Liz Neeley

Oh but you’re the best person I can think of to do it! You’re charming, aren’t going to harangue anyone, & know how to vamp!

No tips, but how many people in your audience do you think are auction connoisseurs? Most just want to have a nice time & support the school. They’ll be so grateful for you

The Draft is Ready. Now We Need You. Share your perspective on the state of nature in the U.S.

The draft Nature Record National Assessment is now open for comment!

Take a look and tell us what we got right, what we missed, and what changes you’re seeing where you live.

Your perspective will help shape the final record of nature in the U.S.

naturerecord.substack.com/p/the-draft-...

The Drop in International Students Last Year Was Worse Than We Thought Visa issuances nosedived 36 percent, possibly reflecting weakening global interest in studying in the United States.

NEW: The bad news about international-student enrollments at American colleges just got worse. An exclusive @chronicle.com analysis of just-released State Department data shows new visa issuances in the summer of 2025 dropped by more than a third. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

This is a phrase I’ll hold onto: “Nosotros no estamos solos—somos los primeros. Somos los primeros.”

Rebecca Solnit Says the Left’s Next Hero Is Already Here

In my workshops I argue that stories are like hammers—we can use them to build houses or break kneecaps.

In new NYT profile @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social says,
“The idea that stories are these magical devices that will do all our work for us is, itself, a bad story.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/m...

Censoring Courses Isn’t the Law in Texas. Universities Are Doing It Anyway. Teaching restrictions were removed from Senate Bill 37 after “relentless” lobbying, but board members and administrators have since enacted strikingly similar requirements.

We keep hearing the public university systems saying, ‘We’re following SB 37.’ I’m sorry, no, SB 37 does not give you the mandate to violate people’s academic freedom and free speech.

Shout out to all the Texas professors fighting for democracy.

@texasaaup.bsky.social @aaup.org

Every time you experience something new, your brain faces a decision: Should it update an existing memory or create a new one?

In our new paper in @sfnjournals.bsky.social #JNeurosci, we isolate that exact decision, moment-by-moment during learning 🧵

Year 2, Week 10 Feb 28-Mar6, 2026 - time (for) change

Each Friday night, I write a briefing on what happened in US science & higher ed. 🧪

Mar 6 (Year 2, Week 10)
- NIH revoking certification of early career workers union
- FDA 'chaos' & Prasad out (again)
- even more delay & interference in NIH funding
& so much more

buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

Stark Divide: Americans More Confident in Career Scientists at U.S. Health Agencies Than Leaders | The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania When it comes to reliable health information, Americans are more confident in federal health agencies' career scientists than their leaders.

A new Annenberg poll shows Americans trust federal career scientists and independent medical groups more than in the political leaders running U.S. health agencies
www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/stark-divide...

Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302

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.

Grant Witness is hiring! We're seeking a full-time data scientist to join our team building data resources to support journalism, litigation, and activism protecting science, public health, and the rule of law. grant-witness.us/apply.html #rstats

TFISE sunrise logo

My research institute, the Tracy Farmer Institute for Sustainability and the Environment, is rolling out a new flagship program: the Tracy Farmer Scholars!

UKY undergrad, grad, and professional students can apply for up to $6,000 in research funding. Apps due 3/27.

research.uky.edu/tfise/scholars

awful news 🧪

ICE Off Campus: Alumni & Higher Education Organizing Call · Indivisible Since Trump’s return to office, higher education has been under attack – with schools facing pressure from the administration to curtail free speech and academic freedom, eliminate DEI policies as par...

Everyone has a role to play in ensuring colleges and their communities are safe from ICE. Our next organizing call will focus on what you can do to keep ICE off college campuses.

Urgently needed, funny, and sharp as hell. Cannot wait to read everything published by @rahawahaile.bsky.social, @manjula.bsky.social @latriagraham.bsky.social @maggiemertens.bsky.social

They write about “What happened to journalism? What happened to the short story writer? What happened to the memoir market? Why aren’t authors getting paperback releases anymore? What happened to celebrity book clubs guaranteeing book sales? Why is the Newsletter Industry all we have left?”

The New Scratch How is anyone who writes making any money right now?

“We are living through a moment where the labor of writers is being exploited to create rapacious technologies that make everything stupider, exponentially hasten the demise of the planet’s ecosystems, and prop up fascists and dictators worldwide.”

Enter SCRATCH www.talkscratch.com/the-new-scra...

New from me, at @vqr.bsky.social: a few years ago two people contacted me about a TEDx talk I once gave, “The Art of Haunting.”

When I replied I’d never given a TEDx talk, things just got weirder.

On AI, ghosts, what it means to tell a story, and what Italo Calvino saw coming 60 years ago. Enjoy!

Year 2, Week 9 Feb 21-27, 2026 - ready, steady

Each Friday night, I cover what happened in US science & higher ed. 🧪

Year 2, Week 9: Feb 27 - on "epistemic vigilance" and
- precipice of war
- travesties in leadership (NIH director now also CDC head)
- surgeon general confirmation hearing
- NASA warnings & more

buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

What good can you do today? What trouble can you cause? What suffering can you ease? What needs to exist, and can you help build it?

The scalded ocean and the blazing well
For vengeance, and the ashes of language

Well now the Wayback Machine won't believe I'm human, so I guess it's time to call it a night

The last-minute change in eligibility criteria excluded second-year grad students, so the total number of NSF GRFP applications is likely to be MUCH smaller.

We're playing word games if they don't tell us % of applications returned without review.

I appreciate @klangin.bsky.social's work on this!

it was such a delight to get to talk to the incredible @lizneeley.bsky.social - everything she and the team at @unbreaking.org are doing gives me immense hope!

Television pioneer Fred Rogers, gone 23 years ago today.

His acceptance speech for the Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award is always worth a watch.

#RIP 💔

Who else is working on Friday evening and annoyed that Nature is down?

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

Congress rejected massive cuts to US science budgets for 2026, but much of the money still isn’t flowing to researchers.

The culprit? The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is quietly slow-walking the release of funds. 🧵👇

Couple takeaways:
-more info about GRFP stats on Friday
-NSF plans to hire because they lost too many staff to DRP
-big emphasis on presidential priorities (AI and quantum 'frontiers' in the director's office)
-a lot about reducing bureaucracy, not a ton of justification

The Fight for the Heart of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - bioGraphic One year after the Trump administration threw the EPA into chaos, former employees continue to push back—and to dream of an agency reborn.

“I give the EPA employees here a lot of credit,” says Nicole Cantello, the president of AFGE Local 704 in Chicago. “They want to survive this. They want to live to … rebuild this agency.”

www.biographic.com/the-fight-fo...

Chris, thank you! (@wespin.bsky.social made me smile to see your name on that report)