THIS My colleagues's hesitation to retire from academia is driven by fear of not having anything to do so we need visionary deans/presidents to start programs like this and other mentoring initiatives PS: not me though, I have a list & can't wait to start the next act of my life outside academia😀

“There are 2 possible futures for American science. One is that this proposed budget is a bump in the road & funding will stay at close to the same level. A 2nd version is where this represents a real sea change…between gov‘t and science funding. I don’t think we know what world we’re in yet”

An attack on public health. A repudiation of science.

Indeed. Starting on 1953. Operation Ajax Maduro is no Mosadegh but CIA and MI6 removed Mosadegh mostly because he had nationalized the Iranian oil industry. The imposed regime change restored control of Iranian oil to US/UK companies And that clearly led to a democratic and prosperous middle east

Impressively beautiful double halo around the moon with Jupiter looking upon us on this New Year’s Eve on the Oregon coast

Bring on 2026

What were the best fictions you read in 2025? My top 3: Orbital Martyr! Intermezzo

My mom’s olive oil cake smothered with whipped cream. Today is her birthday and the first one we are without her 💔 Miss her so much and think of her every single day (as I should ❤️) but grateful for all she taught me including how to make a proper whipped cream smothered cake

Postdoctoral fellowship available in structure guided drug discovery in @RothLabUNC Please RT

Reminder that Ritalin floods the brain with dopamine & norepinephrine for 10-14 hrs. Any neuron anywhere in the brain with any of the subtypes of DA or NE receptor is gonna feel it regardless of arbitrarily assigned network

Just a thing about this: a common statement in writing is that you can fix crap, but you can't fix a blank page. I have heard AI apologists claim that this is why it's fine to generate a first draft. Now, to be clear, fuck this. But also: an AI draft is a fucking blank page.

Noodles and eggs to soothe the soul and bring good luck at the midpoint between winter solstice and Christmas

Timely and interesting perspective but if I may disagree with an absolute "fallacy of unique function" concept by way of an analogy used by the authors: "almost all American hazelnuts are grown in Oregon but we learn very little about the culture of Oregon by knowing this" 1/

Must say, while interviews with established PIs with deep cuts to their funding are important, the principal and longest term effects are on the trainees. An entire generation wiped of confidence.

Number of BME faculty job opening is noticeably down this year. We just had this question at a faculty meeting and @pratted.bsky.social has the visualization for the answer.

PSA: if you are new to doing pushups please work with a trainer to learn proper technique. Bad form like dropping hips or letting your head droop can strain your shoulders, neck, hips, lower back etc causing all sorts of issues (rotator cuff, lower back pain…) especially if you’re middle age

maybe a naive question: what happened to the search for NIMH leadership? the position link remains inactive hr.nih.gov/careers/open...

🤦‍♀️ “unsanctioned polygraph test was coordinated by staff” and the incoming Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Mahdhu Gottumukkala took it and failed it www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

Happy last Friday before the solstice

whenever I complained about how I looked in a picture, my late mother (whose memory is truly a blessing 🙏) would say, but that is how you actually looked when the picture was taken 😁

Simply outrageous!

NSF will dismantle National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder 😡🤦‍♀️

My friend @alexchesler.bsky.social has left the NIH to become VP of Pain Research at Vertex. I am glad to welcome him to San Diego. Exciting for him and for Vertex. But NIH loses one of its superstars. Can’t help but wonder whether this government’s anti-science policies made that decision easier.

PS: fancy journal and podcast bro infatuation with “plasticity” and increasing synaptic/dendritic connectivity explaining all good things about psychedelics can also explain brain tumor growth because well, glioma=growth

This

Just decline the peer review invitation. What are you people even doing?

TBH, I find this figure misleading because while we have some new Rx for the conditions on the right, we have had more effective ones for the ones on the left. Examples: >50-60% of depression cases are treatable and same with anxiety (beta blockers, benzos, CBH..) but only 10-20% of migraine cases

Thanks Alex for writing this (& acknowledging AI help) but if I may be a contrarian for a change😂 rumors that many think basic science has not advanced treatment are highly exaggerated and are advanced to increase podcast listeners or sell books And to this list I'd add Xanomeline-Trospium for SZ

This is an important study but psilocybin potentially promoting brain tumor growth is consistent with human studies suggesting SSRIs may worsen survival outcomes in glioma

I'm sad that these kinds of critiques of foundational science routinely lead people to demonstrate how they are incorrect, but never a lead to a retraction of the basic premise. It's almost as if that wasn't really the point....

I’m going to put this image out here to combat the ugliness of this day…because it captures the pure joy that emanated from his great big smile. RIP Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner💔

"Previously, proposals for research grants were generally required to undergo at least three external reviews by scientists from outside the agency. Now, two reviews are enough and, under some circumstances, one can be an internal review by a scientist at the NSF." 🧪

Busy day today so thankfully no chance to check the news after a brutal news weekend😵‍💫🥲 Now I am just going to watch the football game

Nice to see this. Also nice to see Dr Sarah Tabrizi on this list

One of the things I was most excited about 1yr ago was joining 1 of the MOSIAC UE5s as a project scientist to work with those ECRs assigned to it. The opportunity to serve our greater communities. Truly a program that supported people across broad institutions, unlike the parent.

In other exciting news, @mattgeramita.bsky.social’s @natneuro.nature.com + Eric Yttri paper exploring the neural circuits underlying hesitation just dropped today! 🧠🎤 To summarize the findings, please see my musical abstract (with apologies to Peter Frampton 🎶) www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪

Senator Bill Cassidy is a hepatologist, he confirmed a health secretary who is overseeing the come back of hepatitis B related cirrhosis and liver cancer. That legacy is a choice.

We used rabies virus 👾 to map how #psilocybin modifies long-range circuits 🧠, revealing network-specific reorganization that we didn’t expect. The full study is now online at Cell. @cp-cell.bsky.social Paper 👉 www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... Thread for a synopsis 👉 bsky.app/profile/alex...

In @elife.bsky.social: Sex differences in BNST signaling and BNST CRF in fear processing doi.org/10.7554/eLif... Official version finally out. Thank you to reviewers, made it better!

Sorry that I don’t think famous white people (who are mostly horrible people) should be able to pay large amounts of $ to go to an ibogaine or ayahuasca retreat and claim they’ve found healing while the US continues to not care about Indigenous People or access to healthcare 🙃

Great, just when you think you’re going to get a shark you realize there is no December the ____

Some good news for non native English speakers who manage to speak English well 😄

This is the most mind boggling data in this article 47% ⬇️ in NIAAA 43% ⬇️ MH etc 🤯😔

Blast from the past 👵🏻 1997 catecholamines Gordon Research Conference (when doing dopamine research was far less trendy but so much more fun)

Caption this! #sfn2025

🌟 Meet #FENS at Neuroscience 2025! FENS, @network-alba.bsky.social and @ejneuroscience.bsky.social have had a fantastic few days at Neuroscience 2025, hosted by @sfn.org! 🇺🇸

Heard an established successful neuroscientist dismissing junior scientists as "people at the bottom" 🤦‍♀️ You folks with lots of research funds & power: young scientists more than ever need our respect and support even if you don't agree with their ideas and approaches #sfn2025

Over the weekend, CPCR hosted a satellite event to the 2025 @sfn.org conference. Researchers around the world gathered to discuss the latest advances in psychedelic neuroscience—sharing successes and challenges of translational models and exploring strategies to bridge preclinical and clinical work.