The number of NIH competitive awards is down 50% from 2025, and down ~70% from prior years. Even if they catch up by the end of the year, only wealthy institutions can bridge these huge funding gaps.They're killing science-and violating the constitution-by weaponizing the bureaucracy

Annual flu vaccine no longer required for U.S. military, Hegseth says The move alarmed some public health experts, who warned that it would weaken troop readiness.

Breaking news: The military will no longer require U.S. troops to receive the annual flu vaccine, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, rolling back what he described as “overreaching mandates that only weaken our war-fighting capabilities.” https://wapo.st/4eAG2sx

US DOT's new "Freedom to Drive Initiative" focuses on addressing congestion by:
—"Building new roadway capacity"
—"Recover[ing] roadway capacity from other purposes [e.g., biking & transit] to support driving"

[There is no evidence that either of these strategies work to address congestion.]

a man wearing a wig and sunglasses has the words stop gaslighting on his face ALT: a man wearing a wig and sunglasses has the words stop gaslighting on his face

Sure, Director Bhattacharya, "Don’t pay attention to the hype."

I don't pay attention to the hype. I do, however, pay attention to the data.

You should try it sometime.

If you wonder why many people don't trust you, this should be a clue.

8/8

I’m looking for an automated way to read others’s scientific data without giving credit or acknowledgement, and also claim full credit for insights from it. And I want it to have a fitting name

OAI: say no more

This may be the stupidest climate denial talking point of all time

Viktor Orban accomplished so much of what the Trump movement wants to accomplish here

he ruled for 16 years and rewrote the rules in his favor

and still, they threw him out

and you know what? they did it by voting

don’t let anyone tell you voting doesn’t matter

the pope is not woke. american conservative christianity has spent the last few decades mutating into an evil doppelgänger of itself such that any conservative christian leader who says things like “it’s wrong to incinerate schoolchildren” scans as a titan of superhuman moral fiber.

A solar eclipse (with the Earth blocking the sum) viewed from Artemis II.

Solar eclipse from Artemis II. 😍😍😍😍😍

images-assets.nasa.gov/image/art002...

Wild that we’re put in a position to be relieved that Donald Trump is simply manipulating the oil and stock markets.

If all goes according to plan, in a few hours, a crew of astronauts will begin a journey that will take them on a loop around the moon. Here's a video that NASA put together to help people visualize the journey through space, first orbiting the earth before looping around the moon and flying home 🔭

This is my favorite climate change chart. Japanese monks, aristocrats, and emperors kept meticulous records of cherry blossom festivals for 1,200 years and accidentally built the world's longest climate dataset.

Cartoon by @andertoon.bsky.social

Today is the Transgender Day of Visibility and I'll take the opportunity to once again say that trans people matter, their lives have meaning, and what's being done to them by so many politicians and people in this country is wrong.

Headline: Dow rises 300 points after Trump says U.S. in ‘serious' talks to end operation in Iran

Golden retriever runs 15 feet after owner mimes throwing tennis ball

Does it work properly? No.
Are the people making it acting in good faith? No.
Have they ensured it can't be used maliciously? No.
Does it make people's lives better? No.
Will it make people's lives better? No.
Is it profitable? No.
Is it popular? No.
Is it harmless? No.

The argument for AI.

lichen katydids

A recent issue of Natural History magazine has a feature on tropical katydids

Incredible creatures! Hard to decide which were the most amazing, but these lichen katydids are *next level*

This 1990 speech by Carl Sagan is timely times two:

#war #climate

A graph from the from page of the NIH Reporter website showing the number of extramural awards award by month for fiscal years 2022-2026. The curve for fiscal year 2026 lies below the other curves.

My NIH update

Let me start by saying again how glad I am that NIH is now posting these curves on the Reporter front page.

It is satisfying that leading by example from outside has led to this change and (I hope) reflects a commitment for NIH_leadership™ to hold itself accountable for this.

1/6

I defended my PhD 10 years ago today. That was the least remarkable thing that happened that day. Sharing something I wrote about it last year. Since then "the horrors persist but so do we." And with dignity.

When you look at the last year it's hard to say what would have been different if a really competent, energetic and aggressive team had sat down on day one and said, what do we need to do to get inflation higher? Like full Apollo 13 energy.

Does this 200 billion dollars mean trump didn’t win the war last week?

Help someone.
Encourage someone.
No matter what’s happening in the world, we can always choose to be a force for good and make a meaningful difference in someone’s life.

Be the reason someone believes in the goodness in the world.

mom can you pick me up at the strait of hormuz, my friends are laughing at me and wont help

a particularly maddening part of the past 14 months is how so many other countries have played along with even trump’s most reckless ideas. to see others, especially allies, finally telling him to cut the shit is actually comforting, in a way.

His whole life, Trump has always had someone else around to bail him out of the messes he creates: his father, Allen Weisselberg, the "adults in the room" in his first term. Now all those protectors are gone and he is openly begging for someone to save him from his own folly.

The US slashed research for cancer, Alzheimer’s, mental health — and nearly everything else Revealed in one chart.

Good story from Vox on falling numbers of new and competitive renewal R01 grants.

[Gift Link]

www.vox.com/future-perfe...

1/5

@whipkclark.bsky.social
delivered a #CupOfJoe w/ a latte truth about the SAVE Act.
It would put more red tape between women & the ballot box.⁠
⁠Why?⁠ They’re scared of women voters. Their goal is to take women’s rights backwards.
Fuck that. We will #KeepMovingForward!

Good thing trucks that transport millions of products every day in the US don’t use diesel so we don’t have to worry about inflation getting worse.