the democratic party’s basic problem is it has almost no control over how its message reaches the ears of voters, especially outside of presidential election years. but rather than devote serious time, attention and cash to that problem its consultants and pundits want to fight factional battles

This paper does a great job with a "It's a Wonderful Life" scenario about NIH, supposing the consequences of the bottom 40% of the funding NIH grants never existed. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... tl:dr The world would lose a lot, but directly and indirectly

I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.

So Flint, Michigan gave $1,500 to all pregnant people, plus $500 each month for the first year of the child’s young life. It saved Flint $6.2 million dollars a year, due to lower rates of rates of prematurity and low birth weight, with fewer corresponding admissions. The right thing, AND cheaper.

Peroxisomal metabolism of branched fatty acids regulates energy homeostasis www.nature.com/articles/s41...

There have been 22 cases of Vibrio vulnificus reported across the U.S. South, including 2 recent deaths in Louisiana. That brings the state’s 2025 toll to 6 fatalities. It’s a bit of a “perfect storm,” as shifting ocean conditions and loss of CDC capacity collide.

Welcome FEMA to the letter resistance!! The Katrina Declaration was released today out of concern that we are going back to a time when our response was its own man-made disaster. Say Never Again and sign in support!!! @rebelfema.altgov.info act.standupforscience.net/forms/sign-o...

A study published in Scientific Reports reveals that an online game can enhance individuals' ability to identify vaccine misinformation. The game uses inoculation theory to expose players to manipulation techniques that are commonly used by anti-vaccine groups. go.nature.com/3JiHq5L 🧪

New report from AAMC about clinical trials, other grants, and training www.aamc.org/about-us/mis...

my statement on Ai from the mini-comic I'm making as syllabus for a new class I'm teaching this fall. It's simple, but I pretty much said all I have to say on it - it robs you of decisions and struggle - and the joy of being surprised. It robs you of learning...

“This Executive Order is nothing short of obscene," said Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). "In what world does Donald Trump think that Americans want political appointees – who, need I remind the President, are unelected bureaucrats – making decisions on what science gets funded?”

We outraised every single candidate in this race without a DIME from corporate PACs. How? YOU. Every dot on this map is someone who believes in what we’re building — and the latest polling shows I’m the *strongest* Democrat to beat Rogers. Let’s do this, Michigan 💪

A remarkable paper. Davisson and colleagues describe an in vitro reaction running under plausible prebiotic conditions that efficiently and stereoselectively aminoacylates a model tRNA. This suggests a path through which nature may have chosen L vs. D amino acids! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Public health officials have linked 21 Campylobacter and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infections to raw milk from a Florida farm. Six of the infections were in children younger than 10. In Florida, sale of raw milk is permitted for animal consumption only. www.tampabay.com/news/health/...

We are losing the last of the generation who understand just how evil actual fascism is, how hard it is to rid the world of authoritarian governments once they’re established, and how hard it is to build a successful alternative. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/what-we-lo...

BREAKING: Watchdog government agency finds the NIH and the Trump administration have illegally withheld funds in violation of the Impoundment Control Act, and rips into HHS for failing to justify its slow-walking of funds. www.gao.gov/products/b-3...

My New One at @slate.com on the Supreme Court Potentially Killing the Remaining Pillar of the Voting Rights Act: “The Supreme Court Just Signaled Something Deeply Disturbing About the Next Term” slate.com/news-and-pol...

"While members of Congress asked the CBO to model cuts on the scale of Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, the reductions are so large that they broke the models." www.statnews.com/2025/07/28/n...

Beyond excited to share our #NewPaper in @cellcellpress.bsky.social! Inflamed environments acidify intracellular #pH. BRD4 senses this via transcriptional condensates, tuning #macrophage responses to match demand and consequences of #inflammation authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

I'm done adulting! Let's just be mermaids. 🧜‍♀️ 🧜‍♂️ 🧜‍♀️ 🧜‍♂️ How about you?

My quote of the day A Video Quote Medical miracles don't happen overnight. You have to invest in them. Our investments are in trouble. (From Francis Collins on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, July 16, 2025)

Colbert should just run for President. I mean, it worked for Trump when his show was cancelled.

Great time to support your NPR and your local PBS stations

The rescission bill has passed the Senate. Once it passes the House, as expected, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's budget will be zeroed out for the first time since 1967, back when TV stations still broadcast in black and white.

i wrote an essay for @thetransmitter.bsky.social about what it feels like to serve on an NIH grant review panel (study section) right now www.thetransmitter.org/craft-and-ca...

The “E-Bike Effect:” Those who bought e-bikes increased their average daily bicycle use from 2.1km (1.3 miles) to 9.2km (5.7 miles), a 340% increase. The e-bike share of all their transportation increased dramatically too; from 17% to 49%. E-bikes support fewer car trips. V @lloydalter.bsky.social

Proudly presenting Simon’s @simonsterson.bsky.social‬ paper on asymmetric apportioning of old mitochondria biasing intestinal stem cells for the Paneth cell linage through aKG-dependent metabolism @naturemetabolism.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s42... @helsinki.fi @metastem.bsky.social 🧵1/8

Maybe not the most beautiful experiment in biology but certainly top ten. What are your nominees? 1/

RIP Franklin W. Stahl (1929–2025) here is Frank explaining semiconservative replication of DNA in the marvelous interview from 2020 together with Matt Meselson (youtu.be/7-tnuAqEp9g)

The academic’s mid-summer crisis is a mid-life crisis in miniature: You realize summer is half gone, & not only that: you see that the longest & least burdened days came early, & they are well past. You compare all you thought you’d do against the days remaining & grieve for what never will be

Wow! France gifted her to us, and now they’ve captured what so many Americans are feeling on Independence Day. The values the Statue of Liberty stood for are no more. 📌 A stunning mural of the Statue of Liberty covering her face was unveiled in Roubaix, France, on July 3, 2025.

“Congress” didn’t pass this murder budget. Republicans did it. Republicans did it without a single Democratic vote in the House, without a single Democratic vote in the Senate. Be precise and give, uh, credit where credit is due

The retaliatory firing today of over 100 EPA employees who stood up for scientific integrity — it’s shocking. But it’s also July 3. So this won’t even get on people’s radar.

STAGGERING: This new study of 133 countries is the first to estimate the impact of all USAID’s work. In 2 decades, it has saved *92M* lives. Current cuts, if not reversed, are forecast to cost up to *14M* lives thru 2030. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in dissent, on the Court's ruling on universal injunctions and birthright citizenship: "The Court’s decision to permit the Executive to violate the Constitution with respect to anyone who has not yet sued is an existential threat to the rule of law."

A paper in Nature describes the enzymes that regulate the production of a pheromone responsible for locust swarms. The paper also identifies several candidates capable of inhibiting the production of this pheromone. 🧪

NIH BREAKING NEWS NIH BREAKING NEWS Hearing from multiple sources that an email went out late yesterday afternoon Effective immediately: Please do not terminate any additional grant projects. Please pull back all grant projects that are in the cue to be terminated.

These figures are from a perspective I wrote with a veteran science teacher, an education researcher, a biologist, and a leader in science outreach. "Scaling the wall: overcoming barriers to STEM knowledge mobilization" www.frontiersin.org/journals/com...

NEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years. NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."

I was surprised when working on this story about global warming's role in this heat wave to find scientists concerned that our models are underestimating future extreme heat severity, frequency and duration. (1/2)

An inspiring talk by @leeat-keren.bsky.social from Weizmann: www.facebook.com/leeat.keren/...

From heart tissue to DNA samples, Weizmann scientists mourn work vaporized in Iran attack https://www.timesofisrael.com/from-heart-tissue-to-dna-samples-weizmann-scientists-mourn-work-vaporized-in-iran-attack/

I know my colleagues already dropped this line (h/t: @brendanvduke.bsky.social ), but it bears repeating - there already exists a rural hospital fund and it is called: 🚨🚨MEDICAID🚨🚨 www.politico.com/live-updates...

Here is a link you can blast out to all of your networks to ask them to consider signing on in support of our NIH heroes. actionnetwork.org/forms/add-na... We are at 5000 folks who have signed on. But we can do better Only for people who have ever been sick or knows someone who has been.

Girl, SAME. “I can’t tell you how heartbreaking and frustrating and exhausting it is to be a federal scientist,” one federal worker told Mother Jones recently. “I still love my job and the mission of my agency, and I truly and fervently hope I don’t lose it.” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd. It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.

I think most people don't understand exactly what universities do or how they are funded. It's worth reading this and then talking with folks you know about it.🧪 www.npr.org/2025/04/25/n...

A Path Forward to Save American Bio-Medical Research talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-pat...

Translation I’m very busy cutting Medicaid over here. 👈 I cannot be bothered with Congressional oversight of an unconstitutional emolument over there👉🏾 .⚖️