Helen Tager-Flusberg

A rewarding start to my day!

RFK Jr. Is Targeting Vaccines And Tylenol. Are Prozac And Ozempic Next? Tylenol maker Kenvue is reeling after unsupported claims that its popular drug causes autism. Kennedy is unlikely to stop there.

Tylenol maker Kenvue is reeling after unsupported claims that its popular drug causes autism. Kennedy is unlikely to stop there.

Baccarelli was paid $700/hour for his work on a case against Tylenol. I will charge $0/hour to tell courts, FDA, and everyone else that correlations can arise from latent variables in the absence of a direct causal relationship.

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

Opinion | ‘This May Be the Most Difficult Day in My Career’: Experts React to Trump’s Autism Remarks

Gift article for any uniformed friends or family: experts overwhelmingly agree that the apparent increase in autism in USA is due to broader inclusion criteria and diagnoses. It is NOT caused by tylenol or vaccines
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/o...

Nice to see organizations like the @autismsciencefd.bsky.social and @defendpublichealth.bsky.social getting ahead of these potential forthcoming claims in RFK Jr.'s eventual autism report. More of this needed and in other forums too. 🛟😷🧪 sociology

Here's Autism Science Foundation's statement...

How Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,’s Anti-Vax Agenda Is Infecting America

Week 32 Aug 23-29, 2025 - on persistence vs consistence

Each Friday, I write up the impacts to science 🧪& higher ed. This was Week 32:

+ Chaos & courage as CDC Director Monarez fired & 4 top leaders resign
+ FDA limits COVID vax eligibility, pharmacies restricting access
+ pocket rescission, sad research shut downs & more

buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

I have initial confirmation of a CDC walkout happening - will be looking for news coverage & more details.

RFK Jr. Vowed to Find the Environmental Causes of Autism. Then He Shut Down Research Trying to Do Just That. While touting a $50 million initiative to identify the causes of autism, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is helping lead an administration that is rolling back protections against pollution and toxic chemicals,...

www.propublica.org/article/rfk-...
Excellent and disturbing article. Pleased to have contributed some background.

De novo protein-coding gene variants in developmental stuttering - Molecular Psychiatry Molecular Psychiatry - De novo protein-coding gene variants in developmental stuttering

Developmental stuttering involves speech disfluencies (blocks, prolongations, repetitions). We sequenced all protein-coding genes of 85 parent-child trios in which the child stuttered, & found (likely) pathogenic DNA variants in 4 genes also implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders. New paper:👇🗣️🧬🧪

Really amazing work that challenges some long-held beliefs about cortical plasticity.

"We show adult sensory body maps are unaltered after amputation, suggesting deprivation-driven plasticity is even more marginal than argued by the strongest opponents of cortical reorganization."

Interesting critique

CE-Letter to Congress Requesting Protection of Science Funding in the FY26 Budget To: The Honorable Members of the United States Congress Dear Honorable Senators and Representatives, We write in our individual capacities as U.S. citizens to urge you to prevent the far-reaching cons...

Please sign! Science funding got strong support from the Senate but is now in the House! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

CE-Letter to Congress Requesting Protection of Science Funding in the FY26 Budget To: The Honorable Members of the United States Congress Dear Honorable Senators and Representatives, We write in our individual capacities as U.S. citizens to urge you to prevent the far-reaching cons...

A letter signed by thoysands of members of the National Academies but also open for community endorsement . Please sign! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Excited to co-host this workshop! Lots of great speakers and opportunities to learn about best practices for fNIRS research with autistic children

Why are American kids getting sicker? What MAHA gets wrong about kids’ health.

We're taking major steps back in #publichealth and instead of addressing the important issues we're creating more distractions. #SDOH

Why are American kids getting sicker? www.vox.com/life/421703/... by @annanorth.bsky.social via @vox.com CC: @laurenwisk.bsky.social @htagerf.bsky.social

A remarkable lack of perspective taking!

Ousted vaccine panel members say rigorous science is being abandoned under RFK Jr. Seventeen experts ousted from a U.S. vaccine committee are expressing little faith in what the panel has become.

Ousted members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices describe RFK Jr.’s first meeting—featuring anti-vaccine presenters pushing unfounded claims.

They now call for the creation of an independent vaccine panel outside the federal government.

zurl.co/x2itL

Nora S. Newcombe and Robert Glushko stand together smiling on stage at CogSci 2025. Nora wears the Rumelhart Prize medal around her neck

Huge congratulations to the brilliant Nora Newcombe, recipient of the 2025 David E. Rumelhart Prize! 🏅#CogSci2025

Sketchnote of Nora Newcombe's Rumelhart Prize Talk, posing three questions and case studies for cognitive science: (1) innateness (with the geometric module as a case study), (2) representations (featuring cognitive maps vs. graphs), and (3) embodiment (featuring mental rotation)

Notes from @noranewcombe.bsky.social 's beautiful Rumelhart Prize "tasting menu" - congratulations Nora!!! #CogSci2025

Congratulations!

Delighted to share Resources for Researchers webpage has received a 2025 Commendation from @improvingpsych.org! We look forward to continuing this work to help everyone navigate academia and help academia be more welcoming to everyone!
www.plasticityinneurodevelopmentlab.com/resourcesfor...

HHS Hunts for New Autism Links While David Geier Searches for 'Lost' Vaccine Data Autism research undergoing a major shift under RFK Jr.

What we heard this week 🧵 #Medsky
"I think the NIH director understands that if you would say 'whenever possible,' that's the end. That's the kiss of death." -- @htagerf.bsky.social, of @bostonu.bsky.social, discussing patient privacy in federal #autism research.
www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/au...

How children master language in early life is one of the central questions of human biology. My fab colleague & friend @carorowland.bsky.social has an important new framework paper, which she breaks down in this fascinating thread. Big implications for how we think about genetic contributions too.👇🧪

NIH will reinstate 900 grants in response to court order Projects touching on sensitive topics such as DEI had been illegally terminated, judge found

Breaking news: The NIH yesterday moved to reinstate about 900 grants that a judge last week ruled had been canceled illegally because their topics, ranging from vaccine hesitancy or promoting diversity in the scientific workforce, had been blacklisted by the Trump administration. scim.ag/4lq9UrQ

The evolution of infant-directed communication: Comparing vocal input across all great apes Human infants receive more directed communication than other great ape infants, indicating that it evolved alongside language.

"Language is unique among communication systems, many elements are learned & transmitted across generations. Investigating directed & surrounding vocal communication in human infants & infants of wild nonhuman great apes revealed that humans receive dramatically more infant-directed communication."🧪

Did Baby Talk Give Rise to Language?

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/s...
Lovely article!

Shattered Science: The Research Lost as Trump Targets NIH Funding The Trump administration cut research funding that sought cures for future pandemics, examined the causes of dementia and tried to prevent HIV transmission. More than 150 researchers shared with ProPublica what is being lost.

Few are telling this trainwreck's tale with as much rigor and passion as @anniewaldman.bsky.social‬ @ #ProPublica.

"[Trump] ...has terminated more than 1,450 [#NIH] grants withholding more than $750 million in funds."

Read the full piece zurl.co/fCpUU & join us to fight back.
#StandUpForScience

‘Unrecognizable and highly toxic’: NIH staffers speak out ahead of Senate hearing on budget cuts - The Boston Globe More than 300 staffers signed a letter to the NIH director urging him to stop politically motivated cuts to research grants.

"...the workers behind the letter said grants are being terminated based on political preferences and without input from scientific staff or Congress, which amounts to censorship of critical research."

zurl.co/zEzKM
#StandUpForScience
#BethesdaDeclaration