It’s Penguin Awareness Day which seems like a great excuse to post the greatest ever Wikipedia edit.

Still, scientific societies and university presidents should have said, similar to this: “this is about whether scientific directions will continue to be chosen by experts and evidence—or whether instead US science and universities will be directed by political pressure and intimidation”

This interview with the "Open Mike" guy is a really thoughtful exploration of the history of science funding in the US, and how we got to where we were pre-Trump. If the US scientific establishment weren't currently being dismantled, it would be nice to take on those pre-existing issues.

Just because, I put the whole chapter in one image, to get a feel of it. Can see closer ups of things I’ve posted at #Nostos #Unflattening 2

When I write that resistance works in defense of our basic rights and freedoms, this is what I mean: www.nytimes.com/live/2025/12...

i’d die for her

if i had 300 million dollars i'd spend all of it making a gritty, ultra realistic movie about the WW1 christmas truce that's a 3 hours long treatise on the pointlessness of war. all so i can have the lead offhandedly call another soldier a grinch 50 years before the book was written

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...

Rather than the cut and memed version, I recommend watching the full Q&A starting at 26:10, which is actually more troubling. NIH director is defending MA HA not because of facts (he claims to be a "believer" in vaccines) but because he thinks that if he doesn't work with them, US science will end.

even as a linux guy, I agree. One must be allowed to hate the computer been about the same for past few years - still futzy but still better than having ads served on the lockscreen. Good news is that running an ssh server is easier than signing a PDF. Bad news is that signing a PDF is impossible

"Americanism" seems to be a neologism. The wikipedia article is a stub and the term has barely been used in any text.

Something that Dr. Dewsbury does is hold an “intervention week” The way students have studied work until coming to a class that forces them out of passivity. So he emphasizes the added value he provides by being in the classroom - why are they paying tuition when the content is available for free?

You keep me going, #BethesdaDeclaration. Thank you, @jeremymberg.bsky.social . #NIHStrong #FEDStrong #defendresearch #defenddata

Proud Leslie Knope Stan here. And yes a big part of what’s positive about about her is her optimism. Optimism is vital

A map of every church in Poland

Oh no! The mouse in the whiteboard has gained consciousness

No notes

Much as we would like it to be, this is still not really a “no”, but a carefully calibrated “maybe”

🎃 What is the origin of the trope that when you show up to a Halloween party without a costume, you are "dressed as a serial killer because they could look like anyone"? Is this trope specific to the US or do other countries have it too?

Kathleen Lonsdale's notebook used while determining the crystal structure is also rather wonderful - such elegant handwritten calculations.

I have been trying to get this published as an op-ed, but I am going to post it here since I think it is timely in light of the "consent" extortion events. Deafening Quiet from the Scientific Establishment jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g... 1/14

I'm seeing a lot of folks post this with the caption "Dartmouth says no" or similar. I don't think that this message actually says "no". It says they are "committed" and will "defend" and "do better", but no actual action is specified - not even rejecting the compact. Keep the pressure on!

From talking to people just a bit older or just a bit younger than me, I now realize that I vastly overestimated the cultural importance of The Mighty Ducks movies

This moment from our latest episode with science writer @edyong209.bsky.social is 🔥 We asked Ed — how do we talk up the benefits of science in the face of government cuts? He told us that's the wrong approach. 🧪 Listen wherever, or watch on Spotify 👇 open.spotify.com/episode/7Evh...

Here, the 'ballistic tongues' paper by Yu Zeng and team www.cell.com/current-biol... plus dispatch by Sam Van Wassenbergh www.cell.com/current-biol...

The underlying values of diversity, equity, and inclusion remain important. Ending the DEI programs lends credence to the false claim that "DEI" is some sinister plot. The choice was likely made in an attempt to avoid gov ire, but premature compliance does not buy safety - look at Columbia.

My quote of the day At any moment, an old world is passing and a new world is coming into being. We have sharper eyes for the fall than the rise because the old world is the one we know. John Updike

just realized that I say "a NIDCD fellowship" but "an NINDS fellowship". Crazy that the third letter of the initialism subconsciously drives the article that feels right to use!

My forever meme.

My statement on Ai from the mini-comic as syllabus i made for new class I'm teaching that starts tomorrow! It robs you of your decisions & struggles - and the joy of being surprised. We won’t to be robbed of our learning - this is essential. This & the full mini at post: bsky.app/profile/nsou...

This is indeed the challenge of the moment.

The most Canadian headline ever.

2025 is your university providing programming for faculty on "Navigating Moral Distress"

Proud to be associated with this work led by Kiah Hardcastle and Jesse Marshall. It parses the role of the basal ganglia in the control of learned and innate behaviors, showing that they are essential for one but not the other. Then digs deeper to find the neural basis for this difference. Congrats!

4/4 Russ Vought, Project 2025 mastermind, said about us: “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down … We want to put them in trauma.” He meant it literally. We won't forget.

A gunman opened fire on federal workers at CDC because of disinformation promoted by the right, including agency leaders, and the administration has said nothing. We knew project2025 wanted federal workers to be “traumatized”, apparently it’s also ok if they’re killed www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...

when i read a substack article and find more than one comma splice i close the tab immediately

Heron’s main principle is to allow researchers to design and implement the experimental flow as close as possible to their mental schemata of the experiment, in the form of a Knowledge Graph. Self documentation and ease of reconstruction/reconfiguration comes for free. 9/

I'm calling the House Commerce, Science, and Justice subcommittee to support NSF funding. About to find out if being from KY and sharing a name with the chairperson counts for anything! (No relation)

And there's a 6% cut to NOAA's budget (we're still waiting to know that detail in the Senate version). House appropriations meets tomorrow and Thursday. So if you want to share your thoughts on the 23% cut to NSF, here's who to call: appropriations.house.gov/about/member...

We show that barrel cortex not only encodes tactile sensory information but a rich representation of the mouse's body in our latest publication in Current Biology! www.cell.com/current-biol...

it's not like in the top 50 concerning things about AI but why do they all default to talking like a servile little creep

Existential crisis at the metro station

Someone told me, "A nation, like a person, has to make mistakes in order to learn." Maybe we should liken this to a 4-year PhD in learning how to organize and work together. It's hard bc we just started and don't know anything. But we'll learn! And in 2 years we have prelims and 4yrs a final defense

Read the entire #BethesdaDeclaration hosted by @standupforscience.bsky.social. 6/ www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

And academic employees should be allowed to do the same for the universities we work for. Helping to improve an institution that you are passionate about can be an act of commitment and support

Gen Z thinks they invented "not wanting to answer the phone" but around 2010 I remember saying hello so grumpily that the person on the other end chastised me for my bad attitude even though it was a wrong number