Academia is either meritocratic or it isn’t. It either takes its rules seriously or it doesn’t. It is a moment to realize that higher education institutions have strayed too far from their core mission and that there really is no substitute for meritocracy www.persuasion.community/p/jason-arda...

Surely Liberals Can Agree That Plagiarism Is Bad

Institutions need to uphold standards. No exceptions.

persuasion.community

What a surprise that companies that built a product by stealing other's work didn't build the guardrails to stop their product from stealing other's work.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 7h ago

$META @theinformation.com www.theinformation.com/articles/met...

US Military Academy at West Point yields to a permanent legal ban on its censorship policy, ordered by the 🍊🤡, that barred faculty members from publishing papers, speaking at conferences or appearing on a podcast without first seeking approval from higher-ups www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...

West Point won’t fight ban on school policy limiting professors’ speech

Officials at West Point have retreated from their defense of a controversial policy restricting faculty speech.

washingtonpost.com

Ana Fernández-Sesma, biologist at Mount Sinai: ‘There are taboo words: climate change, diversity, gender. It’s reminiscent of Spain's censorship under Franco. But just like then, it can be circumvented. US government is hostile, particularly to science' english.elpais.com/health/2026-...

Ana Fernández-Sesma, biologist at Mount Sinai: ‘We have regressed 30 years in a single year of the Trump administration’

The head of Microbiology at the New York hospital reflects on the next pandemic and the dismantling of the scientific system in the US

english.elpais.com

Foreign students in the US discouraged by new visa limits — New immigration restrictions and the uncertainty they create are leading some applicants to consider other destinations for their studies english.elpais.com/education/20...

‘There is no flexibility’: international students in the US discouraged by new visa limits

New immigration restrictions and the uncertainty they create are leading some applicants to consider other destinations for their studies

english.elpais.com

Research that used a federal grant to pay for asthma patients to have their gas stoves replaced showed a dramatic fall in asthma attacks. The program was cut short after Trump took office www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

The EPA halted a study on gas stoves and asthma. But even partial results were striking.

Research that used a federal grant to pay for asthma patients to have their gas stoves replaced showed a dramatic fall in asthma attacks. The program was cut short after President Donald Trump took of...

washingtonpost.com

When Donald Trump announces his goals, he is signaling what would be most effective against him.

Alfons López Tena@alfonslopeztena.bsky.social · 2w ago

It is now official US policy to destroy the ICC. Nations that do not fall into line will be punished — Trump knows he could be a target after he leaves office. The threat of arrest could lie just around the corner, like Putin's and Netanyahu's www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Trump's hardcore populist base has declined by 33%, @ismapolicy.bsky.social's survey finds. They are uneasy by his extralegal use of executive authority even as some express greater hostility toward Muslims, trans people and university/entertainment elites open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...

Trump's Hardcore Populist Base Has Declined By a Third, ISMA's Survey Finds

They are uneasy by his extralegal use of executive authority even as some express greater hostility toward Muslims, trans people and university/entertainment elites

open.substack.com

It is now official US policy to destroy the ICC. Nations that do not fall into line will be punished — Trump knows he could be a target after he leaves office. The threat of arrest could lie just around the corner, like Putin's and Netanyahu's www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Trump says he will dismantle the ICC ‘brick by brick’. It could be his most chilling move of all | Steve Bloomfield

The US is aligning itself with dictators and autocrats to prevent those accused of genocide, ethnic cleansing and war crimes from ever facing justice, says Steve Bloomfield, former international edito...

theguardian.com

Trump’s Tariff Runaround Defies the Courts and Common Sense — Effective tariff rates are going to change on Friday for the 45th time in the last 18 months, an average of once every 12 days www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/o...

Opinion | Trump’s Tariff Runaround Defies the Courts and Common Sense

The administration will keep trying to run around rulings against import fees.

nytimes.com

I think ending science is a Christian nationalist tactic. If science and history can disprove the whole premise of your fairy tale you must eliminate science and history.

Alfons López Tena@alfonslopeztena.bsky.social · 4w ago

Is the US trying to make scientists’ work so difficult that they simply give up? New Trump administration rules would undermine longstanding research practices. It’s death by a thousand cuts www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Science friends! This fall I'm teaching a class on "Scientists as Writers" and looking for model papers. What is a scientific paper you love for the quality of its writing? Maybe something you have used as a model in your own work? What do you love about it?

US government plan to defund science — All federal grants to be assessed by officials, not by civil servants and peer-review panels. They could deny them because they don't fit Trump's agenda. Grants could also be terminated at any time for the same reason www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

An O.M.B. Plan to Defund Science—and Anything Trump Doesn’t Like

Under a new proposal, Administration officials could deny government grants to any group or project on the ground that it didn’t fit the President’s agenda.

newyorker.com

Is the US trying to make scientists’ work so difficult that they simply give up? New Trump administration rules would undermine longstanding research practices. It’s death by a thousand cuts www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Is the US trying to make scientists’ work so difficult that they simply give up? | Daniel Malinsky

New Trump administration rules would undermine longstanding research practices. It’s death by a thousand cuts

theguardian.com

Some of the leading research universities in the U.S. are admitting fewer students to their doctoral programs amid widespread concerns about federal funding cuts and uncertainty. Admissions to top PhD programs down 15% www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Admissions to top PhD programs down 15% amid federal funding cuts, uncertainty

U.S. universities have warned Trump policies will narrow the talent pipeline. Already global applications are down, though domestic applications are up slightly.

washingtonpost.com

Both determinism and scare of science are nothing more than residual, secularized religious views that demean human ingenuity under something mighty than their free will, be it god or genes; hurdles to scientific theory, to be spotted and torn down to free thinking theglobepost.com/2019/11/12/g...

Genes and Human Agency: Avert Misuse, Not Scientific Research

Scared people conclude that those who may unleash forces beyond human control must be forbidden to investigate the genetics of human agency.

theglobepost.com

Scientists become less likely to produce disruptive work as they age. Younger researchers are more likely to overturn established ideas or open new lines of inquiry. Older ones' novel work increasingly builds on existing theories rather than challenge them www.economist.com/graphic-deta...

Why science is becoming less innovative

A huge study suggests ageing scientists are part of the problem

economist.com

Trump’s worst attack on science yet: To impose restrictions on the kinds of research that can be funded and give political appointees the final authority to deny federal funding for research deemed inconsistent with presidential priorities www.nytimes.com/2026/06/09/o...

Opinion | This Could Be Trump’s Worst Attack on Science Yet

nytimes.com

More than 40 million borrowers are saddled with US federal student debt, and a record number—7.7 million—have defaulted on their loans. Some are making the drastic decision to leave the country and stop paying www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/b...

Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying

nytimes.com

Make Science Great Again By Pedro Sánchez, Spain's PM

Prominent climate scientist resigns from NASA, citing Trump’s attack on science — Kate Marvel, a well-known author, joins an estimated 95,000 people who have left federal science agencies since he got the presidency again www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/c...

Prominent Climate Scientist Resigns From NASA, Citing Trump’s Attack on Science

nytimes.com

Welcome, American scientists: Europe, a haven for researchers struggling under Trump — Initiatives are multiplying in EU countries including France, Germany and Austria to attract the talent being driven away by the US policies english.elpais.com/science-tech...

Welcome, American scientists: Europe, a haven for researchers struggling under Trump

Initiatives are multiplying in EU countries including France, Germany and Austria to attract the talent being driven away by the US president’s policies

english.elpais.com

US professors are changing what they teach, even far from Trump’s gaze — Rewritten syllabuses. Self-censored lectures. Stilted classroom discussions. Grant applications stripped of words that might infuriate MAGA censors , if they are submitted at all www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/u...

Professors Are Changing What They Teach, Even Far from Trump’s Gaze

nytimes.com

The Ig Nobel awards are moving to Europe after 35 years: ‘It has become unsafe for our guests to visit US’ — The satirical science prizes, rewarding the most surprising research of the year with the support of real Nobel laureates, will be held in Switzerland english.elpais.com/science-tech...

The Ig Nobel awards are moving to Europe after 35 years: ‘It has become unsafe for our guests to visit the US’

The satirical science prizes, which reward the most surprising research of the year with the support of real Nobel laureates, will be held in Switzerland and later in other European countries, ‘a litt...

english.elpais.com

For Russia, the surge in oil prices after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran amounts to an economic windfall at a crucial moment. It's leaving the Kremlin well placed to emerge as one of the main beneficiaries of the conflict in the Middle East x.com/politicoeuro...

POLITICOEurope on X: "For Russia, the surge in oil prices after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran amounts to an economic windfall at a crucial moment. It's leaving the Kremlin well placed to emerge as one of the main beneficiaries of the conflict in the Middle East. https://t.co/v5ZykUJ4gI" / X

For Russia, the surge in oil prices after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran amounts to an economic windfall at a crucial moment. It's leaving the Kremlin well placed to emerge as one of the main beneficiaries of the conflict in the Middle East. https://t.co/v5ZykUJ4gI

x.com

Though scholars today want their expertise and knowledge to be noticed by the public, many contemporary readers of academic books feel like the sages visiting Rabbi Jonathan ben Hyrkanos: “He lectured but they did not understand. He started pelting them with pebbles" www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

‘An Entirely New Domain of Knowledge’ | Magda Teter

The Torah scholars who came to be called “rabbis” emerged as figures of authority after the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 CE and the later exile of Jews from Judaea—and created Judaism’s foun...

nybooks.com

On the origin of our fascination with crystals — Enculturated chimpanzees can identify and distinguish crystals from other types of stones, transparency and geometric shape were the two attractors guiding chimpanzees and elicited exploratory behaviors www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

Frontiers | On the origin of our fascination with crystals

Crystals are fascinating structures of solid or liquid matter where atoms, molecules, and/or ions are, on average, arranged in a highly ordered lattice. It i...

frontiersin.org

Researchers are responsible for raising their own funds through grants with success rates of 10%, an enormous short-term pressure to keep producing—to always have the next paper ready to publish. The optimized response is risk aversion open.substack.com/pub/persuasi...

The Real Reason Science Is Broken

AI productivity tools can’t fix bad incentives.

open.substack.com

Door onze immigratiediensten laten doorlichten op Maga-sympathieën. Toegang eisen tot hun hele digitale hebben en houden, tot wel twintig jaar terug. Een like voor Trump & consorten is een enkeltje Rwanda.

Alfons López Tena@alfonslopeztena.bsky.social · 5mo ago

US citizens are leaving US in record numbers, replanting themselves and their families in countries they find more affordable and safe, voting with their feet to an unprecedented degree. A millions-strong diaspora is studying, telecommuting and retiring overseas www.wsj.com/us-news/amer...

Trump’s war on science: Europe should pick up talent fleeing US — To attract elite scientific talent, the approach must be twofold: •Appealing directly to scientists concerned with political interference in their research •Offering stable, ringfenced money www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Guardian view on Trump’s war on science: Europe should pick up talent fleeing the US | Editorial

Editorial: The president’s cuts have defunded and alienated thousands of American scientists. Europe can benefit, if it makes the right offer

theguardian.com