iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 15h

As recently as September, SBE's website proudly declared that it supported 63% of all research in US social and psychological sciences and worked to "creat[e] opportunities everywhere." Now, that message is gone.

Wayback machine version of SBE site: SBE provides 63% of the funding for all academic research in social and psychological sciences in the U.S.

Through its core disciplinary and interdisciplinary programs, as well as contributions to cross-directorate NSF investments, SBE supports approximately 5,000 scientists, educators and students in a typical year.

The directorate's priorities include:

https://web.archive.org/web/20260906005733/https://www.nsf.gov/sbe/about#what-we-support-95b#what-we-support-95b

https://www.nsf.gov/sbe/about#what-we-support-95b

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 15h

In response to our questions, an NSF spokesperson said that SBE has not been shut down. But with zero SBE-specific funding opportunities, no review panels, and dwindling numbers of staff, it's hard to see the directorate continuing for much longer.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 15h

How did this happen? Officially, proposals went through the same process as before: peer review, program officer recommendation, section head approval. Unofficially, the choice was taken out of SBE's hands, going above the directorate head, Christina Freyman and to NSF leadership.

In the past, panels of independent scientists vetted proposals; program officers recommended those found worthy, and section heads approved them. But a new, unofficial process has removed decision-making power from all directorate staff and leadership. Only a few proposals in administration priority areas, such as cognitive science and AI, were allowed to move ahead, according to the former staffers. Program officers sent them to Freyman, who met with Simon Malcomber, NSF’s chief science officer. “Then he would come back with some decision,” a former staffer explains. “So it wasn’t his decision-making. He was in consult with others.” If Malcomber said a proposal was acceptable, a program officer was given the green light to officially recommend it. “They were very, very careful in terms of never putting anything in writing about what the process was,” the former staffer says. NSF did not respond to questions about the process.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 15h

In addition to spending less money and making fewer new grants, SBE also dramatically narrowed where it made those new grants. Areas such as economics, sociology, and archaeology received few to no grants.

Grantmaking gutted
The National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) awarded far fewer new awards than typical in fiscal year 2026—just 91. (The fiscal year runs from 1 October to 30 September.) Most of the new grants focused on cognitive science and artificial intelligence, in alignment with White House priorities; offices that support fields such as economics, sociology, and research ethics, as well as postdoctoral fellowships, awarded no grants at all.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 15h

But no part was hit as hard as SBE, which went from an average of 800 new grants to just 91, a precipitous, 90% decline. SBE spent just 95 million on new grants, far less than its average of 247 million.

Chart of SBE new grants by FY shows a massive decline in FY26

Chart of obligations by SBE shows a 62% decline in FY26

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 15h

Agency-wide, NSF made far fewer new grants (~6,200, down from an average of ~11,000) and underspent its buget by 1.4 billion. See previous coverage:

nature.com

Exclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decades

The US science-funding agency is withholding $1 billion of its budget so that the money can go to a special White House project.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 15h

NEW: In March the White House released an FY27 budget request that zeroed out the National Science Foundation's directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). For months it was unclear what would happen. Now, with FY26 over, the damage to SBE is coming to light. My reporting:

science.org

‘Complete devastation’: How NSF gutted its social sciences research

Agency body that funds sociology, linguistics, and archaeology studies in U.S. gave 90% fewer new grants this year

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 14h

Small addendum: It's tricky to see what precisely SBE did fund in FY26 because almost everything was relabeled as 'cross-directorate activities'—a catch-all for directorate-wide funding. This plot, though, gives a sense of how many program areas (30+) SBE had previously funded and how they were cut.

Plot shows new grants in basically every area of SBE going to zero in 2026. Note that there is some double counting as some grants are in multiple areas. (e.g. Sociology and Economics)

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Dr. Angry Anarchist (Free 🇵🇸) @archhelmer.bsky.social · 12h

It's rare for CRM issues to get news coverage so I'm absolutely THRILLED that @science.org is reporting on the Chronicle Heritage shutdown!! Excellent work by @tmitchellbrown.bsky.social 🙌

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Andrew Reinhard, PhD, RPA @adreinhard.bsky.social · 14h

I come back from fieldwork to find an advance copy of Walkover Country: Archaeology Poems from the Plains, my first collection of poetry and one centered on #CRM #archaeology and the emotions and physical toll present in the profession. You’ll be able to order your copy soon from Spartan Press. 🏺

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Kristina Killgrove @killgrove.bsky.social · 13h

A new study of Iron and Viking Age "body-objects" reveals a significant amount of violence in Scandinavia. 🏺🧪

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Jesse Wolfhagen @uncertainarch.bsky.social · 10h

Some of us like seeing the light leave our kids' eyes!

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Taylor Mitchell Brown @tmitchellbrown.bsky.social · 13h

Chronicle Heritage, the largest cultural resources management firm in the US, abruptly shuttered its operations last week. The sudden closure leaves many archaeologists without work just as the US field season is coming to a close. This is a developing story. 🧪🏺 #Archaeology at @science.org

science.org

Exclusive: Archaeology megafirm abruptly shuts down

Chronicle Heritage was largest U.S. cultural resources management company

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Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · 18h

This is your brain ... in academia. My latest for @flaminghydra.com is about how my experience getting a Ph.D. shaped my latest novel, A WALL IS ALSO A ROAD.

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Jesse Wolfhagen @uncertainarch.bsky.social · 19h

...you telling me a rat wrote this slice-of-life fanfic that captures my childhood recollection of what a loving supportive (yet still steamy) homelife should be like?

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Dr Anna Hájková @ankahajkova.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Finally, Reitz does not understand that noone deserved to be sent to the camps. That is in 2026, as German and global democracy crumbles and AfD is about to take over in Magdeburg Landtag, disconcerning. Mind you, Focus is a liberal weekly. It is a decent magazine.

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Dr Anna Hájková @ankahajkova.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Were the "asocials" and "criminal" prisoners in the concentration camps victims? Apparently, we need to have that discussion again. Hape Kerkeling, the German queer comedian, spoke in Erfurt last week and demanded the ban on the AfD due to the party's relativization of Nazi crimes.

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Lesley McFadyen @lesleymcf.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Please come and join Saffy Setohy, David Bennett and I on the 12th October at the Drumadoon Estate for a guided walk and landscape design workshop on An Archaeology of Trees. Part funded by the Carena Institute Of Sustainable Archaeologies.

eventbrite.co.uk

An Archaeology of Trees

An Archeology of Trees is a creative, outdoor workshop exploring temperate rainforest environments of Arran, led by Artist Saffy Setohy.

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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 04/10/2026

Every time I think I’ve hit the bottom of my outrage, they find a new pocket…

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The Onion @theonion.com · 04/10/2026

Archaeologists Unearth Ancient Clay Pot Shards From Dwelling Of Earliest Known Klutz theonion.com/archaeologists-unearth…

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Jesse Wolfhagen @uncertainarch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

To paraphrase something I heard from a British person, semi(?)-sincerely, in Cyprus

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Jesse Wolfhagen @uncertainarch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Look you'll all stop yelling at each other if you just come together and yell at me!

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tenuretracker.info @tenuretracker.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

University of Washington is hiring: Assistant Professor in Statistics #assistantprofessor #statistics

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Sickos Committee @sickoscommittee.org · 04/10/2026

HARVARD HAIL MARY AND LATERAL TO WIN

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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 03/10/2026

Killed. NSF’s SBE was killed, in violation of law. The President does not have the power to choose to kill programs at a whim by defunding them. The imperial presidency was a mistake and we are in a separation of powers constitutional crisis.

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savetheacademy.bsky.social @savetheacademy.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

This is the third day America doesn’t have access to the public side of the Academy of Natural Sciences. We are demanding that change. #savetheacademy Meanwhile…

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Jesse Wolfhagen @uncertainarch.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

got those extra antibodies finely tuning your system to find criminals (germs)

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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

This is why I wrote my “do less with less” piece this week. The public needs to understand

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Jesse Wolfhagen @uncertainarch.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

[to the tune of "Punkrocker" by the Teddybears]: Cuz I'm a bog body, yes I am Well, I'm a bog body, yes I am

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Curt @neoriffic.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

CRM is squarely at the intersection of Capitalism St. and Colonialism Ave. The archaeologists and the heritage they ostensibly protect are inherently susceptible to interests and legislation actively disincentivized from promoting sustainable and equitable treatment of workers and First Nations.🏺

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Duncan Stibbard Hawkes @dstibbardhawkes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

⚠️ New Paper! 📣 Egalitarianism has been tied to hunter-gatherer subsistence - but is that justified? In synthesising 30 expert commentaries, we argue that the processes underwriting hunter-gatherer egalitarianism appear in most all human societies; though their efficacy is context dependent.

cambridge.org

Beyond egalitarian societies: Egalitarianism as a human universal | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core

Beyond egalitarian societies: Egalitarianism as a human universal - Volume 49

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Blake Matthews @ebmatthews.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Three new evolutionary ecology PhD positions are open in Switzerland (Eawag, and Uni. Bern) to work on Greenland lake ecosystems. We are interested in how stickleback and copepods evolve, and how their evolution affects the trajectories of lake ecosystem development. apply.refline.ch/673277/1403/...

apply.refline.ch

3 PhD positions in the fields of Evolutionary Ecology, Evolutionary Genomics, and Ecosystem Science

The Department of Fish Ecology & Evolution (FishEc) has vacancies for

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Nature @nature.com · 02/10/2026

Take Nature’s quiz on female Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine. go.nature.com/4rLJ5mm

go.nature.com

Can you name the women who have won a science Nobel prize?

Take Nature’s quiz on female Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry or physiology or medicine.

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Q @gameovermike.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Oof...it's starting to sound like Chronicle Heritage, one of the bigger players in cultural resource management, is going to be shuttered. As recently as a few years ago they were touting the possibilities of private equity in CRM. Just awful for all their talented staff. 🏺

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Mina Kimes @minakimes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The problem isn’t that they’re moving past it—it’s that they’re trying to rehabilitate it. Would be better for everyone if people who don’t want to engage with the facts just talked about the play on the field and left it at that.

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Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

did you know that the word "amortize" comes from a Latin word meaning to make dead? anyway, this looks like a genuinely cool paper!

Figure 1: Graph processing pipeline. Graph description: Directed acyclic graph of a two-level model with population
mean µ, population standard deviation τ , group-level means {λj}, observations yji, and observation-level standard
deviation ω. The dashed box denotes that the group-level means λj and observations yji are sampled independently.
Graph expansion: The interior node λj is split into two conditionally independent instances λ1 and λ2, each receiving
the same parent nodes µ and τ . This makes the exchangeability of groups explicit in the graph structure, allowing the
inversion to determine that each instance conditions only on its own data and the global parameters. Graph inversion:
Inversion of the expanded two-level model using outer-nodes-first ordering (µ, τ, ω, λ1, λ2). In the inverse graph, each
λj conditions only on its own group data yj = {yji} and the global parameters µ, τ , ω, so the per-group inference
becomes amortizable: a single inference network can be used for all J groups. Network architecture: Architecture
derived from the inverse graph. Each inference network has its own summary network. The local summary network
encodes the observation of each group into a group-level summary, from which the local inference network infers
λj . The global summary network pools all observations into a single representation of the dataset, from which the
global inference network infers µ, τ , and ω. The dashed box denotes that the local summary and inference networks are
applied independently for each group.

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Berna Devezer @devezer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

A revised version of this preprint is now posted on arXiv. The theory section is rewritten, improving model exposition based on feedback we received, we fixed some confusion and errors, contextualized the models more carefully so the interpretation becomes clearer, and improved the overall writing.

arxiv.org

The Difference Between "Replicable" and "Not Replicable" Is Not Itself Scientifically Replicable

Replication studies estimate the replicability rate of scientific results by aggregating binary verdicts of experiments as ``replicated'' and ``not replicated''. These estimates assume rarely attainab...

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 01/10/2026

it didn't even occur to me that the government might try to execute someone a second time if they torture the person but fail to kill them during a first botched attempt. truly grotesque and a moral stain upon all involved.

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Regina Fairbanks @reginafairbanks.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Happy depressed Darwin day to those who celebrate 🎉

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Helen Kennedy @helenkennedy.com · 01/10/2026

The link in the post below is super cool

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Chert @chert.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

please help… my son…

photo of a forklift w/ a pallet jack sitting on its forks like it was an adult carrying a child across its arms

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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I haven't seen this posted here, but thank you to Jona Schlegel (archaeoink on Instagram) for making this #archink #inktober list. Not sure I'll be able to contribute this year, but I always love to see more archaeology drawings.

Archink prompts: 1. figurine 2. midden 3. hand axe 4. flotation 5. ditch 6. leather 7. Indus/Harappan 8. dating 9. antler 10. pXRF 11. Lapita

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