Was disappointed to miss the conference. Thanks to the organizers, @bmes-cmbe.bsky.social, and everyone who made it out to #cmbe2026. A privilege to be invited and share my perspective on the future of bioengineering. ❤️

Transportation ➡️ higher education Self-driving cars ➡️ AI Same thing

Moderating a recent panel about transportation resilience, I asked whether self-driving cars make mobility networks more fragile due to the risks of malfunctions. Anyway, this happened in San Francisco yesterday.

We are starting to see the first #NIHGrant review outcomes of competitive but not discussed. So of course it’s time to bench race strategy. I thought I saw it stated somewhere that the designation would not be on the summary statement.

Outrageous. Unethical. Mean spirited. Protect our children in need. Provide them gold standard care. And do more research to improve upon current care - don't just ban care entirely.

NSF bio hour - NSF BIO lost 40% of its staff 😑

The dismantling of NCAR should be the trending story on Bluesky, not the fucking Oscars leaving ABC for YouTube.

Is there a way to get this mind-numbing Co-Pilot shit off Microsoft Word?

I want to drive a dump truck of cow manure to the Microsoft headquarters and drop it off in the lobby as a thank you. They didn't ask for it, they didn't want it, but maybe they can figure out how to get rid of it.

Honored to share our new paper, Osteoarthritis as a Systemic Disease, in @natrevrheum.nature.com, out today: rdcu.be/eSXLW - thanks to Ida Haugen, @tuhinaneogi.bsky.social and @farsh-g.bsky.social for your input on gaps and opportunities.

✨Announcing our newest awardees, who are taking scientific leaps to uncover new knowledge across microbial ecology, marine microbiology, and mammalian genetics. Learn about their projects: bit.ly/HFAwardees Meet our awardees and hear from their #HFScouts in our 🧵/1

I hear the US state dept has switched #fonts from #Calibri to #TimesNewRoman, because the former was chosen for better accessibility. Hate to break it to you, but TNR was similarly developed to be accessible and underwent medical testing before being widely adopted: www.nypl.org/blog/2014/12...

Amid NIH funding delays, reversals and uncertainty, a scientist at Harvard who studies breast cancer has lost one-third of her lab employees and wonders if she can continue her research experiments. n.pr/4a4N3zD

Because the vaccine prevents chronic hepatitis B for which there is no cure and the lifelong treatment costs more than a single birth dose of the vaccine. Insurance companies recognize this is a no brainer. Brought to you by prevention beats treatment any day. www.cnn.com/2025/12/07/h...

"The only reason I don’t have this funding is because my last name is Rodriguez,” he said. “It has nothing to do with the science." STAT on the betrayal of early-career researchers: www.statnews.com/2025/12/08/t...

Great thread on why hepatitis B is such an issue and why the vaccine at birth was SO important.

I see reactions calling this “petty and cruel.” Cruel it is. But this is just one facet of the ongoing administrative eradication of trans people being perpetrated by this federal government, alongside NIH censorship, the vandalism of public datasets, State invalidating our passports, and so on.

They are such petty people.

AMA @ama-assn.org: “The ACIP vote…is reckless & undermines decades of public confidence in a proven, lifesaving vaccine. Today's action is not based on scientific evidence, disregards data supporting the effectiveness of the HepB vaccine, and creates confusion for parents….”

This is what government censorship actually looks like: defunding entire fields, deporting researchers, and quite effectively chilling speech that helps people understand how our information systems are being exploited and calls out powerful people and platforms for their bullshit.

Immigrants who worked in fact-checking, dis-information or content moderation will be INELIGIBLE for H-1B visas under Trump, per Reuters www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

That last point. Cassidy really has enormous leverage if he wants to use it. He would win this fight. Worst case is he winds up losing a primary and spends his 70s (he's 68 now) as a hero to millions. He'll likely never have as much influence over anything again as he has over this right now.

A picture is worth a 1000 words. The birth dose of hepatitis B vaccines in the USA eliminated perinatally acquired hepatitis B infection from over 20,000 cases a year before the vaccine was introduced to <20 cases a year. The gaslighting by the current members ACIP is obscene, unethical and cruel.

“Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program Prohibition: Effective January 25, 2026, individuals who are a current party to a Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program (MFTRP) are not eligible to serve as a senior/key person on an NIH grant or cooperative agreement.” grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

I have to enroll in my university's international insurance program to be allowed to travel to a conference being held in ... Puerto Rico #headdesk

For my newsletter, I wrote about that college essay scandal that's gone viral and what everyone is seeming to miss: It's about ATTACKING TRANS PEOPLE!!! www.burnsnotice.com/that-viral-e...

I wrote a story about how easy it is to make accessibility accommodations happen, and yet, how somehow impossible? for people? to offer??? If you're in full fury over the discourse, come and get some catharsis at: www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-1...

This this this

The major AI companies are just a series of Enrons stacked in trench coats.

The nation’s top diplomat speaks to the sleeping destroyer of the free world.

Professors have launched a Political Action Committee! We are going to fight for the legislation that all faculty, students, staff, and higher ed workers deserve. A new future for higher education is possible. Join us in the fight!

Every dollar JK Rowling makes from Harry Potter is going into bankrolling an extortion racket issuing legal threats to organizations across the UK to purge themselves of trans people or face ruinous lawfare.

Read the topic areas. These diseases affect everyone. Basic research provides the key we need to unlock the next generation of transformative cures.

This is just so dumb.

There is a part of me that is really really bitter that people are only now noticing how bad things are at large red state public universities like OU. It’s been this way for a long time. Minority faculty targeted and abandoned. Deeply conservative admins and vicious politicians.

Oklahoma University has placed a grad student instructor on admin leave for failing a psychology paper on gender for citing *the Bible* as a source of empirical evidence. In response, OU has placed on instructor on admin leave citing, get this, the FIRST AMENDMENT. Universities are cooked.

Always love to see great talent using their platform for unabashed good.

Remember when Amazon held a sale during Independent Bookstore Day in an effort to undercut indie bookstores? We didn’t forget. Support local bookstores during Small Business Saturday and beyond.

Here we go. Its ALL #NIHGrant applications. Dec 8 is the new deadline. And a one page prelim data update will be accepted for all May Council submissions. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

This is concerning. NIH is changing their policy so that staff have to prepare justification for every application that is funded BUT NO DOCUMENTATION FOR APPLICATIONS THAT ARE SKIPPED (BASED ON PERCENTILES). 1/2

The satisfaction of being the first car to drive away from the parking lot pay station at my local airport after our flight gets in...

It's time for those left at CDC to reevaluate whether staying at the agency is in the public interest.

Can’t believe the whole country has to suffer through the return of Dickensian childhood diseases because the worst, most ignorant attention-demanders decided other people’s expertise makes them feel bad

ICE raided a church in Charlotte, showed no ID, chased congregants into the woods, and left children sobbing. The Trump administration is beyond inhumanity. This must end. www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politic...

Notice of early expiration of NIH SBIR/STTR funding announcements. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide... If anyone knows the backstory, please share.

The fight has come to NC, and it just hit close to home. Our daughter teaches in Durham public schools and she said almost all of the Latinx kids are not in school today. ICE is targeting everyone who "looks Hispanic", citizen or not. I am even more angry today-kids need to go to school!

AIMBE has been busy with conferences this month! Last week, @dawnberaud.bsky.social hosted a session titled "The Importance of Advocacy in BME Research" @termisam.bsky.social which featured talks from AIMBE Fellows @cosgriffhernandez.bsky.social, @profharley.bsky.social, and Dr. Joyce Wong. (1/4)

Struck this morning by how the win wasn’t from the UC system itself pushing back—it was its worker power through *unions* and aligned groups like @aaup.org defending UC interests, even though admin itself wasn’t. There’s some kind of lesson here

INCREASED