📣🧪 $25k grants for those who: 1. are working on research on STEM and education (including AI and CS, graduate education and MSIs, and scholarship that aims to reduce inequality), and 2. have had a recently terminated or cancelled grant from NSF. Early-career scholars prioritized

Friends, many of us are finding it hard to feel hopeful. And that’s ok. When you can’t feel hope, do hope. Hope is getting out of bed. Hope is telling jokes, writing that paper, smiling at a stranger, permission to rest. Hope is a practice. What does hope in action look like for you? Goodnight 💚

We are experiencing an assault on science unparalleled by anything I’ve seen in my life. It’s not one issue or another anymore, the entire institution is under attack by the most powerful individuals in the country. This Friday, where will you be? standupforscience2025.org

Since February 26, an additional 1,322 adults (from 14,482 to 15,804) and 141 infants (from 1,541 to 1,682) have died as a consequence of a single frozen USAID program.

WHERE WILL YOU BE ON MARCH 7TH!? Head to www.standupforscience2025.org/local-event-information/ or the link in our bio to find your closest event—or add one if you're hosting one! #standupforscience2025

NIDA has announced it, but all the NIH summer internship programs are likely cancelled. Sorry college students interested in STEM jobs, sorry high school students looking at science 🧪 careers. Trump and Musk are cancelling your futures.

I feel like I'm going insane every time I see a media story about DOGE that doesn't also mention the fact that the Government Accountability Office exists and performs the exact function that DOGE pretends to, only in a credibly constitutional, non-partisan, and conflict-of-interest-free manner

Today has been a DAY but we are happy to have shared it with all of you. Rest well knowing they fumbled HARD this weekend. And send photos of your emotional support pets! See you in the morning!

I want to see every scientific society going into emergency mode. This is a good example of how an organization can flex its specific power in a time of great need. What else is possible?

Less than a month away! Seattle folks, spread the word!

Gotta love nerds raising over $3 million for charity in 48 hrs - what a great distraction from the world this weekend. It's not too late to donate and/or vote on the recipient nonprofits at www.projectforawesome.com

🧵"So this is how liberty dies..." Trump’s first 3 weeks have been a relentless flood of actions. It's incredibly hard to keep up. I’ve gone through 69 actions & mapped out the pattern - showing how they fall within 5 broad domains consistent with authoritarian states 1/9

They’re firing NIH scientists and replacing them with people with this level of crappy chart-making? Sounds like the DOGE kids would benefit from going through the NIH postbac program. 🧪

Information hygiene request - please circulate & take action. I’m getting bombarded with frantic fragments. Information flow is crucial right now, and every link in the chain matters. This is a concrete place where you can play a massive role in improving transmission. Start with SIFT method:

⏱️ ACTION STEPS ⏱️ 💥Call your reps and demand they oppose RFK Jr, NIH Cuts and the Musk Takeover 5calls.org 💥Call your state’s Attorney General and demand they fight Musk’s access to data and funding cuts. www.usa.gov/state-govern...

Thinking back on all this I better understand the pain I feel to see science under devastating attack here. It’s not just about my livelihood or my university. It’s about my identity. And it’s about a pursuit that I see as standing along with art, literature, and music as among our highest callings.

And Academic T&P committees, maybe take a beat & consider how the continuous & unsustainable push for CV conspicuous production has been a competitive inhibitor of scientists & scholars being engaged in their communities in meaningful ways as a bulwark to the shitstorm happening now.

Dear biologists & neuroscientists -- I'd like to collect some cursory data on what the "typical" breakdown of funding between federal & private looks like in labs. If you run a research lab or know enough about yours, could you fill this small form out? forms.gle/PEzWEYojBjfj...

What started as a small group of park rangers has grown into a movement of over 100,000 federal employees. People all across the nation have risked everything to challenge Elon, his staffers, and the Trump administration, ensuring the truth reaches the public.

Elon Musk is a terrible president.

Welp I'm not going to the AAAS conference this year but now I want to renew my membership just for the shirt...

How are y'all dealing with the cognitive dissonance of much of your daily life continuing as normal right now even as really really really bad shit is happening in government (that will certainly have ripple effects that will reach us all)? Because I'm honestly feeling a little insane right now.

The entire archive of CDC datasets can be found here. HUGE shoutout to data archivists- this work is important 👏🙌🏻 archive.org/details/2025...

This week has seen a stream of appalling, transphobic executive orders from the new administration. We shouldn’t minimize the harm these will cause—but we can find some hope in the actions being taken to stop them. Click thru to learn more & find resources to help. #trans mombian.com/2025/01/31/f...

I am genuinely, viscerally terrified of what might happen to PubMed.

In light of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s U.S. Senate confirmation hearings this week, The Transmitter has rounded up our past coverage of the false association between vaccines and autism. www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/rou...

If anything, RFK, Jr. permanently ended impostor syndrome. After today, no one should ever feel unqualified for anything, ever.

Somewhere in the U.S., there’s a scientist staring at their NSF/NIH grant application wondering why they bother. This post is for you. Science and society both need you. Hang in there and know there is a whole community supporting you.

in case anyone else needs this reminder too... (I'm off to pet some cats and listen to an audiobook)

A soft, small, hopeful thing.

This is becoming absurd—federal employees are now being told to remove pronouns from their email signatures. We will always stand by our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, no matter how many things we’re asked to delete or change. Inclusivity is at the core of who we are.

Mentors and advisors, a very impactful thing you can do right now is to assure your mentees from all backgrounds that you will continue to support them because their worth is not contingent on any program or funding mechanism 💕

I hate living in a timeline when we've alienated our society from the absolute wonder and joy that is science. No group or thing in society is perfect but my whole life is full of scientists doing basically modern day miracles all the time to help make our lives better. I love you all for it

To console myself as I wait for the EO that will cancel the Dept of Ed, I'm going to post quotes pointing out the value of education, especially for democracy. I think this is a good one to lead with: Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use the change the world. Nelson Mandela

Heads up that you might get a human asking how to direct your call (instead of entering your zip code as noted below) - just tell them what state you're from and they will connect you with your senator's voicemail!

Sure would be a shame if a bunch of PhDs who suddenly have a lot of time on their hands due to no grant writing or reviewing spent all that energy calling and writing their elected officials every single fucking day

Devastating for scientists and their research, and everyone who benefits from that research. I’m not sure if everyone outside academia is aware that a delay or “pause” in grant funding often means the researchers themselves are lost from the field, along with their expertise.

Fellow scientists, please consider speaking w/ media about what this means for "regular Americans." The link below is to contact a reporter who's collecting stories about the unfolding NIH situation - pls share anonymously or on record. @anniewaldman.bsky.social www.propublica.org/people/annie...

Please, my friend, do not say “we survived him once we can survive him again,” for now more than ever you must remember all of those who did not survive him the first time.

To my nonbinary, agender, genderqueer, and otherwise off the binary friends & siblings: You are loved, you are valued, you are important to our community, you've been here longer than the tyrants, and you will still be here when their bones are dust and the names of their false gods are forgotten.

Better than a lot of surveys written by people twice this age...

Picture book recs for kids affected by the fires: ~ "Dear Wild Child" by Wallace Grayce Nichols & Wallace J. Nichols ~ "Simone" by Viet Thanh Nguyen ~ "We Will Live In This Forest Again" by Gianna Marino ~ "Hello, Tree" by Ana Crespo ~ "I Am the Storm" by Heidi E. Y. Stemple & Jane Yolen

Lots of good stuff in here!

It is truly wild that it is estimated that more than 20 million people died of Covid and the prevailing vibe is that the world overreacted. That is an astonishing toll! More people died of Covid in the US than in the Civil War. www.pbs.org/newshour/hea...

I want to add to this by acknowledging that not everyone likes doing outreach and/or not everyone is good at it (and even if you ARE good at it, your outreach may not be impactful). If this is you, I have a couple tips. For context, I lead scicomm efforts professionally for a museum...

If you are a scientist (including graduate students) or professional science communicator who is at least 18 years old and are using Bluesky for any kind of professional purposes, please consider taking our survey. Link: umiami.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... Please help share. 🧪🌎 #SciComm

Continuing my tradition of donations as holiday gifts, this year's theme was "prevent future horrible politicians" - each family member received a chocolate bar with their donation, except my brother, who got these "brain worms" with a donation to a vaccine education/advocacy org :P

Instead of listing my publications, as the year draws to an end, I want to shine the spotlight on the commonplace assumption that productivity must always increase. Good research is disruptive and thinking time is central to high quality scholarship and necessary for disruptive research.

As we look forward to a new year, we're pleased to share this PDF list of books (new and old) recommended by ASTC staff, members, partners, and friends. We hope you enjoy these books as much as we have! www.astc.org/wp-content/u...