Sign in

Alec Stapp

@alecstapp.bsky.social
8.3K followers 309 following 57 posts

Co-founder IFP

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Will Poff-Webster @willpoffwebster.bsky.social · 13h
Ambitious permitting bill out today! @heinrich.senate.gov says: "We need to be able to build big things in this country again... to figure out how to get to yes, or how to get to no, a whole lot faster. If we don't, we will see 20-30% increases in the cost of electricity in the near term."
184
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
We've been checking with contacts inside the NSF and they are saying it is **not true** that X-labs is responsible for this. X-labs is not anywhere close to big enough to make up this hole. As far as I have heard, this program is coming out of TIP funding.
22511
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Ways to build more transit faster without spending more [@mattyglesias.bsky.social]
slowboring.com
How to fix transit construction in America
Introducing the Transit Abundance Playbook
1112
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Andrew Gerard @andrewgerard.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
1. It’s 1%, not 10% 2. We’re talking about diversifying a portfolio where ~70% of funding at NSF/NIH goes to small, project-based grants. Nonprofit labs like the Arc Institute haven’t undermined higher ed and I’m glad NSF wants to fund labs like that, while maintaining the bulk of funding at unis.
131
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Will Poff-Webster @willpoffwebster.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
1/ The Senate created the biggest pro-housing bill in years. Why did they add a provision at the last minute that discourages 100K-130K homes per year (7-10% of all US housing supply)?
1113
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Matt Clancy @mattsclancy.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
New research by Pierre Azoulay, Danielle Li, Bhaven Sampat and me. Earlier this year, the President’s budget proposed a 40% cut to the budget of the NIH. This motivated us to ask: what if the NIH had been 40% smaller?
22617
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Zach Liscow @handle.invalid · 17/09/2025
I had a great time talking with Santi Ruiz @ifp.bsky.social about how to reduce infrastructure costs. Here's the podcast. www.statecraft.pub/p/what-is-am...
statecraft.pub
What is America’s Infrastructure Cost Problem?
“I'm part of the problem”
042
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 17/09/2025
Five years after we started it, I'm super happy to share that Works in Progress is now available as a print magazine! 🥹 It'll have everything on web and more. You can subscribe today for $100/£75 to receive 6 beautiful, 120-page issues of our magazine a year. worksinprogress.co/print
Works in Progress - Now in print.
3579
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Richard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Global emissions from heating are about 4x those from cooling. Air conditioning is an important and lifesaving adaptation to climate change. Decarbonize the grid.
Graph showing global carbon emissions from heating vs cooling. Heating is about 4 billion tonnes CO2e/year; cooling is about 1. Source https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-heating-cooling
271070335
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 19/07/2025
Sad news: The dataset behind this famous chart on the decline in costs of genome sequencing has had its NIH funding cut. I loved this chart because it was the first that made me appreciate the impact of dataviz. But it also tracked progress towards an ambitious goal ($1000 genome) that succeeded.
NHGRI (at NIH)'s chart on the declining cost of sequencing a human genome from 2001 to 2021, falling faster than Moore's law. The "$1,000 genome" catchphrase was first publicly recorded in December 2001 at a scientific retreat to discuss the future of biomedical research following publication of the first draft of the Human Genome Project (HGP), convened by the National Human Genome Research Institute at Airlie House in Virginia.[5] The phrase neatly highlighted the chasm between the actual cost of the Human Genome Project, estimated at $2.7 billion over a decade, and the benchmark for routine, affordable personal genome sequencing.

On 2 October 2002, Craig Venter introduced the opening session of GSAC (The Genome Sequencing and Analysis Conference) at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston: "The Future of Sequencing: Advancing Towards the $1,000 Genome." Speakers included George M. Church and executives from 454 Life Sciences, Solexa, U.S. Genomics, VisiGen and Amersham plc.[6][7] In 2003, Venter announced that his foundation would earmark $500,000 for a breakthrough leading to the $1,000 genome.[8] That sum was subsequently rolled into the Archon X Prize.

In October 2004, NHGRI introduced the first in a series of '$1,000 Genome' grants designed to advance "the development of breakthrough technologies that will enable a human-sized genome to be sequenced for $1,000 or less."[9]
413347
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Matt Clancy @mattsclancy.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
What’s the return on government support for R&D? To try to get a credible answer, Open Philanthropy and the Sloan Foundation are committing up to $1 million to trying something new: we call it a Pop-Up Journal.
15925
Reposted by Alec Stapp
jacobtref.bsky.social @jacobtref.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
New blog post, on 52 pieces of science writing I've learned from over the last two years. Thank you, from one reader, to all the authors! blog.jacobtrefethen.com/science-writ...
blog.jacobtrefethen.com
Science writing from the last two years that stuck with me
This list consists of writing that ticked two boxes: 1) did I think about the article again more than a week after reading it?, and 2) was it written for a popular audience? So, academic papers, inclu...
092
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 11/06/2025
LAUNCH DAY 🚀 Today I’m launching a new podcast, Hard Drugs, with Jacob Trefethen (@jacobtref.bsky.social) Our first episode is about lenacapavir — a new HIV drug that blocks infections with an efficacy rate of nearly 100%, and which could completely change the fight against HIV worldwide.
open.spotify.com
Lenacapavir: The miracle drug that could end AIDS
Hard Drugs · Episode
1525273
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Not sure how many people realize that battery storage already supplies 30% of California’s electricity demand at peak. Batteries aren’t the future — they’re here now.
16803217
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Wonder what Austin is doing differently than other cities, guess we'll never know
6697
Reposted by Alec Stapp
jacobtref.bsky.social @jacobtref.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Impressive effort mapping gaps across 100 areas of science and technology to work on. I’m going to make a big pot of coffee and click around:
2176
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
🚨 We're hiring! Join @ifp.bsky.social’s metascience team to rethink how science gets funded and organized. Fellow & Senior Fellow roles open — $3K referral bonus if we hire your recommendation. Apply by May 11: ifp.org/come-work-wi...
ifp.org
Come Work with IFP | IFP
IFP is currently hiring — join the team!
02013
Reposted by Alec Stapp
NPR @npr.org · 04/03/2025
Harrison, whose plasma contained a rare antibody, rolled up his sleeve 1,173 times from 1954 to 2018. The Australian is credited with helping 2.4 million babies and advancing scientific research.
npr.org
James Harrison, whose blood donations saved over 2 million babies, has died
Harrison, whose plasma contained a rare antibody, rolled up his sleeve 1,173 times from 1954 to 2018. The Australian is credited with helping 2.4 million babies and advancing scientific research.
518223304351
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Jennifer Doleac @jenniferdoleac.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
This year's Econ job market has, by all accounts, been brutal. If you're still not sure what you're doing next year, applying for external funding to continue your work is a great way to buy yourself time & options. It's a way to "build your own post-doc." Check out AV's open RFPs!
13516
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 14/02/2025
Sorry, but we now have a once-per-six-months PrEP injection with a 96% efficacy in reducing HIV infections, and the response is to limit PrEP to only pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers? What?! It's going to be much more expensive to provide lifelong treatment than work on prevention.
In the coming years, HIV/AIDS research—to take just one example—could be similarly stifled, Amy Fairchild, a historian at Syracuse University, told me. Epidemiologists who study sexually transmitted infections in general tend to diligently track gender, because patterns of transmission can differ so greatly along that axis. But under Trump’s leadership, that scientific rigorousness has turned into a potential vulnerability. Already, the administration has issued guidance limiting PEPFAR-funded pre-exposure prophylaxis to only “pregnant and breastfeeding women,” excluding by omission other populations extremely vulnerable to infection, including both men who have sex with men as well as transgender people. And several sexual-health researchers told me that the Trump administration recently issued a termination order for their large, CDC-funded study that focused on reducing health disparities among populations affected by multiple STIs. (A judge has since issued a temporary restraining order allowing the study to resume.)
26570144
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 15/02/2025
Some great news: the FDA just approved a new chikungunya vaccine for people aged 12 and older.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, February 14, 2025 – Bavarian Nordic A/S (OMX: BAVA) announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved VIMKUNYA™ (Chikungunya Vaccine, Recombinant) for injection, the first virus-like particle (VLP) single-dose chikungunya vaccine in the U.S. for persons 12 years of age and older. 

The FDA approved VIMKUNYA under Priority Review, based on results from two phase 3 clinical trials which enrolled more than 3,500 healthy individuals 12 years of age and older. The studies met their primary endpoints, with results showing that 21 days after vaccination, the vaccine induced neutralizing antibodies in up to 97.8% of the vaccinated individuals and demonstrated a rapid immune response starting to develop within one week. The vaccine was well-tolerated and vaccine-related adverse events were mainly mild or moderate in nature1. VIMKUNYA is a VLP vaccine, which means that it uses virus-like particles designed to mimic the chikungunya virus without the ability to infect cells, replicate or cause disease.
212219
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Kevin A. Bryan @afinetheorem.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
NBER Innovation Boot Camp is back this summer for a 4th run (thanks open_phil!)! Lectures by Heidi Williams, Pierre Azoulay, Ina Ganguli, Ben Jones, Chad Jones, Kyle Myers, and me, a great policy panel and keynotes, plus attendance at Summer Institute innovation session. www.nber.org/calls-papers...
nber.org
13114
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Tim Bresnahan @timobres.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
Graduate students with interests in innovation, permitting or immigration policy who would like to work on fiscal and economic impacts -- apply now! Applications close on 1/16.
0103
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Nick Kristof @nickkristof.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
@crampell.bsky.social on Biden's legacy: "Despite the $7.5 billion allocated for EV charging stations, only 44 stations have been built nationwide so far. A $42 billion expansion of broadband internet service still has not connected a single household." www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
washingtonpost.com
Opinion | The legacy of Bidenomics: Maybe not much at all
Biden struggled to implement economic policies that will endure past his presidency.
154013
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Mandating all-in upfront pricing is such an obviously good rule
4574
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Very glad to see this trend finally reversing
3729
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
The polio vaccine works.
21627179
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Arnab Datta @arnabdatta.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
1/ I wrote for NYT on a 3-prong strategy for climate progress under Trump. -innovation & industrial strategy -pragmatism on fossil fuels -expand interests that benefit from decarb This same approach led to IRA/IIJA. But it did not pass the test for many activist groups.
4174
Reposted by Alec Stapp
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
A pragmatic suggestion from @arnabdatta.bsky.social: "As we look toward an uncertain political future, one lesson is clear: The path to lasting climate progress lies not in oil and gas antagonism, but in transforming our opponents into stakeholders in a clean energy future."
nytimes.com
Opinion | Climate Activists Need to Radically Change Their Approach Under Trump (Gift Article)
Climate purity is a recipe for failure.
1211118
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Thinking again about how one of the most influential environmental activist groups in DC opposed the Inflation Reduction Act
1411
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
Senate Schatz is correct that this is basically the IRA approach but the call is to actually embrace that approach rather than be pulled kicking and screaming to it by Joe Manchin. bsky.app/profile/scha...
4733
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 08/12/2024
The most effective way we can cut emissions over the next four years is to make clean energy cheap. A good call for clean energy abundance in today’s @nytimes.com by @arnabdatta.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2024/12/08/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Climate Activists Need to Radically Change Their Approach Under Trump
Climate purity is a recipe for failure.
1215733
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Arnab Datta @arnabdatta.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
Climate advocates might feel hopeless with Pres-elect Trump returning to the WH. They shouldn’t. I wrote about how to make progress for NYT 1. Focus on innovation and industrial strategy 2. Be pragmatic about fossil fuels 3. Expand the interests that gain from decarbonization
1311228
Reposted by Alec Stapp
Robinson Meyer @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
It’s not cynical. The author is describing a shift in the US elite approach to decarbonization — and as he writes, this approach is epitomized by both the IRA *and* the bipartisan infrastructure law. You can disagree with the ideas but the shift is real, and it’s foolish to pretend it didn’t happen.
2622730
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Wow
9694
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
The case for nuclear power, in one chart.
57812
Reposted by Alec Stapp
James Medlock @jdcmedlock.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
766656
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Other blue states should follow Massachusetts’ lead on permitting reform. The only way to achieve ambitious climate goals is to cut red tape and make it easy to build clean energy.
4416
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Vaccines are miraculous
48915
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 06/11/2024
Lots of people are about to radically change their view of how the economy is doing
717826
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 07/07/2024
Solve your housing affordability crisis with this one weird trick
12533105
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 20/06/2024
Contender for favorite chart of all time: Predictions vs. Reality for solar energy.
562251737
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 07/11/2023
We need to make it easier to build transmission lines
1327
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 07/11/2023
"Yes in God's Backyard" is such a fun pro-housing idea
0146
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 06/11/2023
This might be the best explanation I’ve seen for the divergence between consumer sentiment and economic data
16727219
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 04/11/2023
One way to solve the “shortage” of environmental review experts: Don’t require >4,000-page environmental reviews for things like congestion pricing.
1265
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 03/11/2023
New research finds the COVID vaccines saved 2.4 million lives
25819
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 02/11/2023
Love when a bill has a name like this rather than some contrived acronym
1152
Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 01/11/2023
In a high interest rate, high inflation environment, protectionist measures like the Jones Act hurt even more. Need to repeal these inefficient polices ASAP so we can build.
0133