Finally out! We studied the retinas of the longest-living vertebrate, the Greenland shark, and found that the retinas remain remarkably healthy in animals around 150 years old. What is the mechanism? It may be a highly efficient DNA repair system. Enjoy! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#HHS unveiled a new childhood vaccination schedule today. The pared-down schedule was developed in secret, not using the normal public science-based process. With the change, the US recommends fewer vaccines than Germany, Israel, Spain, China, & many other countries. www.statnews.com/2026/01/05/c...

New story in STAT with data about Early Stage Investigators www.statnews.com/2025/12/18/n... 1/4

Excited to share our new work on visual information processing in the retinocollicular pathway. We discovered that while luminance responses can predict motion responses in retinal ganglion cells, this prediction does not hold in the superior colliculus cells. www.cell.com/current-biol...

Reminder to please reach out if you are interested!

We're disappointed to see Ben Barres's powerful book "The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist" among the ~400 titles removed from the Naval Academy Library. Needless to say, we're proud to have published his book and will keep it — and his memory — alive.

This program changed my life. Apply!

Zara Weinberg passed away earlier this week. She joined my lab earlier this year when her postdoc lab formally closed. She was a brilliant scientist, supportive mentor, dear friend, avid music fan, rabid believer in public transit, open science champion, and above all just an amazing human.

Yes, Halloween is the deadliest day of the year for child pedestrians—great advice from @mcbazacophd.bsky.social (It’s also our kid’s birthday)

Let's talk about barreleye fishes in family Opisthoproctidae. Take a minute to take in the image below. What look like 'eyes' above the tiny toothless mouth are in fact chemosensory organs equivalent to nostrils. The EYES are the green domes INSIDE THE TRANSPARENT HEAD. And they look *up*...

Zara Weinberg was a brilliant, loving, and beautiful woman. She inspired everyone who she interacted with, and always strived to make the world a better place for everyone. Tho the world is a little less bright today without her, her memory will always be a blessing. She was truly one of the best.

Happy Halloween from the Vlasits Lab! Can you guess the species from the eyes? Ping pong ball art by the lab members!

I’m thrilled to share my postdoc work and the first paper from the McKinley Lab! 🎉 @karalmckinley.bsky.social We built the first transgenic model of menstruation in mice. We used it to uncover how the endometrium organizes and sheds during menstruation. 🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵

Such exciting work from @karalmckinley.bsky.social lab. I wonder if this mouse model could be used to study brain changes across the menstrual cycle and associated mood disorders as well.

So excited that a retina neurobiology colleague was awarded the MacArthur Genius Award! Congratulations Teresa Puthussery! news.berkeley.edu/2025/10/08/v...

Our review is out 🎉 We discuss how neural computations in the retina shape behavior, continuing the top-down tradition of Lettvin et al.'s classic bug-detector neurons Check it out 👀 arevie.ws/46HMEjd @annualreviews.bsky.social w/ coauthors @serenariccitelli.bsky.social @annaintegrated.bsky.social

Interesting study from Germany on e-bikes and the modes they replace: "43.1% of electric bicycle trips and 63.2% of electric bicycle mileage would have been undertaken using a car if no e-bike had been available, highlighting their substantial potential to reduce transport-related CO2 emissions"

The ICE budget is now set to be approximately what the NIH budget was. We’re shifting money from solving real problems to solving fictitious problems.

The evil that men do lives after them

Wow look who’s flying!

Exciting news: ⭐I'm thrilled to receive a grant from the Brain Research Foundation! tinyurl.com/2p9ku4sd ⭐"Atypical retinal ganglion cell function in a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome" was published! tinyurl.com/htk3ekce ⭐my review on retinal receptive fields was published! tinyurl.com/48b9xbs2

I've wanted to write this article for years. About my and other's struggles to even survive sometime in #academia. Thank you to the amazing editors at @plosbiology.org that gave me the forum to write this piece. #science

Shakespeare the neuroscientist

The 5,486,642 acres of National Forest in Oregon proposed for sale accounts for almost one third of the 16,784,978 acres managed by the Forest Service. One. Third.

Neuroscience research and training has taken a $323 million hit in the form of grants rescinded by the U.S. NIH, according to an analysis by @thetransmitter.bsky.social. By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/funding/nih-...

Extremists have eviscerated the National Institutes of Health, responsible for 80% of the *world’s* grant investment in biomedical research The losses are incalculable, but here are several of them Thank you @propublica.org for documenting this —>

the story today is of a profoundly low energy military parade being met with millions of americans in nationwide protests denouncing the dictatorial pretensions of the president

A few shots from today's #NoKings march in Chicago. I still haven't seen a final count but it was tens of thousands.

Posted up at a local bar for a sammy and a beer while I file my story about today's protests. but here's a story y'all might appreciate. While I was there I saw and older gentleman with this sign.

There are nearly 100,000 people at the rally in Philadelphia. #NoKings

Today I had the honor of speaking in front of nearly 3000 people today at the Woodland #NoKings rally. WE FEAR NO KING BECAUSE WE DONT HAVE ONE ✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾 let’s gooooooo

In Oak Park Illinois "nokings"

Among other things

NEW: In the last few hours, Minnesota authorities warned people against attending protests, with a killer on the loose. This is the current view of the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. DEFIANCE. 👏 #NoKings #50501Movement (📸 Daviss)

Dallas turned out with at least 10,000 marching for #NoKingsDay

Tens of thousands of people march through the Loop Saturday as part of the nationwide No Kings protest. Half a dozen other marches are taking place in Chicago suburbs.

I'm floored. This is ONE stretch of ONE side of the street in deep red, small town Knoxville, TN today. This is a city that Trump won in 2024 by 20+ points. The scope of these protests are massive—American from both sides of the aisle are pissed. There will be no kings.

yep! unpaywalled:

Hey #Chicago science folks. It's time to get out there with everyone else fighting. @standupforscience.bsky.social stands together with @indivisiblechicago.bsky.social for No Kings Day this Saturday June 14. Find your rally at www.nokings.org #nokings 👑❌

(Longish thread. Apologies) I have met many inspiring colleagues over the past few months, many of whom are in academic institutions targeted by the current administration, and many others who are about to be (the analogy to the ‘eye of Sauron’ has been invoked many times; gallows humor). 1/

~40% cuts to NIH research awards. ~35% cuts to training programs. ~27% cut to internal research. ~30% fewer grants awarded overall. The Common Fund will be cut in half. American science has never faced a threat like this. www.statnews.com/2025/06/06/n... via @statnews.com

So they told every kid to go into STEM and then they took STEM away

And I will note again that the amount of money they are diverting to immigration detention is equivalent to a the entire NIH's yearly budget. So instead of cures for cancer, we will likely just get more kids in cages.

I urge everyone to read Unbreaking’s new page on everything the govt is doing to destroy & diminish medical research funding. It’s the best thing I’ve read on this topic: @lizneeley.bsky.social & co have such done an incredible job. unbreaking.org/issues/medic...

A reminder that Trump & DOGE have cut fire fighting efforts here in the US. The National Forest Service has lost key people and the National Weather Service cut back overnight monitoring including at California offices that help track wildfires. 1/

All of these countries have issued USA travel advisories: - Germany - United Kingdom - Denmark - Finland - France - Ireland - Netherlands - Portugal - Belgium - Norway - Canada - New Zealand - Australia - Mexico - Venezuela - Uruguay - Japan

Trump’s cuts to research programs directly harms scientists from working class backgrounds. Bridges built between the blue collar and ivory tower are collapsing in front of us.

Happy Leading Edge Fellow day!!!!!!

Today the Supreme Court cleared the way for the federal government to transfer thousands of acres of national forestland including a Native American sacred site, to Resolution Copper a mining company owned by Rio Tinto and BHP. The land holds deep spiritual significance for the Western Apache tribe.