Drew Volpe

Hydrangeas doing well this year.

New paper by @njudd.com shows that an additional year of education doesn't causally affect telomere length in old age, despite many (theory) accounts arguing otherwise. It's been desk rejected by 13 journals happy to publish small 'positive' telomere studies. Sigh. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Juneteenth is the most libertarian holiday It is hard to think of something more relevant to freedom than the abolition of slavery.

Juneteenth is the most American holiday.

reason.com/2025/06/19/j...

Six things to know about the Circle crypto IPO, happening this week What exactly does Circle do, and why did it decide to move its headquarters from downtown Boston to lower Manhattan late last year? Here are six things to understand about the company, which manages a...

Chatted w/ @skirsner.bsky.social for "Six things to know about the Circle crypto IPO". Nice to see a Boston-born startup IPO, even if they've moved their HQ to NYC. via @masslive.bsky.social

www.masslive.com/news/2025/06...

Walking (and T-ing) Boston’s public art Triennial - The Boston Globe An unprecedented exhibition of contemporary public art in Boston, the Triennial will have some 20 projects on view around the city. Here’s a sampling, and a way to go about seeing them.

1st ever Boston Public Art Triennial is open now through Oct. 31st—a testament to the power of public art & the exchanges that make Boston home.

I use Obsidian and had never heard of this. Very cool.

Trump’s NIH And NSF Cuts Estimated To Cost The U.S. Economy $10 Billion Annually Economists find public R&D drives U.S. productivity growth — and pays for itself

New macro-empirical research finds that every dollar invested in non-defense public R&D yields $1.40–$2.10 in economic output, and since World War II, government funding has driven roughly 20% of U.S. productivity.

Did the prisoners dilemma with my kids tonight. Each wrote Y or X to decide if the other gets dessert. If they defect and choose X and the other person Y, they get 2 desserts. If they both choose Y, both get 1. Both X, they each get 1/2 dessert.

No honor among thieves. Or siblings.

YouTube video by MGMT Boston - The Lantern Drew Volpe, Founder & Managing Partner at First Star Ventures

Chatted about Boston deep tech startups and VC w/ Matt Crane for MGMT Boston

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm7I...

YouTube video by Sabine Hossenfelder Cold Fusion Idea Makes Comeback

Muon catalyzed fusion is an old idea that's having a resurgence with new technology.

Fusion plants would be much simpler not the $10B, 25 acre+ facilities that other approaches require.

(disc: I'm a tiny investor in Acceleron Energy)

youtu.be/Z3x6m8r2vEg?...

seems to be real. wtf

Donate to Michelle for Boston Please make a contribution to support this grassroots movement and elect Michelle as Mayor of Boston.

link:

secure.actblue.com/donate/0417mmw

Boston friends: I'm thrilled to back Mayor Wu again. I'm on the host committee for a fundraiser in Fort Point on Thursday, 300 Summer St.

I've seen your comments online, and I've talked to you out on the road, on our main streets, and at the grocery store. I know people are worried and scared right now.

But you are not powerless.

Each of us has a responsibility to do our part. Your voice matters — and we need you to speak up.

Truth.

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Here in Boston, we don't back down.

Two characters from Common Side Effects

Have been enjoying Common Side Effects. If you need a laugh, highly recommended.

This is horrible to post, but I may as well post it. We are essentially shutting down research operations in my group, which is focused on treatments for pediatric brain cancer. I’m a well funded investigator, and there’s no choice. Science can’t function without the stability of NIH

Looks delicious.

Happy Pi Day!

Godspeed! 🥧

Drew Volpe Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie recipe.

only 2 days left until pi day. If you need a recipe, here’s my tried and true sweet potato pie:

NASA begins mass firings of scientists ahead of Trump team’s deadline Top advisers in the Office of the Chief Scientist are among the first to go amid downsizing effort.

One of the employees fired from NASA told me how much their career meant to them: "Prior to everything happening today, NASA has been an incredible place to work — to dream big, to innovate, to do things that I never thought I could have done.”

Words by me. 🧪

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

Bluesky CEO: imagine a 'world without Caesars' Jay Graber dunks on Mark Zuckerberg without mentioning his name.

the feminine urge to

screenshot of reddit FAQ that talks about disassociated posts and comments.

deleting my reddit account and just learned Reddit keeps all of your posts, and just "disassociates" your account from them. there's no option to delete everything.

i had to write a script to do it one-by-one.

looking at the source data, it's interesting that the top 0.001% had a small decrease (0.6%).

how much of these effects is that the income brackets are not indexed for inflation and the median income grew by ~22%, so more people are in higher brackets?

great data here. this is a fascinating chart. i would not have guessed that everyone is paying less than in 2001, and that the top 0.1% have had the biggest drop

This is our fucking city and no one is going to dictate our freedom.

Michelle holds Mira on a sidewalk in Washington DC as they get ready to leave the hotel

Ready for the day

Blaise & Cass are bundled up in winter coats holding their soft serve cones outside Boston’s very own James Beard award-winning classic: Sullivan’s Castle Island

Boston spring has sprung! 🌭🍦