steven t. piantadosi

"Lairmore had testified that the sandwich 'exploded all over' his chest and claimed he could smell mustard and onions. But a photo showed that the sandwich was still in its wrapper on the ground after it hit Lairmore in his bulletproof vest."

How it started. How it’s going.

The President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, PPFP, has been a jewel in the crown for faculty development and recruitment at the University of California for years and the results have been an expanded faculty with almost 100% tenure rates — unprecedented success.

This wins.

Science Homecoming Workshop. November 12, 2025. Steven T. Piantadosi, cofounder of Science Homecoming headshot.

Join this free workshop on Nov 12 with Steven T. Piantadosi of Science Homecoming and learn the how-to's and beneficial impacts of communicating the importance of scientific research to your local community through opinion pieces. Register today. Link in comments.

Student workshop, BUCLD, Jessica Cantlon, Writing to Defend American Science

Come to the workshop at BUCLD @bucld.bsky.social, and bring a pen ✍🏻

www.bu.edu/bucld/

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

Can't overstate how fucked up it is that unraveling what is arguably the greatest achievement in the history of humanity is now a motivating issue of one of the two dominant parties in the U.S.

The Python Software Foundation won a $1.5m grant from the US government National Science Foundation.
Turned it down because required to affirm that we "will not... operate any programs that advance or promote DEI"

simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/27/...

Oh interesting, Abian proved some things about set theory, let's see what else he was into...

Cost to fund SNAP and keep 42 million people from starving:

$100 billion

Cost of lost revenue due to tax cuts for the richest Americans in the top 1%:

$100 billion

One is decried as "welfare." One is not.

Why?

To quote my friend @drkatemarvel.bsky.social, climate change won't make humanity extinct but we can do better than "not extinct". Raise your standards people!

TIL about this static1.squarespace.com/static/520cf...

It's not about what this country can or can’t afford. It’s about priorities. [Cartoon by Jesse Duquette]

It’s too bad only farmers are people and not librarians or artists or healthcare workers or researchers.

A Brief History of Halloween Isn’t Fun Anymore

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The UC Regents finally released the “settlement agreement” the Trump administration proposed in August. It’s a doozy.

UC alumni, faculty, staff, students, parents, donors—and all citizens of California:

Now is the time to let the UC Regents know you do not want them to sign this bad deal.

I'm giving a talk on "How Social Media Misleads Us about Public Opinion" to The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine in DC

Watch it online or in person: www.nationalacademies.org/event/45948_11-2025_beware-the-funhouse-mirror-how-social-media-misleads-us-about-public-opinion

Please understand that the only reason this has been released is because of the UCLA faculty association who filed a request and challenged the refusal in court. If you are a UC faculty member, join your FA!

(7/X) You know the old quote about why do you rob banks? Because that's where the money is.

Why do "free speech" people try to appeal to cranky reactionary old men? Because that's where the money is.

(1/X) Check out a typical Harper's letter signatory's Twitter feed and you'll mostly *still* find 80% complaints about the "woke left", even in the midst of the greatest government crack-down on free speech in at least 60 tears.

Why? Because the "free speech" movement is donor/patron-driven.

University of California faculty push back against Big Brother cybersecurity mandate School officials defend software as bulwark against ransomware, but professors fear potential surveillance of their devices

The journal Science covers the UC spyware saga. The UC administrators’ policy assurances are like saying one does not have to lock one’s car because it is illegal for someone to steal the car or its contents. #highereducation 🧪⚛️🔭 #academicsky www.science.org/content/arti...

Take out your phone, go to the clock app, and find the stopwatch. Click start. Now watch the seconds as they climb. Three seconds come and go in a blink. At the thirtysecond mark, your mind starts to wander. One minute passes, and you begin to think that this is taking a long time. Two . . . three . . . . The clock ticks on. Then, finally, you make it to four minutes. Hit stop. Now imagine for that entire time, you are suffocating. You want to breathe; you have to breathe. But you are strapped to a gurney with a mask on your face pumping your lungs with nitrogen gas. Your mind knows that the gas will kill you. But your body keeps telling you to breathe. That is what awaits Anthony Boyd tonight. For two to four minutes, Boyd will remain conscious while the State of Alabama kills him in this way. When the gas starts flowing, he will immediately convulse. He will gasp for air.

SCOTUS just allowed Alabama's execution of Anthony Boyd:
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

Justice Sotomayor wrote this vivid dissent blasting AL for using the method of nitrogen gas.

@laurengill.bsky.social's reporting from an AL execution shows you why: boltsmag.org/alabama-nitr...

The NIH institute director firing last Friday is very bad.

I made a video explainer about why.

Stay for last post, w link to @science.org story from @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social

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US PhD admissions shrink as fears over Trump’s cuts take hold Some doctoral programmes are admitting no students at all amid uncertainty about federal science funding.

Fewer grad students means less science, but many STEM PhD programs in the US are cutting back on admissions this year due to federal funding uncertainties. Words by me for @nature.com:

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

@emsque.bsky.social @ucsdcooperlab.bsky.social @julieposselt.bsky.social 🧪

New special issue of #PhilTransB today, "A solid base for scaling up: The structure of numeration systems", to which I am a contributor. We have had only a shockingly fuzzy idea what a numerical 'base' is, and this interdisciplinary set of papers addresses that big question, and many smaller ones.

At least both parties agree on what he's doing to the country.

White House to Meet with Universities Regarding Compact The scheduled meeting follows increasingly forceful pushback to the wide-ranging proposal.

BREAKING: The White House has confirmed it's called the 5 institutions who haven't signed its compact to a meeting this afternoon. Insiders tell us it's "an effort to regain momentum by threatening institutions to sign" @knottkatherine.bsky.social has the scoop www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Whitney: Protecting what makes Vail great means supporting federal funding for science I am one of the lucky few to grow up in Vail. My childhood was surrounded by nature and adventure. Living in Maloit Park in Minturn meant that my backyard was essentially a forest, one...

Conservation biologist Tabor Whitney learned to value nature in Colorado’s forests. Now her federally funded work protecting the Colorado River Basin and building resilience against drought, wildfire, and water scarcity is at risk of being cut. 🧪🏠
www.vaildaily.com/opinion/whit...