We noticed something interesting (and frustrating) this winter because we had a number of cold spells here in Florida - when humidity drops, the food in our cages loses moisture and therefore weight, artificially increasing our food consumption measures. Curious if anyone else has noticed this?
With this war on Iran costing $1B per day, we are now at 4$B, an amount that would fund 3,200 five year NIH biomedical research grants.
Federal funding for US biomedical research is moribund.
Since October 1 2025, NIH is -80% in new grants and -70% in values (total dollars).
Labs are closing down and researchers are leaving science.
To what end?
It round
Russell Vought is the central architect driving the destruction of your government. We are urging Congress to act now to protect the American people by impeaching and convicting Vought. We invite all Americans to join us by signing on to our letter to Congress.
actionnetwork.org/forms/civil-...
Middle of the night sincerity post, one little pocket of grief that bubbled up today: our NSF program sincerely did bring a lot of early career people into what has historically been a pretty unwelcoming space, and I’m sad for them, but I’m realizing I’m also sad for me? I loved doing that.
It’s the one with googly eyes
More good news on vaccines
A two-in-one mRNA vaccine developed by Moderna targets seasonal influenza & COVID-19. It produced robust and durable immune responses w/o safety concerns in a small mid-stage trial.
mRNA is the future. We can’t afford to lose it.
🧪 www.reuters.com/business/hea...
A lot of people, including me, were wondering how an IRB could ever approve this study.
The answer is that no IRB did. The person who “signed off” on approval from the only ethics board that reviewed it had resigned three years earlier. His signature was used without his knowledge.
An ICE agent shot and killed Ruben Ray Martinez, a US citizen and San Antonio resident, in March 2025. Then ICE and the Texas Department of Public Safety covered it up. He was 23 years old. I am calling for a full investigation into this shooting, including why there was an 8-month cover up.
And an underrated villain, Trump's Director of OMB, slashed funding from programs that kept millions of people alive around the world so he could spend that money on something more important -- himself
Scientists: if you have pursued/secured philanthropic funding in the wake of federal research funding cuts, I want to talk to you.
Reposts appreciated!
I think just reach out to the bio people and tell them the version that you want them to link to.
Wow.
part of me still can't believe the East Wing was completely destroyed and there have been no negative consequences or reports on whether items inside were properly archived or not
Just because good news is worth celebrating:
There is now a Prep medication that is an *every six month* injection.
HIV has, effectively, a vaccination.
No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.
Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Do you:
1) Live near/in Buffalo?
2) Like to organize stuff?
3) Hate what the government is doing to science?
If you answered yes, help me organize the Stand Up for Science rally on March 7th! I need reps from UB, Buff State, Canisius, D’Youville to spread the word. I need general support. DM me!
👇👇👇👇
Man I needed that laugh
Just think about the amazing Epstein scoops the new CBS Evening News contributors will have just by interviewing each other.
Do you remember when people were saying "I think my phone is listening to me, i'm getting ads for stuff I spoke about" and people said "They arent listening to you, they're just this good at predicting your interests"?
Well, it happens they were doing exactly that.
www.cbsnews.com/news/google-...
Thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Minneapolis in protest of federal immigration enforcement for the second consecutive Friday.
📷️: Aaron Lavinsky
It’s really difficult & disorienting but the feds hit LA extremely hard today. There were kidnappings all over & reported cluster raids in Chinatown, East LA, Ktown. This list shows to 1130 AM but they haven’t stopped all day
Just because the media attention stopped doesn’t mean the abductions have
🚨 Requesting help:
I am looking for an agent who can facilitate more speaking gigs, podcast appearances, and interviews with journalists
I want to more widely share my story and expertise as a trans geneticist who understands the reality and complexity of "biological sex" 🏳️⚧️🧬
Please signal boost?
Pro tip for any Hill journos, the Speaker can approve 24hr protection for Members who are under heightened threat. Omar used to have this, but Mike Johnson took it away. You should ask him about that
screenshot of a reddit post in r/nursing Photo of a hospital hallway where staff in scrubs stand with their hands clasped and heads bowed
As seen on r/nursing
Alex Pretti's coworkers taking a moment of silence to honor him
Here’s the deal with the FY26 NIH funding bill:
One line in the 1000+ pg bill = significantly less science.
The increase to ~40% of grants moving to MYF is estimated to result in a 35% decrease in the NUMBER of NIH grants funded annually—moving the paylines from 10% to around 4%.
THIS IS BAD.
Time to sign up!
Registration for the joint FEBS/EMBO course on ion channels and transporters in Erice, Italy (May 13-19th 2026) is now open:
meetings.embo.org/event/26-ion...
Please share and repost.
