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

Yes! And de-commodify tenure criteria.

“In a scientific sense, this is a total loss.” US Supreme Court allows NIH to cut $2 billion in research grants www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Crystal clear.

When your grown child is listening to the 500 greatest albums of all time (according to Rolling Stone) and providing commentary and critique on the music you lived through your entire life...🫣. Hearing things that are so so familiar and loaded with meaning through the ears of others is interesting.

'Improvements'. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

We've been waiting for this report from NSF for many months — results of a survey on sexual harassment at US Antarctic stations. The numbers aren't good, but at least this problem is out in the open & starting to be tackled. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Update on agency appropriations... www.aaas.org/sites/defaul...

It's too early to take to the bank, but the Senate may come to the rescue of researchers whose NSF grants were cancelled www.science.org/content/arti...

It is not a political statement to note the fact that science enhances our well being, expands our knowledge of the world, and drives economic growth 🧪

Easy to follow, continuously updated... www.aaas.org/news/fy-2026...

Do we need a new generation of public institutions for ST&I? Join us tomorrow at 4pm for the first in a new UCL-STEaPP seminar series with @geoffmulgan.bsky.social, followed by a discussion with @anjahuja.bsky.social & @williamcb.bsky.social. Details here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/do-we-need...

The evil that men do lives after them

I spoke to @ninalakhani.bsky.social for this article and reading it was still a gut punch. The US’s gold-standard scientific funding system has been completely demolished. I genuinely don’t know what to do with what remains. And it’s going to get even worse under the new budget.

I grew up in rural South Carolina with a single mom who worked multiple jobs. At times, we relied on Medicaid and SNAP—like so many others. My heart breaks for those now wondering if that help will still be there. Imagine having all that power and choosing to make people’s lives worse. Shameful.

Amid the Trump administration's attacks on science, the National Academies are undergoing upheaval—a 30% reduction in its 1200-person staff by year's end, and possibly a vote of no confidence for its leader, Marcia McNutt. Jeff Tollefson & I report: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The US Global Change Research Program a next target of Trump's destruction campaign. My sources report that globalchange.gov will go dark Monday. NOAA is archiving the National Climate Assessment at NCEI.

“Rarely, if ever, do ideas—academic or otherwise—blaze a trail in the sky and leave a clear mark where their impact has occurred.” Now that impact is a goal in #academia, social scientist David H. Guston proposes a “catechism” for understanding, measuring, & creating it:

NSF has awarded 500 more graduate fellowships, but at what cost to the program? www.science.org/content/arti...

The 500 additional GRFPs NSF awarded were not very evenly distributed across fields, it seems. www.science.org/content/arti...

Absolutely speechless as this press conference basically ignores that NSF is already working, living, loving this building. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdct...

HUD secretary's hostile takeover of the NSF building have angered NSF employees

Statement from Rep. Zoe Lofgren (Ranking Member on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee):

Alexa, show me what a total disdain for science looks like. www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...

HUD has been touring the building for months. NSF says nothing…”nothing to see here”. I’m quite sick of gaslighting, bullying, and lack of respect for science and academia. It’s getting harder and harder to take.

"‘Natural history #museums can save the world’: anti-colonialism, conservation and climate change" - @castelvecchi.bsky.social interviewed me for @nature.com about #NaturesMemory and the vital role our museums are playing in both science and society: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

New article in @nature.com covering RoRI's recent study of 100,000+ grant applicants across 14 funding programmes, shedding new light on the Matthew effect in science: how early funding success can compound over a researcher's career - www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The real world isn’t carved up into disciplines. Revolutionary thinkers know this

June 12 was my last day at NSF ❤️‍🩹. Soon, I'll be retired from federal service (but not truly retired). I plan to give myself the sabbatical I never got(!) - completing papers and a new book. And I'll continue to work on the future of U.S. research support (more effectively from the outside I think).

How can we create just & sustainable futures for people & nature? 🌍✨ 🧪 The @ipbes.net #TransformativeChange Assessment explores the deep shifts needed to tackle biodiversity loss. youtu.be/H9B4oO9CJAc

My quote of the day Sixty years ago I knew everything; now I know nothing; education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. Will Durant

Uniqueness - all the way up, all the way down.

The obscene juxtaposition today between the useless, self-aggrandizing events in Washington, DC today v. the horrifying ones in Minnesota...

So much resonance.

What will it take to live within the planetary boundaries in the future? A new study finds that under current trends most boundaries will be transgressed by 2050. But with ambitious policies, we can reduce the negative effects and steer towards a more sustainable future. Read more: buff.ly/kSCSR3o

A graphic that will be written about in history books if these levels of cuts hold....

How bad will it be? Catastrophic. Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come. But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget. Speak up now before it is too late. (inflation adjusted $-s below)

Friday PM attempted massacre... of science. The fight is not over. There are things to do. Organize with @standupforscience.bsky.social Get informed: scienceimpacts.org Call your representative & ask: what are they doing to stop the self-destruction of American's innovation economy?

Trump's detailed vision for NSF's 2026 budget is not a pretty picture. www.science.org/content/arti...

In case you couldn't bear to read all the way to the end (understandable), here is the proposed picture for the BIO Directorate.

BIO getting absolutely killed

As a comms person and an evolutionary biologist, I strongly suggest they stop communicating about evolutionary biology

A poignant picture: NSF staff overcome obstacles to mark agency's 75th anniversary. www.science.org/content/arti...

So cool! Our inner teeth......

I'm attending National Wildlife Federation's event, “Virtual Rally to Save the Cornerstone of Conservation Science” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nwf/event/79...