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Alec Stapp

@alecstapp.bsky.social

Co-founder IFP

57 Posts8291 Follower309 Folgt
Caleb Watney@calebwatney.bsky.social · last mo.

We've been checking with contacts inside the NSF and they are saying it is **not true** that X-labs is responsible for this. X-labs is not anywhere close to big enough to make up this hole. As far as I have heard, this program is coming out of TIP funding.

Jeffrey Mervis@policyhound.bsky.social · last mo.

Been wondering why NSF isn't spending most of its FY26 appropriation? A $1.5B tech initiative may be the reason. And big cuts to hundreds of research programs could be just the beginning of the bad news. www.science.org/content/arti...

Andrew Gerard@andrewgerard.bsky.social · 3mo ago

1. It’s 1%, not 10% 2. We’re talking about diversifying a portfolio where ~70% of funding at NSF/NIH goes to small, project-based grants. Nonprofit labs like the Arc Institute haven’t undermined higher ed and I’m glad NSF wants to fund labs like that, while maintaining the bulk of funding at unis.

Colette Delawalla, PhD@cdelawalla.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Well, would ya look at that! NSF is going to send >10% of its current budget to industry (read: tech start ups) instead of universities…it’s as if the admin is trying to dismantle our basic science mechanism and use it as a start up fund for private companies 💁🏻‍♀️ www.nsf.gov/tip/updates/...

Matt Clancy@mattsclancy.bsky.social · 10mo ago

New research by Pierre Azoulay, Danielle Li, Bhaven Sampat and me. Earlier this year, the President’s budget proposed a 40% cut to the budget of the NIH. This motivated us to ask: what if the NIH had been 40% smaller?

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Saloni@scientificdiscovery.dev · 11mo ago

Five years after we started it, I'm super happy to share that Works in Progress is now available as a print magazine! 🥹 It'll have everything on web and more. You can subscribe today for $100/£75 to receive 6 beautiful, 120-page issues of our magazine a year. worksinprogress.co/print

Works in Progress - Now in print.
Saloni@scientificdiscovery.dev · last yr.

Sad news: The dataset behind this famous chart on the decline in costs of genome sequencing has had its NIH funding cut. I loved this chart because it was the first that made me appreciate the impact of dataviz. But it also tracked progress towards an ambitious goal ($1000 genome) that succeeded.

NHGRI (at NIH)'s chart on the declining cost of sequencing a human genome from 2001 to 2021, falling faster than Moore's law. The "$1,000 genome" catchphrase was first publicly recorded in December 2001 at a scientific retreat to discuss the future of biomedical research following publication of the first draft of the Human Genome Project (HGP), convened by the National Human Genome Research Institute at Airlie House in Virginia.[5] The phrase neatly highlighted the chasm between the actual cost of the Human Genome Project, estimated at $2.7 billion over a decade, and the benchmark for routine, affordable personal genome sequencing. On 2 October 2002, Craig Venter introduced the opening session of GSAC (The Genome Sequencing and Analysis Conference) at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston: "The Future of Sequencing: Advancing Towards the $1,000 Genome." Speakers included George M. Church and executives from 454 Life Sciences, Solexa, U.S. Genomics, VisiGen and Amersham plc.[6][7] In 2003, Venter announced that his foundation would earmark $500,000 for a breakthrough leading to the $1,000 genome.[8] That sum was subsequently rolled into the Archon X Prize. In October 2004, NHGRI introduced the first in a series of '$1,000 Genome' grants designed to advance "the development of breakthrough technologies that will enable a human-sized genome to be sequenced for $1,000 or less."[9]
Matt Clancy@mattsclancy.bsky.social · last yr.

What’s the return on government support for R&D? To try to get a credible answer, Open Philanthropy and the Sloan Foundation are committing up to $1 million to trying something new: we call it a Pop-Up Journal.

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jacobtref.bsky.social@jacobtref.bsky.social · last yr.

New blog post, on 52 pieces of science writing I've learned from over the last two years. Thank you, from one reader, to all the authors! blog.jacobtrefethen.com/science-writ...

Science writing from the last two years that stuck with me

This list consists of writing that ticked two boxes: 1) did I think about the article again more than a week after reading it?, and 2) was it written for a popular audience? So, academic papers, inclu...

blog.jacobtrefethen.com

Alec Stapp@alecstapp.bsky.social · last yr.

Not sure how many people realize that battery storage already supplies 30% of California’s electricity demand at peak. Batteries aren’t the future — they’re here now.

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NPR@npr.org · last yr.

Harrison, whose plasma contained a rare antibody, rolled up his sleeve 1,173 times from 1954 to 2018. The Australian is credited with helping 2.4 million babies and advancing scientific research.

James Harrison, whose blood donations saved over 2 million babies, has died

Harrison, whose plasma contained a rare antibody, rolled up his sleeve 1,173 times from 1954 to 2018. The Australian is credited with helping 2.4 million babies and advancing scientific research.

npr.org

Jennifer Doleac@jenniferdoleac.bsky.social · last yr.

This year's Econ job market has, by all accounts, been brutal. If you're still not sure what you're doing next year, applying for external funding to continue your work is a great way to buy yourself time & options. It's a way to "build your own post-doc." Check out AV's open RFPs!

Andrew Bacher-Hicks@abacherhicks.bsky.social · 2y ago

Back by popular demand! We just released another call for proposals using RCTs and quasi-experiments. 3-page LOIs are due March 14. Details here: bit.ly/4ambjv3 (1/2)

Saloni@scientificdiscovery.dev · last yr.

Sorry, but we now have a once-per-six-months PrEP injection with a 96% efficacy in reducing HIV infections, and the response is to limit PrEP to only pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers? What?! It's going to be much more expensive to provide lifelong treatment than work on prevention.

In the coming years, HIV/AIDS research—to take just one example—could be similarly stifled, Amy Fairchild, a historian at Syracuse University, told me. Epidemiologists who study sexually transmitted infections in general tend to diligently track gender, because patterns of transmission can differ so greatly along that axis. But under Trump’s leadership, that scientific rigorousness has turned into a potential vulnerability. Already, the administration has issued guidance limiting PEPFAR-funded pre-exposure prophylaxis to only “pregnant and breastfeeding women,” excluding by omission other populations extremely vulnerable to infection, including both men who have sex with men as well as transgender people. And several sexual-health researchers told me that the Trump administration recently issued a termination order for their large, CDC-funded study that focused on reducing health disparities among populations affected by multiple STIs. (A judge has since issued a temporary restraining order allowing the study to resume.)
Tim Bresnahan@timobres.bsky.social · 2y ago

Graduate students with interests in innovation, permitting or immigration policy who would like to work on fiscal and economic impacts -- apply now! Applications close on 1/16.

Heidi L. Williams@heidiwilliams.bsky.social · 2y ago

Re-posting this call for applications targeting PhD students and early career researchers (PhDs 2014 or later) doing research on the fiscal and economic effects of three productivity policies: R&D, permitting, and immigration. Applications due at midnight on Thurs January 16.

Nick Kristof@nickkristof.bsky.social · 2y ago

@crampell.bsky.social on Biden's legacy: "Despite the $7.5 billion allocated for EV charging stations, only 44 stations have been built nationwide so far. A $42 billion expansion of broadband internet service still has not connected a single household." www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | The legacy of Bidenomics: Maybe not much at all

Biden struggled to implement economic policies that will endure past his presidency.

washingtonpost.com

Arnab Datta@arnabdatta.bsky.social · 2y ago

1/ I wrote for NYT on a 3-prong strategy for climate progress under Trump. -innovation & industrial strategy -pragmatism on fossil fuels -expand interests that benefit from decarb This same approach led to IRA/IIJA. But it did not pass the test for many activist groups.

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