Our mistake when we wrote _Calling Bullshit_ was to assume that people would deliberately abuse the flexibility of quantitative metrics to mislead. We devoted inadequate attention to people making up complete and utter nonsense with no possible grounding in fact.

Just got the unofficial news that a former lab member got tenure and alum wins are one of the best parts of my job.

So super important and such top notch science from an incredible team!

been so long since i’ve seen a functional supreme court that i’d almost forgotten what one looks like

Our department is hiring!

Rossiter coined the term "Matilda effect" for when women's scientific work is attributed to men. It was a twist on the "Matthew effect," famously attributed to Robert Merton, but actually studied jointly by Merton and his wife Harriet Zuckerman, who was denied co-authorship

Firing and demoralizing feminized jobs as enemies of the state while brazenly bribing men with violent jobs that almost instantly puts them into the middle of middle class is very basic gendered warfare. Fulfilling the manosphere’s promise.

We call this “conversational riffing”in my family and the expectation is you keep track of your own brackets and those of everyone else in the conversation and are ready at any moment to jump back to a previous conversational melody at any point. It is one of my most important scientific skills.

I've started blocking of time with different configurations of lab members to advance some of our papers and we work in a shared document. Just sat down for a session to work on one of our affect development papers. Coming back to gems like this makes me LOL.

If people have suggestions about how to get creatively scientifically inspired in these challenging times, I'm all ears.

I am having a hard time sitting down to write grants; it feels extremely futile. Grant writing is important for bringing in $ to keep my lab going. But, the grant writing process itself is also part of my creative scientific process and helps me fuel the work that we're already doing.

Also adding to the "jobs have changed": way more administrative burden. I was queued up to make progress on science this summer but a lot of my time has been sucked up by admin. It's not the work that generally brings me any joy...

I'm slowly working my way through this FDA shit show, pulling refs as I go to confirm the absolute bullshitery. Link is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nha... Kicks off by calling this "a show". That says... a lot. 1/who knows how many

I didn't put our pool up this year because at 16 months my toddler was clearly able to propel himself into the pool by standing on these straps (and our version isn't recalled...). Def a safety hazard. www.npr.org/2025/07/22/n...

🧪 Win for NIH researchers: An appeals court just effectively upheld an earlier order to reinstate terminated NIH grants. Full opinion here: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... SCOTUS may be next (see next post) 1/3

RF1 Watch at the NIH drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/07/21/r...

This whole thread is worth a read. As an expert in gender and emotion: I note a whole lot of sexist dogwhistles that were really dominant in lay lexicon years ago but waned some and now appear to be back? As an expert in fetal neural development and mood across the lifespan: WTAF.

When a network lays off one of America’s greatest satirists, it’s not because he failed. It’s because he succeeded too loudly.

This. The only reason I am here as a scientist is bc I had a spell where I submitted lots and lots of grants so that a few would hit. That won’t be allowed anymore.

This (and the QTed thread). I assign what I decent amount of reading for my upper div elective but about 1/4 of what was required of me in university (25 years ago - same topic) and the complaints are endless.

I don’t think people realize how this isn’t just 🦆 ing us now, it’s 🦆 ing our future. Today’s ECRs are not just tomorrow’s mid-career researchers, they are also tomorrow’s deans, directors, administrators, teachers and so on.

I’m almost done watching Monday’s ~ 4 hr FDA/NIH 💩. FDA head starts by saying that scientists torture animals & then the zealot states that the goal is to shut down animal labs and ensure that no new ones open in their place… I really hope, but am not confident, DM is right about the NOFOs.

Another evening spent writing to Dr. Bhattacharya about important issues, in this case, the importance of animal models in fundamental and mechanistic research. 1/n

Yeaaaahhh, I presume they don't want to hear that this is a dumb move that will put people's and animal's lives at risk and make us less healthy.

Public comment on this new "no animal only studies" is open here: www.fda.gov/news-events/... It closes next Monday.

I'm always thankful to get word of funding for my group, but given [waves hands at chaos], I am even more thankful than usual for this particular NOA. Waiting on one more and then I will wager that my lab should be okay for a little bit. Very excited to continue our work on aging trajectories!

Actually, we’re all at risk. Not just the currently poor, disabled, or uninsured. Because our whole health care system is predicated on certain assumptions about funding and access. And those assumptions are being blown up.

MAHAMA Make America Healthy Again My Ass These 🦆ers are trying to kill us.

The line between “no Medicaid for you” and “the only option for access to ‘health care’ if you don’t have insurance is participating in risky, untested interventions” is a short one. Animal models are the bridge from bench to bedside.

hey hey affective scientists - anyone know of studies where people were air puffed or shocked or white noise bursted and rated their emotions the whole time? like this... should be a thing, right? (not in the context of associative learning)

This.

NIH BREAKING NEWS NIH BREAKING NEWS Hearing from multiple sources that an email went out late yesterday afternoon Effective immediately: Please do not terminate any additional grant projects. Please pull back all grant projects that are in the cue to be terminated.

Okay, George W, time to start speaking loudly and publicly about how wrong you were about [waves hands at “weapons of mass destruction” and all of that]

A new role at work has me reading the entire Animal Welfare Act as well as the USDA Animal Welfare Inspector Guide. TIL that people use race gerbils and hamsters.

Wow. Monumental.

Glad to see this messaging but how about holding the folks who are not following congressional directives that have been upheld by the courts accountable?

Completely 🦆 ing insane. But also, predictable. Can’t have absolute power without controlling California.

I guess the good news is that I had “the revolution starts in California” as the central square of my 2025 bingo card 🤷🏻‍♀️

🤯 And I imagine it’s just gonna get weirder from here…

Carl nails it, as per usual. This is so bad.

This would dramatically politicize NIH and increase the turnover of key positions, limiting longer-term planning and execution. Any regulation must go through a notice and comment period in which the public can weigh in on the regulation and its wisdom The comment period is open to May 23rd 7/n

It’s increasingly clear to me that the institution at which T and I work has… checks notes… no plan. If they do have a plan, they are squandering their most valuable resource - faculty good(ish?) will and our capacity to get important shit done.

If you are a scientist based in California, please check out California SB829 which will create to create the California Institute for Scientific Research (sd11.senate.ca.gov/news/trump-g...) And then show your support here: www.fundcascience.org

Very welcome updates to the University of California homepage highlighting what we do and why it is important. In addition to all of this leading edge, boundary pushing work, we educate the next generation to do the same boundary pushing in the future: www.universityofcalifornia.edu

This. All of this.

I just really need everybody to understand that everything that’s happening in and to the global economy now (and all the businesses and people in it) is the entirely predictable result of the intentional decisions of one guy who doesn’t understand how the global economy works.

Look forward to reading this book. As my family, friend, lab folks, and colleagues know - I have to talk to think and sometimes that is very annoying 😭

So let me get this straight: masks are bad and un-American if worn to fight a pandemic, but good if worn by people claiming to be government agents when they kidnap people off the street

🧪 Ranking member Lofgren and 11 other House dems sent a fiery 7-page letter to acting NSF director today "The cancelation of these awards suggests instead that NSF is willing to apply political censorship of awards under direction from President Trump and the DOGE teenagers" Share widely #SaveNSF

Spring in the NorCal Central Valley smells like jasmine, orange blossoms, roses, and rosemary and it is the best. 😍