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 Featuring a new transcription and critical overview of Paul Feyerabend’s unpublished manuscript “On the Responsibility of Scientists” as well as eight new papers.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

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):