Neil Shubin chooses his words carefully, but the new NAS president would like the National Academies to be more forceful in advocating for science. www.science.org/content/arti...

Is equity in science a beautiful lie? At a high-level summit in Germany, RoRI & British Academy Fellow Similo Ngwenya discussed the structural inequalities embedded in global research systems: researchonresearch.org/equity-in-sc...

📢 New RoRI Report: The Future of Peer Review Peer review is at a breaking point. Strained by hyper-competition & AI, we need system-wide reform. Read here: rori.figshare.com/articles/report/The_Future_of_Peer_Review_A_system-wide_perspective/32685351?file=65684898

Had two papers accepted in the last week: 1) "Common Ancestry, Contemporary Phylogenetics, and Process Ontology" in Systematic Biology (co-authored with @maureenmkearney.bsky.social). 2) "A Conventional View" in Biology & Philosophy (co-authored with Katherine Berensen & Peyton Cooper).

I am *not* shocked.

BREAKING: In response to huge cuts in Trump's budget request, NSF is shuttering its SBE directorate. Staff will be transferred to other parts of the agency and "grants that align with Administration priorities" will be maintained. That & more w/ @maxkozlov.bsky.social & @edwrdchen.bsky.social

By any means necessary ..

The draft Nature Record National Assessment is now open for comment! Take a look and tell us what we got right, what we missed, and what changes you’re seeing where you live. Your perspective will help shape the final record of nature in the U.S. naturerecord.substack.com/p/the-draft-...

Care about nature? I know you do! Consider engaging and commenting on The Nature Record via the website's public portal. naturerecord.org Also - today's related article.. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/c...

The Nation stands up for the nation. www.thenation.com/article/acti...

I stand with Colette. WTF Staying silent would be better than this… a lot better. He also said that he would sue Harvard for $1B because to NYT hurt his feelings with good reporting. @standupforscience.bsky.social

Ta-Nehisi Coates lays bare in brilliant prose the original sin of the Department of Homeland Security. It is right there in its name. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...

This graph makes me want to cry.

Sometimes, you just really have to contemplate the distinction between gatekeeping and peer review...

Exactly. Not to mention damage to translational science-based policies, or the redistribution of funding away from critical research agendas and towards others.

Powerful piece in STAT this morning from some NIH staff members who have resigned www.statnews.com/2026/01/10/n... 1/3

“We cannot withdraw from the fact that over 1 million species of plants and animals face extinction.” IPBES remains committed to its mandate to provide the most credible science and evidence about biodiversity to all decision makers and actors. — @davidobura.bsky.social , @ipbes.net Chair

“President Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the bedrock global treaty to tackle climate change is a new low and yet another a sign that this authoritarian, anti-science administration is determined to sacrifice people’s well-being and destabilize global cooperation." Read UCS Statement:

Includes withdrawal from IPBES and IPCC..

This morning, Mavis Staples' "It's a Sad and Beautiful World" came up for me and I thought - pretty apropos right now. And that was before the news of today... Maybe all we have left right now is to document things and tell the truth about what's happening and write heartrending songs, IDK.

This is a little orgasmic, I won’t lie.

You know you really have the right sort of friends, when you receive a gift with a card that reads "CAUTION: Contains mushrooms!"😍

But it is also frequently over-estiamted. Thus I would suggest people look at this new paper (not by me) on this topic: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... "Reassessing Interkingdom Horizontal Gene Transfer Suggests Limited Influence on Plant Genomes"

Please read www.forbes.com/sites/marsha...

Meanwhile, over at NSF…

From Nina Simone’s lyrical protest of systemic racism to Bad Bunny’s advocacy for immigrants’ rights through song, music has always played a critical role in resistance.

New Special Issue of #HOPOS on Paul Feyerabend. Featuring a new transcription and critical overview of Paul Feyerabend’s unpublished manuscript “On the Responsibility of Scientists” as well as eight new papers. Link to the special issue: www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/hopos/20...

a reminder to focus on processes, not things.

The National Academies is inviting nominations for experts to review the draft United by Nature assessment. Ecology, climate, conservation, social science, sci-comm + more. If someone comes to mind—maybe you—please nominate & please the word! www.nationalacademies.org/projects/DEL...

"The N.S.F. started the year with funding delays...it lost about a third of its employees in layoffs or forced retirements. The agency ended the year awarding 25 percent fewer new grants." The nuanced impacts of internal budget decisions made due to fiscal crisis. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

A major reorganization and significant downsizing has left scientists wondering about the future of the US National Academies. www.science.org/content/arti...

It is very hard to overstate the evil of the fossil fuel industry. When people finally do figure it out, it may be too late to undo the damage.

Look who I found in a photo hangin' around next to Robyn Hitchcock at a recent show... "Where's Gordon?"

A tour de force expose of those trying to smother us in anti-science propaganda. Michael Mann and Peter Hotez are leaders in confronting the anti-science crowd. They describe their own experiences and name and shame the organizations and individuals involved and how we can defeat them. Read it. 🧪

Transformative change often takes time, but its impacts can be immense! IPBES #TransformativeChange Report shows how initiatives can boost: 🌱 Nature’s contributions, climate, food & water security 💡 Socio-economic outcomes, equity & resilience https://www.ipbes.net/transformative-change-assessment

A great read. Particularly loved the rhetorical linking of different forms of bias and systemic error - the ruinous alchemy of social bias, bigotry, distorted judgments, inaccurate conclusions, and wasted time.

This should be really interesting. And with quite the compelling lineup of speakers/panelists. issues.org/event/was-sc...

What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma. It's *scientific publishing*. We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing. Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_... Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇

Patti Smith spoke with @amyweissmeyer.bsky.social over matcha lattes about her new memoir, “Bread of Angels.” In the book, Smith reflects on her lifetime of reinvention—and the twists in her story that have surprised even her. Read more from their conversation:

"Michael Mann to Bill Gates: You can’t reboot the planet if you crash it" | Repost of my @thebulletin.org commentary by #MROnline: mronline.org/2025/11/04/m...

Landmark report shows how decision-makers can manage global crises. For the first time, researchers have compiled decades of resilience science research into nine critical Must-Knows, refined through dialogue with decision-makers. Access the full report: www.stockholmresilience.org/research/res...

For 41 weeks now, I’ve been sitting down every Friday night to chronicle the damage this administration is doing to science & higher ed. We must stay focused. We’re in this for the long haul. We are finding ways not just to block them, but build something better. buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

I also talk about de-extinction in this paper & the need to have some name to call the organisms. Like many people, I know that the Colossal "Dire Wolves" are not the descendants of the extinct wolves they are named after. But they are *something*, so we need to have a name for them.

Stop "...writing nature’s obituary—instead of its recovery." www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

My little book on Schrödinger's famous classic 'What Is Life?' is out! Offering the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken of the book's origins, reception, impact, and legacy, it uncovers Schrödinger's motivations in writing it, and shows how it has shaped our current understanding of the cell

On Thursday, I'll join Megan Molteni at the 2025 @statnews.com Summit for a fireside chat on the future of science, technology, and research policy--from AI governance to public trust, from access to human rights. And how to ensure science serves the public good. www.statnews.com/stat-summit-...

How far can NSF bend before it breaks? Science looks at what's happened to the agency under Trump. www.science.org/content/arti...

Great to see our new paper "Health losses attributed to anthropogenic climate change" out in print today in @natclimate.nature.com, which builds on our landscaping project on climate-health attribution a couple of years ago, funded by @wellcometrust.bsky.social