Vaccines are humanity’s greatest scientific achievement.

If you watch this and then follow it with a viewing of our current president's recent disassociated rant to schoolchildren about Biden's autopen, well, you have a perfect microcosm of the steep American descent into ignominy.

MAHA, my a**.

“A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination”

Want to see the economic impact of #NIH grant cuts in your community? Check out @joshuasweitz.bsky.social and colleagues' project here. Tell your friends and neighbors what is happening. scienceimpacts.org

The impacts of school choice have been particularly clear in Arizona, offering an early picture of K-12 education under the Republican vision of maximum school choice. Here, public schools are starting to close.

Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth. - Albert Einstein

New research from MIT found that those who used ChatGPT can’t remember any of the content of their essays. Key takeaway: the product doesn’t suffer, but the process does. And when it comes to essays, the process *is* how they learn. arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...

While Mike Lee and Steve Daines' Senate Natural Resources Committee amendment to the budget reconciliation package mandates the sale of up to 3.3 million acres of public land, what most people miss is that it also authorizes the sale of 258 million acres. That's 40 percent of all public land:

The bill is still a mess but this is a win. Thank you, America. They heard you. House Republicans have dropped the provision that would’ve sold off 500,000 acres of public land in Utah and Nevada.

Old North Church in Boston last night on the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere's ride.

Hey, just a quiet reminder: it’s not true that people get more conservative as they age. *Populations* get more conservative as they age because poor and marginalized people die sooner. nymag.com/intelligence...

I might make it a habit to post this from time to time.

Even just looking at images of nature changes our brain and can reduce physical pain, a new study by @maxsteininger.bsky.social and colleagues finds!

3D reconstruction of a 3-day-old #zebrafish heart beating. Credit to Michael Weber (prev. @mpi-cbg.de). #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

We know that economic anxiety & conspiracy beliefs are related. Often this is used to argue that it is key to fix economic conditions to avoid widespread conspiracy beliefs. But a new study shows that causality runs the other way. The conspiracy beliefs drive the anxiety: doi.org/10.1111/pops...

A lot can happen in five months. 🇺🇸

Lede o' the Day "For the second time in weeks, a Canadian icon has emerged as the unlikely victor in an existential battle on the ice." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

It's the entire email list for all DOGE employees. Have fun!

Making PBJ for dinner because I have the ambition level of a Dem senator.

Democratic Leaders Stand Real Still In Hopes No One Notices Them

Dear Manager 1. …don't criticize What you can't understand 2. Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command 3. Your old road is rapidly agin' 4. Please get out of the new one If you can't lend your hand 5. For the times they are a-changin'

Dear Manager 1. …don't criticize What you can't understand 2. Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command 3. Your old road is rapidly agin' 4. Please get out of the new one If you can't lend your hand 5. For the times they are a-changin'

Dominoes falling.

Tired: So many exploitation problems in higher ed could be solved by TT/tenured faculty not trying to avoid teaching, a key part of their jobs. Wired: There is too much work in higher ed, and institutions actually need to hire more people and implement reasonable workloads across the board.

CNN top of page. Yeesh.

Mass firings decimate U.S. science agencies | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Imagine being rich enough to do anything you want and choosing to take food and medicine from starving children to give yourself even more money.

"working to swiftly rectify the situation..." www.nbcnews.com/politics/dog...

The Washpost, which is bleeding millions of dollars and shrinking its staff, accepted -- and then rejected -- a $115,000 ad that criticized Elon Musk. Anyway, here's the ad that the Post's business side didn't want its readers to see ⤵️ thehill.com/media/514849...

No regime has survived 3.5% of the populace engaging in peaceful protest. www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr... www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr...

when they’re at the point where they’re ignoring court rulings, ask yourself: how does this end

From the Action Network: Join us on Saturday (2/15) Rockville, MD Tesla at 11am Arlington, VA Tesla at 2pm #TeslaTakedown actionnetwork.org/event_campai...

A quick resistance task: 1. Google Gulf of Mexico 2. “Gulf of America" is the top 3. Click on the three little dots to the right of it 4. Select "Send Feedback" 5. Click on "Gulf Of America" 6. Select "Inaccurate content" 7. Select "Incorrect" and type in "The correct name is “Gulf of Mexico"

A useful tool and a great thing to do... 5calls.org/issue/nih-ns...

“They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: ‘Get out of my way,’ and they’re looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies,” said a former Noaa official. “They will have access to the entire computer system, a lot of which is confidential information.”

I asked Elon’s Grok 2 the question of whether and how you could destroy the country through insane trade wars and hijacking Treasury’s payment system. And I must say, what I got back seems to be a fairly good analysis.

Someone is actually being a journalist at the WaPo today. I thank them for their work.

NEW: Vera Rubin was a pioneering female astronomer. The federal webpage for an observatory named for her now excludes mention of efforts to diversify science. “I’m sure Vera would be absolutely furious,” said a co-author of a biography of Rubin. By @lisalsong.bsky.social

Has anyone tried turning the US media off and back on again?

It’s like winter has been flipped upside down in the United States. After a record-breaking Gulf Coast storm, cities like New Orleans and Pensacola, Florida, have suddenly had more snow this winter than Omaha, Des Moines and New York.

I’d just like to take a moment to acknowledge the best tik tok video of all time youtu.be/7ZWaWrvJ7nA?...

Such sad news from New York tonight. Flaco, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl who was busted out of the Central Park Zoo over a year ago, has died. You were such a majestic creature, reminding people of just how beautiful nature can be. Goodbye, Flaco. 🧪🪶 newsroom.wcs.org/News-Release...

Sandhill cranes at dawn. One of the most exciting national phenomena I have seen. 🧪