On a day when all research grants at Harvard were terminated, and in a context where Congress seems to broadly accept the notion that destroying science and health research in the US is fine, it’s worth noting that this is not what the public wants.

Excited to be quoted in @theguardian.com on the complex impacts of #crypto mines for local communities! If you're curious about this topic, check out this thoughtful article by Niamh Rowe - bonus discussion about our team's emerging research in this space. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

📣 Call for Travel Award Reviewers 📣 If you did not submit an app, you are eligible to review and help make #ISESISEE2025 a success! 😄 Email us at [email protected] with the subject "ISEE Travel Award Reviewer". Thank you in advance for your help! 🥰

There's no energy policy left in the U.S. - literally none, everything was repealed in the EO on April 9. Our new #openaccess pub synthesizes the science on why the proliferation of fossil fuels is bad news for society, including health & justice. academic.oup.com/oocc/article...

www.bu.edu/sph/news/art... If you don't want to read the whole paper by @marydwillis.bsky.social, @naomioreskes.bsky.social , myself, and many others...

Hands Off Protest in the Boston Common

The indirect cost issue has moved to the background for the moment, but it will be back. Here is a short thread about indirect costs. I have posted a Powerpoint deck with these slides in the Miscellaneous Materials folder on jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g... 1/n

I'm really happy to have been a part of this, with @marydwillis.bsky.social @naomioreskes.bsky.social and a whole bunch of other people that aren't on here yet (sorry if you are and I can't find you!) academic.oup.com/oocc/article...

Check out our latest paper on the societal harms of fossil fuels - this narrative review covers the science from a wide range of domains including public health, environmental justice, wildlife diversity, and petrochemical pollution ⬇️

🚨 Scientists: If your NIH grant was terminated like all of mine, help us uncover why 👇👇👇 We've been monitoring terminations from the start & are now diving into the data 🔍 Your research is crucial for health & a thriving democracy! ✊ #HealthEquity #MedSky #PublicHealth #NIH #Autocracy #Democracy

Federal immigration authorities late Tuesday detained a Tufts PhD student who is a Turkish national, her attorney and community activists said.

Jay Bhattacharya’s confirmation is done. 53-47 on party lines. Senate Democrats did not use maximal obstruction to slow it. No matter. It’s now in the past. We fight the next fight.

There are days in life that shake you. I’m shattered 💔 to share that I just found out that the US Government terminated my 2024 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (~$2 million), threatening my long-promised assistant professor job at Columbia University & academic career... 1/🧵

The #NIH termination notice stated that "this award no longer effectuates agency priorities" & that research programs based on "amorphous equity objectives" are considered "antithetical to scientific inquiry."🪡

🧵Yesterday, I received notice that my #NIH grant, on the social environment, lifecourse, epigenetics & #birthoutcomes in Black families, was terminated. This grant represented a critical effort to address the ⬆️ rates of maternal & infant mortality in the US, particularly among Black mothers & babies

When you unintentionally highlight how efficient the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid office is

Trump and Musk are going after Columbia for "antisemitism" and Hopkins for "DEI" and Penn for "trans spts". Why those issues? Because this is the start of an authoritarian soft takeover of ALL universities. Those issues are just politically convenient because they draw some support from Dems. 1/

Grateful to @katherinejwu.com of @theatlantic.com for being responsive, thorough, and reflective when I asked if she'd tackle this story! In the hours since publication, however, our work has entirely changed... 1/🧵

RFK Jr. promised under oath not to undermine vaccine access. I talked with @theatlantic.com about the many ways he has broken that promise -- including his efforts to undermine vaccine promotion research -- during his first month as HHS Secretary.

I'm just a small-town professor. I'll never be a provost or chancellor. But here's some free advice: we're about to hold the most watched college sports event in 🇺🇸. Every college president should be all over TV, at every game, explaining why the March Madness of federal budget cuts is a huge crisis.

Our new paper out in STOTEN (with @marydwillis.bsky.social, @jonlevybu.bsky.social + many others) shows ~342 deaths per year due to air pollution from vehicle air pollution around Boston. The biggest driver of impacts? SUVs and other light duty trucks. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The City of Boston is leading 40+ mayors, cities, and counties in an amicus brief against the Trump Administration's drastic and illegal cuts to federal research funding—cuts that will lead to immediate job losses nationwide.

The thing about destroying NIH is NIH’s scale in medical research just dwarfs everyone else. For ex, in 2023 the American Cancer Society gave out $64.5 million worth of grants. Sounds big, right? But NIH’s budget was $49 billion. With a B. Kill NIH and the floor drops out of US science.

I'm frustrated with the messaging that indiscriminate firings at NIH and proposed decimation of research via changes to indirect rates are about increasing efficiency. Here are some thoughts on how to actually increase returns to NIH investments. shorturl.at/KnWU9 #EpiSky #ScienceSky

A number of post-docs and other early career scientists working for the government on environment and health were summarily laid off today. Some given 30 minute notice to leave. This saves little money and devastates lives while making our communities less healthy. Cruel and wanton destruction.

Reminder that the current exec orders are only the tip of the iceberg - @jjbuonocore.bsky.social and @jonlevybu.bsky.social led a fantastic analysis in @amjpublichealth.bsky.social that showed the devastating effects of the Project 2025 envi regs plan. ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/...

If anyone has tried to split a restaurant bill for a big group, but split it itemized based on what everyone ate, this is what that will be like. “You ordered 3 drinks, and I only had 1.” “Yeah but they ate 4 more chicken wings than I did”. It’ll be that but for the heating and internet bill.

For those curious about the purpose of “indirects,” I suggest this FAQ from AAU (thread to follow). In the lingo of Musk et al - BLOF = this hurts economies, employment, science, & health. 🧵 www.aau.edu/key-issues/f...

🚨RED ALERT for 🧪: The Trump NIH just gashed indirect costs. This is a direct attack on universities. “Pursuant to this Supplemental Guidance, there will be a standard rate of 15% across all NIH grants for indirect costs.” 😮 Just a devastating Friday night news dump. #scicomm #academicaky

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

Well, the first grant to our department has been frozen for “DEI”, because it is studying racial disparities in outcomes. Not implementing programming or anything like that - simply asking an empirical question FOR WHICH THE ANSWER COULD BE ANYTHING. The overreach and overcorrection are absurd.

A federal policy of "save tik tok, but gut the National Institutes of Health" seems unwise. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/t... www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...

⚡️Missing data on data center energy usage has massive implications for the U.S. ⚡️ We wrote about some concerns for population health related to Bitcoin mining in a recent JAMA piece, focusing only on a small subset of this broader industry: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... #EpiSky