A federal judge struck down a $100,000 fee President Donald Trump ordered for H-1B visa applications, providing a reprieve for US technology companies that rely on hiring skilled foreign workers

Microbe 2026 is just over, but it's already time to think about ASM Microbe 2027 ! Excited about specific topics, methods, ideas, or microbes ? Then you should consider submitting a session proposal, and help us shape the program ! Any question ? please reach out, we're here to help ☺️

I NEED YOUR ATTENTION. When violent and controlling people start to feel their power slip, they become more violent and controlling. I believe this is what’s happening in the Administration, now. This is a CRITICAL INFLECTION POINT: we MUST come together and push back *hard* NOW. 🧵 a thread

I know this seems like so much administrative minutia, but it’s going to negatively impact programs you care about. Take 15 mins to read up and send a comment.

ALRIGHT EVERYONE HERE IS THE OFFICIAL SUFS GUIDE TO LEAVING PUBLIC COMMENTS ON THE OMB-2026-0034 PROPOSED RULE: www.standupforscience.foundation/policy-and-advocacy/the-sufs-guide-to-writing-public-comments (share with all your friends!)

From the CEO of AAAS: “If this rule becomes final, Americans' hopes for future cures, national security and economic strength will rely on the scientific sensibilities of the nation's chief bureaucrat. Alzheimer's disease will not be cured by a budget analyst from either political party.”

Yesterday—4 days after OMB released its proposal to revamp all federal funding—there were 3500+ comments. Today there are nearly 4,500. Our story on the damage the proposal could inflict on science and the researchers pushing back. Reported w/@marilenharo.bsky.social:

Proposed changes by the Trump administration to rules that govern how federal dollars are spent "would inevitably lead to unlegislated reductions in funding and damage US leadership in science, both in academia and industry," writes H. Holden Thorp in a new #ScienceEditorial. https://scim.ag/4uK0fBj

Striking to me how little reporting there is on this rule proposal, which is maybe the biggest change to American governance in almost a century. And this reporting is … weak. www.npr.org/2026/06/03/n...

Ok, let’s try this one more time. Democrats: force a vote to impeach Bill Pulte. Just give it a go! www.offmessage.net/p/impeach-bi...

Another red alert for American science | @holdenthorp.bsky.social's editorial on the OMB memo in @science.org this week.

Starting in 5 minutes!

please share and follow the instructions #ScienceSky 🧪 #MedSky 🩺 #ClimateSky #AgSky #AcademicSky #EduSky

Vought is trying to destroy American science as we know it. Here's what you can do to stop him: 👉 Visit our action center: zurl.co/Hsflw 👉 Donate to Fuel the Fight for Science: zurl.co/mQlwe LINK IN BIO

@standupforscience.net has proven to be very effective at making things happen. They want to do the hard work and mobilize us! I get that you’re a community of leaders, but it’s time to follow and to support them. We’re all tired. Let’s work together to maximize our effectiveness.

Of all the harm this administration has done to US science, today's proposed changes to the way federal grants are awarded and administered is the most damaging yet. The text of the federal register document is impenetrably tedious by design, so here's an excellent summary of what it says.

While regulations.gov incorrectly lists this action as "closed for comments", you can submit your comments directly here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/OM... My response is below, but don't feel that you need to draft anything nearly so long-winded. A short statement will also be very helpful.

If you are going to comment on the proposed changes to how science is done in the US, please use this guide. The rules specify that you have to mention the number associated with the proposed changes, and this blog has those. Here is where to comment: www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

Scoop: NSF has been quietly blocking new funds and grants to four top universities: Duke, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Dozens of proposals from PIs at these universities—and their collaborators—have been stuck at the Office of Award Management awaiting finalization for months.

Backstory: we originally wrote this paper in response to 2013–2016 Ebola outbreak, but by the time it worked its way through peer review that outbreak had largely subsided and the paper was rejected as no longer timely. We shelved it until the next relevant outbreak, which happened to be mpox.

Let me introduce Dr. Colette Delawalla. PhD in Clinical Psychology and founder of Stand Up for Science. (And all around great human)

I know the world is a mess, but the longer this outbreak continues unchecked, the riskier it becomes for everyone Virus evolution does not care about your head in the sand (or your cuts to international cooperation)

This is North Korea level bullshit, and a total fucking disaster for science and for the United States alike. It doesn't matter whether it fails to pass; this kind of thinking is already penetrating NIH, NSF, NASA, etc and causing severe harm. NASEM, AAAS, AAUP, etc must condemn unequivocally.

The future of the nursing profession, as well the training for other healthcare providers is under attack by the Department of Education. I was in the hospital last week: nurses are care. We need more, not less of them. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Probably shouldn't have let a handful of weird business perverts unwind the cultural miracle of American research universities

Orban was thrown out of office and they’re still doing an Orban.

NIH has allocated just 33% of its normal budget this year, putting critical medical breakthroughs at risk. Johns Hopkins President Ron Daniels and University of Kansas Chancellor Dr. Douglas Girod are calling on the government to release it before the damage becomes permanent. https://bit.ly/4f3GuzR

This is an amazing community with fantastic colleagues and world class research in an amazing location - apply!!

We are losing our best and brightest. Trump’s immigration policies will have an effect on immigrant scientists like Shirley Meng. She is stepping down as director of Energy Storage Research Alliance and will be relocating to Singapore. 🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...

This is awful to hear, describing how Sean Eddy (HMMER, infernal, pfam, rfam) has been defunded. The letter said his work "had been determined to be of absolutely no value to the US taxpayer, and therefore it was being specifically terminated," www.npr.org/2026/05/21/n...

The research that led to this miracle drug started more than five decades (!) ago. Basic science research has massive payoffs but they are often very long-term. As a society, we invest in basic research for our kids and grandkids.

New paper in Nature. The more a government controls its domestic media, the more it dominates AI training data, the more pro-regime outputs we get from AI. By scraping the open web, LLMs are unwittingly laundering state-coordinated narratives into seemingly objective answers.

And you never know when major advances will come. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Someone in the news departments of @nature.com or @science.org needs to take a look at this--its a huge scandal from the scientific supplier that has become a monopoly

NEW: They Got the Best NIH Scores of Their Careers. A Year Later, They Still Don’t Have Funding. As the NIH bankrolls new research at a significantly slower-than-usual pace, I talked to scientists left in the lurch about the toll on their research and careers: www.chronicle.com/article/they...

A glycan-based adjuvant expands the breadth and duration of protection of mRNA-based vaccines www.nature.com/articles/s41... @lozanzi.bsky.social @harvardmed.bsky.social @natimmunol.nature.com

Yup. Sitting on a 3% scored R01 since Jan and I still don’t know if it’s getting funded. This is just not sustainable. How is the NIH going to spend its mandated budget?!

A very costly "mistake."

The push to cut funding from the National Academies of Science will involve illegally impounding funds on the claim that fringe Republican lawmakers understand what constitutes the “gold standard” for science better than the best scientists in America. www.aip.org/fyi/republic...

This does nothing to improve US science. Science knows no borders. Those international collaborators will just collaborate with someone else and American science will bear the cost as former collaborators move to do the work elsewhere.

'Some policy directives go further. An email from NIH’s NIGMS to research-center grantees, seen by Science, requires their institutions to promise that U.S. authors of papers NIH has flagged because of foreign co-authors will not collaborate with them in the future.'

Wondering why the NIH has such a slow pace of grantmaking this year? Here’s my breakdown. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/the-execut...

Powerful essay, please read. "Children will die from this. Not metaphorically. Not eventually." www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/o...

State Rep. @jasmineclarkforga.bsky.social wins the Democratic primary in the vacant #GA13, @decisiondeskhq.bsky.social projects. Clark is now poised to become the first Black woman PhD scientist to serve in Congress. My interview with her here: 19thnews.org/2026/05/geor...

Every step taken by the federal government to promote and advance scientific research in the US, which has been the mainstay of US economic growth and strength since roughly 1870, is now being reversed in order to retard or suppress scientific research. This is a conscious policy.

60,000 person trial proving mRNA flu vaccine superior to standard influenza vaccine (26% relative increased efficacy, over an already effective vaccine). More mild side effects, similar moderate ones. This is a better vaccine and needs to be approved www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Less than 800 NSF grants awarded over the first half of the fiscal year for the entire country. Previous years were already over 2-3k awards by now. It is not particularly overdramatic to say we are seeing the death of federally funded science research in the United States.

NIGHTS OF BLUE SKIES DAY 3 MAY 2026 THESE HORRENDOUS TIMES..YOUR HEALTHCARE Thanks to Trump & RFKJR To those of you in rural areas or some urban cities You know the crisis of hospitals are in dire trouble NOW THIS Doctors who did residency here & signed 3 year contracts could be out ⬇️

This means that hundreds, if not thousands of labs all over the country will close. Tens of thousands of jobs will be lost. This is in defiance of Congress's will and in defiance of good stewardship of the US economy. This is entirely because Russ Vought hates science

Today is a reminder that except for a brief period running roughly from Brown v. Board to Roe v. Wade, throughout its history the Supreme Court has been a reactionary force protecting the wealth of the wealthy and the power of the powerful, almost always hostile to equality and justice.