Microbiome signature of Parkinson’s disease in healthy and genetically at-risk individuals - Nature Medicine Microbiome analysis suggests that gut microbial changes in Parkinson’s disease evolve progressively from healthy individuals to genetically at-risk individuals to clinically affected patients, with th...

We've known the gut-brain axis is a key underpinning of Parkinson's disease. Today, for the 1st time, a gut microbiome signature denoting risk found in healthy individuals with genetic predisposition

nature.com/articles/s41...

Happy to share that I've accepted a CNRS Chaire de Professeur Junior position in computational biology as part of the Génomique Métabolique unit at Genoscope! Looking forward to working with my fellow researchers there as well as with the broader 🇫🇷 research community starting this summer!

🇺🇳/🇮🇹 🔜 🇫🇷

Congrats, Will! 🎉

Looking forward to the ensuing science!

Washington Post article on STEM cuts at federal agencies. NSF tops it at -42%!

“Between January 2025 and February 2026, STEM and health employees at science-focused agencies saw nearly 15,000 jobs cut. The rate outpaced cuts among other federal workers.”

OPM data - Figure from Wash Post article 19 April. (Where US science has been hit hardest.)

NSF at -42%!

If you watch and share one thing today make at this. Why is every democrat in the country not talking like this?

Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later.

Reminder: The Trump regime cancelled nearly $500 million in federal contracts for mRNA vaccine development last year.

For U.S. medical researchers, shrinking labs and bare budgets are the new reality The Trump administration has slashed the number of grants from the National Institutes of Health, with far fewer focused on women, cancer and mental health.

Very good (if tragic) story from the Washington Post

[GIft Link]

wapo.st/3OONwh6

1/8

Feels like this paper on protein-templated DNA synthesis by a natural enzyme warrants some comment.
So here's a 🧵. /1
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Whew

The FBI Director Is MIA Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

”The problems with his conduct go well beyond what has been previously known, and include both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences.” www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

NASA astronaut Christina Koch sits in an U.S. Navy MH-60S Seahawk attached to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 on the flight deck of the San Antonio Class amphibious transport dock USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) after returning from space on Apr. 10, 2026.

This picture of Astronaut Christina Koch after the Artemis landing is frankly incredible and beautiful.

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

📣 Bold science alert! We're thrilled to announce our latest awardees who are pushing the boundaries of research in aging, regeneration, and bacterial resilience. bit.ly/HFAwardees
Hear from the #HFScouts who championed these talented scientists👇 in our 🧵: 1/

😂

Senator Wyden can’t say it plainly without losing his security clearance, but this raises the alarm that Kash & crew have decided they can illegally surveil Americans without a warrant.

Early Career Faculty Program | Freeman Hrabowski Scholars | HHMI The Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program offers comprehensive support to outstanding early career faculty committed to scientific excellence in their own research, and to fostering labs that expand the ...

@hhmi-science.bsky.social's
#FreemanHrabowski Scholars Program offers early career faculty up to $10M over 10 yrs, plus salary & benefits

Stable, sustained support can transform your career:

Senior Postdoc? This year's competition has a program for you too. Applications open 11/3! bit.ly/4vhC0LA

Unfalsifiable by Design: A Year of Trying and Failing to Reproduce a Human Microbiome and Autism Study The myth of open data, reproducibility, responsibility, and accountability in science, and your role in it

How every layer of science's "self-correcting machinery" failed when Iva Veseli and I simply wanted to reproduce the findings of a high-profile study on gut microbiome and autism:

merenlab.org/2026/04/15/u...

It may seem paradoxical but a key to accomplishing (1) will be to deflate the psychological importance that Americans attach to their voting decision. Casting a particular ballot in a particular election needs to become understood as a small practical matter, not a titanic moment of self-expression.

Aging isn’t a single, uniform process.

Join us April 21 for a Research Roundtable with @alicekane.bsky.social, exploring frailty and women’s health across the menopause transition — and what it reveals about how the body ages.

Free, virtual — register today!
isbscience.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Transgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination. Discrimination based on sex is expressly prohibited under Montana’s unique Nondiscrimination Clause––“[n]either the state nor any person, firm, corporation, or institution shall discriminate on account of . . . sex . . . .” Thus, Article II, Section 4 is unequivocal in its intolerance for discrimination based on sex. Because sex discrimination involves a fundamental right under Article II, the appropriate level of judicial review is strict scrutiny. Snetsinger, ¶ 17. ¶28 Being transgender is also a suspect class under the Equal Protection Clause of Article II, Section 4,––“[n]o person shall be denied equal protection of the law.”

MONTANA SUPREME COURT: “Transgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination,” and is subject to strict scrutiny under the Montana Constitution.

Last month in The Onion:

Hegseth Borrows Violent Prayer from ‘Pulp Fiction’ to Bless Iran War at April Pentagon Worship Service For the second month in a row, Pete Hegseth, who likes to call himself “secretary of war,” read a violent prayer — that echoes a scene in the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction — during a worship ser...

what’s funny about this is that tarantino wrote this “ezekiel 25:17“ for the film. it isn‘t actually in the bible. publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/hegseth-bo...

😂

Happy Tax Day, New York. We’re taxing the rich.

Senate Republicans Again Block Bid to Limit Trump’s Iran War Powers For the fourth time since the war began, G.O.P. senators successfully fended off an effort to constrain the president. But there were signs of growing unease among Republicans.

Breaking News: Senate Republicans blocked a fourth Democratic-led effort to curb President Trump’s authority to wage war on Iran.

Roughly half of STEM PhD students in the U.S. are international students.

75% of them stay in the U.S. long term after graduating to contribute their skills to U.S. scientific research and development.

Cutting international student visas hurts U.S. science now and long into the future.

UK signs deal to rejoin EU's Erasmus student exchange program More than 100,000 students are expected to benefit in the scheme's first year alone, according to the British government, which negotiated to contribute £570 million towards the scheme's costs in 2027...

"More than 100,000 people are expected to benefit in the scheme's first year alone, according to the British government, which negotiated to contribute £570 million towards the scheme's costs in 2027."

www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...

The Drug That Stops Cancer Also Teaches It How to Escape ISB research shows how targeted therapy can trigger a stress-driven escape program, allowing cancer cells to adapt early and evade treatment.

What if cancer doesn’t wait for mutations to survive treatment? New work published in Nature Communications shows melanoma cells can rapidly adapt to targeted therapy — shifting into a temporary, drug-tolerant state driven by stress. @natureportfolio.nature.com

isbscience.org/news/cancer/...

Comprehensive benchmarking of metagenomic binning tools reveals key factors for improved genome recovery - Nature Communications Benchmarking metagenomic binning tools with simulated and real datasets reveals factors affecting genome recovery and provides practical guidelines for improving metagenome assembled genome reconstruc...

Comprehensive benchmarking of metagenomic binning tools reveals key factors for improved genome recovery www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs

Can Food Actually Be Medicine? These Doctors Say Yes Prescribing produce, crafting meals: More medical schools are teaching students how to cook and use food as a tool for treating patients.

More medical schools are teaching students how to cook and use food as a tool for treating patients. It's part of a growing movement called Food Is Medicine. Think of it as a modern, research-backed version of “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” nyti.ms/3OFxZjC