SCOOP: Jay Bhattacharya, NIH director, will also serve as acting CDC director, per two admin officials, until Trump names a permanent director. POTUS will nominate Jim O'Neill, who left HHS on Friday, to run National Science Foundation. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/u...

"What are the consequences when eye-watering sums of money are put behind the idea that the purpose of American arts and letters is not wisdom but advocacy?" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

NEW: Another NIH institute director hasn't been renewed — the director of NIAMS (arthritis, musculoskeletal and skin diseases institute). That leaves a whopping 15 of 27 institutes and centers without a permanent director.

Thanks to @cathleenogrady.bsky.social for including me in this important story! I'm quoted talking about how it's crucial to run your findings by experts, and how journalists have to accept that we ultimately don't control how our work gets used or interpreted.

I've had so much respect and admiration for the Post's health/science team over the years. The losses there (and throughout the whole newsroom) are heartbreaking

NEW: A year ago, the NIH said it would cap research-overhead costs, a change that would cost colleges billions. A ragtag group rallied behind a compromise plan—and it seems to have traction. Here's how higher ed staved off a research-funding bloodbath (for now): www.chronicle.com/article/how-...

NEW: A year ago, the NIH said it would cap research-overhead costs, a change that would cost colleges billions. A ragtag group rallied behind a compromise plan—and it seems to have traction. Here's how higher ed staved off a research-funding bloodbath (for now): www.chronicle.com/article/how-...

Epstein files show a complicated relationship with science and journalism Jeffrey Epstein aggressively sought access to publishers, mentions of Scientific American and other media in Department of Justice files show www.scientificamerican.com/article/epst...

Breaking, from me: An executive order from Oklahoma's governor directs most of the state's public colleges to "phase out tenure." #AcademicSky #HigherEd @chronicle.com www.chronicle.com/article/tenu...

At Ohio State U, faculty hiring committees sometimes explicitly considered candidates’ race and sex, in pursuit of diversity. I spent some time exploring how OSU, and all of higher ed, seemingly ignored both the legal and reputational risk staring it in the face. www.chronicle.com/article/dive...

Final schedule F rule "will allow agencies to quickly remove employees from critical positions who engage in misconduct, perform poorly, or *obstruct the democratic process by intentionally subverting Presidential directives.*" (emphasis mine) public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-02375.pdf

He Was Laid Off at The Washington Post After Working There 60 Years www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/b...

My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power

A staggering statement from former Washington Post editor Marty Baron: "This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations."

Virologist Nathan Wolfe sought funding from Jeffrey Epstein to study whether sexually transmitted infections increased women’s sex drive. He planned to conduct this study among female undergraduate students.

Here’s What the Latest Epstein Files Say About His Ties to Higher Ed: Collectively, the files underscore how deeply Epstein remained embedded in academic and intellectual circles even after his criminal history became public. www.chronicle.com/article/here...

"[Epstein] was arrested in 2006 & pleaded guilty in 2008" "Ariely & Epstein met at least 7 times from 2010-2016" "Ariely is named 636 times in the more than 3 million additional files released" "Neither Ariely nor Duke responded to ... requests for comment" www.dukechronicle.com/article/duke...

I'm at the Willard Hotel where I've been denied entry and kicked out of the Reclaiming Science event with NIH director Bhattacharya & other top agency leaders. @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social and I registered for the event months ago yet were told capacity was full, even as they let in dozens of others.

more details and sharp analysis from @willoremus.com and @aaronschaffer.com here is a gift link wapo.st/4rjXAMQ

NEW: How do college students try to avoid being falsely accused of using AI to cheat? By turning to AI... My latest @nbcnews.com story shows how even students who want nothing to do with AI can't seem to escape it - and it fuels a new niche industry of "humanizers" www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...

We profiled refugees who: Arrived in the country legally. Applied for green cards. Were arrested by ICE and detained. One refugee who was arrested found out they got their green card after being released. This is an unprecedented operation. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/u...

Ta-Nehisi Coates: With the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, "Trump has clarified an inconvenient fact—the culture war is an actual war"

Congress Is Asking Dozens of Prominent Universities About Students’ "Dismal" Math Skills, @katiemangan.bsky.social reports: www.chronicle.com/article/cong...

terrific new Ben Taub piece — it cracks a long-cold case of infanticide; it's a bombshell for maternal health, child protection & opiate toxicology protocols; it exposes the Lancet’s scandalous indifference to validity of what it publishes — it should make noise www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

My @washingtonpost.com colleagues worked round the clock this weekend to expose the truth of what's happening in Minneapolis and bring urgent weather news to millions facing dangerous cold and snow. If you value this work, tell Jeff Bezos to #SaveThePost www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

Star Tribune: “Republican Chris Madel made a stunning exit from the Minnesota governor’s race on Jan. 26, saying he cannot support the national GOP’s ‘stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.’”

Protesters flooded the intersection of Nicollet Avenue and W. 26th Street in south Minneapolis, near where Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal agents Saturday morning. Video by Aaron Lavinsky, Genevieve Ross, Kyeland Jackson and Louis Krauss.

For @chronicle.com, I wrote about a secret provost club. Well, formerly. www.chronicle.com/article/high...

NEW: NeurIPS,one of the world’s top academic AI conferences, accepted research papers with 100+ AI-hallucinated citations, new report claims fortune.com/2026/01/21/n...

Another expression of concern for former Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Four of his papers have been retracted. retractiondatabase.org/RetractionSe...

Kai's write up and @cailinmeister.bsky.social's thread do a great job of summarizing our results. Rather than cover them a third time, I thought I'd clarify some misconceptions over our piece and COIS more broadly that keep cropping up scattered across replies. 🧵🧪

Who is the Big Tobacco of today? In new work, we find 50% of high profile social media papers are connected to big tech through funding, collaboration and employment. Most connections aren't disclosed. @jbakcoleman.bsky.social @jevinwest.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com 1 arxiv.org/abs/2601.11507

EXCLUSIVE: In my 1st @rollingstone.com story, internal @hhsofficial.bsky.social emails show how 2 Danish scientists accused of "questionable research practices" got a $1.6 million grant aligned w/ Sec. Kennedy's theories to study HepB vaccine in Guinea-Bissau: rollingstone.com/politics/pol... /1

This study is like the Schrodinger's Cat of vaccine research. The Africa CDC says it's been canceled. HHS says it's not. Controversial CDC Vaccine Study in Guinea-Bissau May Be Canceled www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...

We have the CDC-funded Hepatitis Vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau protocol. It’s worse than you thought. Check it out, first in Inside Medicine… with @pauloffit.bsky.social David Boulware and others. insidemedicine.substack.com/p/scoop-the-...

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, sent hundreds of letters late Tuesday to nonprofits informing them their grants had been cut because their programs “no longer effectuates” the agency’s priorities. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Is the Republican chairman of U. of Florida’s Board of Trustees the only thing standing between Gator Nation and a full-fledged MAGA takeover? www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

This is an outrage. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec... Read @hannahnatanson.bsky.social's work: * www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int... * www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202... * www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

Confirming the NYT's reporting: FBI agents arrived at Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson's home this morning and conducted a search. Natanson penned this outstanding first-person piece last month about being "the federal government whisperer." www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

I stand with @hannahnatanson.bsky.social, a terrific reporter whose excellent coverage speaks for itself.

It would appear I am now a columnist at Inside Higher Ed. My first piece focuses on McCarthyism, censorship, and our current moment in higher education. This is an essay I started nearly 6 months ago so I'm glad to finally share it with y'all. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

"Professor suspended after Japanese university finds fishy results in sushi paper" retractionwatch.com/2026/01/12/p...

“We can no longer lend our credibility to an organization that has lost its integrity… each of us independently reached the decision to resign in protest of the actions of an administration that treats science not as a process for building knowledge, but as a means to advance its political agenda.”

For anyone interested in the new Dietary Guidelines, here's a breakdown and my thoughts: kcklatt.substack.com/p/ambiguous-...

Panel behind new dietary guidelines had financial ties to beef, dairy industries, via @statnews.com

Don't forget to register! TOMORROW @healthjournalism.org hosts a webinar with Expert Vaccine Analysis Team re the MAJOR overhaul to the #CDC rec'd children's #immunization schedule. Find out what #vaccine recs changed, what it means & if insurance will cover them healthjournalism.org/event/big-ch...

Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).

NOW: Crowd continues to grow in Minneapolis at a vigil where a federal agent shot and killed Renee Good this morning. “SAY HER NAME!” “RENEE GOOD!”

My very smart colleagues are doing excellent coverage of the ICE shooting in Minneapolis today. I would urge you to follow along with local sources familiar with the area and the residents here.

NEW: Publishers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announce they are shutting down the newspaper on May 3, 2026. Hours ago, the Supreme Court of the US declined to extend a stay on a court order for the paper to pay its journalists following the end of a 3-year strike.