Like...this is the biggest corruption scandal the NIH has experienced in its entire history and its not even close. Half of a BILLION dollars to a single project as a result of political spoils. That's the equivalent of several hundred R01s.

MAGA hero Jay Bhattacharya says that “political priorities may override the scoring system provided by outside experts appointed to hundreds of review panels” This is absolutely disgusting & utterly scandalous. If your study doesn’t fit with Trump & Bhattacharya’s right wing ideology, it’s toast 👀

It’s important to remember what was happening at this time. It was the best & worst. Vaccines had arrived. They weren’t as great as hoped, but they saved a lot of lives. And 3,000 people were dying daily. Yet, he wanted more infections in unvaccinated youth. He didn’t work in a hospital.

MORE: Immergut issued a stark warning that the efforts by Trump to make a bad-faith justification to call up the guard risked plunging the country into a form of unconstitutional military rule. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

"When a President invokes a statute to support action that does not align with—or runs directly contrary to—statutory purpose, that is evidence of an abuse of power." - @jedshug.bsky.social (We shouldn't need this reminder, but in these times...) journals.law.harvard...

Great to see researchers building next generation tools for curating/augmenting social media feeds. There remain sticky challenges for incentivizing and sustaining use of tools like these, but design (eg around attention dynamics) has played a role in where we are right now, and can help get us out.

Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.

The benefits of climate solutions—perhaps especially switching to clean energy—are many and profound. New research suggests we should redouble efforts to communicate those benefits. Sounds right to me. Clean energy=Better health for all. @gchalliance.bsky.social @docsforclimate.bsky.social

“Science Under Siege” has a lot of insights about why we are here. Great to talk about it with @michaelmann.bsky.social and @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social yesterday.

During Covid, when @gorskon.bsky.social & I coauthored a piece for @bmj.com on the links between right-wing climate denialist billionaires, anti-vaxxers, & the Great Barrington Declaration, some physicians felt it was "uncollegial" to be critical of the GBD Now the GBD are Trump & RFK Jr's lackeys😔

The FDA has approved a generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, expanding its supply at a time when the Trump administration is under pressure from abortion opponents to sharply restrict access to abortion medication. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/h...

apnews.com/article/wild... Study shows the world is far more ablaze now with damaging fires than in the 1980s

While Trump advised pregnant women to “tough it out”, JAMA spoke with the Brian Lee, professor of epidemiology at Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, to discuss his controversial study’s methods and findings and get clarity on the issues. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Proud to talk about defending the Constitution in front of the Capitol this week. We are seeing the greatest assault on our freedoms of our lifetimes. The shredding of the Constitution must stop. The lawlessness must stop. And Congress can and must stop it.

The death of the premature baby born after their mother contracted measles highlights the danger of more and more people refusing vaccines. An individual is contagious 4 days before the rash appears. Imagine a child with measles at a daycare full of babies too young to be vaccinated.

Such a pleasure to meet the great @wbrangham.bsky.social of @pbsnews.org #Newshour. @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social and I had a great conversation with William about our new book #ScienceUnderSiege. Watch this space!

Clean energy is cheap, & clean energy can get built quickly, but the government is making it harder and more expensive to build clean energy. All at a time when AI data centers are spiking electricity demand. Demand is up & power supply is being constrained = higher costs youtu.be/f6536KWBZAc?...

Because Wikipedia is one of the few info sources that extremists can’t control (it relies on cited & fact-checked material), they naturally want to shut it down. It’s long been a goal of the Project 2025 authoritarians. Also, many of the blacklisted “sources” are blatant propaganda. Sputnik News? 🙄

What does it say about a movement when it is built entirely upon brazen lies?

Shutdown rules aren’t neutral. They favor agencies aligned with GOP priorities, while those aligned with Democratic priorities bear the brunt of furloughs. Furlough Rates: EPA: 89% Dept. of Education: 86% Dept. of Labor: ~75% DHS / ICE / CBP: ~0% Bad incentives → biased outcomes.

Let's be clear a what's happening here: the "censorship" and "bias" narrative is being extended to Wikipedia bc the far right knows that getting bullshit into LLMs is how to shape reality as "answer engines" replace search engines. Wikipedia is core to that fight so the grievance blitz is here.

Here's something fossil fuel-boosters don't want you to know: most fossil fuels are used to produce and use more fossil fuels. Why is energy consumption skyrocketing in Texas? Primarily due to "energy-intensive chemical manufacturing, oil and natural gas extraction, petroleum refining." c/o EIA.gov

Folks who signed the Great Barrington Declaration must be really thrilled to see their guys (Drs Kulldorff, Bhattacharya) holding such senior MAGA/MAHA positions in the Trump Administration, delivering RFK Jr's anti-vaxx agenda, pushing for mass infection instead of mass vaccination (the GBD 'way')

🎉 UC ANR’s Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social joins the 2025 #TIME100Next, spotlighting 100 rising leaders worldwide. A climate scientist & communicator, Swain studies droughts, floods & wildfires—& makes complex science accessible to the public & policymakers. More here: bit.ly/4nXePlk

Vinay Prasad deceived his audience about RFKs role back when he was auditioning. That’s why it was dangerous and unprofessional to praise him and to dunk on his critics.

That’s REALLY good.

Coal power is uneconomic in the market, because its costs have stayed the same while clean energy costs fell. We should invest in coal communities rather than prop up uneconomic plants. Also, they are spending $625 million on this plan. That is TWICE as much as we spend on solar power R&D each year.

Why is this even possible?

US farmers are saying they "just need temporary help, until things get better." Here's the thing. US farm exports- which are mostly soy- CANNOT get better. Other countries expanded their soy industries to fill China's demand. We've walled ourselves out of the global market, folks. This is it.

Truly phenomenal work. Congratulation. And thank you!

As soon as the governor signs this illegal bill, Missouri will be sued. I don't bluff and I usually win.

Among the many reasons why the military brass cares about climate change are because some of its most critical facilities (like Norfolk Naval Shipyard and NAS Oceana, where much of the Navy’s Atlantic fleet is located) are already experiencing impacts from sea level rise and more extreme storms.

Reminder that the Senate confirmed this underqualified alcoholic Major to oversee the entire US military. His inability to handle the stresses of the job should surprise no one. www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-aid...

Don’t let the junk science from the radically conservative EPPC institute confuse you. Mifepristone is among the most thoroughly studied medications approved by the FDA. A strong scientific consensus affirms its safety and effectiveness.

It is important to see this sort of straight talking, precisely because of the executive order last week that conflated criticism of the government with terrorism.

Our Weather Service workers keep communities safe and prepared. They serve the public interest, not the presidential agenda.

A good summary of the YDIH mess by @boslough.bsky.social. skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/th...

2 reminders: 1) coal mining comes with resurgent black lung disease The CDC found modern coal miners face *more risks* to health than previous generations blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-scienc... 2) Trump admin cut programs to protect health of miners; a judge stopped them www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

2025 Press Freedom Rank 1 Norway 2 Estonia 3 Netherlands 4 Sweden 5 Finland 11 Germany 16 NZ 20 UK 21 Canada 25 France 27 S Africa 29 Australia 31 Poland 49 Italy 52 Ghana 57 US 🇺🇸 58 Gambia 61 S Korea 63 Brazil 66 Japan 89 Greece 112 Israel 124 Mexico 151 India 171 Russia 178 China rsf.org/en/index

watch this.

Good thread and if you're wondering where some of this misinformation is coming from-- guess who else is cashing in on the Tylenol/ vaccines press conference? All the grifters from the early 2000s are returning like the worst pop culture trends.

On the eve of the pandemic, 69% of U.S. adults said being a world leader in scientific achievements was very important. 🧪 www.pewresearch.org/science/2020...

Now on the Energy Dept’s banned words list: “Climate change,” “green” and “emissions.” subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

White House Funding Cuts to the National Science Foundation Threaten America’s Global Leadership in Science joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/white-hous... new long-form post joint with @malar0ne.bsky.social, @cl10.bsky.social and @asinclair.bsky.social

Think of this as equivalent to removing the merit system from government employment. Your tax dollars deployed to serve the goals of a personalist authoritarian system. All the talk about banning DEI because of merit shown to be nonsense when they also remove merit-based processes.

Please do NOT confuse #ScienceUnderSiege with the similarly-titled “The War On Science”. We beg of you!