Angry goose meme. Close-up in the top panel has a squinting goose asking "Which sins of science" In the bottom panel, it's angrily chasing a person yelling "WHICH SINS???" in satisfyingly large font.

The more I hear our leaders agreeing that science should atone for its sins & needs to be reformed, the more I find myself asking "which sins, exactly?"

I wholeheartedly agree that systemic biases in academia & medicine harm a whole lot of people! ...but that's not what they mean, now is it?

Howdy from Hector, Luna, and Oscar!

Figure showing number of competitive grants mentioning women from 2015-2025. The number was rising until recently, with a precipitous drop in the last year.

At the end of 2024, the National Academies put out a report concluding the NIH has woefully underfunded women’s health research, and they suggested $15 B should be invested over the next 5 years.

Here’s what’s happened instead. Hard to study women’s health if you can’t say “women.”

wapo.st/4euUt1c

A black void sits in a kids chair, a sweet black and white kitty, and a nice grey tabby.

Next up: T grants

These support grad student and post doc training programs at certain institutions.

# of new grants issued through April 15 in

FY2024 (the last “normal” year): 70
FY2025: 23
FY2026: 2

My super department @warwicklifesci.bsky.social is hiring 6 assistant profs in the wake of recent retirements. We're looking for people in microbiology/infection, cellular disease / immunity; environmental biology; and plant/crop science. #MicroSky warwick-careers.tal.net/vx/lang-en-G...

Friday was my last day at NHGRI. After 10 wonderful years, my lab is headed to Johns Hopkins University
genomeinformatics.github.io/movingday/

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%!

Lagging? 2026 has flattened at 33% of normal! This is devastating.

Where U.S. science has been hit hardest after Trump’s first year 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.

Those of us doing research related to women’s health have been hit particularly hard by the govt’s sabotage of the NIH. I spoke to WaPo for this piece, as painful as it was to discuss the reality my lab is facing. www.washingtonpost.com/science/2026...

Congratulations!!🍾

News News

Great news from the lab - we’ve been awarded a MIRA (R35)!

This grant provides 5-year support for our research program. We are very grateful to NIGMS/ #NIH for supporting our research. We will be hiring a research technician and a postdoc.

fernandez.lab.indiana.edu/news/index.h...

There needs to be a giant billboard in every major American city that touts this. In any other era except this suicidal science administration, this would be a miraculous, wondrous thing.

We can have nice things!

Dear Member of Congress: The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) are deeply grateful for the longstanding bipartisan support from Congress for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We want to inform you of current and likely impacts of delays and changes in funding policies and procedures for NIH grants. Our concerns relate to the following areas within NIH: • Massive reduction in notice of funding opportunities • Delays in funding processes and inadequate capacity to administer grants • Increase in forward funding of multiyear awards in year one • Delays and potential lapses in funding for large clinical trial networks and clinical trial units Lack of transparency around permitted international collaborative partners for research projects • Disproportionate impact of grant terminations on vulnerable populations, especially women and people of color

U.S. infectious disease research is on the brink. Without immediate action from Congress, much of it will cease to exist within a year.

For example👇

1️⃣ No collaborative RFAs posted for >1 year (normal: many / year).
2️⃣ No foreign collaborators allowed on grants.

🧪🪦 www.idsociety.org/globalassets...

We already KNOW how to make super babies, you eugenicist creeps! And it's all the things you fucking fucks are fucking up! THREAD!

🧵 that demonstrates the social and economic policies that would allow us to foster and support the development of genius, as opposed to the eugenic idea that it is innate and genetic

Check out this master class in really irresponsible, paternalistic, misogynistic reporting on a murder of a woman who deserves better from journalists covering these crimes. Seriously, reporters need to break the old patriarchy-defined molds of this kind of reporting.

Oh wow…suddenly realizing one of those flashes is totally my home town, which meshes with texts from the fam. Hope the damage remains minimal.

We are excited to host the 2026 Midwest Neglected Infectious Diseases (MNID) Meeting in Madison from Aug 7-8. Registration (free) and Abstract submission are online. Please share! www.mnidmeeting.org #MNID26

But even if I do want to make an account is there an option between periodic vs daily emails?

CALS- Technician I- Molecular Biology and Genetics in Ithaca, New York, United States of America | Research & Instructional Support at Cornell University Apply for CALS- Technician I- Molecular Biology and Genetics job with Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, United States of America. Research & Instructional Support at Cornell University

plz repost 🙏 we are looking for a technician to start this summer/fall for 1-2 years to work with me at Cornell in the labs of @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social and Andy Clark, in collaboration with @corriemoreau.bsky.social on flies & termites 🪰🐜🧬🔬 Ithaca is gorges!

jobs.hr.cornell.edu/us/en/job/WD...

It's Tuberculosis! It’s Tuberculosis…It is around this time that I post my students’ #SciComm contributions on this blog. This year is no different, EXCEPT that there is only one project—a dance. Although this assignmen...

Check out this year's #Scicomm Project by the BIO 145 @tinyearthnet.bsky.social students! Inspired by the book Everything is Tuberculosis @johngreensbluesky.bsky.social , students put together this song and an interpretative dance. @sacstate.bsky.social www.gonzalezorta.com/post/it-s-tu...

Register for the 20th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, taking place 16–21 August 2026 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Benefit from the Early bird fee by registering by 1 May 2026
#ISME20 #MicrobialEcology

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

A flat lay of pink and orange items with a sparkly pink Erlenmeyer flask enamel pin in the center

Two Photon Art store has reopened for graduation gifts!!

For a limited time, we’re sending a
~*~ free mystery pin ~*~
with orders above $20!

Absolutely. The aristocats line alone…

Straight from the horse's mouth:

If Trump's proposed $5B cut to NIH were enacted in FY27, the number of new NIH research grants would drop **47%**

To be clear, this is from a document justifying the request. It's what they *want*. They think this is good.

officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/pdfs/FY27/br...

Fun 🧵

Data Engineer #00246 - Richmond, Virginia, United States Title: Data Engineer #00246 State Role Title: Information Tech Spec III Hiring Range: $100,000 - $125,000 Pay Band: 6 Agency: The Library of Virginia Location: Library of Virginia Building Agency Web...

The Library of Virginia in Richmond seeks a data engineer ($100k-$125k) to transform data practices at a 200-year-old cultural heritage org with an eye towards the future.

Looking for someone to imagine & collaboratively implement tomorrow's data infrastructure.

Apply by May 1! Tell your friends!