Just let me vent for one second. I wake up this morning. @washingtonpost.com piece that leaves out major study on Tylenol and autism (which found no link) Then a @nytimes.com piece on the failures of NIH written by a guy with ties to right-wing theocrats and undisclosed. What the hell is going on?

In an NYT Op-Ed essay that steers close to fan fiction, Schulman writes: "Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the new director of the National Institutes of Health, has inherited an agency in crisis. Everyone knows it." Everyone is a lot of people. Depends on who you ask. a 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/o...

Abstract submissions are open for the Midwinter Conference of Immunologists @midwinter-immun.bsky.social!! www.midwconfimmunol.org The Early Bird Registration deadline is Nov 14, 2025. There will be lots of Selected Abstract talks so submit an abstract to be considered!

'China’s new-build solar additions in the last six months are more than the US has installed in total: China Flow > US stock. Germany was once the global champion of solar. China’s new additions in six months are two times Germany’s installed capacity.' adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...

In July, EPA announced it would dismantle the Office of Research & Development. Now, staff have been ordered to immediately halt *all* work on research papers. (Surely entirely coincidental to easing way for slaughterhouses to pollute our water? subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...)

Disney/ABC have a responsibility to refuse to participate in corruption. Kimmel must be reinstated. If Disney/ABC agree to this extortion then perhaps creatives + workers should consider collective action to push back. Same w/buying park + cruise tickets if they bow. People have power. Ask Target

New in J Infect Dis from clinician-scientists Sean Jung + Monika Kumaraswamy MIC in plain broth ≠ MIC in the body In the presence of physiological bicarbonate + serum complement, AZITHROMYCIN shows rapid bactericidal activity vs. ESBL-producing E. coli, works in mouse infection model (link below)

Looks good in landscape format.

@sanjanacurtis.bsky.social You have a new species of Otter!

We must guard our freedoms.

There is a real potential for misuse here if these recommendations are adopted. My long-form response on dangers in adopting the bad-faith banner of 'gold standard science' to promote 'gold standard scholarship': joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/between-th...

Reupping support for journalism outlets not beholden to corporate interests. When everything is a commodity, it's worth asking where your news is coming from. What are your favorites? Mine are @apnews.com @propublica.org @theguardian.com @pbsnews.org @motherjones.com @haaretzcom.bsky.social

I know we keep focusing on Colbert and Kimmel as we should, but we also need to remember there are hundreds of people who work for these shows who also just lost their jobs because of this bullshit, and most of them are probably not millionaires.

Oof. 🧵 for those following vaccine recommendation news

Sec. Kennedy's progress to make it harder to stop vaccine-preventable disease while Congress sits idly by. Step 1 - Remove experts from ACIP Step 2 - Appoint those with shared ideological goals. Step 3 - CDC advisers modify the vaccine schedule. Step 4 - Take on hep B and beyond. 🎁 wapo.st/3K9OBNV

Which climate scientists are doing good work similar to what you've seen me doing with Meeting the Moment (buttondown.email/liminalcreat...) and Unbreaking (unbreaking.org)? (I have a few already in mind, but want to enlist your help and expand my circles.)

Illinois is making a quantum leap forward. With our Quantum and Microelectronics Park in Chicago, that means good-paying jobs and vital investment for the South Side of Chicago. It's a win for not only the city but the entire state.

RIP Robert. Thanks for everything you did to entertain us and fight for the environment. 💔

Dr. Susan Monarez: “I could have stayed silent, agreed to the demands, and no one would have known. What the public would have seen were scientists dismissed without cause and vaccine protections quietly eroded…I would have lost the one thing that cannot be replaced: My integrity.”

My quote of the day The sole and basic source of our strength is the solidarity of workers, peasants and the intelligentsia, the solidarity of the nation, the solidarity of people who seek to live in dignity, truth, and in harmony with their conscience. Lech Walesa

what postdocs actually want: - to not have their grants canceled - reasonable chances at getting an academic position - job security - a thriving private sector so the entire research system can flourish <3 higher ed institutions in 2025: - best i can do is an origami night

We need a "fighting CR." As scientists we must push our Senators (and Reps) to use budget negotiations to protect science — and democracy. @safa-science.bsky.social @schumer.senate.gov @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @kenmartin.bsky.social scienceandfreedomalliance.substack.com/p/democrats-...

the amount of Chinese investment in green tech around the developing world is simply mind boggling www.netzeropolicylab.com/china-green-...

'Mechanistically, oxPLs bound and inhibited AKT, potentiating the methionine cycle and the activity of the epigenetic writer EZH2. EZH2 epigenetically dampened the pluripotent anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, contributing to the death of the host.' #Immunology www.cell.com/immunity/abs...

Dr. Monarez was fired from the CDC for telling the truth about what RFK Jr. is doing to America's public health. RFK Jr. is firing experts, discrediting research, spreading lies and cutting access to vaccines that saved millions of lives. Science should not be partisan.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont just announced several actions to protect COVID vaccine access. Connecticut is: - recommending COVID vaccines for everyone ages 6 months and up - affirming that pharmacists can administer the vaccine to anyone “off-label” - requiring insurers to cover COVID vaccines

Totalitarianism Can Be Terrifying. It Can Also Be Thrilling. He Taught Us Why. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/o...

GOOD NEWS: Despite RFK Jr saying he would cancel $500 million in mRNA research, the House Committee on Appropriations has passed a spending package, that includes $1.1 billion for “advanced research and development” at BARDA, which includes research on mRNA vaccines.

Congrats @nizet.bsky.social, Elisabet, and team!! Super cool work!!

Pleased to share and briefly highlight our new manuscript just published 𝘑𝘊𝘐 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 (a short🧵) "A STING-adjuvanted outer membrane vesicle nanoparticle vaccine protects against lethal 𝘗𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘢 pneumonia" 🔗 doi.org/10.1172/jci....

This is awesome. @ellecordova.bsky.social

So... I did some analysis of grants that did receive noncompetitive renewals. In particular, I looked a those award where the title of the grant changed. Warning: The results are just what I expected, but oooph... 1/4

This is so cool!!! 🙌🏼

Doing more with less in vaccine protection against Marburg virus Bukreyev & team compare mRNA vaccines encoding MARV full length glycoprotein alone or as a virus-like particle, finding low-dose GP-only mRNA conferred 100% protection guinea pigs. buff.ly/y6LTOo3

This 💯👇👇👇👇💯

This is seriously headspinning. If the administration wants to support the US pharmaceutical industry the answer isn't protectionist executive orders again Chinese biotech. It is to support *MORE* basic research in the US which is the engine that drives new medicines www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/b...

Bracing remarks from @scottwiener.bsky.social this morning at ASTC @sciencecenters.bsky.social. Absolute rejection of this administration’s spurious accusations of (the real & vile problem of) antisemitism to destroy science & higher ed

www.latimes.com/obituaries/s... RIP David Baltimore. A true giant of biomedical research. Made so many fundamental discoveries: Reverse transcriptase; NF-kB; Rag genes (among others) Also shut down his lab for a week in 1970 to protest the US invasion of Cambodia.

It’s time for @democrats.org to step up and lead. Otherwise they are the Chamberlains of this moment. @schumer.senate.gov do not betray us. “This is not just how authoritarianism happens. This is authoritarianism happening.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...

“During the past 6 months, the US administration have made considerable efforts to undermine academic research and education with devastating effect.” www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Meanwhile the US has cut funding for mRNA research and undercut support for vaccines. We are about to lose our leadership role in biomedical research while more Americans suffer from preventable illness.

💉 Enteromix, Russia's cancer vaccine achieves 100% efficacy in clinical trials 🔗 timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/h... 🌐 #DHPSP #Health

@schumer.senate.gov & @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social cannot screw this up. If I still lived in New York City, I'd pitch a tent outside of Chuck's apartment in Park Slope and start a vigil. Time to get on the phone, step up the pressure. Do what you need to do. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...

Ezra Klein is calling for Democrats to put up a fight, to refuse to simply roll-over and play dead on a continuing resolution: "joining Republicans to fund this government is worse than failing at opposition. It’s complicity" with authoritarianism. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...

Excellent long-form piece. paw.princeton.edu/article/max-...

Tools: "Here, we developed a class of highly sensitive genetically encoded STAT biosensors, termed STATeLights, which allowed direct and continuous detection of STAT activity in live cells with high spatiotemporal resolution." www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A federal judge rules that Trump’s move to cancel billions of dollars in foreign aid without approval from Congress is illegal.

Good heads up especially for media: do not take a bunch if correlations by motivated actors seriously. If they don’t preregister their hypotheses and data, chances are the results are spurious and cherry picked

'How bacterial immune components were first acquired & adapted within eukaryotic cells remains poorly understood. Here we identify a complete cGLR-STING signaling axis in choanoflagellates, the closest living relatives of animals, that exhibits a mosaic of features from bacterial & animal immunity'

Each Friday, I summarize what is happening to American science & higher ed. 🧪 This was Week 33: - launch of West Coast Health Alliance (WA, OR, CA, HI) - RFK must resign - Harvard wins case! - new threat of mandatory detention for millions of immigrants & much more buttondown.com/liminalcreat...