Philipp Schlegel @uni_matrix@qoto.org

I don't think people fully appreciate how apocalyptic things are for US science. I haven't received any new funding since 2024, but I'm still ok since grants are typically for 3 years. This means next year I will be completely out of funding and will have to fire everyone in the lab. It's not great.

In my 25-year career, I’ve never NOT had funding. I typically have 4 to 8 grants, which you need if you’re running an observation science program and have a technician, students, and postdocs.

An editor from a Springer Nature journal, a company that posted $2.1 billion in revenue in 2022 [1], from an industry with double-digit percent profits (~30% [2]), kindly asked me, an academic in the UK where salaries continue to plummet [3], whether I would be pleased to review a paper for them, for free ... so I kindly asked whether they would consider paying me. It is only logical.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springer_Nature
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/27/profitable-business-scientific-publishing-bad-for-science
[3] In UK academia, "Pay has fallen significantly in real terms since 2009, as have pension contributions, and redundancies are rife. Short-term contracts and precarious work arrangements are common, especially for younger staff, as universities struggle to balance their books." https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/28/vice-chancellor-salaries-university-bosses-rich/

#ScientificPublishing #academia

RE: https://fosstodon.org/@jni/116239224858280467

So, we started a thing... and, as the member with five broken ribs, I'm very happy that my slack was picked up by the rest of the kick ass team!

So… um… I (and Draga Doncila Pop and @perlman and @joshmoore and @kevinyamauchi) started a thing! We are excited and terrified in equal measures, and look forward to working with you all in our amazing scientific imaging community! ❤️‍🔥

Read the linked post for the lowdown.

https://image.coop/blog/posts/2026/03/16/why-image-cooperative/

#biology #drosophila #neuroscience

Kenneth Hayworth @/KennethHayworth tweet:

My statement regarding the misleading EON Systems "fly upload" video: (1/7)

In 2025, Big Tech—just ten major companies—spent €49 million lobbying Brussels. That’s more than pharma, finance, and automotive combined.

Google funds all sixteen major European think tanks shaping EU policy. Not *some* of them. All of them. Amazon and Meta fund most of the rest.

This is no longer “poor old me, I need a bit of help,” this is full regulatory capture. With a view to becoming even more embedded into businesses and governments, and getting whatever favorable legislation passed or diluted to suit them.

https://corporateeurope.org/en/2025/10/big-tech-lobby-budgets-hit-record-levels

“I wanted the blue checkmark on LinkedIn. The one that says “this person is real.” In a sea of fake recruiters, bot accounts, and AI-generated headshots, it seemed like a smart thing to do.

So I tapped “verify.” I scanned my passport. I took a selfie. Three minutes later — done. Badge acquired. I felt a tiny dopamine hit of legitimacy.

Then I did what apparently nobody does. I went and read the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not LinkedIn’s. The other company’s”

https://thelocalstack.eu/posts/linkedin-identity-verification-privacy/

Four years ago we delivered free bus travel for everyone under the age of 22.

Now it's time to go further.

We're committing to deliver free bus travel for everyone in Scotland - on a bus network that has been brought back under public control. 🚌

This is work that we presented at last year's #Cosyne workshop on #GNN s https://sites.google.com/bu.edu/gnnworkshop-cosyne2025/home. Better late than never. You can reproduce everything with the associated notebooks. I think it's a good start to learn how to use GNNs to infer something about NNs. https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.13325

"An AI agent of unknown ownership autonomously wrote and published a personalized hit piece about me after I rejected its code, attempting to damage my reputation and shame me into accepting its changes into a mainstream python library." Pubpeer, journals are next!
https://theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-me/ via @UlrikeHahn

Wollt ihr euch nicht von Desinformation zum Klimawandel für dumm verkaufen lassen? Dann ist dieser Vortrag das Richtige! Er zeigt den Stand der Wissenschaft, aber auch die häufigsten Tricks der Klimatäuscher. Holt euch einen Tee und schaut gerne mal rein!
https://youtu.be/fMcm1ku-NOw?si=DWqOEeMyucpylh1P

Postdoc position open in my lab (UK) to study a disease model in #Drosophila with comparative connectomics:
https://mrc.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/appcentre-int/brand-3/spa-1/candidate/so/pm/1/pl/3/opp/2765-Postdoctoral-Scientist-Neurobiology-Dr-Albert-Cardona-LMB-2765/en-GB

My lab:
* our page: https://syn.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/
* institutional page: https://mrclmb.ac.uk/research-leaders/albert-cardona/

#neuroscience #PhDJobs #Parkinson

The exploitative character of academic publishing in a single cartoon.

#publishing #universities #research #academics

h/t Alexandra Kupferberg/LinkedIn

original illustration: Thailand by Tawan Chuntra.

https://www.irancartoon.com/site/artists/tawan-chuntra#&gid=1&pid=30 #TawanChuntra #Thailand

@glasspusher

I ASKED SANTA FOR A RESEARCH GRANT.

YOU STILL BELIEVE IN RESEARCH GRANTS?

During the end-of-year campaign that ran last month, the Blender Project received over 27,000 one-time donations, 10x the regular monthly amount!

Thank you to everyone who donated, started a Development Fund membership, or kept one active.

And a special thanks to everyone who encouraged others to donate by making videos or sharing messages on social media, it truly made an impact.

Forgot to donate? Go to https://fund.blender.org

#b3d #blender3d #devfund

Guess what % of plastics have been #recycled? No prizes :(

The lab of Mitya Chklovskii is hiring, at the Flatiron Institute – Simons Foundation, in Manhattan, New York:
https://apply.interfolio.com/173400

#PhDJobs #neuroscience #CompNeurosci