@jeffmyau.bsky.social
family guy • neuroscientist in Houston interested in touch, the body, and multisensory processing • views are mine and not my employer’s • he/him • proud immigrant • mask wearer • RT≠endorse #CIDP #autoimmune 🐆
💔
Devastating breakdown of NIH award rates revealing not only general reduction but also the institutes’ idiosyncratic approaches.
A fascinating dissection that reveals the evolution of systems/computational neuroscience. A beautiful guide down memory lane for some of us. An absolute must-read for today’s trainees.
Amid shrinking tenure-track faculty positions, we must think creatively to keep early-career scientists afloat, writes @lucinauddin.bsky.social.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/craft-and-ca...
How do you safely transplant a womb? And make it ready for gestation?
A UK baby has been born after the mother received a uterus transplant — but this milestone rests on decades of research in rodents, pigs, sheep and non-human primates before human trials began.
1/2
Introducing Angie Farella - RFK Jr.'s Latest Addition to ACIP: she wanted to use kids as buffers for COVID because she thought oher coronaviruses made them immune, she wanted to treat COVID with flu antivirals, and more. vaxopedia.org/2026/03/04/i... via @aboutpediatrics.bsky.social
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 started copying @conjh.bsky.social's version of this trick for writing science papers: sit down with the other lead authors and one person reads the manuscript draft out line by line, paragraph by paragraph, then perform live surgery together on shared doc. Incredibly good way to improve the text
"The software detected 18 cases in the first 600 datasets that were serious enough to report...based on that limited sample, around 3% of papers contain these types of errors."
😭
Thanks, Nick!
~3 years ago, I was diagnosed with #CIDP, an #autoimmunedisorder I believe was triggered by #Covid (bsky.app/profile/jeff...). With regular #rituximab infusions, I’ve regained strength and function. I continue to #MaskUp. Stay safe, #covidaware folks! Don’t quit — you’re not alone! #longcovidmonth 😷
IMPORTANT---IMPORTANT---IMPORTANT
NIH is seeking input for the NIH-wide Strategic Plan. Open to everyone but Registration is Required!
Your chance to listen and get your 2 or more cents in.
grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
The Republicans seem to be prepping an argument that any domestic terror attacks in the aftermath of their Iran attacks will be the fault of Democrats for shutting down DHS funding, so I'd like to remind everyone of this appointment:
FIFA Peace Prize winner becomes first US President to bomb eight countries in one year
You have until March 3rd to apply for the Cajal summer school on Quantitative Approaches to Behavior and VR at Champalimaud! Come surf and track animals with us 🏄🪰🐟🚶
cajal-training.org/on-site/quan...
I’m sorry that you’ve experienced this too. My CIDP is manageable with regular rituximab infusions and I continue to recover even now. I hope you’ve found an effective treatment!
new data from NIH about funding trends through FY2025
also a flyby analysis from Claude lol
grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
Are you a junior faculty member interested in spending 2-4 weeks at Princeton Psych? Please apply for our Microsabbatical program! It’s a fully funded visit for professional development and creating long-term collaborations.
psych.princeton.edu/diversity/mi...
Hauntingly beautiful
At least my AI clone will just post about masking, science, and social issues.
PMC COVlD Report, Week of Feb 16, 2026 (U.S.)
14 states are still experiencing High/Very High COVlD levels amid a lingering 12th wave.
Minnesota may be at an all-time high.
THREAD 1 of 4 🧵
Breaking: The CDC reports SARS-CoV-2 levels *quadrupled* in Minnesota in the past week.
Using harmonized wastewater estimates, we project 1 in 12 people in Minnesota are actively infectious. This is equivalent to a 59% chance of exposure in a room of 10 people....
We are here, right now. We are in this moment.
Scientists in Germany said “well, as long as I get to continue my science…” and made the moral trade off while their colleagues were persecuted.
THIS is why scientists must stand up for science and democracy.
@standupforscience.bsky.social
Dear Congresswoman @foushee.house.gov, the multi year funding (MYF) in the HHS/NIH bill is normed to 2025 - please propose an amendment to norm to 2024, like the Senate version. As it stands, ~1/4-1/3 of NIH $ will be sequestered by MYF, a big cut to the Triangle's STEM economy!
![Paul D. Thacker
@thackerpd
8h
Two Bluesky scientists gave this nutty interview to podcaster, @mattsheffield.
HHS put NIH official Jenna Norton on leave, and NIH researchers Mark Histed is one of the many Bluesky activists.
Here's Jenna Norton calling Trump voters, including her own mother, a "cult"
NORTON: So I wanted like, I was glad you kind of drew a parallel there between science and democracy, and I wanted to draw this connection because we sort of started the conversation about science being siloed and not being effective communicators with the public and thus sort of like disconnecting ourselves with the public.
And then that being this sort of weakness that I think the disinformation machine saw and used to their advantage. And I think a similar thing happened with democracy as well, where there have been groups of people who have been [00:42:00] excluded from the democratic process to a large extent as well. And so there, there neither, science wasn't perfect and democracy hasn't been perfect.
It's been better, I think, than the authoritarian alternative that's being offered to us at the moment. But there is a real weakness there that I think we do need to grapple with and acknowledge and overcome and address as we move forward. And on the side of democracy, I think where that weakness was is that, certain groups have been cut out of the voting process.
Open versus closed epistemologies
NORTON: Some of that has been very much intentional, right? With like fewer polling sites and, with the allowance of money to sway politics and override, I think public sentiment. And so a lot of people feel very, I see this in my family, they feel very hopeless. And I actually had a conversation with my mother who's a Trump supporter, and I've been actually talking to her almost daily trying to pull her out of what I now see as sort of a cult in](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:p66b7zkep57fp4rhrtktsdni/bafkreibk2u4zc2nvndemq3qhcabix2l5avpkqsl5n2z7wfxnidbyrbvmju)
A few months ago @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social and I talked to @mattsheffield.bsky.social about how science and democracy are linked.
That caught the attention of the anti-science crew.
“Crank”* Paul Thacker objected, see below.
But I stand by it. Science and free speech are under attack. 1/
House Appropriations minibus bill funding NIH is out now.
- $400M increase
- Multiyear funding of new awards capped at 2025 levels.
- No line item for BRAIN Initiative
text here: docs.house.gov/billsthiswee...
Screenshots from Dem summary and Sec 240 (multiyear funding text).
Non-protesting dad just trying to hustle his kids, as young as 6mo, out of the neighborhood. ICE threw a flash-bang INTO HIS car, all 6 kids in the hospital now.
If anyone wondered how things turn against occupying armies there's a case study playing out in front of you.
🤩
Good summary of lack of evidence and potential for harm of components of the recommended diet
www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/08/1... by @jesshamzelou.bsky.social