Tom Maynard
tmaynard.bsky.social
Tom Maynard
@tmaynard.bsky.social
190 followers 350 following 47 posts
5% science, 95% dad jokes. Day job: developmental neuroscience researcher (but I'm really just here for the cat and dog pix)
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Rectum? Hell, damn near killed him!
Even worse: Watch a video, with the sound on? What kind of madness is this!
The enshittification of America. We can't have good things because some crayon eating "consultant" will figure out how to destroy it to make a quick buck.
Reposted by Tom Maynard
In fiscal year 2024, the report found, NIH awarded more than $36.9 billion to researchers, supporting more than 408,000 jobs and generating over $94.5 billion in new economic activity nationwide.

news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
NIH funding delivers exponential economic returns — Harvard Gazette
Report finds all 50 states reap gains in patient health, job creation, research resources, business development.
news.harvard.edu
Reposted by Tom Maynard
the muppets crashing the red carpet at the 2025 oscars: thread
It's not like you can predict how a new pandemic disease is going to hit the population. The 1918 "spanish flu" was particularly lethal to segments that are generally the healthiest (e.g. healthy 20-40 year olds) because it often caused a lethal immune response (cytokine storm).
Reposted by Tom Maynard
I have been trying to find the time to move away from the polical hellscape we find ourselves in to finish and share a bluetorial about science.

This helps me remember what this is all about.

Ironically, it is about the treatment of pain.
the word irony is written on a white background
ALT: the word irony is written on a white background
media.tenor.com
Reposted by Tom Maynard
Three reasons why the National Institutes of Health budget cuts matter
#1: This will hurt medical & scientific research, the hospitals that people use, and private industry that relies on medical innovations created on campus. Other countries can't believe why the US would give up its status here.
Reposted by Tom Maynard
Executive wants to frame the NIH indirects cut as $4B in savings.

But given that NIH returns $2.5 on every $1 investment, this would actually cost US economy a net $6 BILLION (per year!). Not to mention the human costs of wrecking education and research sectors and the communities they serve.
Direct Economic Contributions
NIH directly supports the economy through investments in research institutions and job formation.
www.nih.gov
Reposted by Tom Maynard
There is a lot of talk about claims about vaccinations increasing autism in the news lately, with a focus on MMR vaccines, but ignore existing work looking into the question.

See this paper by Anders Hviid and his group for example …

proceedings.mlr.press/v238/katta24a/…
https://proceedings.mlr.press/v238/katta24a/…
But the rest of LA has plenty of water. Nobody's complaining about the taps running dry in Long Beach. The CA reservoir system is in great shape (above normal levels) and the water is flowing into SoCal. Bringing more water over the mountains into lake Castaic isn't the issue.
The tanks in the area where the fire is have run dry. When the fire hit, the hydrants were pumping water at many times normal demand, and the system couldn't sustain it. Then the fire damaged the pumps and pipes and power needed to bring the water there, making things worse.
That's an important issue, and Trump has the ear of the farmers in the south. The farmers in Stockton feel differently. But it's not related to the Santa Ana wind driven fires in LA right now.
Because there's no shortage of water to LA now. There's debates about how to allocate water 3 or 4 years into a drought. Do we allow the delta to die (and its billions in high value crops) so farmers in Kern County can grow low value water intensive crops? Do we completely kill salmon fisheries?
And, yes, water is being pumped right now from northern CA into Castaic for use in LA. It's currently full. There is no water shortage in LA. The water system couldn't handle the massive demand of the fire (which was also damaging tanks, pumps, etc. as it burned).
The delta smelt is a fish that would go extinct if seawater is allowed to flow upstream into the delta. It would also decimate farms in Sacramento Stockton Lodi, etc. that grow billions of dollars of tomatoes, grapes, etc., but benefit alfalfa farmers in Kern County. Water politics is complicated.
The CA aqueduct pumps water over the grapevine into lake Castaic for use in LA. You can see the giant pipes running up the side of the mountain as you drive down interstate 5.
whoops, correction-- lake Castaic is the end of the CA aqueduct for LA... Got my southern CA coastal reservoir C's mixed up there. (castaic cachuma casitas )