Jeremy Berg
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jeremymberg.bsky.social
Jeremy Berg
@jeremymberg.bsky.social
25K followers 1.3K following 7.9K posts
Husband, Father and grandfather, Datahound, Dog lover, Fan of Celtic music, Former NIGMS director, Former EiC of Science magazine, Stand Up for Science advisor, Pittsburgh, PA
NIH Dashboard: https://jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.github.io/index.html
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jeremymberg.bsky.social
My quote of the day

Kristian Olaf Bernhard Birkeland
It seems to be a natural consequence of our points of view to assume that the whole of space is filled with electrons and flying electric ions of all kinds. We have assumed that each stellar system in evolutions throws off electric corpuscles into space. It does not seem unreasonable therefore to think that the greater part of the material masses in the universe is found, not in the solar systems or nebulae, but in “empty” space.
November 12, 2025 at 11:22 AM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Jon Stewart is not a fan of the Democrats caving when they seemed to be in a strong position.
Jon Stewart with “I Can’t F#@king Believe It” caption.
November 12, 2025 at 3:28 AM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Miss Petunia says “Good night everyone.”
Man sitting next to a cattle dog sleeping on her back.
November 12, 2025 at 3:17 AM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Talking about Pitt’s normal indirect cost rate negotiation (59% rate) on WTAE (Pittsburgh ABC affiliate) this evening.

Good news that the negotiation concluded normally but mindful that more shenanigans may be in the works from the administration.
Jeremy Berg speaking on WTAE (Pittsburgh ABC affiliate)
November 12, 2025 at 2:27 AM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Glory and Aurelia in the makeshift bunk beds settling in for a nap.
One dog sleeping on the couch and another sleeping on the back of the couch.
November 12, 2025 at 1:12 AM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
A group of eight United States Senators announced that they have agreed to purchase the Brooklyn Bridge,

Senator, Chuck Schumer (aka Chuck the Schmuck) said that the group had assured him that they had seen the deed and it definitely wasn't generated by AI.
The Brooklyn Bridge
November 11, 2025 at 12:08 AM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Yep, Actually Petunia and Glory...
November 9, 2025 at 10:57 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
We have two heeler mix (one red and one blue) rescues, now a bit over 2 and a bit over 1. They are very good dogs. Full of energy and ideas and they love to play together.
Two heeler rescue dogs playing.
November 9, 2025 at 10:46 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Lots of different aspects covered. Here is one clip.

2/2
November 9, 2025 at 1:27 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
My quote of the day

James Watson
There's a myth which is, you know, that Francis and I basically stole the structure from the people at King's. I was shown Rosalind Franklin's x-ray photograph and, Whooo! that was a helix, and a month later we had the structure, and Wilkins should never have shown me the thing. I didn't go into the drawer and steal it, it was shown to me, and I was told the dimensions, a repeat of 34 angstroms, so, you know, I knew roughly what it meant and, uh, but it was that the Franklin photograph was the key event. It was, psychologically, it mobilized us..
November 8, 2025 at 12:14 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Conclusion:

He goes on to opine about "moral hazard in behaviors related to body weight."

2/3
Our results indicate that health insurance does indeed make you fat. While the evidence that more generous private insurance leads to increases in body weight is somewhat weak, primarily because the magnitude of the estimated effect is quite small, our estimates of the effect of having insurance, either public or private, are larger and more precise.
November 7, 2025 at 1:50 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Of course, Director Bhattacharya is likely opposed to health insurance subsidies because, you know, access to health insurance makes people fat.

www.nber.org/system/files...

1/3
Title page of Bhattacharya's working paper "Does Health Insurance Make You Fat?"
November 7, 2025 at 1:50 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
5/5
A comments about the harms of layoff, intimidation, and budget cuts.
November 7, 2025 at 1:11 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
4/5
A comment about the harms of firing NIH institute directors and staff.
November 7, 2025 at 1:11 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
It being X/Twitter, the comments are mixed (COVID, animal research, etc.) but there are some that call him out.

3/5
A comment about NIH paylines and negation of peer review.
November 7, 2025 at 1:11 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Director Bhattacharya decided to weigh in on X/Twitter about the impact of the government shutdown.

He (not surprisingly) focuses on the impact of the MAHA agenda. Of course, delays of research for months (which could be minimized by NIH with planning) will have little effect on MAHA actions

1/5
Tweet from NIH Director Bhattacharya about the government shutdown and its potential impact on the MAHA agenda.
November 7, 2025 at 1:11 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
A list of things actually ruined (at least in part) by men.
Insufficient system memory error
November 7, 2025 at 12:19 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
The aftermath of the vigorous play.

Yes, Glory is sleeping on the back of a couch…one of her favorite spots.
A blue heeler sleeping on the floor. A red heeler sleeping on the back of a couch.
November 6, 2025 at 11:54 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Glory and Petunia were clearly in need of a romp. I let them out. This ensued...

#Rescues #AustralianCattleDogs
November 6, 2025 at 11:03 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
So how did it go?

NIH made 43 DP2 awards, the lowest number in a decade.

I really wish Director Bhattacharya would spend doing his actual job rather than badmouthing the agency he is charged to lead and spouting platitudes on podcasts and elsewhere.

6/7
A bar graph showing the number of NIH New Innovator awards since their creation in 2007.
November 6, 2025 at 4:09 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Here is Bhattacharya's response:

2/7
I think that is a great idea, Bill. In fact I was just talking with the former head of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Bob Tjian and he pitched exactly a very similar idea to me. And I think that is a very productive way forward, something we will definitely look into to figure out how to do this in an NIH context.
November 6, 2025 at 4:09 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Back in July, Director Bhattacharya was on Bill Ackman's podcast and Ackman commented:

1/7
Ackman: Why not have a … back the young scientists, you know the brilliant young scientist where you are evaluating the person, and you say. I am going to do a Howard Hughes-type grant. And take some portion of NIH funding and put it toward … why not have actually have a specific pool of capital available where you are betting on the athlete, you know, the promise of the athlete, and give them longer term funding, you know 5 to 7 years?
November 6, 2025 at 4:09 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
From yesterday's rally calling for the impeachment of RFK, Jr.

www.dcnewsnow.com/video/hundre...

@standupforscience.bsky.social
Stand Up for Science Executive Director Colette Delawalla speaking at the November 5th rally calling for the impeachment of RFK, Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary.
November 6, 2025 at 12:57 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Nature Reviews Nephrology comment on the harms of NIH grant terminations related to kidney disease

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 6, 2025 at 12:52 PM
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Director Bhattacharya "Let's fund emerging investigators"

Yeah, who's the idiot running NIH who allowed 15% or few fewer early stage investigators be funded in FY2025 compared to FY2024?

(Estimate: The official numbers are not yet available (at least publicly)
November 6, 2025 at 12:01 PM