Budget released today: 40% cut to NIH 50% cut to NSF If enacted, this will destroy academic research in the United States. It will also have a major trickle down effect on the entire academic ecosystem

there's a county in Alabama where Black people are literally getting sick because the government doesn't provide a working sewer system, and Trump's Justice Department is trying to keep it that way apparently Black people with indoor plumbing is "illegal DEI" ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...

If "protests in all 50 states" wanted above-the-fold coverage in @nytimes.com, they should have been "seven random Americans" instead

I will never never forget living through the summer of '95 in Chicago during grad school with no AC. We slept on the cement floor in lab. So so many elderly folks died. Closing the LIHEAP program, which still has millions left to distribute is evil callous cruelty. Fuck these eugenic assholes.

Your daily reminder that health, particularly women’s health, remains under attack from every angle in this country….

The PRAMS data are vital for shaping evidence based clinical care; their loss will lead to increases in morbidity and mortality. It’s absolutely unconscionable….

Everyone who works for PRAMS (the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System) at CDC was terminated today. That appears to be the end of a critical program which monitored infant and maternal health nationwide across pregnancy, childbirth & postpartum. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/prams...

The entire National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) team at SAMHSA was terminated today. Do not listen to the platitudes of this administration when they say they care about drug overdose, addiction, mental health, or suicide.

The HHS reorganizing--nice overview, including an org chart that suggests issues. E.g., "NIH is 1st & foremost a research agency...CDC is a public hlth agency...putting 'sci into action'... (M)oving key Centers out of (CDC)...thus removes the 'action' component, potentially resulting in gaps..." 🛟🧪😷

Who else is at SBM with us??

The detention of Mahmoud Khalil puts all Americans fundamental rights at risk. And if you can’t see that because you oppose his politics, well that’s exactly the reaction Trump and his cronies are counting on. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Scientists need to realize this list will grow. It used to be abortion and climate change. Staying quiet won’t keep your area off lists like this.

No you didn't. You just weren't paying attention. - Photo: Maddie McGarvey for the New York Times.

This list of words to avoid is terrifying, and obviously has zero scientific rationale (you can't even study mice w/o 'sex'..) And the fact that the "Gulf of Mexico" is on the list next to DEI, BIPOC and LGBTQ shows just how asinine this whole endeavor is... www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Sitting on the sidelines won't save institutions, federal grants, or the people we need to be rallying behind with our science and advocacy. Get out there and fight back, especially if you're an institution with money and power. www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/03...

While I have so many issues with what the Enola Gay did, I can def get behind it's new status as a queer icon 🏳️‍🌈... (The pentagon wiped records of the Enola Gay because it ran afoul of Trump's BS gender ideology 🙄) people.com/pentagon-wip...

Thanks to @ryanenos.bsky.social & Steven Levitsky for calling on Harvard to stand up for democracy. From Orban to Modi, authoritarians depend on the silence of academic institutions like ours. We need to speak up while we still can. There is no room for cowardice. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

I’m assuming that when Jeff Bezos says “personal liberties” he means abortion rights and gender identity, right??? Right???

Sharing a new @jama.com paper on substance use in homeless populations (see thread below). As people who use drugs and experience homelessness become increasingly marginalized we need data like these to highlight relevant policy interventions vs criminalization. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

All of the inane Trump firings are horrific, and as somebody who grew up spending lots of time in nature and using it as a form of solace this hits particularly close to home 🌳🏕️ www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

Our two papers on abortion bans and fertility/infant mortality are now out. In 14 states w/ abortion bans, fertility increased 1.7% and infant mortality increased 6%. Key takeaway is that these impacts were disproportionately felt among those w/ greatest structural disadvantages. Links below.

One of the most important roles of the NSF is to support science and tech ecosystem in the US. This ecosystem drives basic science breakthroughs that industry can build on. It also supports the education of a skilled workforce so that actual tech firms don’t have to hire utter imbeciles like these.

BREAKING: StatNews reports that more than 5,000 HHS employees across NIH, CDC and other public health and research agencies will be fired this afternoon. www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/f...

Taking this as a definite win since I wasn't expecting something being illegal to actually stop anybody in this administration... popular.info/p/breaking-n...

SOURCES: Clayton Kershaw, the longest-tenured Los Angeles Dodger, will be back for an 18th season. He is just 32 strikeouts away from being the 20th pitcher in baseball history to record 3,000. 🔗 www.nytimes.com/athletic/612...

Kendrick Lamar has 22 Grammies and a damn Pulitzer if you don’t know who he is that’s a You problem

"Sure there's an American flag built literally from the backs of Black men, but I can't imagine what message Kendrick was trying to send." - white guy at the new york times, basically

In preparation for today’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, state police forced over 100 homeless men and women onto buses under threat of arrest, dumping them in an unheated warehouse. Tents destroyed, belongings lost. Press are barred from the warehouse. The price tag for this cruelty? $17.5 million

AND IT’S ILLEGAL FOLKS: “None of the funds appropriated in this title may be used to modify or implement any change to the indirect cost rates applied to grants & contracts funded by the NIH w/o the prior approval of the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives & the Senate.” 1/

Research universities are often the largest employers in their region. They are often the primary health care providers to communities. This funding shift will not only reduce US research leadership, it will put working people out of work and reduce healthcare access.

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%. I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

I know this is a VERY minor thing...but I wrote a check yesterday and woke up to a text from Capitol One saying to reach out if the check wasn't mine (it was; I did nothing). They called once 30 min ago while I was in a meeting and now they've already canceled the check? WTF??

I received an email from NIH stating that applications are being removed from an upcoming study section. I am dismayed that NIH is folding.

Frankfort, Kentucky!

Well just received this email regarding a paper under review:

I was on a call with a Program Officer recently and as he was sharing some thoughts about future research priorities it felt like he was being forced to play a game of taboo but where the list of 'taboo' words was both unclear and changing in real time...

"As more Americans realize we’re actually witnessing a government coup – via Executive Orders – the resistance is blossoming, in many forms. Here’s a rough picture..." resistingproject2025.substack.com/p/dont-despa...

I just put in a Co-PI NIH grant on structural discrimination (*a new 'dirty' word*) and trans youth (*also on 'the list'*) using the CDC's YRBS data (now offline). While we know funding chances are low we decided not to preemptively acquiesce and instead take a "f*ck you make me" approach. 🏳️‍⚧️✊

THIS IS WHAT WE WANT!! Stop them all. Freeze the Senate! Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz has announced he will put a blanket hold on all Trump diplomatic nominees. Go @brianschatz.bsky.social!

Hey everyone. It’s Feb 3rd, and the Democrats have been at home since Jan 24th because the house is out of session. They should have come back, the place is on fire. Get suing, messaging, demonstrating, speaking, everything and ANYTHING

Some NIH study sections for tomorrow have just been canceled. Who knows which of these grants would have led to the next life-saving invention. Who knows which scientists will throw in the towel bc of funding delays. Who can even begin to measure the impact of these reckless cancellations.😕🩺🧪🛟

We're still in a dumpster fire but letting myself smile to see Kendrick sweep his categories and Beyoncé win Album of the year!! #TheyNotLikeUs #CowboyCarter

so the Grammys got better because they added DEI 💀

NSF FUNDING FREEZE UPDATE I received this email from the NSF about 45 minutes ago. Attached are the links. I believe this should restore trainee funding but await confirmation on that. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/TRO-NY... new.nsf.gov/executive-or...

We are still learning about all the webpages that have been taken down, but they include: contraception and reproductive rights, STI treatment guidelines, youth risk behavior survey data, CDC's health education analysis tool, resources for the LGBTQ community, and intimate partner violence. 💔

I finally joined Bluesky (late to the party, I know I know) so any recs of who to follow or how to figure out this platform are much appreciated.

Infectious diseases physician here: Expect increases in HIV in your community. Hepatitis C. Sepsis. Bloodstream infections. Influenza, covid, and other respiratory viruses. Expect loss of productivity due to communicable disease. Expect increased mortality. Expect healthcare system overload. (1/3)

Before trying to get a bunch of scientists to leave their jobs voluntarily, one should consider that many of us completed our advanced degrees PURELY OUT OF SPITE.