Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 17h

When I first started doing NIH study sections this 👇🏾 shocked me out of thinking I'm objective. Now I have an Excel sheet which quantifies the major and monitor weaknesses and strengths I find in the application as I go, and then I write my critique to match the overall score my sheet computes.

Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 20h

I agree. I frequently observe that writing critique bullets is an exercise in justification for a gestalt opinion already formed, rather than a stepwise incremental process that leads to a overall impact score.

although sometimes writing those bullets DOES move the overall impression around.

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Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 1d

No American scientist is surprised by the enormity of this graph as we've stood here watching our colleagues leave or make plans to leave over the last six months, and witnessed our postdocs and early career researchers struggle to move up the ladder as the rungs disappear under their feet 😔

Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD DSc(hon) @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social · May 30

No words

Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 2d

Communication is also aligned with feminine attributes. Real men don't talk, they grunt. Anything more is a waste of energy.

Adia Benton @ethnography911.bsky.social · 2d

I think this is the fundamental problem tho… thinking of time devoted/required to developing connections - interpersonal, intellectual, creative, etc - as ’inefficiency’, a failure to *produce*

Mizzy Blundell-Straw MP 🌹 @mizzyblundellstraw.bsky.social · 2d

The emotional labour of thinking

Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 2d

Nothing makes sense other than the burning it all down narrative. Look at the science and research enterprise burning around us; cutting off the pipeline of new scientists, pulling the rug out from under established scientists. This does not help any kind of builder, only a destroyer

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 2d

Sunday reading:

I wrote about the aggrieved extremist who is currently firing thousands of federal workers and ravaging state capacity based on conspiratorial nonsense - and about mainstream media’s infuriating tendency to sanitize Russell Vought and the regime he serves.

This week’s piece:

We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly

Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy

steady.page

Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 2d

Bsky has become one of my two preferred sources for book recos and has led me to books i'da never read otherwise

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 2d

Currently reading and feeling very validated by:

Emily's Reverie @nettlesomeone.bsky.social · 25d

The most 2025 novel of 2025.
7 years ago journalist Rhys punched his MAGA son in law at Thanksgiving. Then he went off grid. Now his grandkids show up needing help.
What comes next is a wild ride: a road trip, guns, and Rhys trying to figure out cell phones. This book is ALIVE. #books #booksky

Reposted by Svasti Haricharan

Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 3d

I do so love getting a text that my mail-in ballot was received and counted. #vote #YesOn50

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Reposted by Svasti Haricharan

LOLGOP ❌👑❌ @thefarce.org · 6d

If you're a California voter, please vote YES ON 50 and send that ballot back ASAP so the volunteers don't waste any time on you. And maybe volunteer if you have the time.

linktr.ee/cadem

Sweet Californians, send those ballots back ASAP, so the volunteers don't need to bother with you.

TikTok video by LOLGOP

www.tiktok.com

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Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 9d

In the background, research labs across the US closing shop because of the funding landscape and PhD programs on pause. Even if this person was doing exemplary research, the obvious corruption erodes NIH reputation 🧪

🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛ @santiagokique.bsky.social · 9d

Even though it's crisis #192308 in our current time, I don't think it's sufficiently sunk in with ppl in the academic community that getting federal funding for your research will primarily depend on whether Trump political appointees find you and your work useful
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Changes at NIH Give Political Appointees Greater Power To Fund or Block Research - KFF Health News

The National Institutes of Health’s long-held standard of peer review for grantmaking has been subverted by President Donald Trump and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who gave unprecedented power to po...

kffhealthnews.org

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Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 9d

I'm not seeing a lot of Prop 50 information in the wild, important to spread the word

Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 10d

“With Proposition 50, Californians can fight back against Trump, ensuring that the upcoming battle for control of Congress is waged on a level playing field.” www.independent.com/2025/09/29/s... #YesOnProp50

Santa Barbara County Residents Show Support for Proposition 50

“Yes on 50” demonstrations popped up at several locations along Highway 101 on Saturday, September 27.

www.independent.com

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Reposted by Svasti Haricharan

Susan @suziqleathers.bsky.social · 12d

General Mattis dropped this Statement today.

Read through to completion below as it is long.

And please Share.

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Reposted by Svasti Haricharan

Governor Gavin Newsom @governor.ca.gov · 12d

IF ANY CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY SIGNS THIS RADICAL AGREEMENT, THEY'LL LOSE BILLIONS IN STATE FUNDING — INCLUDING CAL GRANTS — INSTANTLY.

CALIFORNIA WILL NOT BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, RESEARCHERS, AND SURRENDER ACADEMIC FREEDOM.

New York Times: "Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference."

The White House asked nine top universities to pledge support for President Trump’s agenda to help ensure access to research funding.

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Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 13d

"Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people.

President Ronald Reagan (January 5, 1967).64"

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 13d

Another scathing ruling from Judge William Young

[Gift link]

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/u...

Judge Rules Trump Unlawfully Targeted Noncitizens Over Pro-Palestinian Speech

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Svasti Haricharan

Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 13d

"To achieve any of those goals, we will have to become far less complacent and far less scared. We also will have to organize. Because no citizen who simply settles for being a consumer of democracy should expect to have a real democracy ever again."

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

Opinion | Mourn, or Else

www.nytimes.com

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Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 14d

Remember this? When our VP talked rationally about the need for AI regulation? And we declared unregulated AI a catastrophic danger? I miss 2023. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

UK, US, EU and China sign declaration of AI’s ‘catastrophic’ danger

Bletchley summit communique does not agree to set up testing hub in UK, as some in government had hoped

www.theguardian.com

Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 14d

It does sometimes feel like many are so overwhelmed by the messages coming out of this administration that the impulse is to treat it as a joke, with disbelief. But it is not a joke and we indulge our disbelief at our own peril. Use America's cities as training grounds for our military. Not a joke.

Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 14d

““We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.””

They’re not being coy about their vision for the future.

Trump Administration Live Updates: President Tells Top Brass American Cities Should Be ‘Training Grounds’ for Military

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Svasti Haricharan

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 14d

the president of the united states wants to use the american military to kill american citizens on american soil. that's the whole story!

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Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 14d

"This is a good way to lead students astray,” said Jonathan S. Masur,.. professor at the University of Chicago Law School.... “So I think that everyone needs to take a little bit of a deep breath and slow down.” Educators, think long and hard before going the AI route. Early signs suggest harm>good

Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 17d

OpenAI's VP for education recently said the company wanted to become "core infrastructure" for schools and universities. Any infrastructure, though, always depends on habituating users to its technical affordances - so I've been trying to track how it's doing that 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/t...

Welcome to Campus. Here’s Your ChatGPT.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Svasti Haricharan

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · Jul 30

👇🎯 What we have learned these last six months is that a great many of our colleagues, leaders, & institutions are not in the business of education.

Justin Zimmerman @jztidecat.bsky.social · Jul 30

We teach what we teach. The end. The first amendment exist or it doesn’t. We are in the business of education or we aren’t. There’s no middle ground.

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Reposted by Svasti Haricharan

Michael Yarbrough (he/him) @mwyarbrough.bsky.social · 17d

It is funny for sure. The reason for the difference is that the closer analogy here is between Columbia's board and ABC's executives, who responded similarly. Kimmel is more like Columbia faculty who have resisted their bosses' capitulation. The recurring pattern is: management cowers, labor fights.

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 17d

It is really funny that Jimmy Kimmel Live showed more moral fortitude and adherence to a system of values than Columbia University

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Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 18d

NCI's 2027 annual plan includes a proposed budget increase that would let them fund the same number of awards as FY24 while transitioning to MYF. They emphasize clinical trials, cancer prevention and basic cancer research and training as funding priorities. The proof is in the pudding I suppose. 🧪

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Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 18d

"A flagship example is Gleevec (imatinib, approved in 2001), the first BCR-ABL kinase inhibitor, which transformed chronic myeloid leukemia from a fatal illness into a manageable condition and whose foundational patents ultimately trace back to NIH-funded work on the BCR-ABL oncoprotein"

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Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 18d

"Of the 557 drug approvals in our sample, 331 (59.4%) have a patent that cites a research publication acknowledging NIH support. Indeed, more than half of approved drugs (286, or 51.4%) are linked to at-risk research—research funded by grants that would have been cut under a 40% budget reduction." 🧪

Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 18d

This may be the most important paper ever published about NIH funded research.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

What if NIH had been 40% smaller?

Replaying history with less NIH funding shows widespread impacts on drug-linked research

www.science.org

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Reposted by Svasti Haricharan

Tamara Stawicki, PhD @tamarastawicki.bsky.social · 18d

I missed World Dense Breast Day. I have a family history of breast/ovarian cancer & extremely dense tissue. I am lucky to have insurance that covers supplemental screening with no copay/deductible. Though we recently switched to self insured which exempts us from state law, so 🤞 that remains true.

DenseBreast-info.org @densebreastinfo.bsky.social · 19d

Proud to be featured on WTAE-TV Pittsburgh: DBI's @drwendieberg.bsky.social on #WorldDenseBreastDay & why breast density awareness matters.

🎥 Watch here: www.wtae.com/article/pitt...

Pittsburgh doctor designates Sept. 24 as World Dense Breast Day

About 40% of cancers are missed on the mammogram in dense breasts, and it's a risk factor for developing breast cancer. That's about four times as much risk if you have a dense breast compared to the ...

www.wtae.com

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Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 19d

Yes, please, this, talk to people who are doing the work. We've been dealing with ever-increasing enrollment of students in parallel with significant loss of state funding in the context of the turmoil of federal funding chaos. A culture of victimhood doesn't even make the top 100

Kevin Reuning @reuning.bsky.social · 19d

Im begging the NYT to spend time talking to people who actually teach and work at universities. Especially ones that don't have billion dollar endowments.

My issues are AI use, crumbling infrastructure, vanishing staff, unfunded state mandates, a customer service model of education...

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Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 19d

Oh look, scientists making the world better. Again.

Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 20d

Wow www.bbc.com/news/article...

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time

One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.

www.bbc.com