New update just dropped on thoughtcrime-checker.com/index.html! You can now automatically check your grant for banned words and replace them with a phrase 100% approved by the #Trump regime!

Time for South Park, Colbert and the rest to start their own breakaway media company.

"Politics is so much easier when you can say whatever you want, in the same way even an expert soccer player will not score many goals against an unskilled opponent who insists the sport being played is rugby." Tone reminds me of @kenwhite.bsky.social suithaver.medium.com/the-rights-b...

Imagine tripping in a small, smelly mouse cage in the bowels of some academic hall. I bet those telomeres would be even longer if the mice were in an outdoor pen with live grass and dirt! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

My NSF PRFB on the genetics of female polymorphism in hummingbirds was terminated yesterday. I don't have much to say, I'm just sad. We've discovered so much, and could have gone so much further. If anyone else is in the same boat, esp postdocs, please reach out, it would be good to connect.

They canceled the National Nature Assessment. We kept going. The science didn’t stop. Neither did our hope, or our resolve. The work is still happening—independent, evolving, and grounded in purpose. Because weareunitedbynature.org 🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/o...

Cancer itself getting in on the disinformation game. God help us!

I’m sure the party that hates when cabinet secretaries mishandle classified information will be just furious about this

Excited to see my #StandUpForScience speech in @westword.com today. www.westword.com/news/colorad...

This will be a really neat and timely event. Registration free for SWARM members, $10 for non-members. Join us!

A scientist loses funding for her research on vaccines during pregnancy due to a new NIH policy that bans all studies broadly related to "vaccine uptake."

Stop throwing wrenches in our curiosity machine! Honored to speak at #StandUpForScience Denver today. Thanks to event organizers @ssenese.bsky.social et al., and the amazing crowd (500 people? 1,000?) for coming out on a cold day to stand up together for our fundamental right to wonder.

I’ll be speaking about the importance of free inquiry/curiosity at this event on Friday at 2:30 at the Denver Capitol Building. Come join! www.eventbrite.com/e/stand-up-f...

Trump claimed the Biden administration spent $8 million "making mice transgender." The White House tried to back up this number with records of funding for research into cancer, asthma, and HIV, some of which used *transgenic* (genetically modified) mice.

Great write-up by @ishan-thakore.bsky.social on how Colorado scientists are responding to the cancellation of the National Nature Assessment. www.cpr.org/2025/02/26/t... @coloradopublic.bsky.social

More than anything, the Democrats’ problem is aesthetic. Their policies are popular. Rebrand as the ‘Rebel Alliance Party’ or something—lean into the fight against authoritarianism and the established order.

Ukraine: wake up Americans. Trump is giving away the Allied victory in World War II. It's a form treason by a combination of venal self-interest and criminal ignorance. This president must first be denounced and then stopped by all who actually have a sense of history.

Would your research pass the #Trump administration's banned word censors? Paste it in Thoughtcrime Checker and find out! thoughtcrime-checker.com #AcademicSky #AcademicChatter

Given developments at the Kennedy Center, effective today I am resigning as artistic advisor to the NSO. Not for me. It’s been a wonderful 8 years working with Kennedy Center President Deb Rutter, fellow artistic advisor Renee Fleming, NSO artistic administrator Justin Ellis, and the entire NSO

Hello, @mapquest.com. It’s me. I’ve been wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet

With this abrupt change, I’m focusing more on science outreach—making research on misinformation, media literacy, and AI more accessible through my newsletter and podcast. I’d really appreciate your support—whether by subscribing, sharing, or suggesting topics! matthewfacciani.substack.com

Would your manuscript pass #Trump rules on banned words? Thanks to the Thoughtcrime checker created by @bradleyallf.bsky.social , you will have the answer. Here an example taken from an upcoming Gender & Society article Try it: brad7280.github.io/thoughtcrime...

Excited to introduce Thoughtcrime Checker! This simple text editor highlights any words on the Trump administration's "banned" list. Remove these words from your NSF/NIH grants and see if you can avoid the Thought Police! brad7280.github.io/thoughtcrime... @theo.io @xkcd.com @byscottdance.com

It’s like the horror version of Up Goer Five @xkcd.com

Considering that for decades enhancing diversity has been a stated goal of broader impacts, I think it would flag a majority of all STEM proposals. Probably 75% or more have those flag words in the proposal.

The tariffs mean a cool new job opportunity is opening up for the daring: smuggling!

Honored to have spent the past year working on the NNA with an amazing team of fellow scientists. This was going to be such a beautiful, valuable project.

Unreal

Some good news this week: I found that warehouse where they keep all the dissertations.

States with high levels of #iNaturalist participation tend to be more liberal-leaning, have more natural land (non-agricultural, non-developed), and have more residents living in rural areas, per a quick, simple model. forum.inaturalist.org/t/what-predi... @inaturalist.bsky.social #citizenscience

My Paul Bunyan poem has found a home with "The Nature of Our Times," a poetry companion to the National Nature Assessment (to which I'm also contributing). Love these federal assessment-poetry crossovers! natureofourtimes.poetsforscience.org/stub/ @phillevin.bsky.social @thepoetslizard.bsky.social

Academics in Colorado looking to support incarcerated writers, Unbound is looking for more volunteers! Teaching commitment is ~monthly. unboundauthors.org?fbclid=IwZXh...

The accumulated wealth of the ten billionaires in the Trump administration could purchase a $200,000 home for every homeless person in America, fund universal Pre-K for ten years, increase the NSF budget by 50% for ten years, and start a $1,200 college fund for every child in poverty in the US.

permanent daylight savings time is not far enough, we must fully decouple from astronomically-oriented temporal cycles and instead embrace Unix seconds

@podsaveamerica.bsky.social it’s a Dyson sphere! Also, bring someone on to chat about prison abolition, you’re wrong!

Brightness Jasnah Kholin and Shallan Davar on their way to another published manuscript. By the Heralds, they’re productive!

Come work with us this summer! This #scicomm internship is open to undergraduates at minority serving institutions or Indigenous students enrolled at any university. 🧪

if santa needs an elf on a shelf to report my crimes, maybe he’s not as omnipotent as he claims. maybe he can be killed

I dedicate my first post to Mehal Shah’s unhinged confidence in tonight’s Jeopardy. Three true daily doubles in a row despite a huge lead, no hesitation 🫡 www.tvinsider.com/1163184/jeop...