North Carolina Science Coalition

We need to be clear about this - the HHS Secretary, RFK Jr., is *the* biggest purveyor of disinformation, misinformation, and conspiracy theories about vaccines and public health.

He is *directly* responsible for these attacks - and there will be more, if he is allowed to continue.

How the New Atheists Joined the MAHA War on Science A new anthology showcases the intellectual failures of a diminishing brand.

Fully entered a state of madness by the time I finished this essay, on the remarkable intellectual (and political) failures of New Atheism, and a new anthology edited by Lawrence Krauss nymag.com/intelligence...

If you are even a mildly public figure working in a domain Trump has demonized over the last few years, you have seen the email messages grow more frequent and more threatening. It is honestly surprising we have not had more direct acts of political violence.

A deadly shooting at the CDC shook its scientists. Now they want answers from RFK Jr. CDC Director Susan Monarez convened an online all-hands meeting of the agency division that focuses on vaccines, and employees called out Kennedy’s rhetoric specifically.

Exclusive: CDC Director Susan Monarez met with its vaccine-focused center to talk about yesterday’s shooting. I listened to a recording. Scientists and officials are shaken & pointing fingers at RFK Jr. Many said his vilification and misinfo turned them into targets. www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...

Here’s the notice terminating EPA union contracts:

Yesterday’s Executive Order (EO), Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking, is simultaneously some of the most vicious, depraved, and illegal bullshit to be issued in the Trump administration’s War on Science, but also a very stupid self-own for America. If enacted, it will devastate science, health, and the economy. It is blatant theft of Congressionally appropriated taxpayer funds and an attempt to further undermine democracy at the expense of America’s global standing and the well-being of its people. The consequences will be disastrous for America and the world.

2/3

Patient seeking care at NIH hospital detained by ICE NIH officials called immigration authorities after the patient presented a non-real ID while passing security at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center.

Federal immigration authorities detained a woman seeking medical care at the National Institutes of Health’s flagship research hospital after the patient presented a non-real ID while passing security.

Intellectual freedom is key to innovation and we are losing it in the US because the White House believes it’s more important to gaslight a country into supporting bad policies. The US economy & global standing will suffer from this government overreach by the Trump administration.

It’s blatant corruption. Never you mind that the only way to make the biased and inaccurate views of the White House more “legitimate” was to place a political lackey to censor off any information that says otherwise. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! A ruse so dumb, it’s insulting.

The end goal is clear: if politicians can bolster their biased and inaccurate views with cited information from federally-funded authorities and institutions, then it gives them the (unearned & falsely manufactured) credentials to pass policy based on (state sanctioned) “facts.”

The White House needs to keep their politics out of science. With this proposed oversight restructuring, the NIH will fully be a propaganda arm for politicians who need to siphon off factual information to justify their biased & inaccurate views. US science is being politicized before our very eyes.

Just to give the TL;DR on this one:

*The* main purpose of the EO is to move funding priorities and decisions away from experts and career professionals over to political appointees. With the ultimate power held by Vought / OMB.

Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

One more effort to politicize federal grantmaking.
*Grants must by approved by a political appointee, working with OMB.
*"Discretionary awards must, where applicable, demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities."
*Cannot "promote anti-American values"
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

1. Federal funding for research promotes tech, biomedical, and scientific discovery in the US, and provides training for the sci/tech workforce that has brought immeasurable wealth to the US over the past 75 years.

Today's executive order includes a provision that will obliterate both functions.

Kennedy Cancels Nearly $500 Million in mRNA Vaccine Contracts That kind of shot was first used during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the health secretary has been sharply critical of the technology.

This is so harmful. Scientists are developing mRNA-based cancer vaccines that could save so many lives.

Guys is it biased to favor a shared sense of objective reality

Hundreds of millions of dollars suspended for cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's research (among many, many other equally important diseases and endeavors) and for what? What is the point of all of this? Help me understand how this makes our country better, stronger, and healthier in any way.

Let's please keep the remaining staff at NIH, NSF, etc in our thoughts even as you lose sleep over your own lab and scientific career.

They are enduring pure chaos to try to hold the fort.

See snapshot from wapo.st/4feKKuu (gift 🔗) saying they are "barely holding it together"

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Russell Vought has unilaterally decided today that he simply won’t allow anyone outside of NIH to receive research funding.

$15 billion in NIH funding is now locked down. If not reversed, it will also take down many Universities in the United States.

Forget new cancer treatments or vaccines.

Scientist on green card detained for a week without explanation, lawyer says A Korean citizen studying in Texas on a green card was detained in San Francisco after a trip overseas. His lawyer says authorities won’t give a reason.

Tae Heung Kim, 40:
- Lived in US since he was 5
- Has green card
- Getting PhD at Texas A&M
- Researching vaccine for Lyme disease
- Has 1 minor pot charge from 2011, since sealed

Also: Detained incommunicado by DHS after returning from wedding in Korea

www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

I want to see some evidence that the money is actually reaching states but this is very good news

If you don't know what funding the AG is talking about, here you go: www.npr.org/2025/07/01/n...

Absolutely insane. They are destroying this country's scientific enterprise.

If you're not a scientist and don't know what this means, it basically means they are planning to fund only the top 4% of grants. Historically it's around 10%.

Duke School of Medicine plans salary cuts for tenured faculty who do not meet grant expectations Set to go in effect in 2026, the proposed policy would apply to the School’s basic sciences units. These units rely heavily on grants from the National Institutes of Health, which have been increasing...

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What a time to propose this policy:

"Duke University School of Medicine (SOM) plans to implement new faculty productivity guidelines that would tie tenured professors’ salaries to external research funding, according to documents reviewed by The Chronicle"
www.dukechronicle.com/article/2025...

Which Kind of Science Reform What hope is there for science reform, if we can't agree on what to reform? Right now, principles are more important than practices.

How can we reform science? I have some ideas. But I am not sure you’ll like them, because they don’t promise much. elevanth.org/blog/2025/07...

"In 1990, nearly 60% of NIH-funded publications reported on basic science, with that proportion declining to 24% in 2024...These data support concerns about the long-term trajectory of NIH’s support for basic science."

How your research can survive a US federal grant termination Researchers in the United States are filing appeals, seeking court remedies, turning to philanthropy and starting GoFundMe campaigns.

Researchers in the United States are filing appeals, seeking court remedies, turning to philanthropy and starting GoFundMe campaigns

go.nature.com/4m48yDu

Put another way, the Covid vaccine is completely safe for nearly everyone.

Our medical establishment has no reason why they are limiting it for women or healthy men older than age 24.

No reason at all.

They just feel like it.

Who Controls Your Health? Test Your Knowledge of the MAHA Movement US health officials, from RFK Jr. on down, have made some wild claims. See if you can name the person responsible for these quotes and factoids.

And finally -- from @elanaklein.bsky.social, who did a few pieces here -- a real kind of nightmare. It's 3 am, do you know what your health leadership is saying? www.wired.com/story/maha-r...

Animals Are the Original Wellness Influencers Long before TikTok and probiotics, animals were teaching each other tips on feeling better, from swallowing leaves to get rid of parasites to using icebergs for exfoliation.

Did you know that animals also practice "wellness"? Let @cjgiaimo.bsky.social be your guide through iceberg exfoliation, and more www.wired.com/story/animal...