A striking disconnect emerged this week over the STFC funding crisis. 🧪🔭
#UKRI framed the problem as a budget constraint, while ministers, Lords and MPs stressed protecting curiosity-driven research.
Full narrative: lheurtier.github.io/STFCcuts.html
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New episode of #ScienceCounterpunch out now.
Make sure to follow, like, subscribe & comment, all the stuff that academics usually do not like to do but then how do you think other people will get to see good content?
Also, go march tomorrow with @cdelawalla.bsky.social
www.protagonist-science.com/p/stickly-li...
I think this conversation with @lewan.bsky.social has been incredibly interesting, insightful and intelligent, which is what most content out there is not.
So you can get the full conversation here, either on YouTube or your favorite RSS podcatcher
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHz3...
We talked to @cdelawalla.bsky.social and others before, and many young & working scientists with a lot to lose are in the fight.
Who is almost entirely missing are the institutions, the academic societies, the administrators and provosts and senior academics.
This is disgraceful.
Clip 6/6 👇
Scientists often say: “We don’t want to be political.”
But when democracy and evidence are dismantled, silence is the most political choice of all.
Non-action doesn’t keep science neutral.
It's collaboration and just cedes the field to people who don’t care about truth.
Clip 5/6 👇
Having unaccountible oligarchs in charge is bad for society, public health, democracy and honestly the planet.
I mean, just look when conspiracy-driven “Twitter cranks” end up shaping public health policy, the consequences aren’t abstract.
They’re measured in dead babies.
Clip 4/6 👇
A handful of Silicon Valley oligarchs now dictate the information diet of hundreds of millions of people.
That’s social media today
The #DSA forces platforms to give researchers access to study systemic risks to #democracy
Transparency isn’t censorship.
It's democratic necessity
Clip 3/6 👇
Platforms are not neutral public squares.
They arbitrary censor users, they push agendas, they avoid accountability.
That is why they hate the EU’s #DigitalServicesAct —it's forcing companies to assess and thereby admit(!!) the societal risks of their algorithms for 450M Europeans.
Clip 2/6 👇
Highlights from today's #ScienceCounterpunch
Misinformation is like cognitive glitter
Once it’s in your brain, you never fully get rid of it
In this clip, cognitive psychologist @lewan.bsky.social explains why debunking lies is so hard, especially when repetition makes them feel true
Clip 1/6 👇
@lewan.bsky.social explains how science protects against tyranny in a democracy.
🗣️"The Trumpian disdain for science isn't coincidental [...]. It's central."
🗣️"This is how you dismantle democracy."
Clip: youtube.com/shorts/YNNbscKvoY0
Full: youtube.com/watch?v=nHz3SXsJb_E
⚛️🧪
@lewan.bsky.social explains how science protects against tyranny in a democracy.
🗣️"The Trumpian disdain for science isn't coincidental [...]. It's central."
🗣️"This is how you dismantle democracy."
Clip: youtube.com/shorts/YNNbscKvoY0
Full: youtube.com/watch?v=nHz3SXsJb_E
⚛️🧪
Fantastic discussion with psychologist @lewan.bsky.social about the role of science in democracy, why autocrats always go after science and scientists, and what the hell is happening in the US.
One not to be missed!
Clip: youtube.com/shorts/YNNbs...
Full: youtube.com/watch?v=nHz3...
🧪⚛️
Fantastic discussion with psychologist @lewan.bsky.social about the role of science in democracy, why autocrats always go after science and scientists, and what the hell is happening in the US.
One not to be missed!
Clip: youtube.com/shorts/YNNbs...
Full: youtube.com/watch?v=nHz3...
🧪⚛️
That is a savage cartoon
@cdelawalla.bsky.social insists that legacy science institutions need to wake up and realise that keeping their heads down to maintain funding is not productive.
🗣️ "NIH is going to be the research arm of MAHA!"
Clip: youtube.com/shorts/m6ibo...
Full talk: youtube.com/watch?v=KDTt...
🧪⚛️
@cdelawalla.bsky.social insists that legacy science institutions need to wake up and realise that keeping their heads down to maintain funding is not productive.
🗣️ "NIH is going to be the research arm of MAHA!"
Clip: youtube.com/shorts/m6ibo...
Full talk: youtube.com/watch?v=KDTt...
🧪⚛️
CEO of @standupforscience.bsky.social @cdelawalla.bsky.social explains how the Trump admin's attacks on sci forced her to act.
Fighting back is not "politicising science".
🗣️ "I wasn't the one who banned f*cking words!"
Clip: youtube.com/shorts/RPMf9...
Full talk: youtube.com/watch?v=KDTt...
⚛️🧪
CEO of @standupforscience.bsky.social @cdelawalla.bsky.social explains how the Trump admin's attacks on sci forced her to act.
Fighting back is not "politicising science".
🗣️ "I wasn't the one who banned f*cking words!"
Clip: youtube.com/shorts/RPMf9...
Full talk: youtube.com/watch?v=KDTt...
⚛️🧪
The proton beams of the Large Hadron Collider contain a hell of a lot of energy, so where do they go when the machine is turned off?
How are they disposed of safely?
How do you turn off the Large Hadron Collider?
Here's how!...
Link: youtube.com/shorts/Mcy9z...
⚛️🧪
The proton beams of the Large Hadron Collider contain a hell of a lot of energy, so where do they go when the machine is turned off?
How are they disposed of safely?
How do you turn off the Large Hadron Collider?
Here's how!...
Link: youtube.com/shorts/Mcy9z...
⚛️🧪
“The destruction that Kennedy has wrought in 1 year might take generations to repair, and there is little hope for US health and science while he remains at the helm.”
The LANCET cover, March 2026, says it all...
RFK Jr’s “radical transparency”: comments scrapped, advisers & whistleblower gone, data buried, junk science elevated, states rejecting CDC guidance.
Trust: 83% → 63%
Every congress member who enabled this bears generational blame for U.S. health.
Thank you for taking the time!
I SAID WHAT I SAID!
SUCH A FUN CONVERSATION!
This episode is about harvesting anger productively, taking up more responsibility, and drawing lines.
If science is a public good, defending it means showing up—and saying no.
#ScienceCounterpunch
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDTt...
Episode 3 of #ScienceCounterpunch is now live.
We talked to @cdelawalla.bsky.social about the all-out assault on US science; the role of resistence, her founding @standupforscience.bsky.social and how to fight back.
This is a MUST WATCH episode.
www.protagonist-science.com/p/from-resea...
