Bombshell new report out from my investigators this morning spanning our four year investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s financial records. This report shows exactly how Wall Street protected Epstein and enabled his sex trafficking for decades. Mega thread following with some key points:

Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, BofA Enabled Epstein, Wyden Report Says

Democrat Ron Wyden cited nonpublic documents held by the US Treasury in a report that says banks delayed reporting suspicious financial transactions and calls for tougher anti-money-laundering rules, ...

bloomberg.com

I find it *deeply* depressing that guys like Max Miller and Ken Paxton remain viable candidates for federal legislative positions. At *worst*, 45% of people who can and do vote in their respective elections, will vote for them.

Or, you know, you could *not* vote Blanche out of committee. Why on earth would you take the spineless position that the president has to be obeyed on this? What an absolute abandonment of any pretense of principle or senatorial duty to advise on the suitability of nominees.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Cornyn: "There's nothing we could do to rein in the president"

🧪 I need to level up the figures in my papers.

Luke Knox@lukeknox.me · 5d ago

this is my new favorite diagram

🧪 A sobering thread.

Henry Yuen@henryyuen.bsky.social · 4d ago

Some initial thoughts, and a complicated mix of feelings. Wow. I mean, Erdos problems are cool (I genuinely mean that), I didn't know about the Jacobian conjecture before it got disproved. But this newest batch from OpenAI hits home in a way the previous announcements did not.

“Sandwich guy case” “Harvard clawed frog embryo smuggling case” “Olympic canoeist reflecting pool vandalism case” “James Comey seashells Instagram post case” New rule: If the case sounds like a Mad Libs story, it’s probably about to implode.

So the administration's hostility toward higher education includes the military academies. They are completists. www.cbsnews.com/news/dod-pen...

Pentagon weighs eliminating civilian tenure at military academies and reviewing all curriculum, draft memo says

The Pentagon is considering a sweeping remake of military higher education, including an end to civilian tenure and a "line-by-line" review of courses, according to a draft memo obtained by CBS News.

cbsnews.com

New sanctioned (t)rant about AI just dropped. On the limits of Alphafold and my worries about the disaster its use will cause for the literature and early-stage academic drug discovery. Look, they commissioned it. And by commissioned I don't mean I got paid, just invited. Awesome process btw.

The AI Chemist: To be trustworthy, LLMs need to show their work

Good scientists reveal how they do their experiments and report their results; so should any machine-driven research

cen.acs.org

I miss you lower decks

🧪⚛️ The administration is considering charging someone (graduates? employers? unclear) $100K for OPT, the part of the international student visa that allows graduates to work for some time after completing their degrees. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Exclusive | U.S. Weighs $100,000 Fee for Foreign Students Wanting to Work After Graduation

The proposed policy would particularly affect Silicon Valley, Wall Street and universities.

wsj.com

🧪⚛️ A new pilot program trying to shorten the STEM PhD timeline to four years, with direct connections to industry: nanoscale.blogspot.com/2026/07/phds...

PhDs - how long a doctorate should take, and a new pilot program

I think it's safe to say that most people who've considered the issue think that a doctoral degree in the sciences and engineering in the US...

nanoscale.blogspot.com

🎤 James Talarico has agreed to THREE televised debates. Ken Paxton still hasn’t accepted a single one. If you’re asking Texans to send you to the Senate, you shouldn’t be afraid to stand on a debate stage and answer their questions. What’s the holdup? www.wfaa.com/article/news...

An honest look inside the “Science: A New Golden Age” report In a 100+ page report, OSTP director Michael Kratsios, with help from Trump and Vought, outlined a path for American science. I read through the whole thing so you don't have to. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #science #physics

An honest look inside the "Science: A New Golden Age" report

Scientists are livid over the OSTP director's official report to the President. Will it lead to a new golden age for US science, or end it?

bigthink.com

🧪⚛️ This program + the DOE Genesis fellows program are of a piece: Shorten the PhD in the sciences and engineering to 4 yrs, while embedding an industrial internship. This is def worth trying, but execution and framing are *very* important. Will write more later. www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-par...

NSF partners with universities and industry on pilot initiative for four-year Ph.D. programs with real-world research placements

The U.S. National Science Foundation announced a $47 million investment over five years, along with additional financial commitments from nearly three dozen universities and private industry...

nsf.gov

Ken Paxton is a sleaze. For all that is decent, Texans, do not vote for this guy. meidasnews.com/news/new-pho...

New Photos Show Ken Paxton's Team Presented an Invoice for His Home Renovation with Fabricated Dates

Photos of an invoice submitted as evidence during Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's 2023 impeachment trial show that his defense team presented a document

meidasnews.com

First Trailer for MST3K: THE RIFFTRAX EXPERIMENTS Is Pure Nostalgia nerdist.com/article/mst3...

First Trailer for MST3K: THE RIFFTRAX EXPERIMENTS Is Pure Nostalgia

The first episode of MST3K: The RiffTrax Experiments is premiering in cinemas, and we have the first trailer for you right here.

nerdist.com

Here it is. My manifesto for the 2026 Clacton By-Election. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Join me, clean up Clacton and let's make 13th August Bin Day! #VoteBinface #VoteyMcVoteface #YesWeTinCan

🧪 Terence Tao with a characteristically great take on AI and mathematics: teorth.github.io/tao-web/slid...

🧪 Very much important to acknowledge. It’s worth noting that tenure in academia, for all its issues, protects people from being let go on the grounds of being insufficiently uncritical.

Karen K. Ho@karenho.bsky.social · last wk.

I keep thinking about how often the mass layoffs in media, government and big companies, especially women and people of color, will lead to poorer outcomes for years because the people who would point out potential problems or blind spots were deemed non-essential, a "bad fit", and/or too expensive.

🧪⚛️ Here are a variety of papers and links (limits in photonics, dimensional analysis, quantum foundations, a new quantum textbook) and news items from the week. nanoscale.blogspot.com/2026/07/pape...

White House science policy captured headlines this week, with the announcement of awards for its flagship AI program, Congressional hearings, and a Vannevar Bush-esque report "Science: A New Golden Age." We fashioned the news into one big story—incl. key updates at NSF. Reported w/ Kaia Glickman:

White House rolls out AI funding — and signals a new era for US science

Chief US science adviser calls for a shakeup in funding while handing out grants to accelerate research with AI.

nature.com

🧪 @colesci.bsky.social with a solid piece on the recent OSTP document. Rightly asks, how much attention should this merit? Enough to see what it is, but not inflate the importance of a policy manifesto that doesn't have the force of law or regulation. www.techpolicy.press/ostp-vision-...

OSTP Vision for Science is a ‘Golden Age’ for Corporations

"Science: A New Golden Age" tries to reframe the conversation away from the ongoing destruction of American science, writes Cole Donovan.

techpolicy.press

Here's my attempt to write a non-histrionic story about the new White House Office of Science and Technology Policy report, and what it does and doesn't say, and what remains unclear (a lot): www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

White House Seeks to Steer Research Funding Outside Academia

In its new strategy for science and research, the administration stopped short of jettisoning higher ed’s role in America’s scientific enterprise. What it all means remains to be seen.

insidehighered.com

🧪⚛️ Some recent comments on my blog made me concerned about the commenter's emotional state. Please take care of yourself and your mental wellbeing. There's always someone available to listen. 988lifeline.org . nanoscale.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-br...

Thoughts on the various Trump administration proposals to revamp US science funding - and what they all have in common:

The Assault On Science Funding Continues

science.org

🧪⚛️ The level of science investment in China in the last two decades is huge. There used to be a few PRC schools that dominated international scientific publications. Now it's not unusual to see a paper from the "Guangzhou Institute for Bicycle Tires" with serious scientific equipment behind it.

1. The new Trump / Kratsios plan for US science appears explicitly designed to destroy US universities. Diverting money to tech donors is probably just a bonus. Gift link.

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)

Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.

nytimes.com

@jtimmer.bsky.social with a thorough write-up: arstechnica.com/science/2026...

White House report says Trump can usher in a "new golden age" of science

The resulting report is a near-random mixture of grievances and real problems.

arstechnica.com

"Scientific systems rarely collapse through a single dramatic event. They decline incrementally: one technician dismissed, one laboratory left unrepaired, one instrument taken out of service, one young scientist deciding to build a career elsewhere." physicsworld.com/a/letter-fro... ⚛️🧪

Letter from Argentina: 'an empty desk and an idle electron microscope signal the erosion of the country's science' – Physics World

Faramarz S Gard laments the decline of Argentine science

physicsworld.com

🧪⚛️ This thread makes essential points. How can anyone take OSTP's claims of embarking on a golden age of science seriously, when their report is accompanied by a budget request to eviscerate NSF and NIH?

Jonas Nahm@jonasnahm.com · 2w ago

1/ Trump's OSTP just dropped "A New Golden Age" — a big vision for reforming US science: less bureaucracy, more risk-taking, DARPA-style bold bets. Sounds great. Except it's landing inside an administration whose actual actions look nothing like it. www.whitehouse.gov/science/#cover