 | @oxfordpaediatrics.bsky.social

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦

Today is #RareDiseaseDay! Despite the turmoil affecting rare disease research and advocacy this year, rare disease patients won’t let it stop them from raising awareness! @RedShirtsRemastered is streaming now, interviewing patients with autoinflammatory diseases: www.youtube.com/live/E8a5Vz9...

🤣 Doing what we do! #altgov! www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

There was a reason rare disease day occurred at the end of a month featuring an occasional leap day. This is a huge deal and understanding what NIH does (did?) in rare disease research is critical.

February 28 is Rare Disease Day. It has officially been on the last day of February since 2008. The NIH and FDA have "postponed" their annual event. Because this administration doesn't give a fig about #disability #ChronicIllness #RareDiseases #humanity www.reuters.com/business/hea...

"Rare diseases" affect more than 30 million Americans. But RFK, Jr. has "postponed" (without scheduling a future date) the annual two day meeting on this subject co-hosted by the NIH & FDA. "More than 800 rare disease advocates will already be in D.C. for Rare... 1/4 www.axios.com/2025/02/25/r...

NEW: Per a source, the firings of probationary employees hit NOAA's office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) today. It includes not just newer young scientists but people at the top of their field who have been there for years but were technically probationary for admin/not-relevant reasons.

BREAKING: The NIH summer internship program (SIP) has been officially cancelled, across all institutes. It’s a sad loss for the brightest science students in America, for American science, and for future cures for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. 🧪 1/

As a rare disease patient, I made great friends through patient support groups. We were so excited to meet at the annual FDA-NIH Rare Disease Day tomorrow. But it’s cancelled. udnf.org/udnf-stateme...

For those with visual impairments, there's also a PDF list of banned books, many of which can be downloaded from BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) www.library.ca.gov/wp-content/u...

I subsist on Social Security Disability/Medicare/Medicaid/SNAP. Medicaid pays the majority of my medications. Due to my disabilities & chronic illnesses I rely on 38 different medications annually. 1 of my medications for Lupus has slowed the progression of the disease. Without access I would die.😔

A Delta flight appeared to have flipped over at Toronto Pearson International Airport (photo via KellieMeyerNews) simpleflying.com/breaking/del...

Breaking — All probationary employees at OPM were just fired in a mass phone call. Acting Director Chuck Ezell told staffers, "I encourage you to use this as an opportunity for your next step forward," per recording I reviewed. On site staffers were given less than an hour to leave.