My main gripe with the alphafold example is how it shows you need decades and decades of high quality data, well structured, open and accessible to train a model -- and yet they always gloss over it and pretend it's just AI and magic. No, we need to continuously invest in real data and FAIR data.

The situation is basically that NSF's spending plan needs to be reviewed and confirmed by both OMB and Congress before money flows down to program level. (Distinct from OMB impoundment of NIH funds last year.) NSF's spending plan has passed OMB and is currently with Congress, as I understand.

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

I served in the Pentagon. Surely, surely Chairs and Ranking Members of Senate and House Armed Services Committees will take action here. What's reported here is a gross stain on America and damaging to the armed services. It also fits a pattern with SecDef Hegseth. Have we no shame. Gift link:

Shall we have a No Kings thread? Japan⬇️

Getting a form noncompliant email because you didn't file a "Termination notice" for a wrongfully terminated diversity F31.

There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports. Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.

One Tomahawk missile = ~1.5 R01s. More than 850 have been launched since the start of the Iran war. Gift link: wapo.st/4bDqVNa

Autism Speaks doesn't ignore autistic kids. It portrays them as a burden, as in this video. That's an extremely problematic way to seek support for parents. And simply counterproductive if the ultimate goal is to improve the lives of autistic children.

@chadbourn.bsky.social is my favorite news follow on bsky

57 of my fellow students were arrested, academically disciplined, and barred from campus 2 weeks before finals. And then the visas of some of those students were quietly revoked. And then the DEI office was killed. And then we watched our mentors’ grants evaporate over “woke”.

"Through his incompetence and ignorance, Trump has: Taught Iran how to win. But not just Iran. He’s also taught China how to win, and any adversary the US has to face in the future." chadbourn.substack.com/p/defeated

I don’t think it is an accident that the tech bros and Christian nationalists who wrote Project 2025 tell me that my children should not attend college, while enrolling their own children in elite universities focused on the Liberal Arts and Humanities. open.substack.com/pub/jesspipe...

I don't. Between this analysis of Hispanic trainees, your previous analysis of Black trainees and this paper that just came out, these policies are accomplishing exactly what they meant to: limiting competition for NIH funding for white men www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

"The other way to put this is that NIH funded 33.1% fewer Hispanic trainees and only 6.3% fewer Non-Hispanic trainees in FY2025...we probably don’t have to think about this too deeply. The anti 'DEI' agenda of the new regime...is probably sufficient"

This war (not a war!) has long been won, but we need our stupid allies to help us win this not war, unless they don't want to, in which case we don't need them we're holding talks with high-level leaders we've killed in bombings by the dept of war (not a war!) to open the straits (still very safe!)

A recent announcement that a major manufacturer will no longer produce paraquat has been framed by some as a possible turning point. It is progress, and it should be recognized as such. However, there is much work to do.

Imagine if a 200 BILLION dollar grant application budget justification looked like this: “We want to be in the best shape, the best shape we’ve ever been in,” Trump said from the Oval Office Thursday. “It’s a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy top.” www.cnn.com/2026/03/19/p...

The complete incompetence of this administration has finally caught up with them (and the rest of the world; gift article) wapo.st/4lCEccj

but also who is advising them to pretend to have read/understood a bunch of papers? it's ok to just say "i want to learn to do science, i'm responsible and dedicated, do you have any opportunities?"

Afroman is a national treasure

Breast cancer mortality dropped 58% from 1975 to 2019. Localized, early detected breast cancer has a 99% 5 year survival rate. Modern mammogram tech was developed by NASA for telescopes. Last year, RFK Jr. cancelled 87 research grants on breast cancer. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/u...

Bhattacharya Appropriation Oversight Hearing drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2026/03/17/b...

Sometimes EM shows weird things...what in the name of the Lord is this?

BREAKING: @delauro.house.gov announces at a House Oversight hearing with NIH director Jay Bhattacharya that OMB approved the agency's apportionment last night. That means the agency should have access to its appropriated funds — 42 days after its spending bill passed.

I'm sure folks have thoughts..... grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

We are destroying our future and our children’s futures. Funding medical research and should be one of the highest priorities of our generation. Yet we are decimating and dismantling it all while diseases keep rising.

Everything hinges on advance compliance of POs (a question mark) and the nature of the Kommissar review.

I Wrote Research Funding Announcements for NIH for 22 Years. This Year They’ve Published 14 open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...

Genuinely just bonkers to watch the USA do this to one of the most successful and innovative hubs of scientific research the world has ever seen. All those years of Free Speech On Campus debates and it turns out they actually wanted less cancer research. Absurd.

Oh to be a little Tardigrade walking across a microscope slide. 🫧🐻🧪

The use of multiyear funding consumes the current year's appropriation faster than would be the case for annually funded grants, limiting the number of awards that can be made. This is a major factor driving down success rates. I will continue to track this and explore its implications. 5/5

Here are the results limited to R01 grants. Multiyear funded R01s were quite rare, but the number (and amount of funding) increased starting in mid-May 2025. The level in FY2026 is starting at this high level. 3/5

What? Another new description for me? First, "Deranged activist", now "Radical graph man"...

It boggles my mind that people like this are billionaires.

NIH has not updated the overall success rates pages drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2026/03/12/n...

I love how we used to joke about how we were being governed by the dumbest people imaginable and the universe took that as a personal challenge.

I already can't stand most social media. AI is making it 100X worse. We are almost in the matrix.

The cut papyrus is not dead, as it can root from stem cuttings. Which would duplicate its genotype meaning evolutionarily it’s kicking crocodile butt. All while doing super efficient C4 photosynthesis. I call foul — I say somebody paid off the referees.

This is crazy for several reasons

A stew of incompetents. “The Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes while planning the ongoing operation.”