Charles Jennings

This Is the News From TikTok When young adults use the social-media outlet to keep up with current events, what kind of information are they getting?

Maybe not what we want to hear, but @theatlantic.com has a piece on how TikTok (and algorithmic news delivery in general) is supplanting trad news sources for Gen Z. How should science communication adapt—if at all? Maybe TikTok viewers are not the target audience for in-depth science reporting?

Noem announces plans to replicate Alligator Alcatraz model across multiple states Dystopian Reality, Human Rights Violations, Government Overreach, Immigration Policy, Detention Industrial Complex, Kristi Noem

Fortunately this model cannot be replicated in Massachusetts, because (i) we are not ruled by fascist enablers, and (ii) 'Wild Turkey Altcatraz' seems much less scary.

Another more subtle example that I remember citing to my Russian friend, but which I fear may now be obsolete: ‘American people love democracy’ (lots of individuals = ‘stuff’) vs ‘THE American people love democracy’ (ie, a unified polity with a shared faith in their political system =’thing,’ )

How the brain distinguishes oozing fluids from solid objects An MIT study finds parts of the brain’s visual cortex are specialized to analyze either solid objects (things) or flowing materials (stuff) like water or sand.

Per @nancykanwisher.bsky.social, brains distinguish things from stuff. I once tried to explain to a Russian colleague when to use articles in English, eg ‘I ate A/THE strawberry’ (thing) versus ‘I ate strawberry jam’ (stuff).’ If I understood him, Russian grammar doesn’t make that distinction.

"If it were in our power…we would unite every white man in the South, who is opposed to negro suffrage, into one great Order of Southern Brotherhood… in which a few should execute the concentrated will of all, and whose very existence should be concealed from all but its members."

Just to understand where GOP sympathies lie in this case, check out General Pike’s Wikipedia page. Apart from a few archaic phrases, the key quote reads like a current GOP strategy document.

The rebranding message is a good idea! Fortunately my kids are now beyond the glitter phase, but it always bugged me back then - for a few seconds of gratification, we add to the 1000-year trash pile that we are leaving to future generations.

And then shoot the messenger.

Europe is not interested in war, but war is interested in Europe.

Perhaps the GOP could place a bulk order and get a discount.

A Quiet Policy Shift That Could Devastate American Science Why NIH’s sudden move to multi-year grant funding should alarm every principal investigator and university

A little known - but hugely consequential - part of the government’s changes to science funding:

open.substack.com/pub/sciencea...

Scientists who receive NIH funding, anyone want to share your thoughts on the recent White House whiplash? I'm working on a story about it for The Guardian. DMs are open. 🧪

In Game-Changing Climate Rollback, E.P.A. Aims to Kill a Bedrock Scientific Finding

Unfortuntately the topic of mammalian reproduction in space became more relevant today, given that the Trump administration just decided it's ok to cook our home planet. But the good news is that mice (so maybe humans too) can reach at least the blastocyst stage in zero gravity.

Effect of microgravity on mammalian embryo development evaluated at the International Space Station Biological sciences; Developmental biology; Embryology; Space sciences

This paper on mammalian embryo dev in zero gravity has a great graphical abstract! (HT Peter Mombaerts, who is a past collaborator with senior author Teru Wakayama.)

NIH is shrinking the number of research projects it funds due to a new Trump policy NIH plans to shrink the share of grant applications it will award for the remainder of the fiscal year, in some cases by more than half.

NIH is shrinking the number of research projects it funds due to a new Trump policy www.statnews.com/2025/07/29/n... via @statnews.com

Important story: "If you are a Principal Investigator with a well-scored grant, just waiting for council review, and you think you are sure to receive an award, you should think again." NIH paylines for FY25 are about to fall dramatically unless there is immediate pushback against this policy.

James Leprino, ‘Willy Wonka of Cheese’ Who Revolutionized Pizza, Dies at 87

Interesting obit for anyone who loves pizza! His parents were Italian immigrants with a grocery store in Denver, and as pizza became popular in the US, he saw a market opportunity and a need for technical innovation in mozzarella manufacture. Monty Python was right: “Blessed are the cheesemakers.”

Grand Canyon Fossils Offer Glimpse Into When Complex Life Appeared

Very cool—even if they didn’t find fossil rabbits at the bottom…

so.... NIH issued a news item clarifying the new use of animals policy.

It seems that the bottom line is that NIH will not issue NoFOs specifically about creation or use of animal models of disease.

1/2

grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

Even if it's an easy hike, people die there - a woman who lived near me in Massachusetts died on Camelback in 2021 from the heat. So why increase your risk through poor clothing choices (or worse if you are a top health official, by setting a poor example to others)?

How about 'gruntled,' as in “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.” -PG Wodehouse, Code of the Woosters

My daughter just baked a ‘babkallah’ (a cross between babka and challah), but there also seems to be some mouse hippocampus in the mix. The dark layer that looks like Nissl stain is chocolate-strawberry filling - delicious!

Spot on.

Pershing Square Philanthropies Mission Statement — Pershing Square Philanthropies Pershing Square Philanthropies - we bet on innovative leaders solving humanity’s big societal, environmental, and health challenges.

According to their website his foundation has given $930M since 2006, so about $50 million/yr. That’s not nothing, but to put it in context Ackman also became a prominent supporter of Trump, who now wants to cut the NIH budget by $18 billion per year. So do the math...

"More than 75,000 adults and children are now estimated to have died because of the effective shutdown of PEPFAR that began less than six months ago. Another adult life is being lost every three minutes; a child dies every 31 minutes." Details at pepfar.impactcounter.com

China’s Quiet Win: Outmaneuvering U.S. for Africa’s Future Leaders

Another important point – Africa is the fastest-growing continent, which China has recognized. Huge numbers of African students are going to China for their education (many more than to the US), and they will return as leaders of their countries with pro-Chinese (and perhaps anti-Western) views.

Guest Post - How the Growth of Chinese Research Is Bringing Western Publishing to Breaking Point - The Scholarly Kitchen Christos Petrou examines the rapid growth in publication volume coming from China, and how that is impacting the publishing industry.

Here is an article with interesting stats on Chinese output in different fields. Even before Trump, China had already overtaken OECD in several fields including materials sci, chem eng and others. (One effect of this is that Chinese submissions are overwhelming Western journals’ capacity to review.)

How Trump’s crackdown on Harvard and other universities is affecting the world Mr. Trump’s ideological war on universities is putting students, professors and scientists under pressure. That could undermine the global dominance that American science has enjoyed for decades.

US has taken for granted that it is the world leader in STEM, but that’s not a given. The attack on Harvard is part of a larger movement that threatens to undermine US leadership. Science is universal and will flourish wherever the conditions are right – if not here, then elsewhere.

Here is the link. The deadline for public comment is Monday at 5pm. I just responded, emphasizing the importance of animal models for understanding brain function and brain disease. It took only a few minutes. www.fda.gov/news-events/...

Boston named most collision-prone city in US — and two other Mass. cities aren’t far behind, report says - The Boston Globe A new report shows why Boston drivers are considered some of the worst in the country.

This new report finds that Boston drivers have the highest collision rate in the US, with an avg of one every 10.5 years. I just checked, and my last crash (I was rear-ended by a guy who didn’t expect me to stop at a red light) was in Feb 2015. So I must be due for another one next month…