Here’s last night’s story about Donald Trump’s war on higher education, and what a young Stephen Miller looked like. Brace yourself. youtu.be/xk94il8L820

New, from me: It was a terrible week, one that inspired some truly awful takes. The worst was the effort by Bari Weiss and The Free Press to smear universities as "the biggest culprits" to blame American political violence, with faculty training "jihadis." donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-worst-...

Breaking news: The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed eliminating a requirement that businesses report their greenhouse gas emissions, ending a program that has tracked the climate impact of major polluters since 2010.

"By tying increasingly severe and common heat waves to specific companies, the new research could find its way into courtrooms where individuals, cities, states and countries are seeking to hold fossil fuel producers accountable for climate damages." www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/c...

Uncoordinated federal regulations are increasing the time researchers spend on regulatory and administrative tasks, wasting intellectual capacity and taxpayer dollars. Our new report examines the current regulatory system and suggests ways to optimize it: buff.ly/b5rGSC0

Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it faced hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects last year. (Published July 2024)

Could Project 2025 happen here? open.substack.com/pub/democrac...

New, from me: America is no longer a functioning democracy. It is a competitive authoritarian system, hurtling rapidly toward authoritarianism. This was a hard piece to write but we can't move forward if we don’t acknowledge where we are. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-author...

"This could be the difference whether your child gets cancer. Are you willing for them to die because the therapy for them is delayed?" Powerful video with voices from top US scientists on the very real and devastating impacts of the funding cuts.

Enlightening, timely essay (from 2022): Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway; From Anti-Government to Anti-Science: Why Conservatives Have Turned Against Science. Daedalus 2022; 151 (4): 98–123. doi: doi.org/10.1162/daed...

NEW: EPA to revoke 2009 finding that climate pollution endangers humans.

Hidaya Al-Motawaq's son is a year and a half old and weighs less than 10 pounds. Doctors warn of permanent damage to children's health due to chronic malnutrition from Israel's earlier blockade.

"So much groundwater is now being pumped that it is filling the oceans as it drains off land, becoming one of the largest drivers of global sea level rise." www.propublica.org/article/wate...

"Science and racism share a history because scientists, science’s institutions and influential supporters of science either directly or indirectly supported core racist beliefs" - one of many reasons why DEIA is critical for (not antithetical to) scientific integrity. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

"Most people in the United States rely on federal science in their daily lives but don't realize it, a new nationwide poll of U.S. adults shows." (May 6, 2025) www.npr.org/2025/05/06/n...

Severe malnutrition among under-5s in Gaza City has tripled in two weeks, charity says

“It’s an interesting coincidence that less than a week before Neil Jacob’s senate committee vote, the two dedicated career civil servants who investigated him for scientific integrity violations around Sharpiegate were dismissed from service"

Reporter: The FDA has a new AI tool that's intended to speed up drug approvals. But several FDA employees say the new AI helper is making up studies that do not exist. One FDA employee telling us, 'Anything that you don't have time to double check is unreliable. It hallucinates confidently'

Migrants at a Miami immigration prison have been compelled to kneel to eat food from styrofoam plates “like dogs,” with their hands tied behind their backs. These ICE officials need to go straight to The Hague. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Trump is closing all four climate observatory stations in Alaska, Hawaii, American Samoa, and Antartica. Because you can't have high CO2 levels if you don't *measure* CO2 levels. roll_safe.gif

SCOOP: DOGE moved to kill Direct File, the IRS's popular free tax filing tool, days after meeting with private tax filing software lobbyists. www.wired.com/story/doge-d...

Are scientists citing papers without reading them? #scientificpublishing #AcademicChatter #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

I am trying to find some co-authors to help on a scientific journal article about how democratising nature finance (by shifting power and money to Indigenous communities) can help scale up nature recovery. Do you know anyone? If so, please tag/comment/share/DM me!

Now contrast this story with Agriculture Secy Brooke Rollins suggestion that Medicaid recipients work the fields.

Musk said USAID was wasteful. A new review published int he Lancet estimated it saved more than 90 million lives over 20 years, and that shutting it will cause 14 million unnecessary deaths over the next five years. Open access link to my paper on USAID onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

My book, Misguided, officially launches today! If you’ve ever wondered why people believe false things — or how to build resilience against misinformation — this book is for you. I wrote it to help us navigate our overwhelming information environment, and I’m thrilled to finally share it with you.

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...

Like I've said before, if you have any doubts about climate change, just go to a super-boring insurance conference and listen to the super-boring panels where they dryly talk about the growing threat of disasters so catastrophic and unpredictable in scope they simply cannot be insured at any price.

The “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a popular symbol for Christian nationalists that was waved by January 6 rioters, was raised over the Small Business Administration headquarters last week. www.wired.com/story/far-ri...

"Over half our sample (58%) say they remain concerned about their ability to tell what is true from what is false when it comes to news, a similar proportion to last year. Concern is highest in Africa (73%) and the US (73%), with lowest levels in Western Europe (46%)" Read #DNR25 buff.ly/x0Int7K

Now that my book, Misguided, is out, I’m also booking podcast interviews, virtual events, and guest talks. If your audience is interested in misinformation, trust in science, or the psychology of belief, I’d love to connect. Feel free to send me a message! #ScienceSky #PsychSky #BookSky

The EPA has announced a proposal to eliminate Biden-era regulations restricting power plant greenhouse gas pollution, a move that would significantly increase U.S. emissions.

"Nobody’s going to spit on our police officers," says Trump, who four months ago pardoned people who beat police officers with pipes, flagpoles, baseball bats and 2-by-4s at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

"We are speaking on behalf of hundreds of NIH staff who are standing up together to say: WE DISSENT. I am so scared about doing this but I am trying to be brave for my kids because it's only gonna get harder to speak up." Thank you to Dr. Jenna Norton and NIH scientists for your courage!

The Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency is taking aim at dozens of rules aimed at protecting the environment, including one that requires big polluters to report greenhouse gas emissions.

"Knowledge should inform power. How many more will die needlessly when power is instead dismissing knowledge?" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

"The full scale and potential environmental impacts of the developments aren’t known, because the footprint, energy needs, and water requirements are often closely guarded corporate secrets."

"Musk apparently did not anticipate that it would be bad PR for the world’s richest man to take food and medicine from the world’s poorest children." www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...

In the face of steep funding cuts for climate and weather research and forecasting, scientists have found a new way of engaging the public: livestreamed presentations.

Today marks five years since George Floyd was killed by police. Our June 22, 2020 cover “Say Their Names,” by Kadir Nelson, illustrated how Floyd’s murder embodies the history of violence inflicted upon Black people in America. nyer.cm/UmfefJw

🆕In a speech at the National Academies, Trump's White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Chief Michael Kratsios Argues #DEI ‘Degrades’ Scientific Enterprise www.meritalk.com/articles/ost...

New from me: Everything feels overwhelming. But here is a tangible thing you can do: write a comment to oppose Trump's plan to convert 50,000 career civil servants into political appointees. Deadline is May 23. Please share! donmoynihan.substack.com/p/here-is-a-...

This is a generational moment. Every time labor has been knocked down, we get back up stronger than before. Throughout the first 100 days of the Trump admin, America’s unions have been relentlessly fighting back against the billionaire takeover, and we’re winning.

And now, a note on Bill Owens who, until this past week, was the executive producer of 60 Minutes. We’ll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.

Trump Laid Off Nearly All the Federal Workers Who Investigate Firefighter Deaths www.propublica.org/article/trum...

This statement from the NSF is insane. Science is, in essence, designed to separate the true from the false. Understanding how falsehoods spread is key to the scientific endeavor. It is not a violation of free speech to be proven wrong.

The Trump admin axed a key government climate science program because it provided a solid body of research to support public health protections and frustrated industry. The administration is considering a new report touting the "benefits" of global warming. www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...

"Stewart, as new senator Jefferson Smith, has been arguing for nothing less than decency and the American way — arguing against "a man who controls a political machine, and controls everything else worth controlling... A man even powerful enough to control congressmen."" www.npr.org/2025/04/02/n...

Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it faced hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects. (Published July 2024)

Terrific, timely explainer from @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social via @wired.com