St Charles air line bridge

I’m ready to return to good old chalkboard www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/u...

great report from Yale. hope we see changes in university practices www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/u...

A woman with an ultra-rare combination of three autoimmune diseases has had no symptoms since receiving a single dose of engineered immune cells go.nature.com/4c2dZRh

Quite alarming "... statistical patterns show that early-career investigators—assistant professors, postdoctoral scholars, trainees, and graduate students—were disproportionately affected, as were women." doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

I submitted a ticket to our comm. dept. that my office phone was not working. After getting my phone fixed I noticed a voice message left on my phone. It's the comm. dept., telling me to submit a ticket to a different website. How was I supposed to know this when my phone was not working???

A new MRI protocol described in #ScienceAdvances can scan the human #brain and its venous network in under 7 minutes, marking it as a potential tool for diagnosing cerebrovascular diseases and monitoring neurodegeneration. https://scim.ag/4qlc2nO

Didn’t realize the rainbow building can be picturesque

AI chatbots can persuade voters to change their minds www.nature.com/articles/d41... the fact that article states "a hopeful lesson is that civility and facts still matter" shows how polarizing and visceral our current political discourse is. Are we not even better than an AI?

According to the latest article in Science (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) “our findings provide a potential pathway for platforms to address these challenges through algorithmic interventions”. The problem is whether these platforms willingly change algorithms at the expense of engagement.

A sobering piece from NYTimes re STEM funding: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Absolutely loved this paper. Really addresses my personal gripes of not having isotropic voxel size in microscopy imaging rdcu.be/eRgYm

In one moment, more than 39,000 feet of lights wrapping the 68-foot Norwegian evergreen came to life, as fireworks lit up downtown Chicago and thousands let out a cheer for the holiday season.

Accumulating daily steps in longer bouts of walking is better for the heart than taking multiple short walks go.nature.com/47LvbXE

Take away: "Overall, our findings highlight the complexity of the relationship between political control and federal science funding, challenging conventional narratives and providing a more nuanced understanding of the bipartisan dynamics at play."

20 Years Ago, Alinea Electrified Chicago Dining. Does It Still Matter? www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/d...

Pasta salads can be so much better with these expert tips. nyti.ms/4otOtsg

Scientists have mapped individual sugar molecules on the surface of cells at a resolution once thought to be impossible for light microscopes go.nature.com/40I9Ewv

Oakton community college pond

“There is a lot of pressure to essentially leave the country or not pursue research.” scim.ag/3Gz4VWW

Tree grown at the boulder’s crevice by the sea.

Out now in @nathumbehav.nature.com: Cuts to NIH funding will impact the economy and employment nationwide. We visualize these losses and advocate for a theory-driven approach to communicating local, self-relevant impact. w/ @joshuasweitz.bsky.social + SCIMaP team: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A tall, imposing plume of agricultural sediment blew from central Illinois and over dry farmland to envelop Chicago, dropping visibility to near zero last week.

"An affront to the First Amendment." NPR, PBS, and local stations across the U.S. are balking at President Trump's order to eliminate funding. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/b...

pretty cool study demonstrating the fate selection of mesenchyme into chondrogenic vs. fibrogenic by Pdgfra rdcu.be/eklPT

Lake Michigan Dawn

couldn't agree more elifesciences.org/articles/106...

It says I’m over Amherst OH, which according to Wikipedia the sandstone center of the world.

cool way to label extracellular protein in vivo via tyroID rdcu.be/edTEv

Most people take photos to the east capturing Sears tower. The west side doesn’t seem to get enough attention.

substack.com/@beyondeucli... 🧪

The Trump administration blocked key parts of the federal government’s apparatus for funding biomedical research, effectively halting progress on much of the country’s future work on illnesses like cancer and addiction despite a federal judge’s order to release grant money.

Nice mechanistic study that demonstrates cooperation between Tgfb and Wnt for neural crest cell specification to cranial or trunk. TGF-β signaling controls neural crest developmental plasticity via SMAD2/3: Developmental Cell www.cell.com/developmenta...

Commentary of this article is worth a read re scRNAseq of rare cells: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Intersting study, with implications to mechanical loading and bone: "Osteocyte connexin hemichannels and prostaglandin E2 release dictate bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cell commitment" doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Patsy the alligator snapping turtle at the Nature Museum.

How Trump’s medical research cuts would hit colleges and hospitals in every state: www.nytimes.com/interactive/... My colleagues and I crunched the numbers.

Illinois is third in the country for electric school buses, behind California and New York, with the state’s school districts committing to about 700 school buses, more than 200 of which are already on the road, according to Electric School Bus Initiative Director Sue Gander.

NIH funded research made important breakthroughs in 2024. Another reminder of why sustained funding for science and research is so vital. Of note 3 NIH funded scientists were recognized with the nobel prize. 5 top health related research highlights here 👇🏾 www.nih.gov/news-events/...

Garden of the Gods in southern IL