When Einstein developed general relativity the closest thing to a practical application that could even be imagined at the time was a slightly more precise description of where to look for the planet Mercury in the sky, and yet now we’d all be literally lost without it.
Anyway: fund basic research.
That's me in the back left. Our VA legislative staffers were very friendly and conversational folks!
Summer research experience is a critical pathway to train the next generation of scientists. I participated in a relative of the REU program (Keck geo consortium) which was super important training to make me competitive and prepared for grad school.
Eating the seed corn.
"Publishers can support this by enabling stronger linking between articles, data, methods, and reviews, and by investing in tools and formats that facilitate synthesis across disciplines"
As one running a data repository, I agree publishers can do a lot more in linking to other research objects!
This is Sadie. She was finally reunited with her human, astronaut Christina Koch, after her mom’s voyage around the moon took her the furthest any human has ever been from their dog. She can't wait to hear all about the universe. 14/10 (IG: astro_christina)
Congrats!
The Trump administration, via the Office of Personnel Management, has proposed an unprecedented requirement for health insurers to hand over detailed, identifiable medical records for more than 8 million federal workers, retirees, and their families.
#MedSky
Our PhD student Kennedy Orwa, who studies applications of AI to health care, was hastily deported today to Kenya along with his 13-year-old son without opportunity to speak to legal counsel.
King 5 reports that he held a valid visa that was rescinded without explanation.
We do now know the NSF is proceeding with dissolving the Social and Behavioral Sciences Division. Congress might reverse it, but it is now already underway. YOU CAN NO LONGER SUBMIT FUNDING PROPOSALS TO SBE. Program officers are being moved to different parts of the agency. Call your Congress member
🧵 Democracy feels like it's in a rough state at the moment across the globe, and we hear various explanations, like polarisation, extremism, disinformation, and loss of trust. But what if those explanations are mainly symptoms and we've been trying to treat them rather than the underlying causes?
"I'm not arguing that LLMs should be banned from research...I'm arguing that...the distinction between tool use and cognitive outsourcing is the single most important line in this entire conversation, and that almost nobody is drawing it clearly"
I've been using the Enterprise version, wonder how that influences my ability to access this settlement
GSA wants to add new certifications to federal grant agreements — affecting universities, nonprofits & research orgs across every agency.
Potential civil & criminal penalties for noncompliance. Comment period is open until 3/30. Make your voice heard. buff.ly/KNfXj0h
screenshot of a resignation letter expressing sadness at leaving NASA
My resignation letter
🧵1
“ICE agents at checkpoints can use more force than TSA checkpoint staff, with less chance of legal sanctions, even if you can afford to sue them.”
TSA can’t physically prevent you from leaving, ICE can.
…
viewfromthewing.com/ice-is-showi...
I really, really need academic organizations to think more critically about travel (conferences, talks, and meetings) during the Trump administration. Sadly, most are not.
@abigailspanberger.com: amend VA's collective bargaining bill to include faculty & grad workers.
"If you want a strong university that can protect itself against political attacks...that means collective bargaining."
— @tim-gibson.bsky.social , @aaupmason.bsky.social & @aaupvirginia.bsky.social
@shelleystall.bsky.social @agu.org position on #OpenData is robust:
1. Equitable access to trust reusable
2.Change culture to recognize data contributions
3. implement metadata standards across disciplines/domains
4. take collective responsibility
#RDAPlenary2026 #DefendResearch
It is very easy to read statements like this as a joke.
This is not a joke.
We have proven with AI, completely by accident, what knowledgeable people have been saying for decades: the environment that rich people live in gives them a very specific personality disorder.
Want to get involved? You can contact NSF about the future of NCAR by tomorrow, March 13. This @agu.org template makes it easy.
agu.quorum.us/campaign/154...
Christ...My dad is a professor at ODU.
People always talk about the number killed/injured, but leave out the countless people who will be scarred by this incident for the rest of their lives.
We cannot keep letting this happen.
I too remember the earlier, woke wars. tons of spent microaggression munitions strewn about everywhere, friends crying out for God as they were slowly cancelled...look, if you weren't there, you'll never understand
One of my go-tos: "If no one's responsible for that task, that's exactly who does it"
So much of data management (and a lot of other task-oriented stuff) is just roles and responsibilities
A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.
NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)
Directorates to follow
1/10
Super useful research advice from our friends @ TLOS for my skeptic view of all things AI:
-Consider portions of research workflow that you understand well and can scrutinize what an AI tool/agent is output
-Ask AI tool/agent to output an object that could be integrated into existing workflows
Congress rejected massive cuts to US science budgets for 2026, but much of the money still isn’t flowing to researchers.
The culprit? The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is quietly slow-walking the release of funds. 🧵👇
"This isn't a replacement [for domain expertise], it is an accelerant. Results still need to be validated"
Good quote on the use of agentic AI in research
