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Alan R Kay

@alanrkay.bsky.social
434 followers 623 following 65 posts

Neurobiologist, osmo-electro-diffusion & other stuff. Views are my own.

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Reposted by Alan R Kay
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Unless Congress reclaims its power, this will just become the new normal. A good first step would be to impeach Vought. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...
nytimes.com
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress
The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.
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Greg Priest @gregpriest.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
OTD in 1836, HMS Beagle docked at Falmouth, after a 5 year voyage. Charles Darwin wrote in his diary, “To my surprise and shame, I confess the first sight of the shores of England inspired me with no warmer feelings, than if it had been a miserable Portuguese settlement.” 🌱🐋🧪#HistSTM #STS
Watercolor of HMS Beagle at anchor by Owen Stanley
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Alan R Kay @alanrkay.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Jared Diamond explains the second law of thermodynamics, à la Onsager, in New Guinean Pidgin ( go to 1:51 ). Wish he had not agreed to be on the Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan bears enormous responsibility for the election of Trump who is gleefully Collapsing the USA. www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6Jr...
youtube.com
Joe Rogan Experience #2549 - Jared Diamond
YouTube video by PowerfulJRE
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CU Anschutz School of Medicine @cumedicalschool.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
CU Anschutz has received an anonymous $50 million gift to expand its nationally recognized Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Leak Program and transform care for patients with the often-misdiagnosed condition. Read one patient's journey with the neurological condition: bit.ly/4hrJ820
news.cuanschutz.edu
How CU Anschutz Experts Diagnosed and Treated a Complex CSF Leak After Years of Misdiagnoses
Jen MacKenzie experienced painful, debilitating symptoms for over five years before CU Anschutz specialists identified and treated her complex CSF leak.
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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Help us get this dumbass fired HERE: secure.actblue.com/donate/scien... youtu.be/PIwWsHy9RfE?...
youtu.be
Bessent: “Robert Oppenheimer was not a physicist...”
YouTube video by American Bridge 21st Century
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Reposted by Alan R Kay
The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 19/09/2026
A former White House official who worked with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoys, was aghast at their lack of preparation for negotiations with Iran. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/7kvusE
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Alan R Kay @alanrkay.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Jared Diamond explains the second law of thermodynamics, à la Onsager, in New Guinean Pidgin ( go to 1:51 ). Wish he had not agreed to be on the Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan bears enormous responsibility for the election of Trump who is gleefully Collapsing the USA. www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6Jr...
youtube.com
Joe Rogan Experience #2549 - Jared Diamond
YouTube video by PowerfulJRE
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Alan R Kay @alanrkay.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Block the construction of the Arc de Trump! Sign this petition: sign.moveon.org/petitions/bl...
sign.moveon.org
Block Trump from building a giant arch in our nation's capital!
The Commemorative Works Act makes it clear that any memorials constructed on federal land in Washington, D.C. need authorization from Congress. But we need to make sure that Congress hears us loud and...
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John Tuthill @tuthill.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
longtime reader, first time writer to @lrb.co.uk www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Letter to the LRB correcting James Wood's account of his father's 1957 PhD thesis, which was on stick insect legs rather than wings.
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Chelsea Brown @chelseabrown.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Delighted to share my first author paper on how the MIC10 protein complex generates curvature in mitochondrial crista out now in Science Advances!! 🥳🥳 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... See below for a run through of why we were interested and what we found 👇
science.org
The molecular basis of mitochondrial crista formation by the MIC10 complex
Mitochondrial cristae are essential for respiration, yet the molecular basis of how the high curvature of these membrane folds is maintained remains unclear. Using structure prediction tools and multi...
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Reposted by Alan R Kay
William Dalrymple @willdalrymple.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
An essay I've just written for @nytimes on why Big Tech is the 21st Century’s equivalent of the East India Company: "What It Would Take to Dismantle the Most Powerful Companies in the World" www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | What It Would Take to Dismantle the Most Powerful Companies in the World
A playbook to curb the growing power of Big Tech.
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Philipp Markolin @philippmarkolin.eurosky.social · 18/08/2026
In 2026, there is no longer any lab leak hypothesis you can state consistently with the available evidence. Despite this, it has been the dominant media narrative for six years. Read my new data-driven investigation: www.protagonist-science.com/p/biased-med...
protagonist-science.com
Biased media coverage and the lab leak theory
Gain-of-function fearmongering and blame gets the glitzy NYT visual treatment as Republicans weaponize the lab leak theory again in attacks on Dr. Anthony Fauci
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Through I circuitous path, I obtained Bill Cassidy's personal email (which he had given out at town hall meeting years ago. I know this reaches him since he had responded to several of my earlier emails. I sent him this on Friday:
Dear Senator Cassidy:

It is hard for me to express how disappointed I am in your decision to support Todd Blanche's nomination for Attorney General. Mr. Blanche has demonstrated his willingness to dramatically corrupt the role of the Department of Justice in our society, to mislead Congress and the American people, and to break laws including the Epstein file release law passed by this Congress.

You have demonstrated that when push comes to shove you are unwilling to stand up for any of the principles that you claim to believe in. I would have thought and hoped you would have learned your lesson from the RFK, Jr. debacle.

I hope whatever you are getting in return is worth it.

Sincerely yours, 

Jeremy Berg
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Alan R Kay @alanrkay.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
It will be great to have an MD/PhD in the Senate who wrote the book on Medicare for All global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com
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Reposted by Alan R Kay
Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Rand Paul--who doesn't believe in evolution--holding a hearing of Dr. Fauci--a retired, life-long public servant-- while we are *actively* in the midst of SEVERAL disease outbreaks due to unnecessary public health cuts and corporate lobbying shows exactly how unserious Republicans are.
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tony romm @tonyromm.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
NEW: In a stunning admission, the Trump administration admitted in court documents that it canceled billions in energy grants to states "based solely" on politics -- and whether that state was represented by Democrats and backed Harris in 2024. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 23/07/2026
1. The new Trump / Kratsios plan for US science appears explicitly designed to destroy US universities. Diverting money to tech donors is probably just a bonus. Gift link.
nytimes.com
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Wow. I love papers like this where you start off thinking “what? Sounds fishy” and then the data are so convincing and the paper so well written that is all so clear that you are blown away. Cells have a little aerial to allow them to move toward the anode!!! Galvanin! #PureScience #biophysics
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Alan R Kay @alanrkay.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Pleased to share that Kerry Tarrant, Zahra Aminzare, & my paper, Stability and Robustness of a Generalized Pump-Leak Model for Epithelial Vesicles, has just been published in the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology @smbmathbiology.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Stability and Robustness of a Generalized Pump-Leak Model for Epithelial Vesicles - Bulletin of Mathematical Biology
Epithelial cells stabilize ion concentrations and volume through coordinated membrane pumps, ion channels, and paracellular pathways, which can be modeled by classical single-compartment pump-leak equ...
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Indivisible Iowa Johnson County @indivisibleia-joco.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
"If you go read the declaration, as Douglass had very carefully, they spent far more sentences defending & justifying the right of revolution, ...You have the right to rise up and overthrow your government if it engages in sufficient usurpations to destroy your liberties." David Blight
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Indivisible Iowa Johnson County @indivisibleia-joco.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
What Frederick Douglass warned us about America David Blight @dblight.bsky.social On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti @wbur.org www.wbur.org/onpoint/2026...
wbur.org
What Frederick Douglass warned us about America
In 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered what many consider the best abolitionist speech of all time. He asked, “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” What makes it such a masterpiece — and ...
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Reposted by Alan R Kay
Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com
The FIFA Prize for Literature 

Following the success of their Peace Prize, FIFA establishes a literary prize judged by the footballers at the world cup. 

(image of trophy)
 
 All does not go well...
 
Players arrive at games exhausted by reading hundreds of novels and heatedly debating their merits long into the night. 

(image of tired players on pitch reading)

The south American teams boycott the tournament when an official disparages Isabel Allende's use of magic realism. 

(Image of players angrily leaving)

Seventeen plavers receive red cards after a discussion of radical honesty in the works of Karl Ove Knausgaard turns into a brawl. 

(Image of players fighting)

However, all is forgiven as Joyce Carol Oates takes the thrilling final to extra time, before losing on penalties to Haruki Murukami.

(image of Haruki holding the trophy aloft)
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HHMI @hhmi-science.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
That lush, green "grass" you see? It's inside your eye. These vivid layers are retinal pigment epithelial cells, or RPEs. Located at the back of the eye in a layer of the retina, they help protect your photoreceptors — the cells that turn light into vision. 📸: NIH
 Vivid layers in green, brown, and purple are retinal pigment epithelial cells, or RPEs.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 29/05/2026
Of all the harm this administration has done to US science, today's proposed changes to the way federal grants are awarded and administered is the most damaging yet. The text of the federal register document is impenetrably tedious by design, so here's an excellent summary of what it says.
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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Fascinating how the Trump Administration always gets its inspiration from the Nazis...
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Creighton ⚒️ @creightonote.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
There's an army recruiter at the Iowa City farmer's market lmao good luck pal. You'd be more likely to hit those wartime quotas by staying home and watching antiques roadshow by yourself
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Aurel A. Lazar @aalazar.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Flies vision is tightly intertwined with action, using motion itself to sharpen perception and speed up neural processing. Understanding how biology achieves predictive, low‑delay sensing could inspire new approaches in artificial vision and neuromorphic engineering. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Synaptic high-frequency jumping synchronises vision to high-speed behaviour - Nature Communications
How insects maintain precise vision during rapid motion remains unclear. Here, the authors show that motion-driven photoreceptor dynamics and synaptic high-frequency jumping enable hyperacute, minimal...
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Indivisible Iowa Johnson County @indivisibleia-joco.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Because when powerful interests write the rules, it takes more than a rally to change them. It takes organized people showing up together and demanding better from those who govern our communities. Friday, May 1 7 – 8:30pm CDT First United Methodist Church, Iowa City www.mobilize.us/mobilize/eve...
mobilize.us
Iowa City May Day Workers & Families Town Hall · Mobilize
Because when powerful interests write the rules, it takes more than a rally to change them. It takes organized people showing up together and demanding better from those who govern our communities. O...
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Reposted by Alan R Kay
Indivisible Iowa Johnson County @indivisibleia-joco.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Iran War Cost Tracker Estimated U.S. Taxpayer Spending @climatesollab.bsky.social iran-cost-ticker.com
iran-cost-ticker.com
Iran War Cost Tracker — First Week Cost $11.3 Billion
The Pentagon told Congress the first week of the Iran war cost $11.3 billion. Track the running total in real time.
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Indivisible Iowa Johnson County @indivisibleia-joco.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Today in Iowa City 6pm Vigil Trinity Episcopal Ch-320 E College St. Come together to lament this weekend’s violence on the Ped Mall & recommit ourselves to building the peace every person in our community deserves. Organized by area religious communities & Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America
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Jeremiah Cohen @jeremiahycohen.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Delighted to share our discoveries about one of the brain's neurotransmitter systems: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Together with colleagues at the @alleninstitute.org, we have learned a lot about a tiny cluster of neurons in the brainstem locus coeruleus (LC) that releases norepinephrine (NE). 1
biorxiv.org
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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Making tenure count, for MSNOW I wrote about my employer, The University of Iowa, creating a center for intellectual freedom. It's a reactionary project built on decades of conservative propaganda about higher ed.
ms.now
Opinion | Beware conservatives promoting “intellectual freedom”
Victor Ray: This conservative lie about schools like mine is furthering authoritarianism
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Kevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
An mRNA treatment for PANCREATIC CANCER was in trials, among many other uses. Choosing to end this research is choosing to sentence millions to an early, painful death
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Indivisible Iowa Johnson County @indivisibleia-joco.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Anti-War, Anti-Genocide, Rapid Response Rally! Thursday April 9th on the Pentacrest Iowa City, 1 pm to 3 pm
No trump - no hegseth
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 05/04/2026
At least Ahab had a clear and well defined goal
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Indivisible Iowa Johnson County @indivisibleia-joco.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Great to see our rally in Iowa City featured in @nytimes.com Katy Gates, from Voters of Tomorrow, said the crowd was “a lot younger, more diverse and more energetic” than those at previous “No Kings” demonstrations. She attributed the change, in part, to the war. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/u...
nytimes.com
5 Takeaways From the ‘No Kings’ Rallies as the Midterms Heat Up
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Marla Feller @mfeller.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
mad neuroscientists marching in Berkeley
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Indivisible Iowa Johnson County @indivisibleia-joco.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Iowa City, No Kings 3, Today. ATTENTION ALL CITIZENS. If You Prefer DEI to (self proclaimed) DEITY Deranged Egomaniacal Insecure Tyrannical Yapster DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
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Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
🧪This is important. Russel Vought fact check by @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social When a non-scientist says w/ certainty that NIH caused the Covid19 pandemic, it is a red flag & arrogance. His intention is to destroy science & implement Project 2025. Articles of impeachment have been drafted.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
In unrelated news, this was spotted near NIH yesterday by a friend (honestly)... #PoopHappens 2/2
A "Freedom Septic" (www.poophappens.com") truck.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
The 2026 National Science Foundation budget is $8.75 Billion.
nytimes.com
First 6 Days of Iran War Cost U.S. $11.3 Billion, Pentagon Says
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Alan R Kay @alanrkay.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Super article about Mike Welsh - "A central technique we use came from a scientist who wanted to understand how frogs living in fresh water maintain their body’s salt balance." stories.uiowa.edu/curiosity-an...
stories.uiowa.edu
Curiosity and compassion fuel Iowa researcher’s work
From rural beginnings to groundbreaking advances in the treatment of cystic fibrosis, Michael Welsh has helped reshape what’s possible for patients. Supported by a collaborative academic environment a...
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Alan R Kay @alanrkay.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Beautiful retrospective on Jim Hudspeth by Pascal Martin & Jonathon Howard www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
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Erica McAlister @flygirlnhm.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Look who is giving a Royal Institute Lecture 😉...on flies..can you believe it.... Very excited to be giving a talk about the Life Cycles of Flies - the vast and splendid adaptations undertaken by these little marvels.. www.rigb.org/whats-on/met...
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Heading off to set up for the @standupforscience.bsky.social rally in Pittsburgh. 1:00 Allegheny Landing Come on out Yinzers.
A man in a blue "Deranged Activist" standing next to a tree outside.
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Indivisible Iowa Johnson County @indivisibleia-joco.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
There will be 29 No Kings Rallies on the 28th of March 2026! Algona Ames Burlington Cedar Rapids Chariton Clarinda Clinton Council Bluffs Davenport De Witt Decorah Des Moines Dubuque Fairfield Glenwood
Map of Iowa with No Kings rallies
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Indivisible Iowa Johnson County @indivisibleia-joco.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
He quotes Abraham Lincoln writing in 1848 when he was a first-term congressman - "Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object."
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Indivisible Iowa Johnson County @indivisibleia-joco.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Protest Trump's Illegal War! It's not surprising as this regime attempts to deflect from their disastrous record. If you are upset and angry and want to channel that energy into doing something, come join us for a POP-UP on the corners of Gilbert & Burlington streets at Noon today in Iowa City.
Peace sign
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Indivisible Iowa Johnson County @indivisibleia-joco.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Iowans Oppose HF 2296 - Protect Local Control & Community Safety. Take Action Now! Ask members of the House committee and House leadership too remove HF 2296 from debate and to oppose the bill.
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 22/02/2026
SCIENCE FIGHTERS! We need YOU to rally with us on March 7th in Washington D.C. or at your local rally! Visit standupforscience.net/march7 to learn more! #March7 #rally #standupforscience #science #savescience
MARCH 7th, WASHINGTON D.C. and nationwide!

TAKE BACK our SCIENCE RALLY!

CHECKLIST:

REGISTER TO HOST LOCAL RALLY

SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER AT YOUR LOCAL RALLY

LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR LOCAL RALLY

DONATE TO FUEL THE FIGHT FOR SCIENCE!

ALL OF THE ABOVE AND MORE AT: standupforscience.net/march7
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