Tim Clancy
@viewfromarchstreet.com
Arch Street=making connections in science, cybersecurity & innovation. former NSF, House Science Committee. environment, upstate NY, science & tech policy everywhere. Jazz. Occasional Boston Celtics musings Alexandria, Virginia viewfromarchstreet.com
🧪 Nearly half of all hospitalized COVID-19 patients had a dormant virus they were already carrying that “woke up". This was a known phenomenon, but a new study provides additional data (n=1,154 patients) showing how viruses like Epstein-Barr and CMV reacted in response to COVID infections. #MedSky 🛟
COVID-19 can wake up dormant viruses in the body, large study confirms
Virus reactivations by SARS-CoV-2 could worsen initial symptoms and increase risk of Long Covid
science.org
So much of 1918 was memory-holed and collectively forgotten
Ben Collins@bencollins.bsky.social · 23h agoThis is a wildly prescient story about Chicago's proto-RFK Jr., in charge of public health during the Spanish Flu. He thought beer killed malaria and that bathing could kill you. He had a feud with an actual TB doctor, who insisted bathing is good. He bullied the TB doctor until he killed himself.
New York Awards $9 Million to Strengthen Cybersecurity at 153 Water Systems www.securityweek.com/new-york-awa...
New York Awards $9 Million to Strengthen Cybersecurity at 153 Water Systems
The grants will help local governments assess and improve cyber defenses amid a multistate campaign targeting water and wastewater infrastructure.
securityweek.com
I had no idea of this history until I saw the Virginia state historical marker on Washington Street.
The Alexandria Brief@alexandriabrief.com · 2d agoNew America has been awarded a two-year, $250,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to build a digital exhibit on the 1939 sit-in at Alexandria's whites-only public library, the think tank announced Monday.
New America has been awarded a two-year, $250,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to build a digital exhibit on the 1939 sit-in at Alexandria's whites-only public library, the think tank announced Monday.
New America wins $250,000 grant to build digital exhibit on Alexandria's 1939 library sit-in
The Mellon Foundation award funds an interactive online exhibit, due in 2027, on what is considered the country's first sit-in demanding desegregated access to a public library.
dlvr.it
Physics and astronomy PhD graduates in 2025 left the US at the highest rate in the last 30 years www.aip.org/fyi/physics-...
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 C.R. would block the White House’s proposal to give political appointees control over federal research grants. www.statnews.com/2026/08/02/s...
Senate measure would block Trump plan to politicize federal grants, for now
A White House proposal to subject research grants to political scrutiny meets at least a temporary roadblock in the Senate.
statnews.com
👏🏽👏🏽 This August, the first at-home screening tool to determine whether the tick that bit you carries Lyme disease will hit the market www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/t...
Not posting is always an option. It's usually the best in most cases.
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 4d agoYeah, this absolutely drives me crazy. This is not my job. I'm not a reporter and I'm not an elected official. I do this when and how I feel like it. Not only am I under no obligation to anyone to publish a take about every single subject, it would be grossly irresponsible for me to do that.
Many thanks to Markus Mueller, Ron Fabela, Scott Caveza and Cynthia Kaiser for their insights. 2/2
Happy Critical Infrastructure Fail Day to those who celebrate
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · last wk.American Airlines flights are grounded nationwide due to an IT outage, an FAA advisory says
Stunning photo, taken soon after the 1954 Salk polio vaccine trial that involved 1.8 million children! We all need reminders on how the world looked like before widespread vaccination and how much people welcomed the miracles that we call vaccines today
Post a perfect album from the 90s
Julian Sanchez@normative.bsky.social · last wk.Post a perfect album from the 90s
Btw pendant post here. Vannevar Bush pronounced his name Vun-NEE=vuh -- as a good Boston patrician would.
Years ago a lot of the Bush vs. Kilgore debate stuff was aged, yellowed, and largely forgotten (if cited by rote). It's ironic that it's taken all the bad things that Bush anticipated (from a slightly different perspective) to bring his vision back into the public consciousness.
They agree on the font. After that...well...
Meade Krosby@meadekrosby.bsky.social · 2w agoWow, I was not wrong. This is so embarrassing. “Claude, write me a report in the style of Vannevar Bush, but undermine everything he recommended that ultimately built the scientific powerhouse that is the US research enterprise.”
I used to observe (snarkily) that Science: The Endless Frontier was the most cited, least-read report in science policy. Now I can advise, no need to read, it's simply the opposite of whatever the current report.
I'm gong to try to visit Vannevar Bush's grave site on Cape Cod later this summer just to check if he's stopped spinning.
Btw pendant post here. Vannevar Bush pronounced his name Vun-NEE=vuh -- as a good Boston patrician would.
Most private R&D in 2026 is "make the widget 4% cheaper than last year."
Costa Samaras@costasamaras.com · 2w agoThis misunderstands the role of private vs. public R&D. Private R&D is great but is connected to R&D tax exemptions, & often doesn't spill out into the public domain. There's a notion we can ramp federal R&D spending down & be competitive. We can’t & we shouldn’t. www.whitehouse.gov/releases/202...
There is a lot of skipping to the desert course in the current promotion of ARPAs, OTAs, and other alt modes of R&D funding.
Cole Donovan@colesci.bsky.social · 2w ago"We are going to bring you bold, new ideas like ARPAs (invented in 1958) and X-Labs (literally just national labs, created in 1807 as the U.S. Geodetic Survey, but more private or something)." Also anyone thinking you can actually make a national lab time bound: I have a bridge to sell you.
New CBO paper: every $1 of federal R&D returns ~$3–$4 of GDP in present value over 30 years www.nber.org/papers/w35472
In my view, LLMs usually hold up a mirror (a magnifying glass?) to what's already broken.
1/ The cyclosporiasis foodborne outbreak continues to grow, and there’s A LOT of conflicting information out there. So the YLE team compiled answers to some of the top questions we’re seeing to bring the nuance you may be looking for.
Two since-terminated NIH diversity-oriented programs doubled the odds that an undergraduate student would earn a Ph.D. www.statnews.com/2026/06/17/n...
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
Brookhaven National Laboratory cuts 20 staff positions due to the planned closing of RHIC and termination of DOE EERE projects. www.newsday.com/long-island/...
Brookhaven National Laboratory lays off about 20 workers
The cuts were due partly to the closing earlier this year of the lab's signature heavy-ion collider.
newsday.com
