5. The right-wing enthusiasm for AI science is not about doing better science faster. It’s about eliminating one of the most effective forms of societal resistance to authoritarian control.

"To retreat from [diversity, equity and inclusion] is to close the door to possibilities for better science and a better future. This is not the time to step back. It’s unquestionably the time to step forward." @anthrofuentes.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The $50 billion that NIH spends every year does more for Americans than Jeff Bezos could hope to dream of. Bezos is a smart guy, in the right place at the right time who built a delivery business. NIH and NSF are THE engines of American discovery and innovation. GTFO

That is 54, 5-year NIH biomedical research grants. Or 270 years worth of biomedical research.

tl;dr — this EO co-opts the language of open science to implement a system of political control wherein presidential appointees are given broad latitude to designate any number of reasonable scientific activities and inferences as scientific misconduct, and to penalize those involved accordingly.

Trump's NSF funding down 51% from the 10-year average www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Heartbroken to hear that the @hhmi.org Hanna Grey fellowship competition is being cancelled this year. I poured so much work and creativity into this app and am very grateful for everyone who helped me revise. It is such a difficult time to be a young scientist.

Can we get more of this? “The Japanese American National Museum will ‘scrub nothing,’ Fujioka said, and instead will highlight the importance of DEI. “Our community is based on diversity, equity is guaranteed to us in the Constitution, and inclusion is what we believe in,” Fujioka said.

Congratulations to Emma Hammond! Excellent paper on negative effects of oxytocin on wound healing…..but it depends on social context

This was a great paper to work on! The effects of intranasal oxytocin are context dependent - when California mice are isolated, oxytocin *increases* wound inflammation in a dose-dependent manner. Exciting implications for how neuropeptides interact with the immune system!

Excited to share that I just published my first ever first-author paper in Psychoneuroendocrinology in the Marler Lab. We found that oxytocin may impair wound healing when animals are isolated. @cmarler.bsky.social @patrickmonari.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Working with an interdisciplinary team, we have developed a website to communicate how the White House's proposed cuts to health research would cause losses of $16B and 68,500 jobs. Find out how your community may be impacted. Explore more at SCIMaP: scienceimpacts.org a 🧵

Wisconsinites will not be bought. Our votes are not for sale.

ICYMI: We're back cataloging Trump's cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes.

Reporting from @msifry.bsky.social: Bernie Sanders, in the wake of his Fighting Oligarchy tour, is hiring full-time organizers in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and several Western states. Among other things, they are working on Wisconsin's upcoming supreme court election and flipping swing House seats.

A statement by SBN (again co-written by the DEI Comm with edits from the Exe Comm) on why using rodent models of trans health are important studies for the community and everyone else!

This is a super clear and helpful article explaining why the 15% indirect cost rate is unfair, hurts science, and does NOT increase $ for research: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The ad-hoc termination of training grants, PhD fellowships, and center grants at Columbia is catastrophic and sends a message. The WH will: * Seek revenge at all costs * Destroy science & higher ed, if it can * Risk lives, careers and the economy. Rest assured: they will not stop w/Columbia

Musk has now poured $8.3 million into buying the tie-breaking Wisconsin Supreme Court seat for Brad Schimel. That is vastly more than any other single donor—to eliminate a state-level check on his and Trump's power. Help us fight back and elect Susan Crawford: PeopleVMusk.com

It is more clear than ever that we need grassroots antiracist organizing. When the system is built to harm groups of people, you need to work outside of it. I am so proud to have published this work with my peers on building antiracist communities in academia! online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art...

Excited to present the latest from the lab out today in Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex.... See Thread! 1/8

Antiracist change has always been needed (and fought for) in academia - right now is certainly no different. But it's also clear from the shift in conversations over the past month and a half that we're in a period of unique challenge, and necessity, for antiracist work. 1/n

NSF plans to reinstate all probationary employees who were fired on 18 Feb! NSF’s decision. 👏🏻👏🏻❤️

"Regardless of style and tactics, everyone in the American scientific community must hold to the principles of independence, peer evaluation, and inclusion...We will not turn our backs on them now." @holdenthorp.bsky.social @science.org YES!!!! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

LGBTQ federal workers say they're terrified they're about to be fired for their gender identity, sexual orientation, or past efforts to support other queer and trans employees—in other words, a second Lavender Scare. Honored to have their trust with this story: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

🚨 Many NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) are being cancelled for Summer 2025. www.reddit.com/r/REU/commen...

"I don't know what NSF is going to be now, but it's not more efficient. It's just a mess." My story on today's firings and their impact. www.npr.org/2025/02/18/n...

Firings happening right now at the NSF.

The cost-saving claims don’t hold up. Every dollar in NIH research grants generates $2.46 in economic activity, research shows—a total of $93 billion in 2023 alone. “It’s incredible to me that we would give up this thing that has such obvious societal benefits,” says biologist Mark Peifer.

This has been one of the most important articles I've ever written. Grassroots collective action that operates *in parallel* to institutions is an important way to push for change. Here, we offer a recipe book for how we've been doing it over the past four+ years. In press osf.io/preprints/ps...

These are research grants awarded through evaluation of their merits by scientific peers, in which the investigators are carrying out important, ground-breaking work. They're being targeted because, as required by NSF guidelines, they include some investment in benefits for the broader community.

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%. I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

READ THIS ASAP: “If we continue to be gripped with outrage and stilled by stupefaction by each day’s new proclamation, we will fail to discern what links them. To be gripped by his statements is precisely the aim of their utterance.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“‘Science can and should as a community organise itself to maximise its ability to act collectively, ethically and – when necessary – politically.’ The scientific community needs to speak up – not just for the sake of science, but of human decency, dignity and morality.”

Some additional #NSF thoughts. As always, these thoughts are mine alone. But here goes, It seems the damage this situation has already caused to the research enterprise in the US may be catastrophic (and irreparable?).

I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service. “Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.

For the PRFB people: I have contacted and heard back from a program officer that as of now, nothing appears to have changed in regards to this cycle that just submitted in the Fall, and the only known change he is aware of is a new track in this coming F25 cycle here: new.nsf.gov/funding/info...

Looks like the following programs in #NSF BIO have been 'archived': BRC-BIO - new.nsf.gov/funding/oppo... BIO-LEAPS - new.nsf.gov/funding/oppo... PRFB - new.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

🚨😷🧪 NEW: A growing body of evidence shows that pandemics, biodiversity loss, and climate change are part of a broader polycrisis - but there are no simple solutions. A sweeping overview of "Pathogens and planetary change" for the first issue of @natrevbiodiv.bsky.social, out now 🔓 rdcu.be/d6lHl

also want to develop this expertise? SERVE ON STUDY SECTION! Participating in this incredibly important service provides such insight into how this whole review process works and is so invaluable for ourselves and our colleagues

OK If we are moving to Bluesky I am rescuing my favourite ever twitter thread (Jan 2019). The renamed: Bluesky-sized history of neuroscience (biased by my interests)

Women are under-represented at senior levels in #academia globally, & across all #science 🧪 disciplines, as shown by these "scissor-shaped curves" ✂️ So how can we ever achieve #gender #equality? We discuss various strategies in this #Cell Commentary #WomeninSTEM www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... 🧵 1/

New paper out in @ScienceMagazine! In 8 studies (multiple platforms, methods, time periods) we find: misinformation evokes more outrage than trustworthy news, when it does it's shared more + ppl are less likely to read before sharing. w/ @killianmcl1 @Klonick @mollycrockett 🧵👇

🔥🔥🚨 Deadline coming up! But still in time to apply to a MindCore fellowship as a postdoc. I’m looking for an independent postdoc with experience in freely moving ephys to perform triple Neuropixel in the wild Agouti!! Get in touch! 🧪https://mindcore.sas.upenn.edu/post-doctoral-research-fellowship/

Is there a formula for competitive grant applications? Araj et al. break down the core elements of successful proposals in their latest perspective article! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Three must read papers for PhD students. #scisky #PhD #science #research #academicsky 1. The importance of stupidity in scientific research Open Access journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

I have a lot of new followers here, so I’m reposting this ad! I’m recruiting 2-3 graduate students (M.S. or Ph.D. track) to join my new lab at @ualberta.bsky.social in Fall 2025! The application deadline is December 1st. Reach out to me via email if interested! Pls share widely! 🐟🧠🧬🍂

Just In case people need to follow people in neuroscience focused on natural behaviors and the brains of cool non-trad animals! Please join let me know if you wanna be added. go.bsky.app/AcLpM4h