100%! If we ever get a chance to rebuild NIH and NSF, can we please reinvest in basic research. Translational research is great once there is something to translate, but basic research comes first and can’t be skipped.

How do neurons know their final position in the brain? They use a combination of chemical signals & physical guidance by radial glia 🟡. My favorite cell type in the brain is also temporary! After cortical development, most will transform into astrocytes. Nuclei of cells in🔵 #SciArt #Microscopy

🧪⚛️ If this is to be believed, it sounds like there is a serious chance that the NSF may no longer be funding basic work in materials, chemistry, physics, math, astronomy, etc. Is Congress really just going to sit by and let this happen? (Edited) www.science.org/content/arti...

The measles vaccine is 97% effective after two doses. 🦠 Access to vaccines is a human right — and it saves lives. ⚖️👩🏼‍⚕️ (Source: CDC, WHO) #RightToHealth #VaccinesWork #Measles

I don't know who needs to hear this but "reduced gray matter concentration" means a lot of neurons dying and "Brain Fog" actually means brain damage for most people. You are welcome. #NeuroCovid #LongCovid www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Way too many people hear “language model” and think the algorithm understands language. It does not. It reduces letters to numbers and looks for patterns in the numbers. That’s all it does. That’s all it can do. It does not derive meaning; it does not extrapolate consequences.

"If routine childhood vaccination declined by 25%, we...projected there would be 26 900 cases...of postmeasles neurological sequelae, 100 cases...of paralytic poliomyelitis, ...5.4 million hospitalizations...due to all infections, and 80 600 deaths...due to all infections."

Timely paper by @profsanderlinden.bsky.social and colleague.

These two ideas of white supremacism and eugenics have been tangled up together for most of their history and absolutely should be resisted as they rise again.

An important resource from OneAID Community: If you are considering suicide, please call 988 (press 1 if you're a Veteran) to get connected to support and resources. If you are worried about someone, asking them about their suicidal thoughts will not make the situation worse.

This #NIH Notice that came out yesterday virtually makes every major university INELIGBIBLE for NIH funding (recipients can't operate any program that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion). This is asinine, but why haven't I heard academic fighting back? #medsky grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Have you seen this? Along with DEI work, NSF is terminating research on disinformation and misinformation. Maybe knowledge really is power... www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...

“It’s shocking to see the government do this. It cedes American leadership in science and technology to China and to other countries. I think it is going to take at least 10 years for American scientific and biomedical research to recover from this.”

Congratulations to CAAS Faculty Jennifer Merrill & Elizabeth Aston who received a 2025 Seed Award!🎉 @jenmerrillphd.bsky.social This award supports their research focusing on the labeling of alcohol products. Learn more about their research: division-research.brown.edu/research-cyc...

🎥 Just dropped: “Science Is at a Crossroads” 📉 At last night's @bostonglobe.com event, I spoke about how science is shrinking—budget cuts, layoffs, rising disparities. , 🎓 Science must be funded. Science must be inclusive. 👇👇Watch + share if you stand for truth, not political agendas. 🔬❤️

The replies to this thread are very funny, but it’s a warning sign that one of the key functions of Googling - the ability to factcheck a quote, verify a source, or track down something half remembered - will get so much harder if AI prefers to legitimate statistical possibilities over actual truth

I know SO many people who haven't just survived but are currently thriving, post diagnosis that would have killed them when I was a kid. This tool is awesome because it pulls the concrete numbers from the NIH website in a clearly accessible form.

Doesn't feel ideal that the two big cultural trends of 2025 are "Knowledge is for suckers" and "Empathy is bad actually."

3/5) The real mechanism for credibility in science is simply the test of time: Can someone reproduce the results? Do others build on the findings? Real rigour in science comes from waiting to see whether a result holds and leads to new results. Period - that's it. It's not peer review.

With each passing day, the agenda-driven interference with science intensifies. We can't let the candle in the dark go out. NIH moving to ban all future grants to universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts, document suggests www.statnews.com/2025/04/21/t... via @statnews

if you're in the mood to read a strong affirmation about the worth of disabled lives in the face of a eugenicist administration.... so was i, so i wrote one: buttondown.com/theswordandt...

NIH moving to ban all future grants to universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts, document suggests. Story by @aniloza.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/04/21/t...

A key point from @hakeemjefferson.bsky.social. You can’t just be for rights or liberties for people you like or who you agree with or people you deem deserving. Believing in democracy means supporting rights for all.

Thanks to all who contributed to the special issue of Cerebral Cortex honoring my career academic.oup.com/cercor/issue...

THIS IS ONE NEURON! Jaw dropping. It distributes a particular neurotransmitter (norepinephrine) across the mouse brain; it’s a locus coeruleus neuron. @jeremiahycohen.bsky.social and colleagues at the @alleninstitute.bsky.social are using new biotech to see things never seen before.

If you ever hear someone say "It feels like my brain is on fire", don't psychologize them. This is what neuroinflammation looks like. Imagine being a red blood cell whose only mission is to deliver oxygen, only to find a river of fire waiting for you inside the brain. #NeuroCovid

I love taking photos of blood vessels in the brain! Here are some of my favorite shots, which one resonates with you the most? #MicroscopyMonday

If you write, this is your time to rise up. Our words have the power to stop a despot. #booksky 💙📚 #HistoricalFiction ⏳📚 #booksky.club/main 📚💙 #bookskychat #sanity #litfic 🖋️📚

While you wait for our Know Before You Go to drop tomorrow, here are the FAQs that we put out on Saturday for our #HandsOff event. mailchi.mp/884d4289ab0c...

Keep speaking up.

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants” - Sir Isaac Newton Stand united. #science #research #education #highered #academicsky #medicine #health #medsky #biology #chemistry #engineering #neuroscience #neurosky #neuroskyence #STEAM #STEM #CDC #NIH #HHS #resist #protest

Fantastic study published in @nature.com. In times of anti-science and anti-vax movement, more evidence points to viruses affecting your brain and contributing to dementia, and vaccines sometimes can help prevent this. This is the type of research we are cutting in the U.S.

A Senator spoke for 25 straight hours about the state of things and nary a story on the front page of our four largest national newspapers today.

This!

"This will go down as one of the darkest days in modern scientific history." NIH purges agency leadership www.nature.com/articles/d41... To be clear: this is a revenge tour. Those we feel wronged by evidence, reason, & critical thinking are throwing a (massively damaging) tantrum.

"The data is showing us this is the worst bee loss in recorded history" "If we lose 80% of our bees every year, the industry cannot survive, which means we cannot pollinate at the scale that we need to produce food in the United States" An insane and fairly terrifying article

To the folks saying communication does not equal action: please please read more about the role of communicative acts in bringing social and political change through history. When you control none of the levers of power, strategic spectacular communication can be a powerful tool.

Does protesting make a difference? A pep talk for the weary.

I may be tired and a little hoarse, but as I said again and again on the Senate floor, this is a moment where we cannot afford to be silent, when we must speak up.

"If America hasn't broken your heart, you haven't loved her enough." Corey Booker, just now.

The firing of esteemed IC directors, large numbers of dedicated HHS staffers, and those who run the NSDUH is truly devastating to research, surveillance, and public health capacity.

NOW into 19 hours and GOING STRONG God Speed, SENATOR COREY BOOKER SO PROUD OF YOU THE VOICE OF THE VOICELESS THIS IS WHAT GOOD TROUBLE LOOKS LIKE We, @thereformers.bsky.social STAND WITH SENATOR BOOKER WE ARE SO PROUD

This is a very clear explainer of the structure of university Boards for those outside academia. This is who is bowing to the Trump administration.

Courage is not fearlessness, or bold talk from a place of safety. Courage is overcoming fear when faced with a direct threat. Our institutions need more of it.

If you’re not watching or listening to @corybooker.com right now, you should be. Interesting reflections on McCain and now on to HHS funding. www.youtube.com/live/v2utlMx...

Things I wish we all agreed on: 1. Education is good, worth pursuing for its own sake. 2. Science is the best way to know what is true. 3. There is a difference between being accused of a crime and actually having committed a crime. 4. All humans are human, and worthy of empathy.

This stuff is straight from Steve Bannon's playbook. These utterances are intended to move the Overton window of discourse increasingly to the authoritarian right, so the daily barrage of fascist acts by Trump & Republicans seems almost mundane & falls beneath the radar. The banality of evil.

With 20,000 layoffs at HHS and Dr. Peter Marks' @fda.gov exit, Dean @ashishkjha.bsky.social says the US is at risk. "We've seen no evidence that these cuts are targeted and thoughtful, and I'm actually really worried about the impact on the health and safety of Americans."

Really important work here from @elotroalex.bsky.social and colleagues now at @wearehighered.bsky.social: a map showing campus abductions. Includes all those I've listed below, mapped, and some I've missed.

Hats off to @elotroalex.bsky.social for creating this map of abductions of students by ICE. www.wearehighered.org/campus-abduc...