100%! If we ever get a chance to rebuild NIH and NSF, can we please reinvest in basic research. Translational research is great once there is something to translate, but basic research comes first and can’t be skipped.

Confocal microscope photo

How do neurons know their final position in the brain? They use a combination of chemical signals & physical guidance by radial glia 🟡. My favorite cell type in the brain is also temporary! After cortical development, most will transform into astrocytes. Nuclei of cells in🔵 #SciArt #Microscopy

NSF slashes number of ‘rotators’ and well-paid managers as part of restructuring Smaller future budgets will require fewer people, NSF official tells staff

🧪⚛️ If this is to be believed, it sounds like there is a serious chance that the NSF may no longer be funding basic work in materials, chemistry, physics, math, astronomy, etc. Is Congress really just going to sit by and let this happen? (Edited) www.science.org/content/arti...

The measles vaccine is 97% effective after two doses. 🦠

Access to vaccines is a human right — and it saves lives. ⚖️👩🏼‍⚕️

(Source: CDC, WHO)

#RightToHealth #VaccinesWork #Measles

I don't know who needs to hear this but "reduced gray matter concentration" means a lot of neurons dying and "Brain Fog" actually means brain damage for most people. You are welcome. #NeuroCovid #LongCovid
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Way too many people hear “language model” and think the algorithm understands language. It does not. It reduces letters to numbers and looks for patterns in the numbers. That’s all it does. That’s all it can do. It does not derive meaning; it does not extrapolate consequences.

"If routine childhood vaccination declined by 25%, we...projected there would be 26 900 cases...of postmeasles neurological sequelae, 100 cases...of paralytic poliomyelitis, ...5.4 million hospitalizations...due to all infections, and 80 600 deaths...due to all infections."

Timely paper by @profsanderlinden.bsky.social and colleague.

These two ideas of white supremacism and eugenics have been tangled up together for most of their history and absolutely should be resisted as they rise again.

An important resource from OneAID Community:
If you are considering suicide, please call 988 (press 1 if you're a Veteran) to get connected to support and resources. If you are worried about someone, asking them about their suicidal thoughts will not make the situation worse.

This #NIH Notice that came out yesterday virtually makes every major university INELIGBIBLE for NIH funding (recipients can't operate any program that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion). This is asinine, but why haven't I heard academic fighting back? #medsky grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Updates on NSF Priorities

Have you seen this? Along with DEI work, NSF is terminating research on disinformation and misinformation. Maybe knowledge really is power...

www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...

“It’s shocking to see the government do this. It cedes American leadership in science and technology to China and to other countries. I think it is going to take at least 10 years for American scientific and biomedical research to recover from this.”

Congratulations to CAAS Faculty Jennifer Merrill & Elizabeth Aston who received a 2025 Seed Award!🎉 @jenmerrillphd.bsky.social

This award supports their research focusing on the labeling of alcohol products.

Learn more about their research: division-research.brown.edu/research-cyc...

Science At A Crossroads: What's At Stake? YouTube video by The Boston Globe

🎥 Just dropped: “Science Is at a Crossroads” 📉

At last night's @bostonglobe.com event, I spoke about how science is shrinking—budget cuts, layoffs, rising disparities. ,

🎓 Science must be funded. Science must be inclusive.

👇👇Watch + share if you stand for truth, not political agendas. 🔬❤️

The replies to this thread are very funny, but it’s a warning sign that one of the key functions of Googling - the ability to factcheck a quote, verify a source, or track down something half remembered - will get so much harder if AI prefers to legitimate statistical possibilities over actual truth

I know SO many people who haven't just survived but are currently thriving, post diagnosis that would have killed them when I was a kid.

This tool is awesome because it pulls the concrete numbers from the NIH website in a clearly accessible form.

Doesn't feel ideal that the two big cultural trends of 2025 are "Knowledge is for suckers" and "Empathy is bad actually."

3/5) The real mechanism for credibility in science is simply the test of time:

Can someone reproduce the results?
Do others build on the findings?

Real rigour in science comes from waiting to see whether a result holds and leads to new results.

Period - that's it. It's not peer review.

NIH moving to ban all future grants to universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts, document suggests NIH appears to be preparing to prohibit the awarding of new grants to institutions that have DEI programs or boycott Israeli companies

With each passing day, the agenda-driven interference with science intensifies.

We can't let the candle in the dark go out.

NIH moving to ban all future grants to universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts, document suggests www.statnews.com/2025/04/21/t... via @statnews

Disability, Eugenics, and the Value of Human Life The eugenicists Your worth is not tied to what you can do. Your worth is not tied to your health. Your worth is not tied to all the things you can do...

if you're in the mood to read a strong affirmation about the worth of disabled lives in the face of a eugenicist administration.... so was i, so i wrote one: buttondown.com/theswordandt...

NIH moving to ban all future grants to universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts, document suggests NIH appears to be preparing to prohibit the awarding of new grants to institutions that have DEI programs or boycott Israeli companies

NIH moving to ban all future grants to universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts, document suggests. Story by @aniloza.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/04/21/t...

A key point from @hakeemjefferson.bsky.social. You can’t just be for rights or liberties for people you like or who you agree with or people you deem deserving. Believing in democracy means supporting rights for all.

Volume 35 Issue 1 | Cerebral Cortex | Oxford Academic Publishes papers on the development, organization, plasticity, and function of the cerebral cortex, including the hippocampus.

Thanks to all who contributed to the special issue of Cerebral Cortex honoring my career

academic.oup.com/cercor/issue...

Jeremiah Cohen standing in front of a giant green neuron.

THIS IS ONE NEURON! Jaw dropping.

It distributes a particular neurotransmitter (norepinephrine) across the mouse brain; it’s a locus coeruleus neuron.

@jeremiahycohen.bsky.social and colleagues at the @alleninstitute.bsky.social are using new biotech to see things never seen before.

Micrograph showing astrocytes and red blood cells

If you ever hear someone say "It feels like my brain is on fire", don't psychologize them. This is what neuroinflammation looks like.
Imagine being a red blood cell whose only mission is to deliver oxygen, only to find a river of fire waiting for you inside the brain. #NeuroCovid

A microscopy photo showing a blood vessel in the brain

A microscopy photo showing a blood vessel in the brain

A microscopy photo showing a blood vessel in the brain

A microscopy photo showing a blood vessel in the brain

I love taking photos of blood vessels in the brain! Here are some of my favorite shots, which one resonates with you the most?
#MicroscopyMonday

If you write, this is your time to rise up. Our words have the power to stop a despot.

#booksky 💙📚
#HistoricalFiction ⏳📚
#booksky.club/main 📚💙
#bookskychat #sanity #litfic
🖋️📚

While you wait for our Know Before You Go to drop tomorrow, here are the FAQs that we put out on Saturday for our #HandsOff event.

mailchi.mp/884d4289ab0c...

Keep speaking up.