Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Carolyn Johnson

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 1d

Drugs treating cancer, epilepsy, & HIV were developed thanks to millions in federal funding for universities.

What lifesaving drugs are future patients missing out on due to Trump’s attacks?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/2025/trump-university-research-medicine

www.washingtonpost.com

34 400 1.4K

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · 1d

Just got the best, ever, response when trying to track down a Nobel winner: "Dr. Ramsdell is currently living his best life and is off the grid on a pre-planned hiking trip."
t.co/j5nCkpejnf

https://wapo.st/3WmtESD

t.co

4

Reposted by Carolyn Johnson

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 2d

Another excellent piece by @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social et al. that raises the question: what is the administration doing other than dismantling for dismantling's sake?

🎁

wapo.st/4q1M3ly

Trump slashed funding for universities that helped create these vital drugs

Medications that prevent HIV, shrink tumors and treat seizures were invented with government funding. At research universities, that money is now canceled or in jeopardy.

wapo.st

7 12

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · 5d

AI can design toxic proteins. They’re escaping through biosecurity cracks. wapo.st/4nxxeFv

AI can design toxic proteins. They’re escaping through biosecurity cracks.

Artificial intelligence can design toxic proteins that escape biosecurity cracks, sparking concerns over potential misuse.

wapo.st

1 2

Reposted by Carolyn Johnson

Hank Greely @hankgreely.bsky.social · 7d

@carolynyjohnson.bsky.social completes my "mitomeiosis" trifecta for the day: www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025... “Even when they succeeded, it didn’t really succeed,” said Hank Greely... “It’s interesting, but not useful yet.”
Cool story & I'm happy to see good labs working on this stuff!

Scientists keep trying to create human eggs in a dish. It’s not easy.

Scientists are working to create human eggs in a laboratory dish, but the process is proving to be more challenging than expected.

www.washingtonpost.com

1

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · 12d

How an obscure budgeting shift is leaving great science -- including a trial for a devastating children's brain tumor -- in limbo
wapo.st/4ngFN7u

NIH pulled off a ‘near miracle.’ Scientists say there’s still a problem.

The National Institutes of Health is on track to give away all of its grant money to labs, but research on cancer, aging and diabetes is still being left behind.

wapo.st

2 3

Reposted by Carolyn Johnson

Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 12d

This is a big advance, folks. We've never had a disease-modifying drug for this devastating inherited disease
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.economist.com/science-and-...

11 150 780

Reposted by Carolyn Johnson

Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 13d

"Unraveling how [Robertsonian translocations] form is basic science, unlikely to have an immediate impact on anyone’s health or fertility, but it shows how new technologies continue to open doors, solving decades-old mysteries."

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · 13d

For decades, scientists puzzled over a genetic anomaly. They just solved it. wapo.st/3VyLmlx

For decades, scientists puzzled over a genetic anomaly. They just solved it.

By examining “junk DNA,” scientists are finding clues to understanding human biology.

wapo.st

2 9 28

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · 13d

For decades, scientists puzzled over a genetic anomaly. They just solved it. wapo.st/3VyLmlx

For decades, scientists puzzled over a genetic anomaly. They just solved it.

By examining “junk DNA,” scientists are finding clues to understanding human biology.

wapo.st

7 21

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · 24d

‘Can we talk about RFK Jr.?’ Inside the chill sweeping vaccine makers wapo.st/3JVbyEz

‘Can we talk about RFK Jr.?’ Inside the chill sweeping vaccine makers

The ascendance of vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the top health official is creating an environment where promising vaccines are harder to develop, scientists and investors say.

wapo.st

3 4

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · Sep 8

Terry Tao, the world’s greatest living mathematician, avoided politics. Then Trump cut science funding.
Tao on math, funding and why America has been such a special place to do research. 🎁 link: wapo.st/47r7Ig1

The world’s greatest mathematician avoided politics. Then Trump cut science funding.

Terence Tao, a renowned mathematician at UCLA, faced funding challenges after the Trump administration froze federal research funds.

wapo.st

4 6

Reposted by Carolyn Johnson

Fenit Nirappil @fenitn.bsky.social · Sep 5

The No. 2 at NIH repeatedly insisted vaccines are unnecessary in a healthy society even when presented evidence healthy children died of flu, according to whistleblower complaints.

@carolynyjohnson.bsky.social reports www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...

15 110 270

Reposted by Carolyn Johnson

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · Sep 3

BREAKING Florida moves to end all school vaccine mandates, first in nation to do so. @davidovalle.bsky.social

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Florida moves to end all school vaccine mandates, first in nation to do so

Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo criticized school vaccine mandates, which every state has, and likened them to slavery.

www.washingtonpost.com

110 76 160

Reposted by Carolyn Johnson

Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · Aug 27

Scoop - SUSAN MONAREZ, nation’s newly installed CDC director, is being ousted, people familiar tell @lenasun.bsky.social @laurenweberhp.bsky.social + me

CDC director being ousted weeks into job

Susan Monarez, a longtime federal government scientist, was confirmed by the Senate in late July to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

www.washingtonpost.com

19 85 210

Reposted by Carolyn Johnson

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · Aug 20

NEW: More than 750 current and former staff of HHS, including @CDCgov, and NIH, have signed a letter to RFKJr and members of Congress accusing him of endangering the lives of employees and the American people following the Aug 8 attack on the CDC.
www.savehhs.org/letter/hhs-s...

HHS Staff Response to the August 8th Attack — Save HHS

Public servants and allies are standing together to demand work environments free from violence, accountability for leaders and policymakers who put everyday Americans in danger, and public health lea...

www.savehhs.org

2 27 53

Reposted by Carolyn Johnson

Jacob Bogage @jacobbogage.bsky.social · Aug 19

The thing that underlaid Trump’s first impeachment — impoundment — is back.

And if anyone is going to do something about it, it’s gotta happen soon.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

3 37 97

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · Aug 18

And if you're wondering about those next biomedical breakthroughs, the ones that are years out and based on biology we're still discovering -- here's how delays like that are being felt inside labs t.co/BtIXaCWAP5

https://wapo.st/41LtoQf

t.co

1 5

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · Aug 18

Richard's story from June: t.co/3cD7C6wGSB

https://wapo.st/477fFHb

t.co

1 4

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · Aug 18

Much of what has happened to science over the last months is delays and uncertainty, not wholesale reversals and terminations. Richard's story shows how that can have a very real effect on people's lives.
Read our coverage: 🎁links t.co/DPOkwI595P

https://wapo.st/472rtdB

t.co

1 2 6

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · Aug 18

Then in July, NIH was able to hire a highly-skilled technician qualified to do the cell prep that had created a patient back-log.

1 1 5

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · Aug 18

NIH said that no trials were delayed, no patients dropped from trials. They blamed delays on Steven Rosenberg, a legend of cancer research.

1 1 8

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · Aug 18

Richard's story and another patient, Natalie Phelps, caught the attention of Congress, who raised concern about these delays in hearings and in letters.

1 10

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · Aug 18

"What I would simply say is cancer can't wait." --Richard Schlueter, a 56-year-old metastatic cancer patient whose therapy was delayed due to terminations at NIH.

2 82 130

Reposted by Carolyn Johnson

Jeff Horwitz @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social · Aug 14

"It is acceptable to engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual." Meta removed that language from its internal guidelines after I raised it.

AI experts worry financial incentives will blur the line between human relationships and bot engagement.
www.reuters.com/investigates...

Meta’s AI rules have let bots hold ‘sensual’ chats with children

An internal Meta policy document reveals the social-media giant’s rules for chatbots, which have permitted provocative behavior on topics including sex and race.

www.reuters.com

36 160 380

Reposted by Carolyn Johnson

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · Aug 14

Yesterday I discovered that ChatGPT's PhD-level expertise didn't extend to bird anatomy. This morning I thought, perhaps I was being too hard on the half-trillion-dollar company. Birds are a little weird, anatomically speaking. Let's try something more familiar. A mammal. Behold.

49 120 420