My first Yule Log!!!

Woohoo!!

Happy first day of Yuletide & the Winter Solstice for those who celebrate ❤️❄️

NIH funding is like pizza 🍕. Usually, the NIH gives many researchers a slice of the pie, but this year they decided to just give a few researchers the whole pie. The data show that, disproportionately, early career researchers went hungry. We need Congress to stop NIH multi-year funding mandates.

Dying my hair blue again to cope brb

Had the three Dems who voted for this held the line and voted no, they could have blocked it.

The end of year Xylo Bio Newsletter “Neurotherapeutics: Designing What’s Next” is live! We dive into clinical trials in neuropsychiatry, developments in the last 10 years and what we’re doing at Xylo to make novel therapeutics that are effective and mechanism-forward. www.xylo.bio/blog-posts/d...

We’ve got a very cool guest that will be our first episode of January 2026! He’s a musician, harm reductionist, psychedelic advocate, former heroin user, and so much more. He was featured on This American Life, among other media. Can you make a guess? 👀 Stay tuned for release on 1/5!!

Have any of my academic friends applied for the ARPA-H EVIDENT program? If so, I’d love to chat with you for a story I’m working on about how it could impact the industry. Feel free to DM or reply to this post!

The violence we’ve seen in the news over the last 3 days is horrible. Gun violence across the globe targeting students and Jewish folks, for no reason except hatred. My heart goes out to the families and those in the communities whose lives have been altered forever. Hold your loved ones close.

"We can name harm without condemning people, and we can call for accountability without resorting to punishment." "When we do that, we make space for policies and practices that are rooted in care and not in control." #Michigan #USA #Drugs #Policing #SexWork

Listen, all I’m saying is that I’ve seen more pictures of Donald Trump partying with Jeffrey Epstein than I have of Donald Trump playing with his son Barron.

I wrote about the intersections of the war on drugs, authoritarianism and lived experience - all of which were discussions at the 2025 Reform conference - via @filtermag.bsky.social 😎

Really excited to have this come out. I was super fortunate to work on this with some amazing folks. Check it out! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

That’s my rep 💪

Our last episode of 2025 is here! We chat with Andrew Ferns, a PhD candidate at University North Texas, about his journey as a chef, clandestine chemist and now scientist studying psychedelics and cognitive decline! Listen wherever you get pods or at this link⬇️ open.spotify.com/episode/1iLE...

“The meaninglessness and alienation discernible in our generation results partially from our allowing time to consume space.” - Vine Deloria Jr., God is Red

A movie you’ve watched more than 6 times, with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, LOTR.

Gift link. "The former agent, Paul Campo, 61, worked for the D.E.A. for about 25 years, the indictment says, first as a special agent in New York and eventually as a high-level official — the deputy chief of the office of financial operations." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/n...

Most basic neuroscience research in the U.S. is funded by the federal government, but there is an entire funding landscape that lies beyond those federal agencies. To bring those sources together, @thetransmitter.bsky.social presents a funding source directory: bit.ly/4pBBF2B #StateOfNeuroscience

Jay Bhattacharya and Matthew Memoli aren't bringing "gold standard science" to the #NIH, they are gutting research slowly but surely. When this time is over, they should be hauled before Congress, and shunned for the rest of their lives. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

So many things I need to write and so little energy to sit down and write them 🙃

In the Christmas spirit today! Setting up the tree, village & making the cutest donut candle/incense holders 🥹❤️

I am a little tired of being yelled at for this but apparently not tired about: heroin addiction is not RFK’s problem. He’s a sociopath. Most addicts aren’t. Honestly, walk into an NA meeting, grab the first person with a few years to be head of HHS and they’d probably do a better job than Bobby.

The comeback for privileged colonizers talking about plant medicine is always “well have YOU done them?!?!” then they lecture me about the history/healing of psychedelics LOL My drug use is not their business & doesn’t change the fact that psychedelic exceptionalism and capitalism are bad!

The President of the United States just called for Democratic members of Congress to be executed. "HANG THEM", he posted. If you're a person of influence in this country and you haven't picked a side, maybe now would be the time to pick a fucking side.

My dissertation paper finally dropped in Nature Communications! Overall, the conclusion is that psilocybin may be useful in reducing drug craving that often precipitates relapse through mechanisms related to 5-HT2A activation. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

RFK Jr had committed to Bill Cassidy, as a condition to win his vote, that he would keep website language. Cassidy in February: “If confirmed… CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.” Note the language in second photo.

🧵Far too often, Native/Indigenous communities' needs are left behind & overlooked. As this @filtermag.bsky.social piece points out, the gap in #overdose death rates between white & Native/Indigenous people is large around the country. To change this, we must examine bit.ly/NativeOverdoseDisparities

🧠 My take: The key barrier to progress in biology and neuroscience isn't lack of proper algorithms/AI or inadequate technology. It is the use of low powered studies combined with the selective reporting of positive results. Science can't self-correct when the data to self correct is suppressed.

😁

Some food for thought today at a panel about the current effects of the admin on academics & researchers. Current challenges and open questions about how to build a better situation…

Health Implications of Recent Policy Changes Affecting LGBTQ+ Populations jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

New paper just dropped on psychedelics enduring effects on behavioral and functional plasticity independent of structural plasticity!! Life goal of being on a paper with one of the leaders in the field I’ve looked up to… ✅ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

And we’re off with a policy summit!

This week kicks off the Drug Policy Alliance Reform Conference!! In Detroit!! My home!! So excited for my SSDP homies to be in my area and start this week off strong with a policy summit tomorrow before the conference starts Wednesday 🤩

Curious about EEG signatures and drug discovery? Look no further than Xylo Bio's Neuroscience Newsletter. Be sure to subscribe for more science & company updates! www.xylo.bio/blog-posts/n...

Rolling Stone obit on Donna Jean: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

New episode 🧠 This chat features Samantha Bumgardaner, MS, who is currently studying substance use disorders and psychedelics for her PhD at St. Louis University. They discuss everything from qualitative vs. quantitative research, therapeutic outcomes & much more! open.spotify.com/episode/61Yr...

Super important new paper on reports of challenging experiences by therapists who have participated in research trials of psychedelic-assisted therapy. Reveals huge rift between what providers believe is necessary and what industry is developing as a standard. #psychedelicscience

A writer tried dating alt-right men as an experiment to learn about them. There is so much going on here I don't even know where to start www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/love-sex/...

Had my annual scream marathon the last two days and here are the rankings: 1 4 5 6 2 3

Strongest data yet suggesting that repeated MDMA use causes deficits in declarative memory (e.g., memory for new information, words, etc). #psychedelicscience #MDMA 10.1093/brain/awaf391

Breaking the publication bias against null results requires authors to submit the manuscript, sure, but also requires reviewers to tell the Editor why it is important to publish.

What a great start to the week!! I’ve been selected for the Winter Brain Ann Kelley Memorial Travel Fellowship to present my advocacy work as a scientist!! I’m so excited!!! See you all at big sky and make sure to come to our workshop 😁

tHe PrOtesTs DiDnT eVEn AccOmPlisH aNyThInG… Hey, you know what? People seeing that they aren’t alone, feeling connected to their neighbors, and having a fucking shred of JOY AND FUN is ✨ SOMETHING✨

🚨Publication alert! 🚨 Why does stress drive psychopathology & transdiagnostic disease? We present the Allostatic Triage Model of Psychopathology (ATP Model), which explains stress-induced transdiagnostic disease pathogenesis through a bioenergetic lens. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

As promised, if you’re inspired by the march today but don’t know how else to get involved, how to sustainably fight fascism, that can look a few different ways. Here’s a thread of thoughts, short of nationwide withholding of labor / sustained protest: