susan persky

The claim “vaccines do not cause autism” is the very definition of an evidence-based claim. Over a million children have been studied in every valid, ethical experimental design scientists can think of. More evidence-based claims: infections can kill people & we have vaccines that keep people alive.

I’m sure she would have ❤️

We experience these events through our media bubbles. So please take a little time to look at the details.

For example: here is how DHS described one incident in Chicago. Now watch the video, which tells a different story.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whos-threa...
bsky.app/profile/news...

NIH froze funding for clinical trials at a major university. By fall, they’ll run out of funding | CNN Northwestern University hasn’t received any funding from the NIH since the end of March. Not only could patients potentially stop receiving treatments that trials provided, the research itself could b...

"It’s hard to understand why the administration is pausing funding for medical research and clinical trials if its goal is to counter antisemitism." @megtirrell.bsky.social looks at how Northwestern's trials for heart disease and other diseases are collapsing. www.cnn.com/2025/06/23/h...

We're living through the Who Cares Era, where completely disposable things are shoddily produced for people to mostly ignore, while the government stomps its uncaring boot on our necks. But there's an easy way to fight back: Care.

I wrote about it: dansinker.com/posts/2025-0...

Senators coming for my job now.

AMXRA Guidelines on Extended Reality and Children: Considerations and Recommendations for Application Development and Use | Journal of Medical Extended Reality The extended reality (XR) revolution has ushered in the adoption of head-mounted displays (HMDs), including among children. While well-studied clinical uses of XR hold promise for positive outcomes in...

For as long as I can remember we have lamented the lack of evidence-based guidelines for using XR with kids as they develop.
Here’s a start: AMXRA guidelines report on XR and children. Proud to be part of this stellar author team.

🔗 www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10....

This was me. Terminated from #NIMHBSC with no explanation. Complete gov interference in the #NIH intramural research program oversight and review - telling NIH researchers what science they can do and who can do it. Not a positive outlook for scientific discovery, innovation, or health. 👇👇

Federal Workers Are Facing a New Reality The problem for government employees isn’t just low morale. It’s the manufactured chaos.

I spent the past week taking to two dozen federal employees who have (so far) survived Trump's layoffs. The problem isn't just low morale, they told me. It’s the manufactured chaos.

Read my story in @theatlantic.bsky.social for free:

www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Defunding the NIH: A Betrayal of Taxpayers and America’s Biomedical Future American taxpayers have spent decades and over $1 trillion building the world’s foremost biomedical research enterprise. The National…

NIH isn’t some bloated bureaucracy—it’s the reason you survived COVID. It’s why cancer treatments keep improving. It's why gene therapy exists.

Now? We’re defunding it. That’s not just foolish. It’s strategic surrender. A thread 🧵
medium.com/@KellenSquir...

This is alarming.

For the protection of privacy, federal agencies sharing our personal data violates policy and law. Failure to enforce these protections enables mass surveillance. While some may be okay with private sector data collection, few feel the same about government overreach.

Try to imagine a situation where you are not allowed to do your job (e.g. working with applicants to formulate successful proposals), you and and your long-time colleagues are fearful of losing their job, ...

1/n

NIH Grants Fueled $95 Billion In FY 2024 Economic Activity, Finds New Report National Institutes of Health grants generated almost $95 billion in economic activity nationwide in FY 2024 according to a new report by United for Medical Research.

New report shows that NIH grants fueled $95 billion in economic activity and 407,782 jobs in 2024.

That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved.

Show me a better investment than that.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

At the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda this morning. Packed with people protesting the Trump administration’s drastic cuts to the federal science workforce and research grants. “Save our science, save NIH,” they chant.

Inside the Collapse at NIH Administration officials pressured NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.

I talked to NIH officials, current and former, about what's been happening inside the agency since the Trump administration shut down their grantmaking pipeline in January. Their stories showed just how willing our new leaders are to break the law: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Thanks for your service - though suggest you reconsider using a ‘cures’ framing when it comes to autism

CN Subscribe Trump officials fired nuclear staff not realizing what they do The administration officials didn't seem to know the agency oversees the country's nuclear weapons, sources say • CNN Exclusive: FEMA firings reveal roiling tension and confusion within the Department of Homeland Security

Roses are red
Violets are blue

Screenshot of Bluesky "Trending" list with two items side by side, "CDC Layoffs" and "Texas Outbreak"

um...okay

An excellent (that is to say, accurate) post about some of the shit that is happening.

I’m leaving the fucking curse words in.

Worth a read and a good reminder at the end.

Exclusive: Musk aides lock government workers out of computer systems at US agency, sources say Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.

This is a hostile takeover of the federal government by a private citizen of unlimited means with no restrictions and no transparency. Welcome to the Deep State www.reuters.com/world/us/mus...

Heard from inside the National Cancer Institute, part of NIH — travel through April is canceled. Purchasing with government card is frozen. All public comms are off limits. Can’t even submit abstracts to future meetings. Can’t submit *manuscripts* for publication. All hiring activity frozen. Fuck.

More from inside NIH:

Per a source with knowledge, for all internal research (of which there is like $10 billion worth or so), ALL purchasing shut down as of yesterday.

That means gloves, reagents, anything involved with lab work, which means a lot of that work will stop.

a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on

Bluetorial-A dream and a bit of a nightmare

Serving as Editor-in-Chief at Science was fascinating. I greatly enjoyed working with talented and committed editorial, news, graphics, and production staff. But the inside look into scientific publishing and AAAS was also deeply disillusioning.

Does VR relieve pain?
We focus way too much on the headset - to our detriment

In our new paper we find even systematic reviews and meta-analyses in XR pain treatment too often ignore / underreport on content.

www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/...

Mural of skeleton family

As a social & behavioral scientist I constantly get research inspiration on vacation. Much more than in the lab. Why?
1. comparing/contrasting cultures, 2. much family togetherness & interpersonal dynamics, 3. novel experience, 4. time to think freely and make connections - ultimate shower thoughts

Announcing our much-awaited special issue of Cyberpsych, behavior & social networking on digital health equity - co-edited with the great Brenda Curtis.

www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/...