"The health of our ocean shouldn’t just matter to environmentalists or climate scientists. It should matter to everyone." open.substack.com/pub/scilight...

States Are Stepping Up on Ocean Health

Washington D.C. Should Too

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Last week, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology convened a hearing about the "golden age of science." But you simply can't unleash American science by dismantling it. open.substack.com/pub/scilight...

You Can’t Gut Science and Call It a Golden Age

On July 22, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology convened a hearing called “Unleashing the Golden Age of Science: Examining the Priorities of the FY2027 Research and Technology Enterp...

open.substack.com

Mental health is often described through clinical language: symptoms, diagnoses, treatments, outcomes. It gives people ways to understand what they are experiencing and helps researchers and clinicians develop treatments, but it's not the whole story. More: scilight.substack.com/p/healing-is...

Healing Is More Than a Diagnosis

How stories about anxiety, creativity, and community can shine a light on mental health science

scilight.substack.com

SciLight is partnering with The Story Collider on a new series: Stories That Change What We Know About Science. Check it out! open.substack.com/pub/scilight...

Stories That Change What We Know About Science

A new collaboration between SciLight and Story Collider

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Music is more than entertainment. A growing body of scientific research suggests that music can have measurable effects on our physical, emotional, and cognitive health. open.substack.com/pub/scilight...

Music as Medicine: What Science Says About Music and Health

My mother couldn’t always remember what she’d eaten for breakfast.

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At a time when public access to reliable climate information can feel increasingly uncertain, more than 80 scientists have stepped forward to help protect it. That is one of the most important details behind today’s launch of the new, full Climate.us website. scilight.substack.com/p/scientists...

Scientists Help Keep Climate Information Public

New Climate.us launches today as an independent, nonprofit home for trusted, science-reviewed climate information

scilight.substack.com

A Nature poll of roughly 1,600 U.S.-based researchers found that +75% were considering leaving the country. PBS reported it’s 80% among postdoctoral fellows, and 75% among graduate students. What was once a one-way magnet for talent now faces brain drain. open.substack.com/pub/scilight...

The American Scientific Brain Drain

When the world’s laboratory starts losing its scientists

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Federal leadership on ocean and climate policy matters. But when it falters, states do not have to stand still. In this piece for SciLight, Jessie Turner looks at how U.S. states are stepping up to advance ocean-climate action. open.substack.com/pub/scilight...

U.S. States Step Up as Federal Leadership Lags on Ocean-Climate Policy

Read U.S.

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Scientific freedom helped build America. Now we need to defend it. scilight.substack.com/p/freedom-ma...

Freedom Matters

Scientific Freedom Helped Build America. Now We Need to Defend It.

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I'll be live-skeeting NAS President Marcia McNutt's speech on the "State of Science" before the @standupforscience.net Emergency Science Meeting at 4pm et. Register here: events.standupforscience.net/stand-up-for...

Emergency Science Meeting by Stand Up for Science

OMB’s latest proposed rule, “Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance,” would place political ideologues over scientific experts in federal research funding decisions. Say goodbye to cancer treatme...

events.standupforscience.net

The Trump administration's NSF is removing hundreds of ocean sensors that provide incredibly comprehensive and continual data. This is a loss not only for climate scientists, but marine biologists and industries that rely on the health of those waters. www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...

Trump administration takes aim at crucial ocean monitoring network

The Ocean Observatories Initiative has been collecting data on physical, chemical, geological and biological conditions in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for the past decade

scientificamerican.com

The past year has been “filled with turmoil” for science, National Academy of Sciences president Marcia McNutt said during her State of the Science address

U.S. science must innovate or die, National Academy of Sciences president says

The past year has been “filled with turmoil” for science, National Academy of Sciences president Marcia McNutt said during her State of the Science address

scientificamerican.com

America’s scientific leadership was built on curiosity, expertise, peer review, and the freedom to follow evidence where it leads. We should not trade that for a political litmus test. scilight.substack.com/p/federal-gr...

Federal Grants Should Fund Evidence, Not Ideology

A cancer researcher should not have to wonder whether her grant will survive a political litmus test.

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WHO declared the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda an international public health emergency. It can also become a national security crisis if systems that detect and contain outbreaks are underfunded, something we’re seeing now. scilight.substack.com/p/ebola-is-b...

Ebola is Back. America's Defenses are Thinner.

How biodefense cuts carry national security risks.

scilight.substack.com

America spent a decade making real progress against #Alzheimer's disease. Then, in a matter of months, much of that work was put in jeopardy — not because the science failed, but because of political decisions in Washington. More: open.substack.com/pub/scilight... #health #science

Alzheimer's Research Under Siege: The Vanishing Cure

America spent a decade making real progress against Alzheimer's disease.

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This past week, Trump was in China, the topic of gender transition was in the courts, and SCOTUS allowed continued access to the abortion pill by mail. More here: scilight.substack.com/p/science-po... #Science #ScientificIntegrity

Science, Policy, and Other News that Caught My Eye

Or Blew My Mind the Week of May 10-16, 2026

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Earlier this week, our own @kathyrest.bsky.social drove down a road she takes all the time. A short time later, a gunman walked down the middle of that very road and opened fire on passing cars and pedestrians. Read more: scilight.substack.com/p/the-state-...

The State of Gun Policy in America Hits Close to Home

Earlier this week, I drove down Memorial Drive the way I usually do — windows down, radio on, the Charles River glinting to my left, Cambridge humming along on my right.

scilight.substack.com

In 2029, what policy innovations should be put in place to make federal science and evidence-informed policy more resilient? We're offering a $500 honorarium to 12 selected early- to mid-career contributors. Learn how to submit your idea: lnkd.in/g3FsWrk2 #Contest #Science #Policy

🧪This is a big deal. It's not about "more money for my lab". It's about who gets to obey the rule of law and ensure that science is stewarded in the public interest. Not just for hedge fund managers and billionaires (cough, the Administration's candidate for NSF director).

Stand Up for Science!@standupforscience.net · 3mo ago

SIGN YOUR SUPPORT for the Reinstatement of the National Science Board at this link: zurl.co/UPf5g 1/3

After USDA request, Indiana plant biologist locked out of lab by school | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

After USDA request, Indiana plant biologist locked out of lab by school

Move comes after Roger Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs

science.org

Trump administration cuts CDC’s key role in global program to stop HIV | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

Trump administration cuts CDC’s key role in global program to stop HIV

State Department would send PEPFAR money directly to countries, which could then pay fees to health agency for help

science.org

SciLight now has a home on LinkedIn. It's just another way to read great thought leadership on the importance of science. Check it out: lnkd.in/gpBw72-t

In this episode of HEATED, Emily Atkin talks w/ Craig McLean, former NOAA Assistant Administrator for Research, about Trump’s proposed 26% cut to @noaa.gov, the agency responsible for weather forecasting, ocean monitoring, climate science, and disaster preparedness. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsRj...

Trump Targets NOAA As Super El Niño Looms

YouTube video by HEATED

youtube.com

What happens when you systematically dismantle U.S. disease surveillance? “We have basically destroyed what capacity we had to respond to a pandemic.” open.substack.com/pub/scilight...

Flying Blind

The Systematic Dismantling of U.S. Disease Surveillance and the Growing Threat to Global Health Security

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What caught the eye of @kathyrest.bsky.social in last week's news about science? Some of these should get your attention, too. open.substack.com/pub/scilight...

Science, Policy, and Other News that Caught My Eye

Or Blew My Mind the Week of April 26 - May 2nd

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"Hope may even feel naïve, futile, or even like a luxury. But science tells a very different story. Far from being sentimental or passive, hope is one of our most practical and powerful tools." scilight.substack.com/p/the-scienc...

The Science and Soul of Hope

What Research Tells Us — and Why It Matters Now

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NOAA’s value comes from an interconnected system of science, data, people, and partnerships that communities and businesses rely on every day, often without realizing it. Craig McLean makes the case plainly: these cuts are not for efficiency. They are sabotage. open.substack.com/pub/scilight...

NOAA Budget Request Is Not Streamlining. It’s Sabotage.

At this week’s House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee hearing on NOAA’s FY2027 budget, the central question should have been simple: How does America maintain world-class weather, ocean, cl...

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Our nation’s workforce is the powerhouse of our economy and the bedrock of our families and communities. On this Worker Memorial Day, let’s remember our fallen workers. open.substack.com/pub/scilight...

Remembering Our Nation’s Fallen Workers

This blog was originally published on “Confined Space” - a newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues.

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If 2028 sees the election of a science-friendly administration, what policy innovations should be put in place to make federal science and evidence-informed policy more resilient? SciLight is offering a $500 honorarium for your ideas! Learn more: scilight.substack.com/p/scilight-l...

SciLight Launches “The Science Fix”

Ideas for Rebuilding Resilient Federal Science

scilight.substack.com

The Boston Marathon is one of the clearest, most public reminders we have of what the human body can do and how a shared public experience lifts our spirits and sense of community. Read more from @kathyrest.bsky.social and @scilight.bsky.social scilight.substack.com/p/262-miles?...

26.2 Miles

What the Boston Marathon Teaches Us About the Human Body—and Spirit

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