Because the 1st is a Saturday, “How is it August already?!” will be observed today, Friday, July 31, 2026. Please panic accordingly.
Brian Umberger
@brianumberger.bsky.social
Biomechanics professor at the University of Michigan interested in the mechanics, energetics, and control of human locomotion
Most of the statistical tests you learned in stats class — t-test, ANOVA, correlation — are actually special cases of a single thing: linear regression. Ch 7 of Experimentology argues that thinking in models, not tests, is more flexible and a better foundation for theory. 🧵 experimentology.io
Inspired by Project Hail Mary, this video explores the biomechanics of living beyond Earth, from muscle and bone loss to the challenges of movement in microgravity. The science fiction is compelling. The science behind it is even more fascinating. 🚀 Watch here: youtu.be/h5ZN3B17FH4
Project Hail Mary: Biomechanics in Space
YouTube video by IMSI - Integrative Movement Sciences Institute
youtu.be
Thinking about LLM use in research: Assembling text or images for models should be held to the same standards as other data collection methods. Otherwise, IRB would clobber us and rightfully so for using non-consensual data. ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, etc. don't meet that ethical standard.
Dr Abeba Birhane@abeba.blacksky.app · last mo.there is no such thing as "responsible use of generative ai" in research
Heading to Vancouver for the World Congress of Biomechanics? Don't miss out on the annual Women in Science event! This is a fantastic opportunity to network, share experiences, and connect across the biomechanics community. Register with the link in your ASB June E-blast by Sunday, June 28th.
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...
Exclusive: NSF slashes research programs to support new tech initiative, insiders say
Unexpected shift in funds has meant sharp drop in grants this fiscal year
science.org
“A single Tomahawk cruise missile runs about $3.6 million, roughly what it takes to fund one scientist’s multiyear grant. The entire National Science Foundation budget is less than what we spent in the first week of the war with Iran.” www.nytimes.com/2026/06/20/o...
Opinion | The Science That Turned Lizard Venom Into GLP-1s Is Under Attack
nytimes.com
1/ How did the human skeleton evolve to support bipedalism and tool use? 🦴 A new study from my lab in Genome Biology and Evolution dives into the genomic changes that separate us from chimpanzees during skeletal development. academic.oup.com/gbe/article/.... Here's a quick overview of what we found:
In Vitro Massively Parallel Screening of Human Regulatory Elements Involved in Postcranial Skeletal Development for Differential Activity Compared to Chimpanzee
Abstract. Every element of the human skeleton exhibits some differences in comparison to our closest living relatives, chimpanzees. Many of these skeletal
academic.oup.com
🧵 Public science in the US has taken some heavy hits over the last year, but the White House OMB is proposing a series of changes that will result in a TKO for science as we know it unless we fight back. Here's what's happening, and why it matters. 1/n
Cameron Hill and co-authors from @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social identified distinct distributions of #myosin motor conformations during contraction of slow and fast skeletal #muscle ⚙️ 🔬 📜 Read the study: 🔗 physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/...
This sounds like an important job: "STAT is seeking an ambitious and intellectually curious reporter to cover one of the defining issues in medicine, science, and public health today: declining trust in science… This is a new role at STAT.”
STAT, Reporter, Trust-in-Science
About STAT In November 2015, STAT was launched as a new national media brand focused on health, medicine, and life sciences. Since then, we have grown to
statnews.com
Scoop: NSF has been quietly blocking new funds and grants to four top universities: Duke, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Dozens of proposals from PIs at these universities—and their collaborators—have been stuck at the Office of Award Management awaiting finalization for months.
Exclusive: NSF puts new research grants to top universities on hold
US science funder once again restricts awards to Harvard University and other research institutions.
nature.com
The National Science Foundation is terminating and suspending grants again, and at Grant Witness we need you to help to track them! 🧪 We can only identify research being suppressed by under-the-radar suspensions directly from researchers. Please report! grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0... #NSF
New Grant Disruptions at NSF - We Need Your Help to Report! – Grant Witness
grant-witness.us
Tech CEO says he had no idea what he was talking about (In Time Magazine... not The Onion)
Sam Altman Says AI ‘Jobs Apocalypse’ Probably Won’t Happen. What Changed?
The OpenAI CEO reversed his own dire predictions about AI and employment, but layoffs keep coming.
time.com
Come work with us!
Jefferson Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute@mossresearch.bsky.social · 2mo agoOur Institute, part of Jefferson Moss-Magee Rehabilitation and Thomas Jefferson University, is hiring for a tenure track faculty position! Applicants should have experience conducting research focused on human translational neuroscience & neurorehabilitation. https://ow.ly/yCBA50Z2eMl
Or in more detail: Robert Merton's (1942) famous norms describe the ethos of modern science. The second of these, universalism, precludes the consideration of national borders, race, or other personal characteristics in determining who may contribute to, and what constitutes, valid science.
"Science is not simply a sequence of tasks that can be optimized....The scientific system thrives on inefficiency: redundant efforts, failed attempts, and divergent paths. These are not costs to be eliminated but sources of discovery." Excellent essay! ⬇️ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Progression without progress
Progress in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to advance scientific discovery has made it increasingly realistic to envision automated “end-to-end science” (ETES) systems: integrated pipelines t...
science.org
Interesting job - Director Of Orthotics & Prosthetics Research at UCSF aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF06089
Director Of Orthotics & Prosthetics Research – UCSF
University of California, San Francisco is hiring. Apply now!
aprecruit.ucsf.edu
Cleve Moler has passed away #neuroskyence #academicsky #sensorimotor www.mathworks.com/company/abou...
mathworks.com
Some extinct human ancestors and modern-day apes appear to share wrist traits that raise the question of whether our last common ancestor walked on its knuckles
Did the last common ancestor of humans and apes walk like a gorilla? A new study offers a clue
Some extinct human ancestors and modern-day apes appear to share wrist traits that raise the question of whether our last common ancestor walked on its knuckles
scientificamerican.com
Come join us! I'm recruiting postdocs and lab techs to study the functional morphology and biomechanics of walking in fishes and salamanders at the University of Virginia, with option to work at Mountain Lake Biological Station. 2 of 4 job ads are posted on my website: sandykawano.weebly.com 🧪🐟🦎
Sandy K's
Postdoctoral Research Associate to work on the comparative biomechanics of walking-like behaviors in fishes. Apply by June 1, 2026, for full consideration. Click HERE for more information. Lab...
sandykawano.weebly.com
Sandy Kawano, PhD@sandyk.bsky.social · 3mo agoJob Alert! I am recruiting a postdoc (and soon a lab tech) to study the functional morphology and biomechanics of walking-like behaviors in fishes at the University of Virginia. Details at: jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0.... Ads for postdoc+lab tech on salamander locomotion grant coming soon! 🧪🐟🦎
Supported by fantastic collaborators, we have developed computer simulations of cardiac growth that reproduce eccentric and concentric growth associated with sarcomeric protein variants, mitochondrial dysfunction, hypertension, and valve insufficiency. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Updated my textbook with a cleaner lay-out, better accessibility, and eight new interactive visualizations made completely in html (such as this illustration of the positive predictive value). lakens.github.io/statistical_...
Still one of the best parts of the job. Congrats, Dr. Daphna Raz! Now a presidential postdoctoral fellow at CU Boulder.
"If you ask researchers, 'Why don't you do high-risk research?' they say, 'Well, the funding agencies won't fund it.' If you ask the agencies, they say, 'Well, the researchers won't propose it.'" #MetaSci
Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 3mo agoVery nice story on risk in science from @georgemusser.com, featuring @cbo.bsky.social, @dashunwang.bsky.social, and me.
In 1970, Regan’s education advisor famously said “We are in danger of producing an educated proletariat. That’s dynamite! We have to be selective on who we allow [to go through higher education].” They said the quiet part out loud over fifty years ago. An educated public is a threat to fascism.
📣 Postdoc in Human Neurophysiology & Neurorehab 📣 The Real-Time NeuroRehabilitation Lab at the U of Iowa is hiring a Postdoctoral Research Scholar! Motor control, EEG/TMS, neurorehabilitation, and real-time multimodal methods. 📅 Summer/Fall 2026 📧 sara-hussain@uiowa.edu Please share!