@danielbolnick
Professor of ecology and evolution @ UConn. Studies adaptation, evolutionary immunology, speciation, genomics, foraging, parasite ecology and more. Hikes, rock climbs, tango, history buff, photographer & parent
The most impt change at #NIH and to US science this year is bigger than grant cancellations— it’s how the agency is governed.
For 75 years NIH has been largely independent of presidential control. That’s changed this year. New piece from me and @nataliebaviles.bsky.social in @nature.com
🧪
Total annual budget for NIGMS: 3.2 billion
Total (estimated) daily cost for war in Iran beyond the inestimable cost in human lives and suffering (and gasoline prices if that’s what you care more about, like many do): 900 million dollars (www.cnn.com/2026/03/06/p...)
The Post reviewed nearly 70 cases in which U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz ruled that the Trump administration had violated court orders.
The court records offer the most detailed account yet on who officers arrested in Minneapolis and how they conducted arrests.
Imagine that…receiving multiple vaccines simultaneously is SAFE!
Holy shit. These people shouldn’t be near sharp cutlery, let alone seats of power.
Mullin: “This is war.”
Raju: “You concede this is war?”
Mullin: “We haven’t declared war.”
Reporter: “You just said it’s a war.”
Mullin: *stammer
Good morning 🌞
Happy International Women’s Day
Imagine a world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge gender equality.
@bamfieldmsc.bsky.social my Bamfield hat will never quite recover from celebrating Holi
“A country that can instantly fund endless wars but debates every dime for healthcare and education doesn't have a budget issue--it has a values issue."
A billion dollars a day going towards the war in Iran so far.
In every Republican presidency of my lifetime there's been a recession and a new war in the Middle East.
Just a few days left to submit the ASN student research award (due March 13th)!!!! This is an AWESOME opportunity for students to get some grant writing experience!!! We LOVE reading your grants and giving feedback!!!!!!!!!!! Apply, Apply, Apply!!!!!!
www.amnat.org/announcement...
Excited to be one of the invited speakers at the 3rd conference of the Society of Immune Polymorphism in the Netherlands, this November. Looks like a great line up of people to be speaking alongside
Quietly, calmly and forensically, BBC just dismantled the Trump communications shitshow on Iran.
No hyperbole, just laying out an unprecedented military, diplomatic and reputational shambles.
Worth a watch.
(🎥 BBC News/BBC Verify)
The secretary of Miami-Dade County’s GOP started a group chat for conservative students — and within 3 weeks, it was filled with over 400 instances of the N-word, Nazi rhetoric and writings of "dozens of ways of violently killing Black people"
New preprint: an undergrad in my lab Stella DiPippo tested out vivio-morpholinos as a means for transient targeted knockdown of gene expression in adult threespine #stickleback. It worked, but a bit inconsistently. A useful start testing a new method for this species
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
So... A friend was supposed to give a PURELY SCIENTIFIC talk at NIH within the next couple of weeks and it was cancelled because of a "new process" where all speakers/talks have to be CLEARED BY A POLITICAL APPOINTEE.
Celebrating Holi in the ancient city of Hampi in India, starting with drumming and a midnight bonfire.
This is not just any random report. This is a review of how the major federal fisheries on the U.S. west coast are assessed, basically how U.S. fisheries management should be altered so that it works better.
A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025 for the Directorate of Biological Sciences.
2/10
A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.
NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)
Directorates to follow
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Now published: Transcriptomic basis of the fibrosis response to tapeworm exposure in 3 populations of threespine stickleback www.frontiersin.org/journals/imm...
Netanyahu Calls Iran Strikes Necessary To Prevent War He Just Started
Netanyahu Calls Iran Strikes Necessary To Prevent War He Just Started
Congress rejected massive cuts to US science budgets for 2026, but much of the money still isn’t flowing to researchers.
The culprit? The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is quietly slow-walking the release of funds. 🧵👇
This week's cover @thelancet.com
Somanathapura Temple in Karnataka Province, India, is a spectacular 13th century temple to Vishnu with the most intricate soapstone carvings I’ve ever seen.
Do come listen to this public talk — open to all — by @danielbolnick.bsky.social. So happy to be hosting him in Bangalore!
So sometime last night a skunk took up residence in the crawl space under my entry room. My bags were in there packed for an international trip. Now I’m at Logan airport and everything with me smells weakly but distinctly skunky.
Moving forward, I'm excited to keep exploring questions about host-prophage-environment interactions in non-model systems in my new lab @sc.edu. If you are (or know of) a trainee interested in this area, please reach out!
