Stephanie Zerwas

NSF, NASA and NIH budgets per year, inflation adjusted from 2000-2025 along with the proposed cuts. NSF includes research component only. Massive cuts across all sectors, well below support spanning 25 years.

How bad will it be? Catastrophic.

Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come.

But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget.

Speak up now before it is too late.

(inflation adjusted $-s below)

Wait. This could work. Also! Top Gun branded ones. It’s like super hero underoos but for CPAPs.

New business idea: CPAP machines that double as Dune cosplay. It’s the only way to make these nasal tubes cool. @mcuban.bsky.social I think I’m ready for Shark Tank. 😂

The Department of Justice has abandoned civil rights Two events this week do no less than turn upside down the enforcement of laws that protect the civil rights of all Americans.

“DOJ – from 1866 until this week – prosecuted officers accused of violating the civil rights of citizens, DOJ now will defend those officers.” Ellen Blain on the history and deterioration of civil rights in the DOJ.

To my own institution, Yale, and all the other universities across the US. They will come for you no matter what you do—you can stand up for what’s right or grovel in the dirt. Your fate will be the same. It’s your legacy, which is at stake in the choice.

human lives have dignity as they are, they do not need to be whipped into shape by smooth-skinned patrician hands before deserving not just our love and respect but our joyous affirmation. if you see how somebody's getting by and feel horror the problem is with your gaze not the person. Matthew 7:5

USDA cancels $11 million in federal funding for North Carolina food banks The USDA has notified the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that it would terminate the agreement for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, which is one of the progr...

If you live in NC, call every Republican politician you know. Call every farmer you know and ask them to do the same

When money walks , voters talk. Make sure they know this effects everyone in their town and state

www.wunc.org/news/2025-03...

He’s a Maine Coon too and 20 lbs! But loves small spaces and boxes so was thrilled with his new spot.

He truly is! 20 lbs of smush.

You’re an influencer. Nico loves his new spot. Thanks for the inspiration.

Inside the Collapse at NIH Administration officials pressured NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.

By @katherinejwu.com

"The NIH... supported 99 percent of the drugs approved in the U.S. from 2010 to 2019. The agency has had a hand in “nearly all of our major medical breakthroughs over the past several decades,”

The NIH is in a struggle for its (and our) lives. This is existential to America:

Together we are mighty!

VA Research Funding Slashed Though not as prominent as the NIH, VA researchers play a major role in advancing basic health science. Hundreds of projects have been cut.

NIH cuts are getting the press, but VA research is getting slashed too. What do we lose when VA research goes away? Here's some greatest hits: The nicotine patch, invention of the cardiac pacemaker, first successful liver transplant, development of the CAT/CT scan

prospect.org/health/2025-...

Such a great piece on such an unsettling phenomenon.

Minnesota man. What are they putting in that lutefisk?

Something is shifting. They are still breaking things and stealing things. And they will keep trying to break and to steal. But the propaganda magic around the oligarchical coup is fading. (1/2)

Trump Administration Stalls Scientific Research Despite Court Ruling (Gift Article) Using an arcane law, officials have effectively delayed funding from the National Institutes of Health, leaving medical studies in jeopardy.

New York Times article now up on Federal Register stuff.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/s...

1/n

Ok, I'm doing a version of this thread for 🧪 who are new to political conditions where info security is a safety issue:

1. Don't make public lists of people who are engaging in acts of resistance
2. Be weary of calls to advertise acts of subversion
3. Don't live post resistance meetings

DOGE By The Numbers
theonion.com/doge-by...

Ugh. I meant *dark

I get that. I really do. PIs are pivot experts. And weighing short term vs long term strategic costs/forecasting must feel impossible right now.

I can’t see this without thinking about what Tressie McMillan Cottom has been talking about in her Instagram Lives. This is just attention/spectacle economy. The noise to distract us from the real darn and dangerous signal happening simultaneously.

1-3 make the assumption that these cuts are a done deal. That research can live on without federal funds. It’s complying in advance. We need a federal and corporate push. What corporations/industries benefit from federal research cuts and will be harmed (in addition to the human harms of course)

Troubling:
Congresspeople say they are NOT hearing from academics, or university administrators.
PLEASE SPEAK UP!
Oppose these budget cuts to research, health, student loans!
www.votervoice.net/APAAdvocacy/...
Tell others to do the same!

Town of Chapel Hill! Thank you for looking out for our community. @triangleblogblog.bsky.social

I love you, scientists but you are in a messaging war & you are losing. This administration understands how to tell a story better than you do.

You spent your career proving why your work matters.
Now, prove why losing it hurts *everyone*.
#sciencecommunication #ScienceUnderSiege #ScienceBlueSky

NOT THIS: “I need your support.”

THIS: “If this makes you angry, don’t just feel bad. Call your reps. Use 5 calls. Show them we’re watching.”

Give them an action step.

NOT THIS: “This is an attack on scientific integrity.”

THIS: “This is an attack on your air, your water, your healthcare, your kids’ education.”

“Science” is abstract, but air quality, water safety, medical access, your kids' education? Not so much.

NOT THIS: “I left a secure career with major grants and leadership roles to take this job.”

THIS: “The government recruited me to protect our kids and then pushed me out. What happens when no one is left?”

People don’t respond to credentials but threats to their health, safety, and future.

NOT THIS: “I lost my position despite high performance and national recognition.”

THIS: “A government scientist working to expand mental health services in public schools was just fired. Fewer kids will get the care they need because of it.”