#polisky the absolute decimation of the social sciences cc @professormusgrave.bsky.social @mcopelov.bsky.social

9 months later, we are at the top of the to-fund pile but still no NOA and we're told NICHD has not awarded a single new R01. Sure would like to work on this project!

Some totally awesome updates from grant-witness.us All of my funding curves and more in an easily useful form! grant-witness.us/funding_curv... 🧵 1/7

The world is stupid, but I just watched a squirrel break into a car in the parking lot below me, steal a package of crackers, and escape to a nearby tree. So at least somebody is winning.

Watch Director Bhattacharya's performance at CPAC really got to me. I chose to share some of my observations with him. Hold on... 1/11

10/11

The Kentucky Senate passed a bill that would allow colleges to lay off tenured faculty with 30 days of notice if program enrollments are determined to be low, going well beyond the norm of discontinuing the program in order to do layoffs.

I'd like to introduce you to Panulirus ornatus, the ornate rock lobster. They're native to the Indo-Pacific, with a large range centered on New Guinea & the Great Barrier Reef near Australia. They're a member of family Palinuridae, the spiny or rock lobsters. So why so colorful?

Something has gone spectacularly wrong with the back-end of the movie theater rewards points website 🙃

Food policing poor families isn't a win for nutrition--it's a loss for dignity and joy. As Brea Perry and I find in our research (see reply), low-income parents buy food treats for their kids because they want their kids to feel happy and normal--and they can't afford to do so in bigger ways.

Social movement scholar here again. So, why protest? Nihilists were out yesterday arguing that "protests don't do anything." A short 🧵:

This looks interesting, and could be an actual use case. As someone who would love to have more feeds, and has no clue how to do any of it, legitimately curious.

Two fighters for science and democracy, one Stand Up For Science No Kings Rally! Thank you @aoc.bsky.social and @pelosi.house.gov for kicking off our event today! #nokings #standupforscience

Breaking this out from a reply so as not to bother: Working in public spaces conveys risks, risks that intensify when the author is marginalized by identity, professional status, and place (i.e. non-white, non-tenured, in a red state, to pick three examples). But essays are less risky than posts. /1

Just all around good stuff. That sign says "only butterflies should be monarchs," which is delightful

Listen: If you are an expert in protests and why they matter, you can probably pitch on Monday and publish on Tuesday. If you need help, email me lollardfish at gmail and I'll walk you through it. It's especially vital (always) to pitch LOCAL outlets. More context /1

This is the FCC Chairman, who is ostensibly a non-partisan industry regulator, openly bragging about conducting a political purge of the media.

Social movement scholar here to comment on No King again. a 🧵: These protests are important b/c: 1.) as sustained image events, protests offer evidence of continued disapproval of the direction the country is going and disavowal of the country's leadership.

another banner day for "if you didn't know sports were real, ESPN headlines would be crazy"

Perfect illustration of the problem of being asked to have full-spectrum viewpoint diversity that incorporates every & any claim as a valid part of serious academic debate. We can either do that, or we can be actual scholars/universities. Some things are just lies & detached from empirical reality.

I’m at the Harvard Kennedy School today to share my own special brand of AI skepticism, and I’m glad I made the trip. I’ve heard more AGI-pilled, ahistorical, technosolutionist bullshit in the past three hours than I have all year. (This is a tribute to the select company I normally keep.)

It’s always interesting to see which subjects Meta will refuse to do content moderation on because “free speech,” and which content moderation the CEO will volunteer to do in advance to curry favor. In this case it was “naming a DOGE employee”

While the situation is grim at NIH, it's closer to catastrophic at NSF. They're just not able to move any money out the door. It appears OMB has them on lockdown. www.science.org/content/arti....

Universities run entirely off decisions made by three staff members who have like mythical status and are known by their first names only. Can you have something done? Ask Susan.* Why Susan? Dunno. What if Susan says no? Too bad. Susan is biblical law. *not her real name at my university

This should be an impeachable offense. I understand that we’re way past any of that, but that shouldn’t stop us from naming it.

Oh did you want 3300 words from me on today's IOC sex testing rules? An essay on the nature of evidence and why we can't seem to stop getting stuck in the same traps around sex and gender in sports? Wow lucky you!! www.coyotemedia.org/the-olympics...

Pilot on my flight: “Air travel is not fun right now. Please be nice to each other. I don’t want to be on CNN. Let’s just go home.”

OK, I call it, I have received the single most unhinged ad on LinkedIn. For one thing, it's Adjunct Professors of Law who need the abs, not Adjunct Professor of Law's.

More broadly, the workshop provides yet more evidence that too many in science leadership are engaging with administration representatives and advocates in the context of 'good faith' negotiations. (Hint: they are not negotiating in good faith) joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/the-state-...

New Bright Line Watch report! -Expert ratings of U.S. democracy largely stable at lowest levels measured (since 2017) -Record partisan divide in public ratings of democracy driven by Republicans whose evaluations are highest since 2017 -Experts near-unanimous on many threats to democracy 🧵 below

All participants heard the same lecture. Half read a relatable backstory for the lecturer; the others were told that the voice was AI generated. The backstory fostered a greater sense of personal connection, which translated into greater curiosity to learn more about the 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤. 2/4

One game in and I'm winning 🎉 Either a sign of my upcoming dominance or of how far I can fall...

lol, I somehow joined a fantasy baseball league despite never following baseball Points are starting to roll in and I have ABSOLUTELY no idea what's going on 😂 Am I doing well, horribly, who knows!

I am honored to be continuing my service to the field of Psychological Science. I hope to see you all in Barcelona!

Tell me your age without telling me your age

My 11 year-old lives like a normal 11-year-old instead of a chronically ill child who was likely halfway through his life already because of the triumphs of science that are still occurring

Notes from the aftermath of the cataclysmic collapse in my research life due to the DOGE bros: ◾ Our department is in receivership due to "financial distress" -- an invented form of receivership by our uni leadership This requires a ton of extra (unpaid) work to save ourselves

I was really struggling this weekend until I remembered that if I believe that complex systems are genuinely unpredictable, I cannot also believe that the worst is locked in. This whole thread is worth saving and revisiting.

ICYMI my solo article on MENA identity. When MENA Americans aren’t given a “MENA” option on forms, they answer identity-related questions on politics more strongly (eg higher end of the scale) than if“MENA” had been added. Having the group label or not changes the average response!

I AM ONCE AGAIN SOUNDING THE ALARM THAT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS WORKING TO PRIVATIZE OUR SCIENTIFIC ECOSYSTEM.

A lot of recent headlines feel suspiciously like MadLibs

Everyone dooming over how $185M means nothing to Meta: this lawsuit was brought by one (small) state. Forty-nine plus DC to go. It is okay and encouraged to celebrate Ws instead of just saying “it doesn’t matter” every time any awful corporation faces ANY consequences. This could force change.

Doing great today - couldn't figure out why I was hungry and having trouble concentrating. Maybe because it's 3pm and I didn't eat lunch 🤦‍♀️

This background is so beautiful it looks fake, but I assure you it is real. Squirrel of the Day for March 24, 2026 in a blossoming magnolia tree at DC's Oak Hill Cemetery #sqrlpix

Semi-regular reminder: Baby open-ocean octopuses sometimes ride on jellyfish like little hats. 📸 Songda Cai bit.ly/2ZmNZZH 🧪🪼🐙🦑🌿

Today we published a report on younger news audiences. Authored by Craig T. Robertson, @amyrossarguedas.bsky.social @mitalilive.bsky.social and @richardfletcher.bsky.social, it's based on DNR and other surveys Full report reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/understandin... Seven findings in thread

justice alito talmbout it "seriously undermines" voter confidence when a "big stash" of mail ballots arrives and changes the "apparent outcome" sir do you mean when all the votes are counted? bc it sounds like you're just describing when all the votes are counted

I hear a lot of "it's hard to make art when the world is on fire" and yeah that's definitely true for a lot of reasons. But it's also healthy to use art to respond to the times you're living in. And trust that others need that from you too.