The missing heritability question is now (mostly) answered Not with a bang but with a whimper

I wrote a little bit about the "missing heritability" question and several recent studies that have brought it to a close. A short 🧵

After faculty raise concerns, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor says university will not sign Trump's higher ed compact Lee Roberts called the "preferential treatment" proposal a clear infringement on academic freedom.

UNC-Chapel Hill's chancellor says the university will not sign on to a higher education compact from the Trump administration.

www.wunc.org/education/20...

looking forward to some parents suing to demand segregated schools because integration violates their religious beliefs

Economic loss due to NIH budget cuts by congressional district, scienceimpacts.org/fy26

The #SCIMaP team announces a major update: an analysis of the economic impacts of the White House's NIH FY26 budget.

Bottom-line, we estimate $46B in total economic loss, 202K lost jobs, and impacts in communities nationwide.

Interactive map and shareable report:
scienceimpacts.org/fy26

a 🧵

At Chapel Hill, Only Health-Sciences Professors Have Been Getting Tenure The UNC Chapel Hill board hasn’t tenured a single professor in fields outside the health sciences since January. The inaction has prompted confusion and alarm among faculty.

This is the first media coverage that I have seen of the UNC board's quiet decision to largely pause granting tenure outside of the health sciences. This is worth watching over the coming weeks.

Tonight Nneka Ogwumike reached 3,000 REB in her WNBA career.

Ogwumike is the 7th player in WNBA history to total 6,500+ PTS, 3,000+ REB, and 800+ AST in her career, joining:

◽️ Tina Charles
◽️ DeWanna Bonner
◽️ Tamika Catchings
◽️ Tina Thompson
◽️ Candice Dupree

H/T @wnba.com

The goal is to focus on the one part of Chapel Hill that the rest of the state — ie redder — doesn’t find politically objectionable. Their data show that’s the hospital & cancer research.

It also just happens that a health focus will compound racial & gender pipeline issues into the org structure

Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.

The National Science Foundation is awarding new grants at the slowest pace in at least 35 years. The funding decreases touch virtually every area of science — extending far beyond the diversity programs that the Trump administration says it wants to cut.

It’s like rooting for Duke, the Celtics, and massive resistance all rolled into one. But here we are.

Cannot recommend “The Snakehead” by @praddenkeefe.bsky.social enough for understanding how & when the shift is US immigration policy happened

In a reversal, the Trump administration restores funding for women's health study The unexpected elimination of funding for the decades-long research project focused on women's health shocked scientists. They were heartened by the quick restoration of support.

The unexpected elimination of funding for the decades-long research project focused on women's health shocked scientists. They were heartened by the quick restoration of support.

Eugenics is on the rise again: human geneticists must take a stand Scientists must push back against the threat of rising white nationalism and the dangerous and pseudoscientific ideas of eugenics.

I wrote about how we must stand and fight against the threat of eugenics.

Fueled by white nationalism and scientific racism, these beliefs are factually wrong and ethically abhorrent.

This fight includes supporting efforts to diversify our workforce & science. To stop now would be a deep betrayal.

NIH cancels its first and largest study centered on women The Women’s Health Initiative has produced numerous influential findings

President Donald Trump’s administration appears to be killing much, if not all, of a historic initiative that was the first, and is still the largest, National Institutes of Health effort centered on the health needs of women. scim.ag/4jLeLTJ

Evidence of US brain drain?

US scientists submitted 32% more applications for jobs abroad Jan-Mar 2025 than during same period in 2024.

US-based users browsing jobs abroad increased by 35%.

Data from Nature Careers global science jobs platform.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

If You’re Pregnant, Here’s What You Should Know About the Medical Procedures That Could Save Your Life Women experiencing pregnancy loss in states with abortion bans told us they wished they had known what to expect and how to advocate for themselves. We created this guide for anyone who finds…

People experiencing pregnancy loss in states with abortion bans told us they wished they had known what to expect and how to advocate for themselves.

We created this guide for anyone who finds themselves in the same position.

(Published Dec. 2024)

NIH post here: grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

UPDATE: The NIH has made this move official — publishing the draft we reported on this morning

www.statnews.com/2025/04/21/t...

Per source, NIH has been instructed to hold off from issuing ALL awards to Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, and Northwestern (including med schools)

Agency staff have also been instructed to not speak about this funding freeze to grantees and applicants

Women, minorities fired in purge of NIH science review boards Scientists, with expertise in fields that include mental health, cancer and infectious disease, typically serve five-year terms and were not given a reason for their dismissal.

Thirty-eight of 43 experts cut last month from the boards that review the science and research that happens in laboratories at the National Institutes of Health are female, Black or Hispanic, according to an analysis by the chairs of a dozen of the boards.

People take part in a nationwide "Hands Off!" anti-Trump protest in New York City on April 5, 2025. | Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Millions of people took part in protests against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk across all 50 states and globally on Saturday: cnn.it/4hYKFL3

Raleigh NC #handsoff

NEW: Researchers have sued the NIH and HHS, alleging that they have engaged in a "reckless and illegal purge to stamp out NIH-funded research that addresses topics and populations that they disfavor" by terminating hundreds of grants, violating the APA, Fifth Amendment and the Separation of Powers.

This week's @nature.com editorial
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The CDC Has Been Gutted Thousands of CDC employees who worked on things like preventing HIV and lead poisoning have been told they were subject to a reduction in force. Experts say people will die.

NEW: Thousands of CDC employees who worked on things like preventing HIV and lead poisoning have been told they were subject to a reduction in force. Experts say people will die.

Did You Work on a Terminated NIH Grant? ProPublica Wants to Hear From You. The National Institutes of Health is canceling grants that are seen as conflicting with the Trump administration’s priorities. We want to hear from researchers who have been affected.

And if your NIH research grant has been terminated: www.propublica.org/getinvolved/...

Or if you recently sought help from the CFPB: www.propublica.org/getinvolved/...

Our reporters want to hear from you.

‘Chaos and Confusion’ at the N.I.H., the Crown Jewel of American Science Senior scientists at the National Institutes of Health fear that research on conditions like obesity, heart disease and cancer will be undermined by President Trump’s policies.

“It really is quite chilling,” one of the scientists said. “They are controlling information, causing chaos, disrupting everyone, keeping us off-balance.”

“Whatever people are reading in newspapers, it’s 10 times worse,” the scientist added. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/h...

How Trump administration actions on DEI and funding cuts are impacting science and research, with Melissa Simon, Jonathan Jackson, @hollylynchez.bsky.social, and STAT's @lizzylawrence.bsky.social at #STATBreakthrough:

a cookie monster says " so share it maybe " ALT: a cookie monster says " so share it maybe "

could you let someone in your life know about blogblog? a lot of people move here - we’re a college town.

tell your neighbors! tell your department mates! still thinking about the entire crew from the math department who came out to vote because of blog blog!

At this same meet UVA swimmers Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh won a combined 6 titles and 6 US Open Records but no one was talking about that despite all this “we care soooo much about women’s sports”

If Lia had raced against Katie Ledecky she would have gotten her ass kicked