James Diggans

Top White House pandemic preparedness official resigns, officials say, in sign of broader disarray Exclusive: A top White House pandemic preparedness official has resigned, officials tell STAT, in a sign of broader disarray.

“In recent weeks, according to officials who spoke with STAT, Parker resigned after roughly six months — and was never actually appointed the formal head of the pandemic preparedness office in the first place.” www.statnews.com/2025/07/30/w...

The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

We should be putting a gargantuan amount of money into solar and storage. War economy levels. It should be free to have a guy from the government solar your house up. Electricity should basically cost nothing.

America’s Brain Drain Could Become the World’s Brain Gain Research-funding cuts and immigration changes threaten some of America’s economic advantages.

Since WWII, America has led the world -- economically and in so many other ways -- in no small part because of its willingness to spend on basic research and its ability to attract the world's best and brightest.

That is changing -- fast. My deep dive on the topic:

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

📌

Scientists warn US will lose a generation of talent because of Trump cuts Political interference and chaotic cuts to staff, programs and grants at the National Science Foundation are producing ‘devastating consequences’

By me: A generation of scientific talent is at the brink of being lost to overseas competitors by the Trump administration’s dismantling of the National Science Foundation (NSF), with unprecedented political interference jeopardizing the future of US enterprise.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

As an example why government reports should always get be deposited in a repository — the 3rd, 4th and 5th National Climate Assessments (all of which are no longer accessible at globalchange.gov) can be accessed on the NOAA repository

I have obtained new nonpublic data from ICE that shows that 2/3 of the people it had booked into detention facilities this fiscal year had no criminal convictions at all. Less than 7% have violent convictions. Most convictions were for immigration, traffic, and vice offenses.

In Defense of ‘Silly’ Science Basic research and the value of curiosity.

"We are witnessing the dismantling of a system that once made space for pure curiosity. But if we lose our commitment to basic research, we risk stalling the very engine of innovation that has propelled us forward for generations." www.chronicle.com/article/in-d...

US critical networks are prime targets for cyberattacks. They’re preparing for Iran to strike. Organizations across the country are stepping up their vigilance as the conflict between Iran and Israel widens.

(Politico) - The organizations representing critical networks that keep the lights on, the water running and transportation systems humming across the U.S. are bracing for a possible surge of Iranian cyberattacks.

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

In science’s new era, open and transparent cooperation remains key As China continues its scientific ascent, the rest of the world should keep engaging.

China is on course to overtake the United States as the world’s largest contributor to research

https://go.nature.com/40axZdT

120 million acres of public lands eligible for sale in SENR budget reconciliation package The bill mandates disposal of over 2 million acres of BLM and National Forest lands; public lands eligible for sale in the bill encompass over 120 million acres, including local recreation areas, wild...

This would be the largest public lands sell-off in modern U.S. history and it's happening with no hearings, no debate, and no public input.

See what public lands would be available for sale:
www.wilderness.org/articles/med...

A screen shot of an email reading: Dear Dr. Gill, Jacquelyn, I am writing to let you know that given the current budgetary projections and recent adjustment of NSF’s over-arching priorities, NSF/BIO will not be making any new awards through the Biology Integration Institutes Program. Therefore, the solicitation has been archived, and NSF has returned your proposal without review so you can re-submit it, or portions of it, to appropriate BIO programs that currently are receiving new proposals, if you wish. Sincerely, Jim Deshler Division Director (Acting) Division of Biological Infrastructure

Last February, I led a proposal submission that encompassed six months, hundreds of hours, four institutions, a massive team, and and 256 pages. NSF just informed us that the entire Biology Integration Institute program was archived and our proposal would not even be reviewed.

With a form email.

BREAKING: A federal judge in Massachusetts (the Reagan-appointed William Young) has declared the Trump administration's cuts to NIH grants — ostensibly over Trump's EOs on gender ideology and DEI — are "illegal" and "void." He's ordering many grants restored.

How to Protest Safely in the Age of Surveillance Law enforcement has more tools than ever to track your movements and access your communications. Here’s how to protect your privacy if you plan to protest.

We've just updated the @wired.com guide to protecting your privacy while attending protests with the latest best practices. @agreenberg.bsky.social and @lhn.bsky.social report: www.wired.com/story/how-to...

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…

NEW: The Trump administration cut research funding that sought cures for future pandemics, examined the causes of dementia and tried to prevent HIV transmission.

ProPublica heard from more than 150 researchers to understand the work that’s been lost.

For years, I've long said that climate.gov's team of remarkable communicators (& their amazing blogs, which were accessible but did not "dumb down" the science!) was NOAA's best (& most cost effective!) public-facing extreme #weather / #climate education effort to date. This will be a huge loss.

NEW: The board of the Fulbright Program has just resigned after accusing Trump aides of political interference. They say a State Dept. office under Rubio and Darren Beattie has cancelled scholarships to nearly 200 US professors and researchers. Story: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/u...

RFK Jr. overhauls vaccine advisory panel; doctor calls it 'dark day for public health' Health officials are sounding alarms over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to overhaul a vaccine advisory board with his appointees.

#NationalNewsDesk: #RFKJr has decided to replace members of the #CDC vaccine advisory panel. This may remove access, endanger trust, & weaken pandemic response

“There is no effective response to a pandemic that doesn't involve a trusted governmental-led response” — @jennifernuzzo.bsky.social

More⤵️

The federal government is moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers.

That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.

“The global enterprise will adapt to the lack of American leadership, but the steep loss for the country itself is unambiguous. The United States will no longer have the same window into the technologies of the future that will allow it to shape and anticipate commercial and societal advances.”

We set out to quantify U.S. academic contributions to medicines. The results stunned even us From 2020 to 2024, universities contributed patents underpinning 50% of FDA-approved drugs. 87% of those academic breakthroughs came from American institutions.

A study finds, US based academic research institutes account for 50% of new medical drugs in the last 4 years. 🧪

www.statnews.com/2025/06/06/u...

#science #savescience #stat

Experimental Evaluation of AI-Driven Protein Design Risks Using Safe Biological Proxies Advances in machine learning are providing new abilities for engineering biology, promising leaps forward with beneficial applications. At the same time, these advances raise concerns about biosecurit...

Can AI-assisted protein design tools generate sequences that retain function but not sequence similarity?

New work from NIST, @microsoft.com, and @jdiggans.bsky.social of @twistbioscience.com demonstrates that AIPD tools are not yet powerful enough for wholesale redesign👇

Markey, advocates call out ban on states’ AI oversight in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Enacting a 10-year moratorium on state laws regulating the growth of artificial intelligence is "dangerous and unprecedented," experts warned Wednesday.

Pleased join @markey.senate.gov today in a discussion about protecting our rights and opportunities in the age of AI. A 10-year freeze on AI guardrails would abandon the American public and ignore its concerns. *Truly* innovative technology must be just and fair. www.masslive.com/politics/202...

🍂 👿 NIH Cancelled and Delayed Grants
🧪
Ended: 1,389 Awards
Delayed: >1,000 Projects

nytimes.com

snap cuts, growing to 35% by 2034

chip and medicaid cuts growing to 12-14% by 2034

Cost estimate of the House-passed "Big Beautiful Bill" is out

It'd be the largest cut to Medicaid+CHIP and SNAP in history while still increasing deficits by $2.4 trillion due to $3.8 trillion in tax cuts

This'd be the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single law in history

Cool.

US Library of Congress releases RFI for Synthetic DNA Data Storage

Including "The successful writing of 1.5GB of the Library’s digital data" and "Proof of concept for the potential indefinite storage approach"

#biosky
#DNAdatastorage
sam.gov/opp/fa83133f...

Elected Republicans are coalescing around the talking point that CBO's tax cut estimates are complete fiction and that tax cuts pay for themselves.

Well, CBO's 2018 and 2019 revenue estimates - which included the previous year's TCJA - were ... 99.5% accurate. 🧵

Reminder that the federal funding NPR directly receives mostly supports the Public Radio Satellite System, which reaches nearly 400 stations to transmit emergency messages in the event of a nationwide crisis.

The rest backs the safety & security of journalists in war zones, including in Ukraine.

Google’s Veo 3 Can Make Deepfakes of War, Riots, Election Fraud Google’s Veo 3 lets users make hyper-realistic deepfakes—sparking fears about AI’s role in misinformation online.

New: TIME reporters were able to use Google’s AI video tool to make convincing videos of Muslims setting fire to a Hindu temple; Chinese researchers handling a bat in a wet lab; and elections worker shredding ballots.

After TIME contacted Google, it began adding a visible watermark to Veo 3 clips