A stack of open magazines with glossy pages overlapping each other, viewed from the side.
More inclusive journal policies ease author name changes on published papers
These policies allow authors to change their names without public notification of any kind. #TransDayOfVisibility https://bit.ly/4qZMGeH
An illustration of a man teaching a class from inside a box, with text: How I got over my fear of teaching
"Looking back, saying 'yes' to teaching was one of the most transformative decisions of my career. It didn’t just make me a better educator; it made me a better scientist." #ScienceWorkingLife https://scim.ag/4sE0Dk4
An illustration of a person sitting at a desk looking at a face on a laptop screen and a couple people. Hedline is, "Why I may ‘hire’ AI instead of a graduate student."
"In our culture, preferring an algorithm to a trainee feels like a betrayal of the academic mission." #ScienceWorkingLife https://scim.ag/4bjmEwT
As #AI shakes up science, this professor is wrestling with whether to give a new project to a graduate student or AI.
Our latest @science.org Working Life essay.
www.science.org/content/arti...
The image shows several printed research papers from bioRxiv, an online archive for biology preprints. Each paper has a title, author names, and the bioRxiv logo. The papers are scattered in an overlapping arrangement.
Career effects of preprints get mixed reviews from biomedical researchers
Junior researchers are more likely to embrace preprints; grant reviewers and hiring committees express doubts. https://bit.ly/4ljsF1n
My latest: in an interview with @science.org, new NASA administrator Jared Isaacman promises a big uptick in lunar robotic missions, another potential Mars 2028 mission beyond comms, and continued support for earth science observation.
(Sorry astro and helio folks, time went fast.)
A quote by H. Holden Thorp, Editor-in-chief of Science journals, on a black background. The quote is: "… why curtail a program … that cultivates and grows the number of US graduate students and future researchers?"
"There is perhaps no stronger evidence of the [Trump] administration’s objectives to reduce the quality of the US scientific workforce than its treatment of the [NSF]’s flagship Graduate Research Fellowship Program," writes H. Holden Thorp in a new #ScienceEditorial. https://scim.ag/4d0fi3N
A stylized illustration of a chemistry flask filled with a bubbling liquid and producing large plumes of smoke.
Rejoice! It’s grad student recruitment weekend!
Our Experimental Error columnist shares advice for making the most of graduate school interviews. #NewSciGen https://bit.ly/46IcSDg
NIH sent notice this week that it will no longer recognize a union of early career researchers on the basis that trainees aren't "employees." My latest for @science.org.
www.science.org/content/arti...
An illustration of a man in the sky above a town with email addresses around him, with text: When I lost my university email, my identity as a scientist took an unexpected hit
"Losing my institutional email address felt like losing a small but vital piece of the scientist I had become." #ScienceWorkingLife https://scim.ag/3OGpS67
An NSF spokesperson just responded to our request for percentages:
"NSF declines to provide the data. As stated below, we do not have any additional information to share beyond what is already included in the FAQs: www.nsf.gov/funding/info...
@policyhound.bsky.social and I have sent NSF an email asking for more information. If anyone has knowledge of what's going on behind the scenes you're welcome to contact us. My Signal ID is klangin.48. You can also email the news department through an encrypted email: www.science.org/content/page...
That means questions raised in this story are still relevant. Are RWRs more frequent this year? Are they happening more in fields that weren't spelled out as priority research areas, such as computer science? What are the reasons for the RWRs?
www.science.org/content/arti...
Second year graduate students were no longer eligible to apply, so it's likely this year's applicant pool is smaller than in previous years. Because of that, a comparison of the total number of RWRs between 2025 and 2026 is basically meaningless. The best comparison would be using percentages.
NSF changed its eligibility requirements in September, a last minute changed that caused much outcry.
www.science.org/content/arti...
NSF's #GFRP has been embroiled in controversy over the past year. The agency released FAQs today in response to concerns that applicants have had proposals returned without review (RWR). It says there were about the same number of RWRs this year, but that comparison comes with a big asterisk.
"As a scientist, I was trained to seek evidence, test hypotheses, and adjust based on data. However, in the classroom, I was teaching without any feedback."
Our latest @science.org Working Life essay—about an innovative teaching experiment.
www.science.org/content/arti...
Are #openaccess fees that some journals charge authors too high? The Chinese Academy of Sciences, the world’s largest research institution, reportedly thinks so and plans to stop funding some, a move that could shake up #scientificpublishing. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
The evolution of the football helmet, a critical safety device, has accelerated in recent years, driven by concerns over the long-term effects of concussions, new concepts and materials, and data-driven test protocols.
Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/4rAjjjN
The 2026 budgets of individual science agencies may be lean, but Mitch McConnell once again lead Congress in earmarking big bucks for homestate university research facilities www.science.org/content/arti...
"One bad year could kill one of our favorite scientific societies."
In my latest story for @science.org, I explored how U.S. conferences fared over the last year amid concerns about an attendance slump.
www.science.org/content/arti...
Sorry you feel left out. The OPM definition of a STEM profession was very broad and we had to restrict the analysis somehow for it to be manageable.
Yes
The US government lost more than 10,000 STEM PhDs last year, according to an analysis by Science of newly released OPM data, with 11 departures for every hire. And many OPM calls "voluntary" separations were probably pushed. www.science.org/content/arti...
Talk about a brain drain. The PhDs who left U.S. federal STEM or health jobs last year had >106,636 years of experience. More grim statistics compiled here: www.science.org/content/arti...
How many STEM Ph.D.s were lost from the U.S. federal government last year?
My colleagues @mghersher.bsky.social and @policyhound.bsky.social dug into a recent data release to find the answer. A @science.org exclusive.
www.science.org/content/arti...
An illustration of people throwing darts at a board, with the hedline: Why I teach my students about scientific failure
"Research is messy. … Trying to protect students from that reality does them a disservice."
On #InternationalDayOfEducation, take a look back at this Working Life essay on teaching students about scientific failure. https://scim.ag/4sTaQcH
"When the paper finally appeared in print, I was in no condition to rejoice."
Our latest Working Life essay explores the burnout a scientist experienced after pouring himself into the pursuit of a Nature or Science publication.
www.science.org/content/arti...
Whatever Prototaxites was, it wasn't the Godzilla of Fungus. (Or any kind of fungus.) www.science.org/content/arti...
"What we’re … seeing is the toll of the uncertainty."
My latest story for @science.org—part of a package that explores how the U.S. scientific community has changed under Trump—includes new numbers on graduate enrollment and faculty hiring.
www.science.org/content/arti...
