Steven Quay, in line to be NIAID director, is not just any lab leaker. He is of the type of leakers who still talk about "HIV inserts". He has deleted his tweets from 2021-2025, so here are some screenshots to give you an idea of who Quay is: ▫️1/🧵 #covidorigin #quayniaid

Gregg Gonsalves@gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 18h ago

This is just bat-shit crazy. www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

Reminder: if you are inside the green or dark green area of this map, watch the ~10 o'clock position of the moon tonight at 2:35am EDT/11:35pm PDT. More info here: https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?day=28&month=07&year=2026&view=view You probably won't […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

SpaceX to begin Starship orbital flights SpaceX plans to start deploying upgraded Starlink satellites into orbit on the next flight of its Starship vehicle, scheduled for as soon as the end of the month....

SpaceX to begin Starship orbital flights

SpaceX plans to start deploying upgraded Starlink satellites into orbit on the next flight of its Starship vehicle, scheduled for as soon as the end of the month.

spacenews.com

"Who Deserves To Belong? Partisan News, Anti-Immigrant Misinformation, Immigrant Deservingness, and Immigration Policy Preferences." onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... "why factual corrections alone often fail..." "...television's continued role in disseminating partisan misinformation."

Who Deserves To Belong? Partisan News, Anti‐Immigrant Misinformation, Immigrant Deservingness, and Immigration Policy Preferences

Introduction Anti-immigrant misinformation has become central to shaping public attitudes toward immigrants in the United States, transforming immigration from a technical policy domain into a symbo...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Paul sets Fauci committee vote for Thursday www.politico.com/live-updates... "...reportedly signaled he might try to avoid that route by referring Fauci directly to the Justice Department for prosecution. But whether that maneuver is legal is another question."

Paul sets Fauci committee vote for Thursday

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will vote this week on whether to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress.

politico.com

Graduates students also not coming here. I know a couple HMMI researchers who say that they are no longer receiving applications from overseas. Given that population has traditionally been 50% of the lab staff, expect fewer Phd' s in the next few years

In the wake of Covid, a wave of research assessed masks, school closures, trust & more. Critical work for future emergencies. Sad to see much of it being ignored or, worse, twisted to suit a narrative. @tombollyky.bsky.social corrects the record on his own research: www.statnews.com/2026/07/31/l...

FYI Science Policy News: More U.S.-trained physicists are leaving the country, an exodus that adds to fears of a U.S. "brain drain" www.aip.org/fyi/physics-... a near-doubling of non-US citizens left the US after receiving their PhD, around 29%, in 2025 @aip.bsky.social

Physics PhDs Are Leaving the US at a Record-high Rate

The exodus of non-US citizens has “certainly” been influenced by science funding and visa policy changes under Trump, a new AIP report says.

aip.org

Senate easily advances stopgap funding deal past first hurdle www.politico.com/live-updates... "includes language to bar the Trump administration from putting into action a plan to make political appointees in charge of approving grants, a prohibition that would last for the length of the stopgap"

Senate easily advances stopgap funding deal past first hurdle

The 89-4 vote indicates strong bipartisan interest in avoiding another Oct. 1 shutdown.

politico.com

AIP: After four consecutive years of decline, the number of US physics bachelor’s degrees awarded increased by 4% in the 2024–25 academic year. www.aip.org/statistics/p... --> Women earned 27% of the physics bachelor’s degrees awarded in the 2024–25 academic year, the highest proportion on record.

Physics Bachelor’s Degree Recipients : Recent Trends, Educational Characteristics, and Influences

aip.org

FYI: Science Policy News newsletter out for this week: www.aip.org/newsletter/0... -- A Senate stopgap bill looks to stymie OMB's rewiring of scientific grants, and much more

THE WEEK OF AUG 3, 2026

- Senate stopgap bill counters OMB grantmaking rule - State Dept proposes changes to J visa cancellations - FCC bans foreign robots

aip.org

Thrilled to finally share the great news that Sharon Weinberger is joining the @thebulletin.org as our next Editor-in-Chief! thebulletin.org/2026/08/the-...

The Bulletin welcomes Sharon Weinberger as editor-in-chief

The Bulletin’s new editor-in-chief, Sharon Weinberger, has dedicated her career to covering the intersection of science, technology, and national security and will guide the Bulletin’s editorial effor...

thebulletin.org

There are 7 PR people for every journalist in the US. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

I'm not sure folks have realized just how crazy the second half of 2026 and 2027 will be for global temperatures – on the back of a record-smashing El Niño event. Here is my latest estimate of where both years will end up compared to global temperatures since 1850.

Retraction Watch: "A lawsuit filed under the U.S. False Claims Act accuses four major publishers of perpetrating a decade-long scheme to defraud the government by charging exorbitant article processing charges." retractionwatch.com/2026/07/31/f...

Federal lawsuit accuses four major publishers of extorting article processing charges

iStock A lawsuit filed under the U.S. False Claims Act accuses four major publishers of perpetrating a decade-long scheme to defraud the government by charging exorbitant article processing charges…

retractionwatch.com

Pro tip: If you are reporting on Tony Fauci and are unaware of, (or not mentioning in your hot take) @peteraldhous.com 2022 report on the attack on the NIAID director in the first months of the pandemic: www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pete... then you and your editor really aren't up to the job.

This Activist Group Tapped Into Partisan COVID Politics To Make Big Trouble For Anthony Fauci And The NIH

The White Coat Waste Project has pulled the “lab leak” strings and channeled right-wing anger over COVID to pursue its goal of defunding animal experiments backed by the federal government.

buzzfeednews.com

ICE releases Johns Hopkins researcher detained while boarding flight

Johns Hopkins researcher Fatima Ameaka released from ICE custody

A public health researcher at Johns Hopkins University who was arrested by immigration officials while boarding a domestic flight has been released after spending multiple days in federal custody across...

buff.ly

Wired: Can Republicans Actually Send Anthony Fauci to Jail? www.wired.com/story/can-re... "...a vote next week on whether to hold Fauci in contempt... If passed, it will be sent to the Senate floor where it would require 60 votes to succeed, which is highly unlikely..."

Can Republicans Actually Send Anthony Fauci to Jail?

MAGA is loudly calling for the former White House chief medical adviser to end up in prison. WIRED asked legal experts to weigh in on whether that’s even possible.

wired.com

Worth reading: "the way open science was funded left the door open to far-right, anti-science co-optation... opened the door for wealthy, anti-science, anti-woke interests to undermine science...Today, we have a new “gold standard science” initiative coopting science reform rhetoric..."

Jeff Lockhart@jwlockhart.bsky.social · 5d ago

I wrote about science funding, science reform, and anti-science agendas. scatter.wordpress.com/2026/07/31/s...

Update: Google just sent me a statement saying it is “rolling back” this AI feature that let anyone make completely bullshit satellite images. Comes after our demos of the tool and those from OSINT researchers. One of the worst AI tools I’ve ever seen bsky.app/profile/jose...

Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 5d ago

New from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles. This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused www.404media.co/google-earth...

Check out my conversation with Craig Fehrman, author of THIS VAST ENTERPRISE about the adventurous, dangerous and scientific journey of Lewis and Clark for @sciam.bsky.social Science Quickly podcast 💫🧪📚🐻 www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...

What your fifth grade lesson missed about Lewis and Clark’s expedition

Historian Craig Fehrman unpacks the science, politics and human stories behind one of America’s most famous expeditions

scientificamerican.com

AJPH: One Year After Executive Order 14168: Public Health Consequences of Restricting Gender Affirmation ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2... "...unchecked, these political actions will further weaken the scientific and institutional infrastructure that protects everyone’s health..."

One Year After Executive Order 14168: Public Health Consequences of Restricting Gender Affirmation | AJPH | Vol. Issue

American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) from the American Public Health Association (APHA)

ajph.aphapublications.org

Top senators consider blocking the OMB rule. www.politico.com/live-updates...

Top senators consider blocking Trump’s grant shakeup in spending stopgap

It’s now “up to leadership” whether to head off the controversial changes, Sen. Susan Collins said.

politico.com

I have a great idea for a Nicholas Cage movie

The A.V. Club@avclub.com · 6d ago

Cage's new film Fortitude was allegedly sitting on an unencrypted drive in Netflix's offices when someone walked off with it.

White House Calls for Science Funding Shake-Up www.aip.org/fyi/white-ho...

White House Calls for Science Funding Shake-Up

A new OSTP report recommends channeling funding to researchers with big ideas, not elite universities.

aip.org

Some business news: Pleased to announce today was my first day as Director, Science Policy News, at the American Institute of Physics. We're best known for FYI: Science Policy News www.aip.org/fyi the long-running weekly newsletter and news platform for science insiders. More TK.

FYI: Science Policy News from AIP

FYI is an authoritative source for science policy news and analysis trusted by policymakers and scientists nationwide.

aip.org

My teams have completed all necessary checks and testing of the Cebreros station. After careful review, we have declared the antenna GREEN for nominal operations as of 27 July.

Josef Aschbacher@josefaschbacher.esa.int · 2w ago

Based on current information, the Cebreros station appears to have remained unharmed. My deepest thanks go to the Spanish emergency services whose efforts helped protect the site as wildfires approached. Left: 24 July 19:57, Right: 25 July 07:54

The first human missions to #Mars will shape decades of discovery. What should they look like? Our recent publication explores four proposed science campaign concepts for the first human missions to Mars — and the tradeoffs behind each approach: https://ow.ly/ZFa850ZsWKe

"The irony is inescapable. Months after the last nuclear arms control agreement between Russia and the United States expired, tech industry leaders are citing Cold War nuclear verification as a model for regulating the safety of artificial intelligence."

How artificial intelligence threatens the news industry’s ability to report on existential risks—including those posed by nuclear weapons and AI

Reporting on a subject area as complex and opaque as nuclear weapons demands dedicated, time-consuming journalism. AI threatens the news industry’s ability to support that kind of reportage—not just…

thebulletin.org

ICYMI: USA thought several times not unseriously about using nuclear weapons against biological agents (bioweapons). Anthrax is a real problem b/c of low thermal conductivity of spores means you may disperse “globs” of anthrax w/only outer layers killed. Also, FOIA archive docs! 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

🇵🇸Martin “Doomsday” Pfeiffer🖖🏳️‍🌈@nuclearanthro.bsky.social · 2w ago

In the mid-1990s the USA did a nuclear weapons concept study for a "Agent Defeat Warhead" (later "Agent Defeat Weapon). New post & document index open to all! Fun questions: What happens if you nuke bioweapons? What would you use to nuke bioweapons? www.patreon.com/nuclearanthr... #PhDLife