Finally

The Independent@the-independent.com · 11h ago

James Bond producer shares update on 007 casting: ‘It’s got to be really different’

There is not an industry on planet earth that could have gone >2 decades without a cost of living adjustment and be healthy. But that is what science is like now. I just got notice that some of our service costs are going up ~9%. Microscopes are up >300% in price over the last 2 decades. etc...

So in the last two weeks EIC of Science and a famous science communicator have lost massive amounts of credibility because of their reliance on LLMs... Some examples of how to lose trust with your audience to share with my students I guess.

RFK jr overrode the NIH recommendation for NIAID Director to appoint his own preferred candidate (who applied, but NIH declined to interview), per @politico.com. Institute directors have final say on funding decisions and are critical to the integrity of NIH. 🧵 www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

A lab-leak proponent is in line for Fauci’s old job

Steven Quay is in final vetting to run the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

politico.com

In our (chem) PhD admissions process we try to emphasize that 1) experience takes many forms, only one of which is prev training and/or pubs 2) experience is the numerator, and opportunity is the denominator. We actively look for applicants who have made the most of opportunities available to them.

Josh Grubbs@joshuagrubbsphd.com · 2d ago

I'd argue this has become even more of a problem in PhD admissions (at least in psychology) over the past few decades... programs/labs are increasingly unlikely to take promising but green students and more likely to take people who already have a demonstrated track record of skills and publishing

Just your regular reminder that: 1) Almost everyone has an underlying health issue if you look hard enough 2) People with underlying health issues don't deserve to die for eating lettuce 3) We should be strengthening, not weakening our regulatory processes. And properly funding them.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2d ago

Breaking News: Two deaths in Michigan have been linked to cyclospora. Both people who had the parasite also had underlying health issues.

Give yourself some grace! Scale back on what you think you should be covering. You are learning as much (if not more) than your students the first time you teach a course. (True if this is your 1st or 20th year teaching). You’re not going to be super comfortable until your 3rd time thru.

Someone on here calls them Drop In hours, and I had luck with that.

Hey faculty! A colleague is teaching their very first undergrad course. What one piece of advice would you offer? 📚

Keegan-Michael Key: Huh What

Alt: Keegan-Michael Key as teacher asking Huh What, Black man with very receding hair line wearing white collared shirt with brown tie and blue pen in shirt pocket

static.klipy.com

airbnb I’m staying at unintentionally created the toughest punk album cover of 2027

If you have an NIH or NSF program officer, post a comment!

I-270, Exit 1@i270exit1.bsky.social · 3d ago

🚨🚨 FEDS and everyone else 🚨🚨 🧵Tomorrow is the last day to comment on the Office of Personnel Management rule, “Promoting Employee Accountability" at www.regulations.gov/commenton/OP... This rule eliminates employee protections and rights, and hastens the firing process. Specifically, it... 1/4

This is an outstanding result, but we’re not done yet! The NSF update is still open for comment and not directly impacted. Keep the pressure up! fight2win.standupforscience.net

Stand up for Science

Stand up for Science

fight2win.standupforscience.net

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

THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE POWER ACCOMPLISHES! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who wrote comments, contacted Congress, and yelled! This is OUR WIN! @standupforscience.net www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

Collette is right on target: Fight back and we can win. Write your Senator now to make sure its included in the final bill

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

THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE POWER ACCOMPLISHES! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who wrote comments, contacted Congress, and yelled! This is OUR WIN! @standupforscience.net www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

The short version is: after a month the AI has not given me any good reasons to trust it, and I am honestly freaked out by the confidence with which it weaves completely wrong facts into prose, and the confidence with which it writes and professionally formats entire sections of bullshit.

Need to have some frank talk about #Yale President McInnis, General Counsel Alexander Dreier and the trustees. First, they keep saying that they are compelled to enter into a settlement with the #Trump administration. Untrue. 1/

“If the government hadn’t funded research into desert lizard venom, we wouldn’t know about semaglutide…If research scientists hadn’t studied how bees optimize nectar foraging within a colony, we wouldn’t have the algorithm that assigns internet traffic” www.publicnotice.co/p/michael-kr...

The new "science golden age" looks suspiciously like a grift

Trump wants to run scientific research like his family business.

publicnotice.co

Hey 🧪! I was just reminiscing with a friend about the time a very senior academic called a mid-career guy's work "completely meaningless" at a meeting and now I want to hear your best (public, academic) disses

From the abstract: “promoting a woman to Associate Professor increases female faculty by 1.5 members after 15 years, leads to six additional female PhD graduates over the following decade, and raises the number who subsequently remain in academia and reach tenured positions”

Physgal ⚛️@physgal.bsky.social · last wk.

Fascinating paper on the progression of women in academia. 👩🏻‍🔬 ⚛️ 🧪 #AcademicSky docs.iza.org/dp18477.pdf?... Here's an excerpt from the conclusion:

Avocados come in 2 varieties - A-types start each day female and switch to male midday. B-types do the reverse. In work just published from the last chapter of my PhD, we show this system evolved 40+million yrs ago and is regulated by alleles of 1 transcription factor www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies the ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado | PNAS

In avocado and certain wild relatives in Lauraceae, a highly synchronized daily rhythm of floral sex timing promotes cross-pollination between two ...

pnas.org

Olivia Miles goes between the legs on a drop pass to Kayla McBride for 3

Here’s the full story I remember when RFK Jr froze the money—his MAHA supporters & all those kooky MAHA bloggers celebrated Well, they’ll certainly be enraged now that there’s more funding for Gavi to vaccinate kids & to save lives 2/2 www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majorit...

Sen. Collins Announces State Department to Restore Full Contribution to GAVI | United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

appropriations.senate.gov

“While everyone was safe in the end, the class did experience quite a scare and underwent unnecessary interventions. State and federal health officials conducted a subsequent investigation to figure out how a dangerous pathogen was stored in the same freezer as harmless bacteria for lab classes”

College lab class ends with 32 people on antibiotics for deadly germ exposure

Lab students were supposed to ID a mild germ. They all identified a deadly pathogen.

arstechnica.com

It's poll time! You're going to see a rock show. Doors open at 5:30 pm, show starts at 7 pm. When are you showing up? (Please list your age/generation!)

There's just something surreal about bicyclobutanes. Read how Justin Lopchuk and colleagues figured out how to add these strained bisected bits to covalent drug candidates. My latest in @cenmag.bsky.social #chemsky🧪 cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

The covalent drug arsenal gets a new warhead

A mild, modular approach to adding bicyclobutanes could bring more selectivity to these therapies

cen.acs.org

A new rule by the Dept of Homeland Security imposing visa time limits on foreign Ph.D. students and postdocs will harm U.S. science, experts warn. My latest for @statnews.com (and my first story after returning from parental leave). www.statnews.com/2026/07/28/d...

Visa time limits on foreign Ph.D. students and postdocs will harm U.S. science, experts warn

A Trump administration plan to limit visas for graduate student and postdocs to four years is fueling concerns that the U.S. could lose out on foreign scientists

statnews.com

Funding curves (if you can call the fiscal year 2026 one that) for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) from grant-witness.us

please stop suggesting I solve my problem by changing my behavior. I do not want to do that

Me: “I want everyone to be interested in peptides!” *monkey's paw curls*

"Her trial is one of dozens that have been abruptly frozen, leaving people around the world with experimental drugs and medical products in their bodies, cut off from researchers who were monitoring them, and generating waves of suspicion and fear." free link: archive.ph/zfG9h It's so terrible.

Abandoned in the Middle of Clinical Trials, Because of a Trump Order (Published 2025)

nytimes.com

Lauren Dobson-Hughes@ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 2w ago

Women enrolled in USAID-funded clinical trials were left with experimental medical devices in their bodies, because aid was cut off so abruptly and illegally www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/h...

NIH is testing their ability to terminate “unaligned” grants, with at least one new termination documented. Disgustingly, they awarded this grant simply so they could add a termination clause. Then they terminated it. From @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...

NIH is again terminating grants that the Trump administration dislikes

With cancellation of health disparities project, agency may be testing new way to legally kill politically sensitive grants

science.org