The U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office.
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies. Read more: https://scim.ag/4boPkq8
The plot is only part of the story.
The data do not include lost science via terminations, freezes, stalled payments, and award delays. The collapse in awards rates will lead to job loss, gaps in research programs, and drive scientists to spend more time writing grants rather than doing science.
Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302
The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted.
What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards.
Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.
I get yelled at for saying this but for many hundreds of years people went to university not to get diplomas or be employable but because immersion in the humanities was considered foundational to a good life, and school must return to its original purpose: the joy of learning.
The Nelson lab is presenting at #Dros26 today!
Stop by Daisy's poster to learn about rDNA instability in somatic aging (680F), and Caroline's poster about the role of an mRNA binding protein in regulating germline rDNA expansion (777F)!
Getting involved as an organiser of one of our Workshops is easy. We focus on the logistics, so you can focus solely on the science. Watch this video to hear from some of our previous organisers. The call for proposals for 2028 programme runs until 29 May. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eShr...
idk that seems to be the understatement of the week. this is actually happening, postdocs and RAs are being let go, and projects falter. 'could face funding gaps'? this is actually happening at a large scale. 'Worry' doesnt reflect the existential crisis that many of my colleagues are in.
Spent four hours in the ER with my daughter (she's fine!) and overheard the patient on the other side of the little curtain -- a college student freaking out because she has midterms and can't waste time getting treated.
Students, take care of yourself. I promise you, your profs will understand.
I’m thrilled to share that my PhD work has been just published in Cell. After a long and bumpy ride, we uncovered the core function of nuclear speckles -splicing of GC-levelled exons- and traced the evolution of this gene architecture and condensates themselves to amniotes.
"Private money cannot replace public funding of science"
Thank you @naomioreskes.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🧪 🌊 ⚒️ #scipol
Congress rejected massive cuts to US science budgets for 2026, but much of the money still isn’t flowing to researchers.
The culprit? The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is quietly slow-walking the release of funds. 🧵👇
I mean, it's this, or we just send chatbot-written e-mails back and forth to each other forever
Excited to present our work on a novel centromere-targeting metazoan retroelement next Tuesday March 3 at 11am US East Cost time!
I understand why chatbot cheating happens but every time I read about it I want to gently remind everyone that the point of schoolwork is not for the submission to exist. Teachers are not just greedy for more essays or solved equations. The point is to do the work WITH YOUR OWN BRAIN, FOR LEARNING.
This is hilarious and now I’m kind of glad I screen recorded the site yesterday. I especially love that they deleted the “Will my professor know?” question.
Since yesterday, the Einstein AI cheatbot website underwent some rebranding. The tagline changed from "Einstein does the busywork so you don't have to," to "Einstein is the personal tutor every student deserves." In the FAQ, "How does Einstein do all this?" became "How does Einstein help me learn?"
There are real issues higher ed needs to address, but the outrage porn that you see on social media, Fox, etc. is just not at all typical
Nature research paper: Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres
go.nature.com/4c3kP9A
I'm constantly trying (/failing) to get this point across.
If you're a trained expert in a field, then it may be worthwhile to question the scientific consensus of your peers.
If you're not, the scientific consensus is absolutely the best you can do and it's arbitrary foolishness to disregard it.
what even is the fucking point
The fundamental premise behind AI-enabled cheating is that coursework is merely busy work, because your'e just doing it for professors.
We would never say that showing up for football practice is merely busy work because you're just doing it for your coaches.
So excited to share this manuscript led by the inimitable Cara Brand, who discovered that Topoisomerase II evolution causes hybrid female lethality in Drosophila.
Congrats to Cara, @nickbr0wn.bsky.social, Anirban, and
@buszczaklab.bsky.social!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We have almost zero custodial staff at IU. The uni put shovels in dorms after the last winter storm so students could clear snow. Our retirement was cut 10% last summer. We are continuously told to brace for unprecedented budget cuts. Tenure is gone.
But yeah, football.
Fellowship application dealdine for students from low income countries 🌐will be in 1️⃣ week.
Dont miss out on this opportunity ! Hands on Summer School.
Cut&Run, Cut@Tag, ChIP, ATACseq and analyse your own data ! ➡️Unique opportunity ! 15 exiting days ➕ Daily high profile lectures.
👉 bit.ly/4oGDR8f
How does the piRNA pathway solve the self vs. non-self problem? 🧬
Since piRNAs come from single-stranded RNA, how does the cell choose the right ones? For years, "piRNA clusters" were seen as THE privileged source. But are they really special and earmarked for biogenesis? (1/19)
New preprint from the lab! We identify the ZnF protein Mulberry as a condensation-dependent structural regulator of genome topology that organizes “multi-way regulatory hubs” in early Drosophila embryos.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up
Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
Step 1: seed public distrust on vaccines with misinformation
Step 2: dismantle medical system supporting vaccines
Step 3: blame public distrust
