Americans being concerned about paying their bills isn’t a ‘con job’. A con job is when you give your billionaire friends a massive tax cut off the backs of working people.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 8mo ago

Trump: "I think affordability is the greatest con job."

We've routinely asked our pediatrician "Do you have any MORE vaccines you can give them?" at every check up.

Louisa@louisathelast.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Since becoming a parent I have not, in fact, understood the parents who say “if you were a parent you’d understand” about vaccine hesitancy. Being in charge of this fragile little miracle has me saying things like “give her all the vaccines. Turn this baby into a pincushion” to doctors

I know I’m not supposed to use ChatGPT but I asked it to find me a seminar speaker and it suggested: “David Sabatini (deceased, but important for legacy)” and I cannot stop laughing.

@biologyopen.bsky.social published by nonprofit @biologists.bsky.social lists editor & publishes the reviews of accepted papers & provides authors a decision with reviews in 7 working days of submission (by precontracting & paying reviewers)...if you support this, please help spread the word

Jack Ryan 🙏🧪@jacksonwryan.com · 8mo ago

On the Factor Fexcectorn and autism bicycle AI slop study: I got an answer from Springer Nature this morning that this scientific paper will be retracted! 🧪 Full story: nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/riding-the...

As someone who's spent a quarter century in Academia, I can't abide the "why bother with college when you have AI and YouTube" nonsense because THIS, this right here, is one of the most important reasons for going to college.

Braver than like 90% of reporters for no reason at all.

Will Harris@sandwichpick.bsky.social · 9mo ago

this is the correct way to react to anything the president says-

The President of the United States just called for Democratic members of Congress to be executed. "HANG THEM", he posted. If you're a person of influence in this country and you haven't picked a side, maybe now would be the time to pick a fucking side.

Introducing the 𝐏𝐈-𝐚𝐭-𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞! 🤯 When activated, it will auto-reply to your PI's frantic ideas for new experiments, analyses, and projects with "Great suggestion! Saving this for later" (aka: let's talk when you’re back and got some sleep) #sfn2025 #sfn25

Defunding scientists for the nationality of who they co-author with or who they train. One of the most radical attack on freedom of speech in US history. A far right nationalist destruction of US science. Such a shameful time to be an American that this racist stupidity has become mainstream.

Roland Hatzenpichler@environmicrobio.bsky.social · 9mo ago

“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide... This is going to be a fun next few grant cycles....

After shutdown guidance: As of today, we can confirm that we will be rescheduling all October and November grant application submission deadlines (specific dates to be announced in a future Notice).

While the government was shut down, 379 NIH study section meetings (containing 24,380 grant applications) were postponed. NIH is committed to getting these reviewed, but please be patient and understanding with staff, as this is a complex and heavy lift.

This on top of having the October submissions to process, and recruit/assign reviewers. Hard to imagine how CSR just picks up where they left off with the depletions and chaos.

Annika Barber@annikabarber.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Up to 323 cancelled CSR study sections. That's more than the 204 sections cancelled earlier this year. Rescheduling is going to be a hot mess with NIH staff reductions and study section members heading into finals and holidays that limit availability. 🧪

Save the date: our faculty job market series continues this Wed, Nov12 at 3pm ET / 12p PT! Topic: on-site interviews + seminars Come hear our junior faculty share our thoughts/advice! There will also be time for Q&A. Registration link in flyer - see you soon!

N7 Day 2025 is today. #MassEffect

Are you a #Colorado resident who buys health insurance on the state marketplace (Connect for Health Colorado) & have seen a spike in your premiums for next year? DM me if you're willing to talk about the bill. Thanks! #copolitics

From the top rope

Beshear: Let me be clear. The president has both the funding and the authority to fund snap during a shutdown. In fact, every other president in every other shutdown has done so. People going hungry in this instance is a choice that this president has made.

For Halloween, the Sikora Lab is excited to announce the release of the debut self-titled album from **MITOTIC CATASTROPHE** with chart topping hits: - Pour Some Agar on Me - You Give Science a Bad Name - Sweet Graph 'o Mine - We're Not Gonna Fake it - Welcome to the Data - Back in Lab Rock on!!!

Endocrine research conference: Dr Maggie Musick from the Sikora lab @mjsikora.bsky.social discussed mechanisms of tumorigenesis in lobular breast cancer. #cancer #CUPathology

I know & trust that NIH staff will get this round of reviews done. Yet having done my own CSR reviews 'for nothing' & with my own R01 sitting unreviewed now, working on another NIH grant has never felt so painful and futile. A quiet impact on science, perhaps, robbing the joy from looking ahead.

NIH Vigils@nihvigils.bsky.social · 10mo ago

If you are serving on NIH study sections that have been cancelled, PLEASE continue to work on your reviews. NIH will do everything their power to ensure the meetings happen eventually, and the more prepared you are when those meetings are rescheduled, the better.

. @cucancercenter.bsky.social member @mjsikora.bsky.social, PhD, is a leader in research into lobular breast cancer, an understudied cancer type that’s on the rise in American women and has sharply lower survival rates several years after diagnosis than more common breast cancers. #cucityofhealth

An Understudied Type of Breast Cancer Poses a Lurking Threat

Matt Sikora, PhD, seeks better answers for lobular breast cancer, which can be harder to detect & has lower survival rates after several years than other types.

news.cuanschutz.edu

After Trump got his Covid shot, he chose to fire the scientists protecting the rest of us from diseases.

THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 10mo ago

RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.

I am just so fucking proud of her.

NEWS: The F.D.A. approved a new generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/h...

F.D.A. Approves Generic Abortion Pill as Opponents Push Trump for New Restrictions

nytimes.com

Donald Trump is conditioning federal funding to universities on the signing of a loyalty pledge to his agenda. This reeks of authoritarianism, and the universities should reject this hostage-taking of their funding.

Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference

Demands sent to nine top schools included pledging to freeze tuition for five years and to commit to strict definitions of gender.

nytimes.com

The Jane Goodall Institute of Canada has learned this morning, Wednesday, October 1st, 2025, that Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, UN Messenger of Peace and Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, has passed away due to natural causes. She was in California as part of her speaking tour in the United States.