Our #Econ5k group ran the shape of the Liberty Bell in downtown Philly as part of #ASSA2026. So much fun! Thanks @inaganguli.bsky.social @danielepaserman.bsky.social @owenozier.bsky.social Cynthia Bansak and Aurelia Lambert for joining!

Don’t forget to upload your #Econ5K results! sites.google.com/view/econ5k/...

Got my @econ5k.bsky.social T-shirt, #EconSky, and you should too if you're an econ runner! I hope to see you in Philly in January #ASSA2026 sites.google.com/view/econ5k/...

Modeling the 2026 #ECON5k gear. For more information go to sites.google.com/view/econ5k/home Cc @econ5k.bsky.social @inaganguli.bsky.social @sandrahgoff.bsky.social @yanarodgers.bsky.social

Half of this year’s #NobelPrize winners in the U.S. were immigrants. Now, the Trump administration may be threatening the country’s Nobel future—and its top rank among global science powerhouses. nautil.us/will-trumps-...

Very cool to have my colleague @inaganguli.bsky.social quoted in this @sciam.bsky.social article www.scientificamerican.com/article/immi...

Falling responses, budgets & staff are biting. #BLS will cut 350 #ProducerPriceIndex #inflation sub-indexes. It'll be harder to gauge effects of #supplychain disruptions, #tariffs, #monetary, #fiscal & #regulatory #policy and more. www.bls.gov/ppi/notices/... #econsky #PPI @aaronsojourner.org

Three things made the US a rich and powerful nation: the rule of law, its science & innovation system, and openness to foreign talent. Remarkable how Trump has taken a sledgehammer to all three. No enemy of this country could do more.

Weird how "making America great again" consists of dismantling all America's soft power and also future source of hard power

tfidf cosine is a well precedented method for patent novelty measurement but not unproblematic conference.nber.org/confer/2022/... and paper @inaganguli.bsky.social et al 2024 www.nber.org/system/files...

“In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rapid response bridge grant opportunity for impacted scholars”

Truly an idiotic self-own to drive away US-trained talent.

Sorry, what now?! www.statnews.com/2025/05/02/n...

Trump proposes unprecedented budget cuts for US science in next fiscal year NASA cut by 24% NIH cut by 40% EPA cut by 55% NSF cut by 56% Analysis from @maxkozlov.bsky.social @dangaristo.bsky.social @alexwitze.bsky.social and @nature.com team www.nature.com/articles/d41...

💯. Why does almost no one in the public know this though? If you think about it, the government’s creation of the internet is probably one of the greatest policy achievements and worst communication failures of all time.

Just got mine. Totally expected, but it still sucks. Probably the most for all the work that so many of us put in on behalf of US taxpayers that is now wasted and will never come to fruition.

Important thread explaining how proposed changes to federal employment policy threatens the federal statistical infrastructure. Comment period is open for those who rely on these data to convey their views to the Administration….

I was devastated to learn about the unexpected passing of gifted historian and my former committee member Laura Lovett. Dr. Lovett was not only a renowned expert in women's history, but also an incredible mentor. I will miss her greatly. www.history.pitt.edu/news/memoriam

How global scientific mobility drives innovation—and what’s at stake when migration is restricted by war, politics, or policy. Great insights from @inaganguli.bsky.social for @ineteconomics.bsky.social www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives...

Folding 27 NIH institutes and centers down into *8*, which is even worse than the rumored plan for 15, is catastrophic for American biomedical research. Completely insane.

I'm reporting on what's happening at NSF for @cenmag.bsky.social! If you're a researcher who had an NSF grant that was previously approved for funding but is now in limbo because of what's happening at the agency, my signal is kvasquez.12. Always open to discussing options for anonymity.

This is how you do it. The "Mutual Academic Defense Compact". The moral imperative may be to fight... but the strategic imperative is to not fight alone: www.gazettenet.com/UMass-Amhers...

Been seeing some speculation about the NSF freeze being due to the "broader impacts" criterion. There's not a lot of hard facts out there yet, so here's a few facts below (but still inconclusive). Short thread 1/5 🧵

Today in weird statistical coincidences

Super exciting finding that they may have found signs of life 120 light years away www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/s... …and then they end with the fact that if NASA funding is cut as proposed then this research agenda will be stopped

🌾Flour from wheat that grew on demined Ukrainian fields was used to bake traditional Easter bread in the US. This flour traveled across the globe to New York's iconic Ukrainian restaurant Veselka. There, UN diplomats, entrepreneurs, and community leaders gathered to bake Easter bread together. ⤵️

30% budget cut for NIH plus whittling into down to 8 institutes. We are so screwed. wapo.st/42gLz0Z

🫠

Russia has been continuing its war against Ukrainian civilians. On Sunday, two ballistic missiles hit a central area of the city of Sumy, killing 34 and injuring over 100. Read on to hear how you can directly help those affected. www.cnn.com/2025/04/13/e...

Recently talked with @ineteconomics.bsky.social about the mobility of scientists and why it matters for economic progress - and whether the U.S. will continue to be the magnet for scientific talent it has been in the past. 👩🏽‍🔬 🔬 🌎 One pattern we discussed -- Nobel Prize winners:

"I will no longer be able to continue teaching." Hyeongseon Jeon, an assistant professor at the University of Houston, said he had his foreign visa unexpectedly terminated and now must return to Korea immediately. www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Reminder: Arnold Ventures has research funding available. We have an open RFP for causal research related to crime/criminal justice in the US, and can consider other topics as well. (This includes "last mile" funding for high-quality projects with cancelled government grants.)

"Her $60 million contract with the NIH had supported an international network of researchers and clinicians who had produced pathbreaking work on a disease that infects a quarter of the world’s population and kills more than 1 million people per year."

The student paper at the college at which I teach reports a "tsunami of takedown requests" from international students terrified of being targeted for innocuous, legitimate op-eds & opinions.. Many ask in person--leave no trace in writing. Reminds me of my father's account of studying in the USSR.

Killing your greatest export is an unusual tactic in the midst of a trade war. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

As a biologist, I'm appalled at pride the White House takes in willful ignorance. In yesterday's executive order about NPR and PBS, their first example of "the trash that passes for `news' at NPR and PBS" is the statement that "banana slugs are hermaphrodites." But this is unequivocal fact.

“.. The Canadian Association of University Teachers, which boasts a membership of 72,000 .. recommended in an advisory published Tuesday that “academic staff travel to the U.S. only if essential and necessary.” @politico.com #PariahState www.politico.com/news/2025/04...

Do you have a PhD student who's interested in environmental and energy policy? Nominate them to attend NBER's upcoming Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy Conference in Washington, DC (airfare, ground transport and one night of hotel covered) www.nber.org/conferences/...

A science agency where researchers can't attend scientific meetings

Confused by all the numbers being bandied around for Trump's tariffs on China? "34%", "104%", "125%", "145%"? What the heck is actually going on? Hopefully this might help

We're tracking the number of international students whose visas have been revoked by the State Department. We've confirmed over 300 so far and there are likely many more. Get in touch if you've got information you'd like to share with us www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...

the @chronicle.com has launched what is going to be a tremendously useful tool: a tracker of the Trump administration's activities affecting higher ed, particularly in the areas of civil rights, research, policy, and immigration. check it out: www.chronicle.com/article/trac...

If you are a university researcher NOT paid on soft money, and federal grant cancellations or disruptions are impacting your personal income (e.g., via summer salary losses or other direct-compensation disruptions), I would like to speak with you: [email protected] or Signal ibogost.47.

About 10 ballistic missiles, probably KN-23, were launched at Kyiv and suburbs this night 💥 Another sign of a willingness to cease fire?

Today, as Duke’s Khaman Maluach, of Rumbek, South Sudan, prepared to play in the NCAA Final Four, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced his department “is taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders...”

When Nature does a photo roundup, it’s always worth a scroll. March’s edition is packed with mind-blowing REAL shots that capture the beauty, weirdness, and wonder of science 🧪—no AI needed. Case in point: this gorgeous shot of two courting crab spiders. Just one of many stunners. 💘

Again, nobody is forcing them to put tariffs on bananas, coffee, avocados, or any of the hundreds food/minerals/materials that literally can't be obtained in the US. They could write exemptions for any or all of them. Instead they press the "make groceries more expensive" button.

The situation at the NIH and for all biomedical and cancer cure research in the United States is MUCH MUCH WORSE than you realize.