RFK Jr cancelled mRNA research — but the US military is still funding it www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Venture capitalists in clean tech are starting to say out loud what they’ve suspected for a while: China’s dominance has left key sectors in the West uninvestable

It's not too much liquid It's not too many different things at too big a number It's not the size of this thing It's not 80 different vaccines None of this is true, but they will go after MMR based on this. The consequences are going to be massive measles outbreaks. Dead kids.

Today makes a very good day to listen to people who actually practice public health, pediatrics, and those with expertise in infectious diseases, developmental pediatrics, and/or epidemiology.

Big Tech's embrace of President Trump has left many of us wondering: What the hell happened to Silicon Valley? In our new politics issue, we're getting into it. Also, we're taking this cover across the US in billboards, posters and a mural. Clues to find us in the 🧵: www.wired.com/politics-iss...

So cool they discovered the cause of autism on basically day they guessed they would. I’m also glad they are withholding this information for a few days to prep for a WrestleMania-style announcement. This is how science works.

Certiorari "before judgment" is how #SCOTUS takes up a full appeal *before* the intermediate federal courts have heard it. It used to be exceedingly rare. For instance, there wasn't a *single* grant of such expedited review b/w August 2004 & February 2019. This is the *23rd* such grant since then.

Serious scholars have examined what happens when we change the number of H1-B visas issued. Cities that get more H1-B immigrants subsequently see the wages of natives *rise* substantially. Skilled immigrants bring new ideas, fill labor shortages and make us all more productive.

“The U.S. government is now in the business of vaccine misinformation.” Trump officials to link covid shots to child deaths, alarming career scientists. Story by @lenasun.bsky.social @rachelroubein.bsky.social @ddiamond.bsky.social wapo.st/47LFKvL

Excellent primer on Tylenol (acetaminophen/paracetamol) in pregnancy from @jeremyfaust.bsky.social which just happens to quote me insidemedicine.substack.com/p/tylenol-ha...

My God.

If you’re wondering how much of what RFK Jr said yesterday about vaccines was true—almost none of it was. @FullerLab_UW is one of the most accomplished vaccinologists out there and her article is required reading to separate truth from falsehoods. theconversation.com/how-rfk-jr-s...

1/ I worked at DoD. I literally cannot imagine lawyers coming up with a legal basis for lethal strike of suspected Venezuelan drug boat. Hard to see how this would not be "murder" or war crime under international law that DoD considers applicable. Read expert analysis by @bcfinucane.bsky.social⤵️

As national medical, scientific, public health and patient organizations, we call for the resignation of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ensure the health of the American people. Read our statement: asm.org/press-releas...

NSF won't renew the funding for an academic center squarely focused on AI for weather forecasting, located right in the heart of US weather research in Oklahoma. (Notably, AI2ES was funded and created under the first Trump administration.)

Great article by my former colleague ADM Brett Giroir who led Operation Warp Speed: "This speed and precision... to recognize and eliminate threats − from COVID to cancer − provides America a critical weapon against pandemics, bioweapons, and other deadly diseases" www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

House LHHC bill is out. Lots of hits to HHS, but the top line number for NIH is 1% decrease, mostly due to cuts ARPA-H. This seems like a huge rejection of the president's budget request.

We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health 👇🏻

New study by @brendannyhan.bsky.social, @jasonreifler.bsky.social & colleagues demonstrates that prebunking election fraud rumors — by warning about anticipated false claims & filling conceptual gaps that those claims exploit — helps to reduce belief in falsehoods: www.science.org/content/arti...

Enough is enough. The health of the country is in danger. Read our resignation letters: insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...

Watch live now: Supporters cheer CDC staff as they walk out following firings by Trump administration: www.youtube.com/live/KZ7QvPH...

farewell salute from the uniformed US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

New: In 7 months, Kennedy has broken the CDC, perhaps irreparably. For all he’s done with mass firings, gutting expertise, and attacking vaccines, Wednesday’s loss of its most senior and competent leaders—truly the CDC’s backbone—is the most consequential attack yet. www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/c...

Public health is under assault. The purge of CDC leadership, people with decades of experience guiding the nation’s response to health threats, dismantles the very programs and direction that keep Americans safe from infectious diseases, chronic illness, injuries, and violence.

FUCK YEAH SCIENCE arstechnica.com/science/2025...

If US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s anti-vaccine views continue to be the basis for public health policy, communities should prepare for diseases that have been gone for decades to reemerge, writes Jennifer Herricks.

Promising support for proportional representation in our new poll. Could approximate with multi-member districts by a simple act of Congress. 9-in-10 adults say that fair elections are more important to them than their party winning (higher than I expected tbh) www.gelliottmorris.com/p/democrats-...

AI-generated scientific hypotheses lag human ones when put to the test | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

Want to get solar on your roof, an EV in your driveway + a heat pump in your garage? Or want your family + friends to go electric? There's still time to get federal incentives before they expire. Tune in to A Matter of Degrees to get all the details + share! www.degreespod.com/episodes/cas...

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:

3/2 link to RAND's Truth Decay project, which I have taught for years in my public policy ethics courses. www.rand.org/pubs/researc...

Trump's latest push to suppress voting rights: eliminating mail-in voting. He knows his extremist policies are wildly unpopular going into the 2026 election, so he's attacking free and fair elections using misinformation & conspiracy theories.

New: I spent the week looking into the cancelled mRNA contracts. Interviews with HHS officials and MAGA and MAHA influencers reveal an HHS agency plagued by dysfunction as Kennedy chips away at the nation’s public health. www.msnbc.com/news/news-an...

We're thrilled to be working with colleagues at project lead @ai2.bsky.social and academic partners @unm.edu, University of Hawai'i at Hilo, and University of New Hampshire on this exciting #NSFfunded project that will create open #AI tools to support scientists and their groundbreaking work. 👇

“This isn't scientific disagreement. It's either staggering incompetence or willful misrepresentation,” writes infectious disease physician Jake Scott. www.statnews.com/2025/08/13/r...

RFK has announced that he is developing a vaccine against all viruses. Yes, every single one. The whole, uh, "phylum"

Scientists! @skypeascientist.bsky.social matches scientists with classrooms, libraries, & more for virtual Q&As! It's easy and fun! We are looking for 750 more volunteers by 8/15 If you're down to chat with 1-5 classrooms this semester, sign up here www.skypeascientist.com/sign-up.html

AstraZeneca has elected not to move forward with a COVID-19 preventive in the US, despite approvals in other parts of the world, after resistance emerged in a late-stage clinical trial. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic... 🧪

"The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the beginning of a coordinated wind-down of its mRNA vaccine development activities...." cc: Sen. Bill Cassidy

Wanted to flag this interesting study led by our collaborators @kinglabipd.bsky.social suggesting that at least in some contexts, the immunogenicity of H5 influenza vaccines can be improved by mutations that stabilize the HA protein.

“In recent weeks, according to officials who spoke with STAT, Parker resigned after roughly six months — and was never actually appointed the formal head of the pandemic preparedness office in the first place.” www.statnews.com/2025/07/30/w...

We should be putting a gargantuan amount of money into solar and storage. War economy levels. It should be free to have a guy from the government solar your house up. Electricity should basically cost nothing.

Since WWII, America has led the world -- economically and in so many other ways -- in no small part because of its willingness to spend on basic research and its ability to attract the world's best and brightest. That is changing -- fast. My deep dive on the topic: www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

By me: A generation of scientific talent is at the brink of being lost to overseas competitors by the Trump administration’s dismantling of the National Science Foundation (NSF), with unprecedented political interference jeopardizing the future of US enterprise. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

As an example why government reports should always get be deposited in a repository — the 3rd, 4th and 5th National Climate Assessments (all of which are no longer accessible at globalchange.gov) can be accessed on the NOAA repository

I have obtained new nonpublic data from ICE that shows that 2/3 of the people it had booked into detention facilities this fiscal year had no criminal convictions at all. Less than 7% have violent convictions. Most convictions were for immigration, traffic, and vice offenses.

"We are witnessing the dismantling of a system that once made space for pure curiosity. But if we lose our commitment to basic research, we risk stalling the very engine of innovation that has propelled us forward for generations." www.chronicle.com/article/in-d...

(Politico) - The organizations representing critical networks that keep the lights on, the water running and transportation systems humming across the U.S. are bracing for a possible surge of Iranian cyberattacks. @politico.com www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

China is on course to overtake the United States as the world’s largest contributor to research https://go.nature.com/40axZdT