Mark

New hope for Alzheimer’s: Groundbreaking Harvard study finds lithium reverses brain aging - The Boston Globe The research suggests a new approach to preventing and treating the mind-robbing disease.

Funding for this groundbreaking research on Alzheimer's was terminated by the Trump Administration
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/06/m...

To say that "the data show these vaccines fail" in regards to the mRNA plaform is unforgivable.

For those of you that don't remember - this is the data from a SINGLE dose. In December 2020. So good I cried in grateful tears.

Ideally, it should also be possible to perform partial reads via HTTP. Even better, if the format is easy to understand (e.g., you could implement a toy reader/writer in a day). Better yet, if it is composable. (Zarr ticks all of these boxes!)

It goes without saying that it is complete and utter bullshit to imply that funding is controlled by a small group of highly paid, unaccountable insiders.

Every grant is reviewed by a panel of other researchers and ranked for scientific merit. And it’s not just one panel. There are more than 175.

Two-page letter from Harvard Human Resources addressed to the Harvard community. It informs recipients that on July 8, 2025, Harvard received a Notice of Inspection (NOI) and related subpoena from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to inspect I-9 employment eligibility forms and supporting documentation for Harvard employees. Initially thought to concern a few dozen employees in Massachusetts Hall, DHS later clarified it applies to all current Harvard employees and anyone employed within the past 12 months. The letter distinguishes this request from prior subpoenas and references the federal I-9 process. On the second page, Harvard states it is not providing I-9 records for student-only employment roles while evaluating whether FERPA permits such disclosure. It has asked DHS to confirm that any records produced will be securely maintained, accessed only by authorized personnel, and used solely for legal purposes. The letter concludes with a note to contact local HR offices for questions and provides a link to FAQs.

Two-page letter from Harvard Human Resources addressed to the Harvard community. It informs recipients that on July 8, 2025, Harvard received a Notice of Inspection (NOI) and related subpoena from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to inspect I-9 employment eligibility forms and supporting documentation for Harvard employees. Initially thought to concern a few dozen employees in Massachusetts Hall, DHS later clarified it applies to all current Harvard employees and anyone employed within the past 12 months. The letter distinguishes this request from prior subpoenas and references the federal I-9 process. On the second page, Harvard states it is not providing I-9 records for student-only employment roles while evaluating whether FERPA permits such disclosure. It has asked DHS to confirm that any records produced will be securely maintained, accessed only by authorized personnel, and used solely for legal purposes. The letter concludes with a note to contact local HR offices for questions and provides a link to FAQs.

Harvard has just informed all employees that DHS has sent a subpoena requesting access to all i-9 records for Harvard employees and that they turned them over to the Trump admin with some exceptions

This is unfortunate:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...
I wrote to the president of Harvard. I hope other faculty will speak their conscience, even if it means more struggle ahead.

going to keep saying: important for a society that would like to keep functioning to discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities

among many other major issues with this statement,

the government is not a business and should not be run like a business

no on expects the US Army to turn a profit

we don't spin of Texas when they have a bad quarter

anyway the ROI on NIH funding is positive: each $1 of NIH spending yields $2.46

Everybody should read David Pozen on the Columbia "deal": balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/regu...

Bracing analysis from Columbia Law School’s David Pozen about the significance and implications of Columbia’s settlement with Trump. balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/regu...

The current administration's systematic dismantling of our research infrastructure—402 documented attacks in just 6 months—represents more than policy disagreement. It's an abandonment of the principle that knowledge should serve the common good and expand opportunity for all communities.

YouTube video by The Daily Show Nick Offerman Is Sounding the Alarm: America’s National Parks Are Under Attack | The Daily Show

I try not to do annoying advocacy posts on my socials, but I make an exception for the national parks. This is a humorous video and I hope it helps raise support for the parks system, a true wonder among God’s creations and our most exceptional cultural export

m.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Wv...

Teachers having to do wishlists will never not piss me tf off every year. Basic supplies to teach OUR children should be provided. We pay enough taxes with that shit rising all the damn time. Education is too important for them to be crowd funding. I hate that it needs to be done and pay them more!

happy to finally share what we've been cooking 🍳

This is so wrong. So very wrong.

E.P.A. Says It Will Eliminate Its Scientific Research Arm

The science office “is the heart and brain of the E.P.A.,” said Justin Chen, president of A.F.G.E. Council 238. “Without it, we don’t have the means to assess impacts upon human health and the environment. Its destruction will devastate public health in our country.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...

Could AI slow science? Confronting the production-progress paradox

Fabulous post by @randomwalker.bsky.social & Sayash raising the same concern many of us have about whether we're on the right track with how we're using AI for science. Everyone should read it, take a deep breath & think through the implications.

www.aisnakeoil.com/p/could-ai-s...

This is how insane people sound when you tell them why A.I. is bad

Exclusive: NIH to dismiss dozens of grant reviewers to align with Trump priorities The move would undo years of work, leaving advisory councils understaffed, and without the full expertise needed for reviews.

NEW: In an unprecedented move, the NIH will soon disinvite dozens of scientists about to take positions on advisory councils that make final decisions on grant funding.

NIH staff were told to select others aligned with the Trump administration and told to expect placements by political appointees.

BREAKING: Supreme Court sides with the Trump
administration in yet another emergency plea. This one involves mass layoffs at the Department of Education. The three liberal justices vigorously dissent, accusing the majority of sanctioning “lawlessness“.

Two-thirds of the DOJ unit defending Trump policies in court have quit The U.S. Justice Department unit charged with defending against legal challenges to signature Trump administration policies - such as restricting birthright citizenship and slashing funding to Harvard University - has lost nearly two-thirds of its staff, according to a list seen by Reuters.

“The U.S. Justice Department unit charged with defending against legal challenges to signature Trump administration policies - such as restricting birthright citizenship and slashing funding to Harvard University - has lost nearly two-thirds of its staff”

Opinion: Is it worth it to use AI? Some things you should know AI has shown us again and again how it aims to change our society. Is this technology really "here to stay" and what's it doing to us?

*slams it down* I finished it

My article

About AI use, impacts, etc, with lots and lots of links

It's uh

Really long

He left Venezuela for the US, dreaming of a career in cosmetics. He was deported to a Salvadoran prison | CNN A year ago, Andry José Hernández Romero left Venezuela to seek a better future in the United States.

So is this guy just stuck in a foreign gulag ... forever?
www.cnn.com/2025/05/28/a...

I'm proud to announce the latest release of 🧬 #Oxbow 🏹, with new features to make NGS data analysis more powerful, efficient, and "composable".

Learn more at: oxbow.readthedocs.io

’We couldn’t live without it’: the UCSC Genome Browser turns 25 After a quarter of a century, the website remains an essential tool for navigating the genome and understanding its structure, function and clinical impact.

After a quarter of a century, the UCSC Genome Browser remains an essential tool for navigating the genome and understanding its structure, function and clinical impact

https://go.nature.com/40wPxkB

Look Up Your Senators' Numbers Call your senators today and demand that they vote NO on this bill.

This isn’t over—we can still stop the GOP bill. I’m staying in the fight for every baby who shouldn’t go hungry. Every senior who shouldn’t get kicked out of a nursing home. Every American who shouldn’t lose their health care.

Now is the time to call your senators.

Plot showing skewed distribution toward comp science and applied physics

The 500 additional GRFPs NSF awarded were not very evenly distributed across fields, it seems.
www.science.org/content/arti...

Provisions Subject to a 60-Vote Byrd Rule Point of Order Energy and Natural Resources NEPA compliance. These provisions deem offshore oil and gas projects as automatically compliant with the National Environmental Policy Act, nullifying these projects' environmental review processes. (Subsection 102(b)(4) and Subsection 102(b)(5)) Offshore oil and gas leasing. This subsection requires leases to be issued to successful bidders within 90 days after the lease sale. (Subsection 102(b)(6)) Ambler Road. This section requires the Secretary of the Interior to permit construction of Ambler Road, a controversial mining road in Alaska. (Section 201) Mandatory public land sales. This section mandates the unprecedented sale of millions of acres of public land, including from both Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands. (Section 301)

Renewable energy fees. This subsection removes the Secretary of the Interior's discretion to reduce fees for solar and wind projects on Bureau of Land Management land. (Subsection 303(e)) Geothermal leasing and royalties. These sections require the Secretary of the Interior to hold yearly geothermal lease sales and purport to change how geothermal royalties are calculated. (Section 305 and Section 306) Natural gas exports and imports. This section creates a pay-to-play regime for natural gas exports, allowing natural gas exporters to pay a fee to have their project be deemed "in the public interest," which is a requirement for approval. (Section 401)

HUGE: Senate Parliamentarian says that Mike Lee's public land sell-off violates the Byrd rule, requires 60 votes in the Senate. A bunch of other terrible anti-environment provisions do too.

This isn't over, but this is a huge win.

www.budget.senate.gov/ranking-memb...

SCOTUS majority not deigning to give *any* reasons for staying the injunction of the district court - in the highest-possible stakes context & where the executive branch has acted appallingly - evincing real contempt for both district courts & the rule of law