Sean Gibbons 🦠💩

Mayor Mamdani and a child play with Legos while looking very serious and concentrated. The child is impossibly adorable and wearing tiny blue glasses.

No interruptions, please. We’re building universal child care.

Can a strange new treatment finally relieve chronic sinus infections? Constant loss of smell, facial pain and a blocked nose are a reality for the 10 per cent of people living with chronic rhinosinusitis, a disease long-neglected by research. Targeting the nasal microbi...

I was today years old when I found out you can get a "snort transplant" to treat chronic nasal congestion.
Transplant of nasal microbiota may improve symptoms of chronic rhino-sinusitis.
Because I know this, you must now know this too 😊.
www.newscientist.com/article/2494...

This is a headshot of IU Biology Professor Jay Lennon.

Jay Lennon named IU Distinguished Professor!

IU President Pamela Whitten said of the six recipients,“Their teaching, scholarship and leadership have transformed students’ lives and earned the respect of peers around the world." go.iu.edu/Q8IIdW @jaytlennon.bsky.social

Good fucking riddance.

Now do RFK Jr.

The Epstein scandal is a wake-up call — new rules are needed on links with rich donors A systemic failure of oversight allowed the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to curry favour with academia. Stronger governance is urgently needed.

A systemic failure of oversight allowed the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to curry favour with academia. Stronger governance is urgently needed, says Arthur Caplan

go.nature.com/4d48an9

This American Moment Calls for Psychologists to Think Differently Stand Up for Science Founder Colette Dewala shares what psychologists can uniquely offer to support science in the U.S. political sphere.

From our Founder & CEO Colette Delawalla (@cdelawalla.bsky.social ):
"We want to make sure that science is not only well funded but is also used appropriately for the good of the public and to better the human experience across the world."

Join the fight at standupforscience.net

zurl.co/j4V6K

A line graph showing the number of NIH new and competitive renewal awards funded in fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal years 2020-2025. The fiscal year 2026 curve lies below the other curves and appears to be flattening out somewhat. A total of 840 awards have been made in fiscal year 2026.

New and competitive renewal awards

Fewer than 40 new awards were made in the past week, compared to over 100 the previous week.

5/9

I have so many examples of students questioning whether I know enough about a topic to teach it. I asked in faculty meeting "who has been questioned whether they are qualified to teach a class?" The women raised their hands, the men didn't. It's definitely rooted in sexism and racism.

Cool mouse model showing how the gut microbiome is so personalized! A healthy microbiome is NOT one size fits all. Bugs and host are likely co-adapting as we age.

Donald Trump cannot be trusted to lead America into war. He is unaccountable to America. He is lawless. He only seeks conflict to cover up for his failures.

Congress must step up, reassert its power, and represent the American people.

We do not want another forever war.

Dems React to Classified Briefing on Iran: 'It Is So Much Worse Than You Thought' As House Democrats walked out of a briefing over the US military campaign against Iran, many expressed exasperation with the Trump administration.

As House Democrats walked out of a closed-door briefing tonight over the United States’ military campaign against Iran, many expressed exasperation with the Trump administration.

A split Senate votes against measure to constrain Trump's authorities in Iran Democrats in the Senate were facing an uphill climb Wednesday in their push to restrain President Trump's ability to wage war against Iran.

Democrats in the Senate were facing an uphill climb Wednesday in their push to restrain President Trump's ability to wage war against Iran. n.pr/40PD1MN

I think this paper will be a game-changer for studying microbiome function. Matthew Schmitt and I found that a simple neural network, when trained on paired sequencing and functional data, can infer functional group structure directly from data. Pls read our preprint! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

"The Russian negotiating position is based on a bluff and a lie. The bluff is that the Russians will overwhelm Ukraine and take what they want anyway. The lie is that they will be satisfied with less than what they continually demand... (1/2) wapo.st/3MHUlAh

Not quite -- they show that FMTs from older (estropausal) mice into adults improved fertility and reduced inflammation. FMTs from younger mice into adults had the opposite effect (lower fertility and higher inflammation). A bit counter-intuitive, but very interesting (hints at compensatory effects).

Healthy aging and the human gut microbiome: why we cannot just turn back the clock - PubMed The aging research field has largely focused on reversing aging-related changes in the body. However, emerging evidence about the gut microbiome indicates that it may not be optimal to just turn back the clock. Here, we advocate for a more tailored and function-focused approach promoting health acro …

This aligns well with our current thinking on 'healthy aging' in the gut. And a cautionary tale against transplanting young poop into older people.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37118282/

Estropausal gut microbiota transplant improves measures of ovarian function in adult mice - Nature Aging To investigate the link between the gut microbiome and ovarian health, here the authors transplant gut microbiota from estropausal female mice to young adult female mice. Microbial transplantation imp...

Very cool paper www.nature.com/articles/s43...

The authors found that FMTs from *older* mice into adult females improved ovarian function and lowered inflammation.

FMTs from younger mice into adult mice led to higher inflammation and *reduced* ovarian function in older mice.

Ah, yes, the invaluable wisdom of the markets.

Delays in awards and funding calls worry NIH-funded researchers Many programs may be pushed into the next fiscal year, and some could face funding gaps

Delays in NIH funding and calls for proposals...

www.science.org/content/arti...

Meet three scientists who said no to Epstein The warning signs included a web search, a mother’s doubts, and inklings of a “sexist attitude”

Many of the scientists Jeffrey Epstein courted were already well-established and well-funded. So why didn’t they all just say no? Science talked with three who did just that.

Here’s how Epstein approached them, and why they refused to have anything to do with him. ⬇️ https://scim.ag/40qbXnv

Turns out Iran is not Venezuela

Here's what it looks like when a country jumps the shark.

Republicans use Iran strikes to pressure Dems in DHS funding fight GOP lawmakers argue that homeland security should be prioritized over partisan squabbles as the threat of Iranian attacks rises.

The notion that Democrats must now help Republicans cut a blank check for ICE because Trump started a war with Iran that no one asked for is as cynical & absurd as it gets.

Democrats want to protect America's national security AND protect Americans from an out-of-control DHS.

Except Minneapolis?

$300 Million in jet planes lost to a fuckup.

That’s 83 five year NIH R01 grants burned in minutes due to error, aka poor execution of this unnecessary war which serves only to make the world more dangerous.

Get in, dorks. We're ready for round two.

RALLY TO TAKE BACK SCIENCE! 🔬🧪✊
March 7th, 2026 in Washington, DC

Learn more at www.standupforscience.net/ma... (link in our bio.)

Stanley Plotkin is a living legend in the vaccine world. He often attended ACIP meetings & I was lucky to meet him years ago.

Kudos to @helenbranswell.bsky.social for profiling his life and accomplishments at a time when vaccines are under attack. We need his wisdom & insights more than ever. 👇

Simulations of your gut may predict which probiotics will stick A “digital gut” predicted which probiotics and high‑fiber diets would take hold in people's guts and produce healthier outcomes.

"Simulations of your gut may predict which probiotics will stick" www.sciencenews.org/article/prob...

Great reporting on our recent @plosbiology.org paper by @norabradford.bsky.social in Science News 📰

@isbscience.org

Simulations of your gut may predict which probiotics will stick A “digital gut” predicted which probiotics and high‑fiber diets would take hold in people's guts and produce healthier outcomes.

"Simulations of your gut may predict which probiotics will stick" www.sciencenews.org/article/prob...

Great reporting on our recent @plosbiology.org paper by @norabradford.bsky.social in Science News 📰

@isbscience.org