This year on Bluesky I wrote 200 posts and 683 replies. I received 3,118 likes, whereas 223 was from my most popular post, and apparently I love saying "not" and 🤣! www.madebyolof.com/bluesky-wrap...

I’ve known very few geniuses, and maybe a few folks at their moment of genius. This choice triggers me as genuinely signifying someone who spent at least a little time at the limit of what’s possible for a human mind.

This settlement is the best case scenario for these applications at this point. Pushing back matters but real damage still done by illegal actions by the current NIH leadership. Thanks to everyone who helped make this settlement happen!

a neat (and scary) survey into AI "companions" and kids www.aura.com/reports/stat... "nearly half of the time kids and teens use AI, it is for companionship, and when they do, the themes of discussion are primarily sexual, romantic, and violent."

That’s a wrap on 2025 flights.

I'm just grateful to be alive at the same time as these Berliners.

这只猫以肥肉和猪油面包为主食。

Picard honesty tip: Don't let anyone else tell you how many lights you see.

Love the plane-side Porsche pickup @Delta #DeltaAirLines #SkyMiles #DiamondMedallion #MillionMiler

Good! An early insight of human centered design is that it was possible to reduce airplane crashes by introducing tactile switches and toggle that did not create confusion or require people to take their eyes away from their core tasks donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-origin...

More on the continuing purges at #NIH. Now 13 out of 27 institute directors have been gotten rid of. This is not normal. @jonathanwosen.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/12/27/n...

I've been thinking about this sign for 6 months. a phrase I'll treasure forever. a metaphor with boundless potential

Just the kind of counterfactual that makes ChatGPT worth it. Advice on what to do if the cellist has a massive dose of LSD before performing the full Shostakovich quartet cycle.

A message to all the haters

Welcome to the latest Twitter exiles Here is a starter pack of academics who cook go.bsky.app/9Ys1qoL

My clickbait knows me.

It also won't reduce the burden on POs! Any PO with a conscience will not have to read every grant they receive and think hard about the relative merits of each one. (3/5)

Meanwhile, over at NSF…

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

Breakfast: Homemade coconut bun, and cha siu roast pork bun.

Wow... NYC's congestion pricing has led to big drops in PM2.5 and real improvements in local air quality.

The NIH is seeking leadership via Facebook ad. The comments are spectacular. www.facebook.com/share/1AAWyg...

The Ellison family’s desire to take over Warner Bros should alarm anyone concerned with U.S. propaganda & media consolidation— They would own Paramount, Warner Bros, CNN, CBS, HBO, TikTok & a host of major cable channels

This is a London attempt to trap unwary New Yorkers

Death by starvation is turning out to be at least as bad as death by firing squad. Because we have no termination notice, everyone is struggling to apply for bridge funding, and no one is stepping in to save our work, because our project "still exists" even as our labs' bank accounts hit zero. /5

I wish I could say "the work, at least, will continue" with a straight face. But the people driving this project are (mostly early-career) researchers who U.S. face funding shortages across the board. In-progress work will be lost on fundamental bio, climate change, and pandemic risk assessment /4

We started building Verena in 2019. Three years into being an NSF Center, we are/were a preposterously productive research team; the open science organization for pandemic prevention; a training hub that was creating new paths into the field; and a community that means a lot to all of us. /2

Yesterday, we sent this message to the @viralemergence.org team, bringing a (hopefully temporary) end to our project three years into what started as a decade of planned work. /1

🎉🧪 Some rare GOOD news (🙃): the National Defense Authorization Act language that's just been released seems to have eliminated the "SAFE Research Act," which would have barred any scientist from federal funding if they had Chinese collaborations in the last 5 years rules.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

Dinner: Lamb gyro on homemade pita.

I’m not a big investor, but how does one buy stock in Hep B specifically?

Many of us need to keep writing federal grants (both for political reasons and as a Hail Mary to keep people employed) despite the feeling it's a waste of time, so... if you got an NSF or NIH grant funded this year, would you mind bragging about it in the replies, so it feels like the odds are >0%?

Reviewers in December

Very bad indeed.

Dec 1 is the first possible start date for NIH grants in Cycle I. Let the RePORTER watching begin!

Nothing could be better than bedtools. But maybe something could be bedder…

Dessert: Apple pie with homemade saffron and mace ice cream.

Dinner: 3-meat BBQ. Time well spent minding the smoker today. Every bite is perfection.

Last chance to apply — due November 28th

Beautiful work by Julie aka

Image screening is going to fail. We need audit trails for data provenance.

The Queens Daily Eagle remains undefeated.

👀

Is bird flu back? Yes and it’s everywhere. I just can’t say no to @jeremyfaust.bsky.social when he keeps asking me back to talk about viruses. Today we’ll be on IG Live for @medpagetoday.com at 11 am ET. Let’s discuss all the H5 viruses! open.substack.com/pub/insideme...

Yikes.

give me the quadrivalent mRNA flu vaccine right now. put it in me

In reality, morale of cancer scientists is very bad. Ask me how I know.

🧪