Yes, that's why I included the qualifier about programs. NSF's research account does not lose the money though because it operates on a two-year budget authority.

Just an FYI—this is not true regarding the end of the fiscal year. NSF operates on a two year cycle (unlike, say, NIH). This means that even if the money is reset at the program level, the agency does not actually lose it.

> it should be known as “Furry double beta decay"

Well, that's certainly a solution.

In August, Jay Bhattacharya said “Training future biomedical scientists” was the 1st priority for his version of NIH.

But talk is cheap. Let’s see how JB’s doing. 🤔

NIH supports trainees mostly via fellowship (F), training (T), and career development (K) awards.

Here are funding curves for each.🧵

Not as far as I'm aware, and it's unlikely to be made public when it does come back.

Kennedy memorandum. "The memoranda from the Conference have been very helpful. In my view a stay would be granted in four to six months in any event, and fairness to the parties counsels tha we should grant it now. Therefore, I agree with the recommendation of the Chief that the stay applications be granted."

It's probably not good for a democracy if this is what passes for judicial review. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court

"Even as they debated the Obama plan’s possible burden on the power industry, in the entire chain of correspondence obtained by The Times, not a single justice … mentioned the dangers of a warming planet as one of the possible harms the court should consider.” www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

Does this apply to Phase II as well?

‘Science needs defending’: record number of researchers run for office in US mid-terms Many Democrats making the switch to politics are motivated by the Trump administration’s cuts to science — whereas energy and AI are a pull for some Republicans.

“We scientists are used to sticking to our knitting. But I began realizing that science needed defending,” says @samwang.bsky.social.

@nature.com talked to researchers running for office who say the "science is above politics" era is a failed business model.

Trump to Nominate Doctor Who Has Publicly Supported Vaccines as C.D.C. Director

Breaking: The Trump administration has selected Dr. Erica Schwartz, a physician and vaccine supporter who served as a deputy surgeon general during President Trump’s first term, to become the director of the CDC.

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/16/h...

Dr. John Watson awards a statue of Sherlock Holmes a medal commemorating his status as an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Nominative determinism strikes again!

Sherlock Holmes and the case of the chemistry fellow London British chemists took an elementary step towards polishing their public image last week by making fictional detective Sherlock Holmes an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. The society's own Dr John Watson presented a specially struck silver medal to the statue of Holmes that stands near Baker Street, London, the street on which Holmes lived. Also present was a Mastiff crossbreed hound, intended as “a reminder of the dog that haunted the Baskerville family” — a case that Holmes solved 100 years ago. Holmes was not around to solve the mystery of why the society chose to honour him, so the society's chief executive David Giachardi offered an explanation. “Our particular interest is his love of chemistry and the way that he wielded such knowledge for the public good,” Giachardi said.

Was looking through archives for some older coverage and stumbled across this charming news in brief from 2002:

"The society's own Dr John Watson presented a specially struck silver medal to the statue of Holmes that stands near Baker Street, London."

www.nature.com/articles/419...

Pubpeer link for the article:

One of the papers in question, which initially received a correction, has now been retracted by the authors.

"We believe a retraction is necessary to correct the scientific record and intend to submit a revised manuscript in due course due to our belief in the validity of the study."

The Russ Vought hearing is starting now. It's the first time Vought has testified before Congress since his confirmation hearings, so it's the first time Congress will be able to question him about the onslaught of illegal budgetary actions he has undertaken. I'll be posting in this thread.

Please cite as:
E. Frederiksen. "Comment on 'Global Wildlife Trade Fuels Spread of Disease From Animals to People'." The New York Times, 14 April 2026, www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/s....

Fog is a vital water resource. Could it disappear in a warming world? California program promises serious attention to an “underdog” area of research

Neat story from @hannah-richter.bsky.social on researchers' latest efforts to pierce the fog around fog.

Money is being allocated into program-level accounts at NSF, but it seems the spending plan has not come back from Congress yet.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announces it has found a buyer to keep the newspaper open Owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said they have found a buyer who had agreed to keep the newspaper open, less than a month before it was due to shut down.

The nonprofit that runs the successful, Pulitzer-winning Baltimore Banner is going to take over the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Of all the possible outcomes here, this is likely the best we could have hoped for.

apnews.com/article/pitt...

Anticipated funding is 159k, so fully funding 2600 awards, it'd be a bit over 400 million.

We'll see if NSF does forward funding of the GRFP this year, right @noamross.net?

Full story here, with some more analysis.

NSF awards record number of coveted PhD fellowships in surprise move Quantum science and AI research are big winners just a year after the US funding giant slashed its Graduate Research Fellowship Program awards in half.

Last year the GRFP was initially cut in half, to 1,000 awards, amid rumors of a massive cut. This year the agency is facing a similar, 55% cut from the White House and headwinds in awarding grants. Despite that, on Sunday, it offered a record 2,599 GRFP awards.

My story on the surprising news:

Trump’s Erratic Behavior and Extreme Comments Revive Mental Health Debate

This is actually fairly notable, fwiw. Baker is as much the NYT's official view as the editorial board is.

What Orbán’s fall from power means for research around the world Hungary’s new leader has promised to restore the system of checks and balances — but researchers say that rebuilding science will take more than reversing Victor Orbán’s laws.

"Deketelaere adds that he hopes the Hungarian election result can inspire other countries that have experienced similar challenges. 'There is still hope ... at the end of the day democracy and academic freedom will prevail.'"

"[P]olice conducted searches at Unicamp and found the missing samples, according to the court document. Some of them were in a lab at the School of Food Engineering..."

Going out on a limb, but that's probably not where you want to find the missing viruses. Wild story from @marilenharo.bsky.social

Safe to say Burroughs did not buy the government's claims about anti-semitism in the previous case.

DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DESIGNATE CASE AS RELATED AND TO TRANSFER Pursuant to Local Rules 7.1, 40.1(g), and 40.1(j), Harvard respectfully moves this Court to designate this case as related to President & Fellows of Harvard College v. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, No. 25-cv-11048-ADB (D. Mass.) (“Harvard v. HHS”), and transfer it to Judge Allison D. Burroughs in accordance with that designation. Harvard submits this motion, and the accompanying memorandum in support of this motion, to ensure that the Court has an opportunity to consider this closely related action that the Government failed to bring to the Court’s attention despite multiple opportunities to do so, see Dkts. 1-3, 9, and despite the Government’s “continuing duty to inform this Court of related actions before any court,” Standing Order re: Notice of Related Actions In Cases Filed Before Stearns, D.J. (Apr. 16, 2014). Because Harvard’s prior Notice Concerning Related Case Submission, Dkt. 13, was filed nearly simultaneously with the Court’s Order noting its satisfaction with the Government’s submission regarding relatedness under Local Rule 40.1(g), Dkt. 10, the Court’s Order was issued without the benefit of the additional considerations in Harvard’s submission. Accordingly, Harvard brings this motion to ensure that the Court has had the opportunity to consider the key similarities between this case and Harvard v. HHS.

Harvard, however, argues that the case is related to Harvard v. HHS (the main case from last year about the terminated grants), and is now pushing for it to be transferred to Allison Burroughs, who handled the HHS case. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Update in the DOJ case against Harvard, filed last month. (DOJ says Harvard violated Title VI by allowing anti-semitism to run rampant.)

DOJ has argued the case is related to Kestenbaum v. Harvard, a previous case about anti-semitism.

Plot comparing awardees and honorable mentions by field of study

The folks on the GRFP subreddit have also made an interesting plot, comparing awardees to honorable mentions by field: www.reddit.com/r/GRFPApps/c...

GRFP directorate by percent of total. Shows strong ENG increase, small BIO increase, relative dips in MPS and CISE

By percent of total, if you're curious.