Worde
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mtwonderland.bsky.social
Worde
@mtwonderland.bsky.social
Professor of Neurobiology and Biophysics
University of Washington School of Medicine
orcid.org/0000-0002-9444-0650
Reposted by Worde
terrible news for the former Senator — diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer

mRNA vaccine therapy shows promise in treating this otherwise incurable disease

we need to regain our senses, compassion, humanity, and investment in doing the hard slow work to improve our health

no time to lose
Prayers for Ben Sasse. 🙏
Former Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse says he doesn’t have much time left.

Sasse is just 53 years old.
December 24, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Reposted by Worde
Wren Wagenbach's photo of the view from Copper Mountain Lookout at sunset took 2nd place in the scenery category of our photo contest. Wren was a member of our crew surveying birds in the national parks of the Pacific Northwest as part of the NPS's Inventory and Monitoring Program. 🪶
December 16, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Worde
OK, this is wild!
Smithsonian Magazine included The Radiant Sea in their Best Photography Books of 2025! 😲
From the start, our goal was to entice people with pretty pictures, and then sneak in the science, so to have both appreciated is a complete thrill. 🦑🧪📸
Not bad for a couple biologists :^)
December 10, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Reposted by Worde
Wren Wagenbach's photo of her backcountry camp in North Cascades National Park took 2nd place in the fieldwork/lifestyle category of our photo contest. Wren was a member of our crew surveying birds in the national parks of the PNW as part of the NPS's Inventory and Monitoring Program. 🪶
December 2, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Reposted by Worde
Wren Wagenbach's photo of Mount Rainier took 3rd place in the scenery category of our photo contest. Wren was a member of our crew surveying birds in the national parks of the Pacific Northwest as part of the NPS's Inventory and Monitoring Program. 🪶
November 13, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Reposted by Worde
Scientists point to a long list of findings that emerged out of fundamental research, the type of studies the US government is cutting, and went on to change the world. Nature lists a few of their examples. 🧪
7 basic science discoveries that changed the world
Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government.
go.nature.com
November 1, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Worde
Glad to see so much interest in this topic. I encourage everyone interested in the proposal to read this deep-dive legal analysis. Instead of doing the typical comment-without-reading-anything move, just actually read it before being a smug know-it-all telling everyone it can't work. Thanks!
October 20, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Reposted by Worde
🪶Hope you have a chance to get outside this weekend!

This photo was taken by Wren Wagenbach who was on our backcountry bird monitoring crew in the Pacific NW national parks this summer. (1/2)
October 3, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Worde
🪶 If you are able, you donate here: birdpop.org/pages/do...
We lost roughly $1 million in funding without warning. Projects cancelled included all of our bird monitoring work for the National Park Service & projects w/ the Bureau of Land Management on Gunnison's Sage-Grouse, Pinyon Jays & more. 1/4
October 2, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Reposted by Worde
every time societies lose the norm of public virtue, leaders ascend who relish and perpetrate great evil
July 17, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by Worde
“I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was,” Sahil Lavingia told NPR's Juana Summers.
Former DOGE engineer says federal waste and fraud were 'relatively nonexistent'
NPR's Juana Summers talks with Sahil Lavingia, who worked for the Department of Government Efficiency as a software engineer assigned to the Department of Veterans Affairs, about his experience.
www.npr.org
June 25, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by Worde
Excited to share the lab's 1rst preprint! Rapid high-res immunofluorescence is now possible in cultured & environmental diatoms thanks to 4-fold expansion microscopy. A step-change for comparative cell biology in one of the most important phytoplankton groups on the planet 🥳
tinyurl.com/m9s5su7s 1/2
June 17, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Reposted by Worde
BREAKING: Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally shot and a second lawmaker and his spouse were injured in separate "politically motivated" shootings, officials say.

The suspect, who is still at large, allegedly impersonated a police officer. nbcnews.app.link/Q007CiXdcUb
June 14, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Worde
Sorry, cancer patients, but we just don't have the money.

We had to prioritize spending tens of millions on a military parade so the president could compensate for his many personal inadequacies.

I'm sure you understand.
"Right now, cancer patients are not receiving novel cancer treatments and are being cut off, um, when their only other option is hospice care."
June 13, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Reposted by Worde
So goddamn proud of my senator @murray.senate.gov.

JB flounders hopelessly here.
JB cannot say how many clinical trials have been ruined.

FYI: You cannot just stop and start experiments.
June 10, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Worde
Some personal news: I have a new book coming out.

MASTER PLAN is the story of the secret plot to legalize corruption in America.

The book follows The Lever’s award-winning audio series & includes new reporting from the Trump era.

Pre-order now & please re-post/share👇
Master Plan | The Book
Master Plan reveals the gripping inside story of how extremists and tycoons orchestrated a system of legalized corruption in America.
the.levernews.com
May 30, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Worde
May 27, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Reposted by Worde
Wow, even though they target basic research, the impact of research funding cuts is massive www.forbes.com/sites/johndr... 🧪
Trump’s NIH And NSF Cuts Estimated To Cost The U.S. Economy $10 Billion Annually
Economists find public R&D drives U.S. productivity growth — and pays for itself
www.forbes.com
May 20, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Reposted by Worde
“If NIH budget money, designated by Congress to be spent on medical cures, doesn’t go out over the next few months, all US scientists are looking at budget cuts that will not just take away cures but harm local economies.”

URGENT!
🚨 This MUST READ essay and call to action spells out, in very clear terms, how the Trump administration could get away with slashing the NIH budget. NIH scientists and Dems in congress need to read and understand it. This is where we win or lose the battle to save the NIH and US science. 🧪 🧠 🧬 🔊
The NIH budget is on a fast track to disaster
An NIH insider explains what Republicans are likely to do next, and what we can do
donmoynihan.substack.com
April 28, 2025 at 3:56 PM
First time I have ever seen this in my weekly notices:
April 11, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Reposted by Worde
Amid the Trump admin's dismantling of the US scientific ecosystem, Nobel Prize-winner @ardemp.bskyverified.social writes on @cnn.com: "I’ve already been approached with an offer to relocate my lab to China, complete with a promise of 20 years of stable research funding." www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...
Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger | CNN
Dr. Ardem Patapoutian says he watches “with deep sadness as the United States’ remarkable scientific enterprise, which took generations of hard work and national investment to build, faces a concerted...
www.cnn.com
April 9, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by Worde
Cory Booker still going; giving new meaning to "Jersey Strong"

www.youtube.com/live/N5NfmuI...
LIVE NOW: Sen. Booker will go as long as he can in marathon Senate speech to protest Trump
YouTube video by MSNBC
www.youtube.com
April 1, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Reposted by Worde
So the top vaccine official at FDA was pushed out, and the CDC buried an assessment that emphasized the need for vaccines to stop measles.

Here's what I said on the Senate floor just ahead of RFK Jr.'s confirmation vote. No Senator should pretend they didn't see this coming.
April 1, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Reposted by Worde
People let go everywhere you turn at NIH today, carrying in empty boxes. Both the people in the elevator with me. Multiple IC directors. The HR people who are supposed to process all the early retirements. All of the people who respond to data calls that we are legally required to answer.
April 1, 2025 at 12:41 PM