Beth Bourdeau Duke

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.

Tragic. Please pass this along to US Chairs and Deans, and consider it when you sit on promotion committees. This, combined with the review backlog, is dire - especially for our early career researchers.

I keep thinking about how working class people will suffer so much if the price of gas spikes and the government continues to spend $1B/day on international conflict (plus ICE's budget for immigration raids) instead of education, research, international aid, clean energy, and healthcare

This hip L.A. neighborhood is installing emergency sirens to warn of ICE raids Community activists are installing sirens across Highland Park in hopes of providing warnings on mobile devices to residents about possible ICE raids.

Love this idea of building safety/ resistance infrastructure.

This hip L.A. neighborhood is installing emergency sirens to warn of ICE raids
www.latimes.com/california/s...

I had no idea about that movie before I watched it, and oh the dread, seeing the hills outside LA light up like that <shiver>

When someone says „Scientists do not want you to know“ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.

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

These NOFO delays have created so many gaps in longstanding programs, including programs that are congressionally mandated.

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

I said this a while ago but it bears repeating:

The U.S. right is fully captured by a) christian fascist accelerationists seeking to start the Biblical Apocalypse, & b) those actively manipulating (a) for profit.

Everything they claim to care about will last only so long as it serves (a) or (b).

This is my 15 year old every night at dinner (both my spouse and I do federally-funded public health research) 🫤

This is my 15 year old every night at dinner (both my spouse and I do federally-funded public health research) 🫤

As Kagan notes in her dissent, the Court opted not to hear the due process parental rights argument against bans on gender-affirming medical care in Skrmetti, basically setting up a regime where parents can force their trans children back into the closet but cannot help them out of it

Find the trans groups and people in your communities who need support and support them. This is everyone's job now. You are called.

That's right. Worse than Pointless
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/o...

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

Hard not to worry that this isn't another attempt by OMB's Russell Vought to override Congress's power of the purse.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

This is so spectacularly spot on by @naomioreskes.bsky.social

Federal funding provides RELIABLE STABILITY void of the WHIMS of philanthropy and billionaires.

That stability + freedom to explore = innovation and discovery at scale.

$250B in R&D every year isn’t going to happen by Big Phil.

PrEP uptake was already low – and then came the cuts Even before the Trump government slashed its overseas HIV budget last year, with prevention facing some of the deepest cuts, very few countries in the world had enough people using PrEP to substantially reduce their HIV infection rate, or even to make a noticeable dent in it.

News from CROI 2026: PrEP uptake was already low – and then came the cuts #CROI2026

Florida uses emergency rule to cut patients off AIDS medication The state filed the changes the day before a legal hearing with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

Florida uses emergency rule to cut patients off AIDS medication
www.tampabay.com/news/florida...

An official letter from the Kansas Division of Vehicles dated February 23, 2026, with a redacted recipient address. The letter notifies the recipient that due to the enactment of Senate Bill 244, all Kansas driver's licenses and IDs must reflect the holder's sex at birth. It states that the recipient's current credential will become invalid immediately upon the law's publication on February 26, 2026, with no grace period. The recipient is directed to surrender their current ID to receive a new one matching their sex assigned at birth. The document concludes with instructions on how to appeal the notice if received in error, along with contact information for the department.

Kansas is sending letters to trans people telling them that their licenses will be revoked as of tomorrow and that they risk arrest for driving on a suspended license.

This is pure cruelty.

www.erininthemorning.com/p/kansas-sen...

To any Democrat who ever said about any issue, "Maybe if we agree with Republicans just this far, they'll stop there," remember that you were wrong, it was obvious at the time, and you really should never believe that again about any issue, ever.

Just donated!

Trans Continental Pipeline-Donate to help queer relocation! At TCP, our mission is to help Queer and 2SLGBTQIA+ people move from unsafe environments to Colorado and provide connections and resources through our relocation program.Every Cent you donate will go ...

www.zeffy.com/en-US/donati...

What Elon Has Done Elon Musk's destruction of USAID has faded from public consciousness in America, despite leaving death and destruction in its wake.

“the largest act of mass murder of this decade, and of this century so far, was not perpetrated by militaries or militias, but by the world's richest man in Washington D.C.'s Eisenhower Executive Office Building.” @mckay4senate.bsky.social www.liberalcurrents.com/what-elon-ha...

Opinion | The Human Cost of Trump’s War on Science

NIH is “…the largest government-funded biomedical research agency in the world, and until recently was the envy of scientists across the globe.

The president’s attacks on this legacy have been relentless and all-encompassing…”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/o...

Civil Servants Demand: Impeach Russell Vought The Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought is the central architect driving the destruction of your government. Russell Vought created lawlessness in every part of the Trump administ...

Russell Vought is the central architect driving the destruction of your government. We are urging Congress to act now to protect the American people by impeaching and convicting Vought. We invite all Americans to join us by signing on to our letter to Congress.

actionnetwork.org/forms/civil-...

We're safe for a little while longer

Judge temporarily blocks Trump officials from rescinding health grants to some Democratic-led states President Donald Trump’s administration cannot rescind $600 million in public health grants allocated to four Democratic-led states for now.

President Donald #Trump’s administration cannot rescind $600 million in public health grants allocated to four Democratic-led states for now, a federal judge in #Illinois ruled Thursday.

Increasingly the stories sound like the stories about tourists picked up in Iran or Russia, for trivial or inexplicable reasons. How long before we start to read them and say, like Russia and Iran, "well, they really should have understood the risks of visiting the United States."

COVID-19 Boosters Tied to Lower Preeclampsia Risk in Pregnant Women - Drugs.com MedNews FRIDAY, Feb. 20, 2026 Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 might offer protection against one of the most dangerous complications of pregnancy.A large internatio

A major study of 6,500+ pregnant women across 18 countries found COVID vaccination — especially a booster, linked to significantly lower odds of preeclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy complication. Boosted women with pre-existing conditions saw risk drop by 58%. www.drugs.com/news/covid-1...

Opinion | The MAHA Coalition Is Falling Apart

The public health of spite. A great piece by @dwallacewells.bsky.social.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/o...

Trump's Caribbean Surge Nears $3 Billion Price Tag So Far The operations around Venezuela that eventually led to the capture of its president pulled in nearly a fifth of the US Navy’s surface fleet at a cost of more than $20 million a day.

Bloomberg says we've spent $3B on Trump's invasion of Venezuela.

Which is 6X more than the cancer, Alzheimer, diabetes, and heart disease cures they've cut to pay for it.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...