At what point does the public need to consider that the Occam’s Razor explanation for flips like Sen Cornyn isn’t financial self-interest but something more insidious? I’d personally not do a lot of votes otherwise repugnant, unless it involved the safety (or especially *life*) of my children.

BlueSky collectively becoming Cassandra makes it the most recent Greek tragedy.

Today, August 4, 2026, is the setting of Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” about a fully automated house continuing on after the family who lived there and the world around it died in a nuclear blast.

Nature did a short piece on our preprint about how LLMs will affect the practice of science; my more detailed thread is below.

Scientists using LLMs will ‘do more, less well’, modelling study predicts

Research suggests that the combination of incentives to publish and the use of large language models will lead to more papers, but they will be less refined.

nature.com

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 2w ago

1. We—@eduede.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, Kevin Gross, and I—have a new preprint on the arXiv today, based on ideas that emerged during an @sfiscience.bsky.social workshop in November 2024: The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science.

If a foreign Muslim sabotaged and ruined 1,500 NIH grants designed to save American lives, we would call it terrorism and literally go to war to defend them

Investigate DOGE@investigatedoge.bsky.social · 6d ago

"It is such utter and complete chaos." DOGE terminated more than 1,500 NIH grants, totaling more than 2.5 BILLION in lost funding. They cancelled any research that didn’t follow Trump’s agenda, including anything related to HIV/AIDS, vaccines, and more. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

If you think that Ron DeSantis has done everything he can to weaken Florida's public school system, well, his efforts are going to look meager compared to what Byron and Erika Donalds have planned should he get elected as Florida's next governor. Great reporting from @thefloridatrib.bsky.social...

Liv Coleman@livcolemanfl.bsky.social · 5d ago

New in PN: The new "science golden age" looks suspiciously like a grift "It’s impossible not to wonder whether part of Trump’s loathing for universities is that there's no way for him to corrupt the process and make money off it in the same way he can by giving billions to Silicon Valley types."

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

Trump wants to run scientific research like his family business.

publicnotice.co

So, when will Dems start their questioning at these hearings - even as the minority caucus - with, “Have you been pre-emptively pardoned by the President?”

Daily reminder that opinion polls don’t mean the same thing as how those individuals will vote. I fully expect that many of these voters who claim to be against TFG will still vote wholeheartedly for the candidates he supports

Bradley P. Moss@bradmossesq.bsky.social · last wk.

I will confess that I did not believe he would get below 35%. I thought that was his floor. Color me intrigued.

I had never seen #TheFifthElement in the theater until today. An amazing experience and movie.

Admirable clarity @science.org

David Roberts@volts.wtf · 2w ago

Whew, the editors of @science.org are getting real.

I’ve worn both military and scientific hats, so I think about this in more personal terms than most on my field. That said, a government that doesn’t consider the long-term effects of its military actions absolutely doesn’t care one whit about the long-term effects of its science policy choices.

Dead Carl@deadcarl.bsky.social · 2w ago

In light of the war with Iran escalating to targeting desalination plants, I've chosen to look at what Clausewitz wrote on the distinction (or lack thereof) between wars of civilized peoples and those of the "uncivilized." www.deadcarl.com/p/barbarity-...

If there was any remaining doubt that political considerations didn’t affect funding and other decisions about science at the US federal level, this (mal)Administration has smashed it into oblivion. Become active in your own future.

Jenna Norton@jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 2w ago

9 lessons from Bethesda Declaration organizers on how to rescue US science: www.ovid.com/jnls/dartmou... 1. Scientists can no longer safely claim the privilege of being outside of, or above, politics 2. Inaction can be riskier than action. 3. Progress requires work. 4. Do not wait for someone else.

Just saw “The Odyssey” this morning, and yes, it’s pretty amazing. Highly recommended, especially if you get this joke.

BadgerNoonan@badgernoonan.bsky.social · 2w ago

Odysseus, Odysseus, and Achilles

Local plumbers two steps ahead of every university administrator in america 👏

Metin Seven (Moon Child's dad 🌝)@seven.eurosky.social · 3w ago

I indeed remember where I was 35 years ago tonight.

“Sharks are beautiful #animals, and if you're lucky enough to see lots of them, that means that you're in a healthy #ocean. You should be afraid if you are in the #ocean and don't see #sharks.” ~ Sylvia Earle (American oceanographer and explorer).

Scientists--if your funding was cut over the last year (for research on climate, global health, DEI, LGBTQ or womens health, etc) but you managed to keep the research going, I want to talk to you for an upcoming article! Plz contact me: gewin at me dot com. Re-posts appreciated!

The “hidden curriculum” is very real, indeed, especially with the peer-reviewed publication process. An insightful read.

Chad Topaz Queer DEI Race Traitor@chadtopaz.bsky.social · 4w ago

Researchers: ever had a journal critique your writing as "too direct"? Sit on your paper for 519 days? Lie to you about process? Tenured-and-promoted me can laugh this stuff off. More vulnerable scholars cannot. Hooboy am I pleased to have this piece out today in @insidehighered.com. #AcademicSky

I’m sure these are fine to use, right?

At 20+ years, I’m not yet willing to consider myself a Florida Man, but my two kids have been born here and grown up hiking the Everglades and swimming our mangroves and reefs. I can indeed consider myself sufficiently Floridian without supporting our Tallahassee overlords.

Katelyn Burns@katelynburns.com · last mo.

I'd be interested in some thoughts from Americans on here on an idea: Over the last 5 years, have you found yourself identifying more with your home state than the US as a whole over time?

Paddleboarding the mangroves, followed by classic movie tradition for July 4th.

Brilliantly updated for modern office culture, especially the embedded pdf comments. Happy Fourth, folks.

Max Kennerly@maxkennerly.bsky.social · last mo.

Today we celebrate the PDFing of "Declaration FINAL v3 USE THIS ONE - SIGNED.docx" (Jefferson's draft was heavily edited by the Committee, then again by Congress, and he was big mad about it.)

What a great article not only on faculty workloads, but how little our salaries actually factor in to most university budgets. A few highlights. First, our salaries are falling:

🧪 New from @dataforprogress.org: Federal research grants are awarded on scientific merit judged by panels of scientists and outside experts. Trump has moved to change that. Voters don't approve. www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2026/7/...

Everyone that ever interacts with federal employees should know this is the future under this (mal)Administration. We’ve now effectively returned to the spoils system that the US government fought to abolish almost a century ago.

Alt CDC (they/them)@altcdc.altgov.info · last mo.

1/3 More evidence that, contrary to what Sean Slovenski (our new COO) told us at all-hands, what we're experiencing is not “normal.” OPM has finalized a policy expanding oversight and pathways for removing federal employees.

Glad to see this story and coverage of an important paper. www.statnews.com/2026/06/17/n... 1/16

NIH diversity programs doubled undergraduates’ odds of getting a Ph.D., 20-year study finds

A new study found that two diversity-oriented programs supported by the NIH doubled the odds that an undergraduate would earn a Ph.D.

statnews.com

I hope that all the remaining high-ranked teams in the World Cup take home the GER lesson from today — win so convincingly that a referee’s call won’t matter or you might lose. Coincidentally, the same lesson that the Democratic Party should be following.

Watching GER play at World Cup in the office via Telemundo with an antenna hanging out the window… as one does in South Florida.