Jeff Zacks

Tell the Supreme Court: No Stay. Hands off NIH The Supreme Court is poised to allow Trump to illegally terminate NIH grants. Let's speak out. There is not much time.

The Supreme Court is reviewing a vitally important NIH case on its shadow docket.

It is likely that the Court will back Trump, and say his (illegal) grant terminations are ok.

We must speak up now.
1/

a man in a green lantern costume is standing in a hanger with a helicopter in the background . Alt: Ryan Reynolds suiting up as Green Lantern. While better known for his role as Deadpool, Ryan will always be Green Lantern to us. Sorry not sorry, Ryan. This will haunt you forever.

🚨ATTENTION CDC AND ALLIES!🚨 Our genes/jeans are GREEN tomorrow
To see our strength and build community, we ask that you wear something 💚green💚 to work on WEDNESDAY (tomorrow) to show solidarity and readiness to defend public health. Spread the word! #courageiscontagious #spreadthecolor #wearthecolor

New review paper with Maverick Smith on improving memory for stuff people actually want to remember:
doi.org/10.1177/0963...

STEM EDUCATION Appropriations, 2025 ............................................................................. $1,172,000,000 Committee recommendation ................................................................. 1,000,000,000

New update today (on Senate version, House version is worse):

👎 Though overall NSF budget would remain flat, STEM education would still see a 15% cut:

$1,172 --> $1,000 million

From a bill report out today after the bill passed in committee yesterday: www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

Subcommittee Markup of Fiscal Year 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Bill

Another (small) update today:

The analogous subcommittee in the House will now meet next Tuesday, July 15, also about NSF/NASA/NOAA budgets (link below).

House has recently been more hawkish on $ than Senate, so will be interesting. Here's who to call: appropriations.house.gov/subcommittee...

Agree. But my lab is so good at making fun of me that I don't think AI will put them out of a job just yet.

Brenda Milner just turned 107. Happy birthday!
On my very first day as a PI at the MNI, she was right in front of me in the cafeteria line.
She was already nearly 100, and still coming to work.
What a legend.

Postdoc Fellows The CTCN funds a cohort of outstanding Postdoctoral Fellows to work at the interface between theoretical and experimental labs and help forge new collaborations. Application deadline August 1st, 20…

The Center for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience at WashU is recruiting postdoctoral fellows. The Center offers a unique opportunity to craft a transdisciplinary research program with an unusual degree of independence.

ctcn.wustl.edu/postdoc-fell...

Marc Coutanche: The president and DOGE repeat the Soviet's big mistake America went to the moon. The USSR starved. The difference was that America promoted science over politics. Getting to the moon remains one of the greatest...

Thoughtful column by @marccoutanche.bsky.social about parallels between the current federal challenges to science and the history of Soviet science:
www.post-gazette.com/opinion/gues...

FABBS Responds to Proposed ‘Schedule F’ Rule – FABBS The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently proposed a new rule which claims to “increase career employment accountability.” FABBS previously reported on

There's one day left to submit a comment on the Trump administration's proposal to reclassify career civil service employees--including at NSF and NIH--as "at-will" political appointees. Read the @fabbs.org comment here and submit your own: fabbs.org/news/2025/06...

Florida Board Rejects Ono for UF Job The Florida Board of Governors decided against confirming Santa Ono as president of the University of Florida in a contentious vote focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.

I too was troubled by Ono's abrupt about face. That degree of moral flexibility seems an unfortunate characteristic for an institutional leader. Inside Higher Ed found your comment apt as well: www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

OECS thematic collections.

If you haven't been looking recently at the Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science (oecs.mit.edu), here's your reminder that we are a free, open access resource for learning about the science of mind.

Today we are launching our new Thematic Collections to organize our growing set of articles!

Thanks @davideagleman.bsky.social for bringing me on Inner Cosmos to talk about the cognitive neuroscience of movies!

Three Great Documentaries to Stream

Chad Freidrichs' documentary, The Cinema Within, got a very nice review in the @nytimes.com:
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/m...

🚨 A new rule would let career scientists like NSF/NIH program officers be replaced by political appointees

Already 14,000+ public comments, deadline is Friday

📣 Comments can be short. Courts consider them—and scientists with NSF/NIH experience are especially impactful

Speak up! shorturl.at/WKuBj

Thoughtful comment by @lkfazio.bsky.social about how to pivot.

In this op-ed, Alondra Nelson provides dramatic new facts about the current federal science crisis and gives a cogent argument for transparent administration of federally mandated science and information institutions and for protecting congressionally mandated procedures:

Bears repeating that Congress has not passed a budget or any other legislation that has asked the NSF to do this downsizing, they're dismantling the agency in anticipation of cuts that as of yet have no basis in law

Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund

It’s hard to look my oldest in the eye & tell him his generation can’t have the nearly as many opportunities we had to discover & advance science. www.science.org/content/arti...

🧪 Another round of NSF grant terminations is expected today.

But here’s a silver lining: there’s already a webinar for you today at 2 pm ET if you’re in that boat!

(Tries to find the dark humor in moments like these…)

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Webinar on Responding to NSF Grant Terminations. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Join the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS) on Friday, May 9th, at 2:00 PM ET for an informative webinar on responding to NSF grant terminations. We will discuss the r...

@fabbs.org webinar on responding to NSF grant terminations, for those in the behavioral and brain sciences:

us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Phone-banking opportunity to encourage legislators to sign on to Congressional/Senate letters opposing cuts to indirect recovery costs and FY ‘26 NIH funding:

form.laborbase.org/251246245216...

The Age of Aquaticus How a tiny worm that loves hot water changed the trajectory of modern science.

A timely and engaging story about why federal funding for basic science is such a good investment:
www.wnycstudios.org/story/the-ag...

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...

FYI: The Spencer Foundation, Kapor Foundation, The William T. Grant Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have collaborated to offer $25K rapid response grants.

"This rapid response bridge funding opportunity is for scholars and teams whose grants have recently been cancelled by NSF."

Welcome to Save The U.S. National Science Foundation A Girl Looking at a Physics Model TAKE ACTION Save NSF is a coalition of concerned scientists and allies who are working to save funding for scientific grants through the U.S. National Science Foundation. Our mission is to support and advocate for the continuation of vital research and innovation in various scientific fields. NSF funding is critical to this work. Join us in our endeavor to ensure a sustainable future for scientific exploration and discovery.

I am so heartened to this seriously AWESOME #SaveNSF website go up today!!!!

Has a take action toolkit with:

1. Press outreach templates
2. Social media toolkit
3. Elected official outreach
4. Talking points

Check it out and share widely!!!! Likely more to come.

www.savensf.com

Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.

🔔BREAKING🔔

The NSF has frozen all research grant awards—cutting off life-saving science midstream and demanding ideological screenings for future funding.

This is censorship disguised as oversight.

Here’s how you can help us spread the word ➡️🧵(1/3):
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.

BREAKING: NSF has frozen all grant funding, as of yesterday. It's unclear when they will resume funding awards, or why the pause has been put in place. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Congratulations, Jonathan!!!

a woman is making a peace sign with her hand and the words `` stay strong '' behind her . Alt: a woman is making a peace sign with her hand and the words `` stay strong '' behind her .

Shout out to all the hard working program officers and administration staff holding on at the NSF (and other federal agencies). Your work is appreciated and more meaningful with every passing day.

FABBS Welcomes the Association for Psychological Science – FABBS FABBS is delighted to welcome  the Association for Psychological Science (APS)  into the FABBS family. APS is the scientific home of thousands of

The Association for Psychological Science (@psychscience.bsky.social) has joined @fabbs.org --a strengthened relationship that will benefit all of the behavioral and brain sciences.

fabbs.org/news/2025/04...