Stephan Lange

Obituary: Robert Williamson (1938-2026) geneticist who mapped genes for muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis go.nature.com/3UGMfvx

A poll by Nature in 2025 showed that 75% of researchers considered leaving the country due to research disruptions, funding cuts, etc. Other countries are offering our scientists opportunities to do research. If you want people stay, vote blue in November. 🧪 apnews.com/article/trum...

A US investigation into nine universities’ employment of international researchers is prompting concerns among academics at the campuses go.nature.com/4zLLh03

New research manuscript by Ronaldo André Castelo dos Santos de Almeida and co-authors: A novel pulley–vest model enables progressive resistance exercise in rats without tail loading. doi.org/10.1007/s109... #resistance-exercise #myoblue

Publication of a new research manuscript by Sonu Patel and collaborators: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy-linked Tnnc1 variants are associated with distinct myopathic changes in slow skeletal muscle of mice doi.org/10.1007/s109... #HCM #cardiomyopathy #myoblue

New #review by Shuya Ishii and co-authors: Temperature dependence of activation of thick and thin filaments in skeletal and cardiac muscles #myoblue #myosin #actin doi.org/10.1007/s109...

New original article by Sandra Furlan and co-authors: Cloning and characterization of intermediate Homer1E of human skeletal muscle #myoblue #HOMER-proteins #skeletal-muscle #isoform doi.org/10.1007/s109...

Original manuscript by Stherfanni Almeida Lima-Moura & José Eduardo da Silva-Santos Sex-dependent regulation of #cholinergic responses in the mouse colon: functional evidence for reduced acetylcholinesterase-dependent control and #nitrergic modulation in females doi.org/10.1007/s109... #myoblue

New original paper by Jin Young Hong and collaborators: Polydeoxyribonucleotide attenuates dexamethasone-induced skeletal muscle atrophy by suppressing oxidative stress and regulating muscle protein turnover doi.org/10.1007/s109... #myoblue #dexamethasone #Glucocorticoid #Muscle-protein-turnover

Beck to se ruuds… link.springer.com/article/10.1...

In a bid to tackle the deluge of manuscripts it now receives, preprint server arXiv has announced a cap of two papers per month for each submitting researcher go.nature.com/4dBP2MT

Billions of dollars’ worth of contracts predicting oil would fall and the S&P 500 would rise were placed about 15 minutes before Trump announced a U-turn on Iran in a post on Truth Social. CFTC staff began to investigate...then were told to lay off. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

There's an ongoing debate on whether peer review should factor the journal in. Many calibrate reviews to the journal; many journals explicitly request this. This may be why only ~50% think editorial processes should be separate from manuscript appraisal. But... 1/2 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...

San Diego is not expendable. Our lives are not bargaining chips. The President’s words were reckless, dangerous, and a betrayal of the people he swore to protect. I love this city, and I will never stay quiet when someone treats our families, neighbors, and communities like they are disposable.

NIH’s move toward multiyear funding is a major reason for the drop in grant numbers: The agency now commits several years of funding at once to fewer awards, rather than paying for projects one year at a time. www.the-scientist.com/federal-rese...

Exclusive: A new analysis refutes James Watson’s claim that he was the first to recognize the significance of the famed photograph 51. https://scim.ag/4rTKck8

Post-human necropolitics by the numbers www.economist.com/graphic-deta...

Researchers say that using AI tools to visualize scientific images can become problematic when models misrepresent the underlying data. go.nature.com/3U0ylE8

Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc

What. A. Day. NIH grant-making was paused for several hours today. Not sure who gave the order. But in light of the Friday night Bhattacharya-Vought feud & threatened EO to implement #ScienceDeathPanels, my money is on Russell Vought. I learned of the pause from a colleague around 11:30. 🧵

A scientist in training seeks help in finding a new adviser without damaging existing working relationships go.nature.com/4rtbuxy

Top AI researchers can earn up to US$1.5 million more per year in industry than in academia. Yet many researchers say that academic freedom and mentoring the next generation remain powerful reasons to stay. A @nature.com feature explores the trade-offs: spklr.io/63322ETmUq #AcademicSky

INBOX: Science retracted a news article this week after editors found that the author (likely an AI agent) impersonated the identity of an established science journalist, both with editors and sources in the story. Furthermore, two of the quotes provided were plagiarized: (h/t @wudan.bsky.social)

How do we find hope, persistence, & success at defending essential rights? Today in @science.org, I published a letter with @rebekahtromble.bsky.social & @ubiquity75.xyz explaining how free inquiry is threatened by government restrictions on movement. www.science.org/eprint/CBDR2...

Science magazine story about NIH first amendment lawsuit. www.science.org/content/arti...

I am suing the NIH. As part of a class action with the ACLU and 16 other plaintiffs, we are challenging the thousands of unlawful grant terminations in an effort to get them all reinstated. Whatever happens, at the very least, no one can say I sat back and watched while they destroyed science.

That's Billion with a B.. Last night actor Michael J. Fox accepted an Emmys for his contributions to Parkinson’s disease research. To date, his has helped raise 3 billion dollars for Parkinson’s research

"For many U.S. scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (#NSF), the agency they know and loved died on 10 September. That’s the date NSF issued a 10-page memo signaling a retreat from its traditional role of giving grants to individual researchers to pursue their best ideas and to […]

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) is changing how it funds research grants — and how it decides which ones to fund — to better align with White House priorities, according to a letter released on 10 September. go.nature.com/4iXOjZI

The most successful early-career researchers often rely on a network of mentors who each have different roles — from advising on research and grants to making professional introductions and providing emotional support go.nature.com/46U5PXy

Wtf do the government want from us here!? They plainly, *plainly*, do not actually want international students. Their whole line of policy for years has been making it more difficult for such people to come here or stay after they graduate! Why are they also out here encouraging us to attract more!?

Millennium math problem solved by OpenAI may have "regurgitated" competitors unpublished work... also they spent more than $22 million in computing power in one week to scoop them. techcrunch.com/2026/09/08/o...

Grantmaking has leveled off, so it looks like NSF will make around 6,200 new grants—down from an average of ~11,000. That's a historic low, not seen since the 1980s, when NSF was a far smaller organization. Left was our projection three weeks ago, right is the current data.

Ok here we go: It DOES look like a major purpose of this NIH funding transfer to NIH is to circumvent NIH’s peer review processes so political appointees can have control. Check out the redacted agreement @maxkozlov.bsky.social released: 1/

An agreement paves the way for hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of projects to be transferred from the NIH’s institute for infectious diseases to the Department of Defense. go.nature.com/4ycEbk8

I remember working at UC San Diego and seeing fighter jets flying on the skies across campus, and thinking-there goes an R01 grant-just in fuel. I guess it’s a reflection on society and the times what you prioritise.

The NIH Director confirms they are giving away biomedical research money used to develop treatments and cures for infectious diseases such as influenza, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, Ebola, and other dangerous pathogens, to the Department of Defense. Outrageous.

A psychology journal has retracted a seminal 2002 paper on deadlines and procrastination coauthored by behavioral scientist Dan Ariely of Duke University just days after a team of sleuths published analyses of the original study data, finding it had been tampered with.

Rough Draft vs Final Draft

But then they DO support it, right? If you perform the act demanded of you, you have literally supported it.

Come be my colleague!! 🎉 We’re hiring an Assistant Professor in Developmental Biology at UCSD! If you’re doing exciting work in development or regeneration, come join us!! Please spread the word and apply! apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF04591

NIH funding curves posted at grant-witness. It looks like grant making is slowing down noticeably and we are in the now in the last month of the fiscal year. It seems like "NIH" may be challenged to get all of the appropriated funds out the door (even if that is their intention).