It is representative of a *profound* failure of a country that this group of people are up there talking about medicine and science at all

The New York Times piece today about US science is terrible and wrong—in many ways. I could write a whole article about this, but as one example: “To close observers, the original crisis began well before any of this…” No. I’m a close observer of science, and this is incorrect.

Critical part of the President's new $100,000 charge for H1-B visas: The Administration can also offer a $100,000 discount to any person, company, or industry that it wants. Replacing rules with arbitrary discretion. Want visas? You know who to call and who to flatter.

I genuinely cannot believe that Ezra Klein said we should run pro-life candidates in Kansas, Ohio, and Missouri; three states that recently held abortion referendums where the pro-choice side won!

wut

Nearly 50 college instructors across #Illinois landed on #CharlieKirk's “Professor Watchlist.” @wbez.org reached out to all of them and found the list triggered hateful messages, threats of rape or death, and intensification since Kirk's killing. #twill www.wbez.org/politics/202...

🚨Our preprint is online!🚨 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... How do #dopamine neurons perform the key calculations in reinforcement #learning? Read on to find out more! 🧵

While Canada plans for another round of CERC hirings (which costs millions); support to retain international talent & support 🇨🇦 researchers may be cut! Sign this letter to request @markcarneyforpm.bsky.social to stop the proposed cuts to research & innovation!

this is the energy I’m voting for and nothing less.

IT'S OFFICIAL: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York State, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New York City have formed the Northeast Public Health Collaborative. The collaborative will issue their own vaccine recommendations and coordinate public health efforts.

YO CALIFORNIA our state was recently downgraded among safest states for trans people and trans youth YOU can help make it better right now follow the quoted link, established by @lalgbtcenter.bsky.social, and tell our elected officials to sign these bills into law ASAP 👇

Another reason why unions matter: American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers, the United Auto Workers, the Teamsters and organizations representing other UC employees sue to stop Trump’s attack on Univ. of California. www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...

WE ARE HIRING!! Official posting coming soon for a tenure track assistant professor job in Psychology at George Mason University. Focus on Computational Cognitive Neuroscience and AI. I’m chairing the search committee, so DMs and emails welcome.

Pam Bondi deleted a government study showing that right-wingers commit more terrorism. The right cannot think coherently so instead of making their own studies, they censor legitimate ones. But don't worry Pam, I saved it for you web.archive.org/web/20250911...

A huge shoutout to all the dedicated grants management specialists at the NIH who are working around the clock to push grants out before the Sep 30 deadline. And also to the POs responding to frantic emails. Not an easy job under the best of circumstances and right now it's the pits. Thank you!

So apparently HHS Deputy Sec/CDC acting director Jim O'Neill spoke at the rabidly anti-science AAPS annual meeting yesterday to shit on vaccines etc, and got interrupted by hidden speakers playing three songs (Entry of the Gladiators aka the circus song, Witch Doctor, and Billy Joel's Honesty). 1/

Update on the Texas A&M professor / cell phone video situation: the professor has been fired by the A&M president president.tamu.edu/messages/an-...

better things are possible!!!!

We all know that correlation doesn't imply causation. So we took some correlations and tested if they were causal. Here's what happened: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Ouch SCOTUS

BREAKING: A federal judge issues an injunction BLOCKING the Trump admin from freezing Harvard's funding, calling the antisemitism excuse "a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities." Doc storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

former kids who read too many books and didnt know how to pronounce the words you learned gang say hey

I stand with Joachim Frank. I would hope that others would have had a better understanding of history. 2/2

BREAKING: Big moment as CDC staff stage a mass walkout. They have lined the street outside its HQ to greet and salute the four top officials who have resigned in protest at RFK Jr’s attack on the agency’s science base. (🎥 AP)

If you didn't manage to see this calmly furious and defiant statement by @govpritzker.illinois.gov yesterday, please find 12 minutes to see or hear it today. Best, strongest statement by sr official of where we stand and what is needed now. Civil duty to see it. www.msnbc.com/deadline-whi...

Wrote a eulogy for the yellow letters in my office window. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Take a moment to appreciate Harry Truman‘s negotiating skills. He got Hitler to surrender everything, agree to Germany’s occupation and then shoot himself in the head.

New York Times story with profiles of researchers whose grants were terminated. [Gift Link] www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...

I find it insane that anyone thinks scientists are currently in a position to determine whether science is "politicized" or not. "Passengers fleeing Titanic in danger of looking like they are anti-iceberg actitvists."

Yesterday the Supreme Court issued a convoluted, 36-page emergency order about NIH grant terminations. Two main takeaways: -$2 billion (not the government # of $780 million) in NIH grants will likely be re-terminated -future legal challenges will be much harder w/ @maxkozlov.bsky.social:

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu showed again this week that she’s built for the fight against fascism and protecting the people of our city open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

Throughout this whole saga, I’ve felt the collective agony of being in constant contact with other MOSAIC scholars facing the same shitty fate. I don’t want to downplay the deep solidarity/support, but what I feel most acutely is the wave of grief crashing over hundreds of early-career scientists.

There is no solace for NIH funded researchers in this Supreme Court decision. Grants that were ripped away on dubious grounds, restored by a reasonable judge are now again terminated by an out-of-control Supreme Court. Labs will shutter, people will lose jobs. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

Them: But it's not fair to say they supported "white supremacy," that's just your woke spin on the past The Past:

well that's an interesting confirmation I saw someone say yesterday that the Republicans don't have a plan and uhm www.cnn.com/2024/08/15/p...

🚨ACTION OF THE DAY🚨 @standupforscience.bsky.social Day 21! QUACK-O-GRAM THURSDAY! For $3 we will hand deliver an "IMPEACH THE QUACK" rubber ducky to your House Representative! (By one of our team members in a duck suit!) DO IT (AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS) act.standupforscience.net/fundraising/...

Come join our new Department of Neuroscience @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social as an Assistant Professor! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05041

Well, UChicago has paused new PhD admissions in my department now, too. One of the flagship departments for anthropology in the US and worldwide. This on top of hum, social thought, social work, and others. What happens to UChicago's brand--the so-called "life of the mind"--now?

Read this if you want an encapsulation of what RFK jr is doing to autism research. Then imagine what happens when each NIH institute has an ideological overseer who has final say on funding priorities and funding decisions, as they intend to implement

One intrusive thought I keep having is wondering how long whatever we are spending on the helicopters circling my neighborhood for 6+ hours a night would fund my lab

I sent her a response today: Washington state will not be bullied or intimidated by threats and legally baseless accusations.

What do neuroscience labs and the streets of New York City have in common? They are both commonly home to rats, a feature this research team is leveraging to study rat social cognition in the wild. By @martajhill.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/social-cogni...

Been hearing folks don’t realize NIH is more than its internal labs. That cutting NIH is ok because Dana Farber will still do cancer research. Joslin will cover diabetes, etc. But these centers get most of their funding from NIH. Stop NIH, and the whole system fails, across the entire US.

Really powerful opinion standing up against Trump's war on dissenting institutions.

Here is the Priorities document (long thread) 1/n

Humanities to STEM

RFK Jr must resign and I believe those of us who work in healthcare, public health, health research, or any related field should demand his resignation

New blog post: The New Eugenics Companies (Oops, I meant to say generational health and embryo selection)

Still explaining: How do tariffs work, and who pays?

1. Federal funding for research promotes tech, biomedical, and scientific discovery in the US, and provides training for the sci/tech workforce that has brought immeasurable wealth to the US over the past 75 years. Today's executive order includes a provision that will obliterate both functions.