This is the kind of thing that the Founders explicitly designed our constitution to prevent; a president who has seized wealth for his own benefit without any intervention from Congress, which in our system is supposed to be the holder of the power of the purse.

A devastating story about the life and death of Lia Smith, a transgender woman and college student targeted by conservatives online because she briefly participated on the school's diving team. Lia was found dead by suicide last fall at the age of 21. (Unlocked article below)

How does the brain control locomotion? In our new preprint, we uncover a brain circuit in Drosophila that controls forward walking independently of turning. This dedicated locomotor circuit enables flexible motor control and might reflect a shared principle across species. doi.org/10.64898/202...

RFK Jr. ordered the CDC to terminate their flu vaccination ad campaign immediately after taking office. Just in case anyone was curious about his silence in the face of what is emerging as an unusually severe flu season and why he’s not out encouraging vaccines.

This was probably meant to be a late-night post: I spent eight months working on a stunt blog about a $200 sandwich. Or, no, I did an end-of-year post about my mental health and the federal funding crisis. I'm not sure which. Maybe you can figure it out. www.carlsonlab.bio/thoughts/epi...

All based on a “gotcha” video claiming that 3 daycares had no kids. One hadn’t opened yet for the day; one is actually closed. Dude arrived with no I.D. No call ahead. They DIDN’T LET HIM IN! The fraud they’re referencing was investigated & prosecuted by the Biden DOJ. The ringleader was white.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led a path of gutting and destruction of public, global health, and medical research resources, among others. How much did it save in federal spending? Nothing...it led to an increase www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...

All year @propublica.org has done a phenomenal job of documenting the death and suffering around the world caused by this administration’s disdain for human life. Keep sending these stories to family and friends. (Almost) no one truly wants a government that kills innocent moms and babies

📢 Join us, the Haberkern lab, @uni-wuerzburg.de for a postdoc studying neural circuit mechanisms of navigation. You’ll spearheading neurophysiology experiments on our brand new 2P! ⏳ Apply by 28th February 2026 Details: www.haberkernlab.de/docs/ENPostd... #neuroscience #academicjobs #postdoc

Yearly lab wrap-up for 2025 👇 Despite everything, we made it through the year. Grateful for my lab members’ hard work and the fact that I somehow ended up in the best department in the whole world ❤️ devinenilab.org/news/fourth-...

“Once-unthinkable” here should be “in wild and blatant violation of the law and the US Constitution.” At NIH alone: The RIFs were illegal (as a judge, Illston, ruled). The grant terminations were illegal (Young ruling). The probationary firings were illegal (Alsop ruling). We must say this. 1/

1/4 New preprint! We designed an open-source system for auditory brainstem response (ABR), a research & clinical auditory test. Costs $400 to build (vs $10K to buy a proprietary one) and works great! All open-source if you want to make one for your lab or classroom. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has been an outspoken critic of RFKJ's vaccine disinformation and non evidence-based vaccine recommendations. Now they are losing millions in federal funding for mental health services, rural healthcare access, and more. www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

After months of work in DC, @rephaleystevens.bsky.social has, with the support of @standupforscience.bsky.social, introduced articles of impeachment against RFK Jr. But...the press thinks it can't be done. We aren't buying it. WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!! www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/u...

This afternoon, I was in a meeting with Jay Bhattacharya, and I can confirm this is *exactly* what he both wants and will be doing. THIS IS NOT HYPERBOLE.

Today is the start of 2 days of meetings of RFK Jr.'s ACIP, where vaccines skeptics outnumber actual scientists and medial experts. Their target: the Hep B vaccine, which has a ~90-98% (after 3 doses) effectiveness rate in preventing infection for up to 30 yrs. www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Every single congressional Democrat needs to be out there, right now, insisting that Pete Hegseth resign right now and announcing that he will be held accountable for committing war crimes. If you do not demand accountability here and now, they will only become more emboldened.

Our paper on the counterintuitive effects of activating dopamine "reward" neurons is out now! Props to all the trainees, especially Fio Lozada-Perdomo and Yuzhen Chen who did most of the work. Yuzhen is applying for PhD programs now and you'd be lucky to get her! www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

While pregnant, Tierra Walker had a cascade of health complications that threatened her life. Of more than 90 doctors who were involved in her care, not one offered her an abortion, according to medical records.

Reminder for neuro postdocs on the market - apply for this soon! Emory Biology is a fantastic place to start a lab

Can’t believe the whole country has to suffer through the return of Dickensian childhood diseases because the worst, most ignorant attention-demanders decided other people’s expertise makes them feel bad

Fantastic opportunity for a senior PI. Atlanta has an amazing neuroscience and neuroengineering community ✨

Hearing a rumor that NIH/HHS may now plan to retaliate against other Bethesda Declaration signers. I am one, but it’s not about me: we have been speaking out because of the ongoing damage to US medical research, cancer and Alzheimer’s research. As @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social put well: 1/

This is very, very bad. Call your reps, speak out, demand that NIH be led by expert scientists and not political cronies.

Join us at the Drosophila meeting #Dros26 in Chicago next March! Abstract submission closes TOMORROW!!! I'll be co-chairing the Neural Circuits and Behavior session and encourage neuro peeps to submit!! 🪰 + 🧠 = ❤️

This admin is absolutely dedicated to the noble cause of taking food away from hungry people. They’re working overtime. They’re fighting tooth and nail. They’re going above and beyond. Using your taxpayer dollars to advance their mission of stealing more from working people.

Republicans are going to extraordinary lengths to starve children in the United States. They will not be satisfied until people die from their policies. Call and write to your Republican representatives, and when they ignore you, consider protesting at their offices.

Excited to share my most recent postdoctoral work in the Jeanne lab @yaleneuro.bsky.social ! “Sensory processing reformats odor coding around valence and dynamics” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... We ask: how is a sensory code transformed across multiple stages of processing to inform behavior?

Fantastic postdoc opportunity at Emory for ppl interested in interdisciplinary science, especially theoretical approaches to biology. You get to pursue a semi-independent research program. Deadline is Dec 1 but you must identify potential mentors beforehand! faculty-emory.icims.com/jobs/155512/...

Today @TheNewYorker released our short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” online. It traces the ongoing effects of the sudden shutdown of US foreign aid through the story of one mother in Kenya as she seeks to save her daughter from sickness and starvation. 🎥 1/ www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

So I guess our government is going to continue illegally murdering civilians without anyone stopping them? www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...

Our newest preprint! Work led by Ben Dykstra (co-mentored by @gordonberman.bsky.social). Some of the first recordings from the iCA3 region during social behaviors. Ben found that iCA3 neurons more strongly represent social recognition information relative to iCA1 . www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Oh, I thought 42 million people losing the ability to buy groceries was "just" collateral damage of the shutdown, I didn't realize that there is $ available for exactly this situation but the government is refusing to use it because they want people to go hungry www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/u...

My reax to the big planned NIH shutdown firing news from @politico.com: The Project 2025 ppl didn’t do big (illegal) NIH firings because they know there would be public outcry. Keep speaking up!

I’ll be co-chairing a session on Neural Circuits and Behavior at #Dros26! 🪰 Fly neuro friends, please submit abstracts! Our session will be 🔥 Deadline Nov 13

"Mr. Johnson appears to be using the considerable power of the speakership to render the House irrelevant." He has refused to let the House meet for over a month, meaning he has no job to do but continues to get paid while nearly all other federal workers do not www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/u...

Excited to announce our new pre-print (www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...)! This collaborative work (co-led by Adriane Otopalik and Gerry Rubin) examines how neuronal circuits regulate social behaviors, like courtship🫶 and aggression🥊, across sexes. #neuroscience #Drosophila #WomenInSTEM 🧪1/

There is still “an urgent need for donations from the community,” says Eric Lai, president of the Fly Board. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/community/fl...

Adding up firings, forced retirements, and resignations since January, CDC has lost 30% of its workforce 1 in 3 CDC staff are gone. We have never been less ready for a large-scale emergency response than we are now CDC, our union is fighting these illegal firings. Join today www.afge2883ga.org

Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. They’ve had their necks kneeled on. They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear. At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them. By @nicolefoy.bsky.social

A Cornell University researcher has been developing an artificial heart for children for more than 20 years. Now, his research is on hold and his lab is shut down.

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

My portfolio had 100s of UG & Grad students lose their funding in the previous 9mo. PIs that had their training programs canceled for bogus reasons. I’m ok holding out for congress to get a spine and remember it’s a system of checks & balances.

Years ago @lauragrima.bsky.social talked about what a pity it is when scientists who work on #foraging miss out on fruitful interactions because they work with different animals. Together with collegues we started a virtual seminar series, which grew into a conference and now a review!

Check out our FlyWire anniversary piece to learn how @crezaval.bsky.social, @anitadevineni.bsky.social, Pelin Volkan, and six other researchers are using connectome data in their labs, and to read their thoughts on what new tools Drosophila neuroscience needs to move forward!

Exciting news for #drosophila #connectomics and #neuroscience enthusiasts: the Drosophila male central nervous system connectome is now live for exploration. Find out more at the landing page hosted by our Janelia FlyEM collaborators www.janelia.org/project-team....

Everything is terrible but we're 2 days away from the most fun event on earth, the CSHL Fly Neuro Meeting!!! @cshlmeetings.bsky.social My last blog post about it was 8 years ago (www.brains-explained.com/fly-neurobio...) but I think it still holds up, especially the abstract book roller coaster

In July, we documented nearly 50 incidents of immigration officers shattering car windows to make arrests — a tactic experts say was rarely used before Trump took office. ICE claims its officers use a “minimum amount of force.” You can judge for yourself.

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.