We are kicking things off with a blurb from the folks behind Science for the People and their latest blog about defending science. “We recognize that science is inherently political. Science is defined as a set of human practices relating to knowledge that arises from, is shaped by, and helps reproduce the social systems in which it is embedded. Thus, science is not an objective good or neutral tool; it interpenetrates with all other social phenomena such as class, race, sex, gender, geography, and culture. Science throughout history is practiced unequally, benefits few, excludes many, and is inextricable from its human consequences. To defend “science,” we must first ask: Science for whom? By what means? Toward what ends?”
This week, we continue to scream into the void. Lets get to it.
Take Action
The next big day of action is April 19th - follow 50501 on Bluesky and find an event near you.
For folks in the US, we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep calling your elected representatives. 5 Calls continues to be a great resource or you can find the contacts for your representatives here.
Weekly Wins
Huge crowds as Bernie and AOC get back on the road for their “Fight the Oligarchy” tour.
Attorney General Bonta filed a brief challenging the administration’s revocation of student visas.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 major universities starting to push back against all kinds of administrative over-reach (Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, among others) even as more universities are targeted by the administration.
Weekly Wonder
Meet the Southwest peach and a Navajo researcher working to bring it back!
check it out
As of April 14, 1,000+ international students and recent graduates have had their legal status changed by the U.S. State Department. See where international student visas have been revoked.
The National Institutes of Health is the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research. See which grant programs and NIH institutes have been cut by the administration.
perennial reads
A long read this week from our 500 Women Scientists leadership team - Becoming a scientist in the US just became a lot harder.
The rise of end time fascism by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor is a must-read. If you’re willing to go down a very dark rabbit hole, follow this with What the technofascists and religions fanatics have in common: End of days theology from Drilled’s Amy Westervelt (we shared it a couple of weeks ago but worth a re-read!).
From a moment to a movement - check out this post from Waging Nonviolence.
Keep reading Liz Neeley’s weekly recaps.
all ears
This Podcast Will Kill You does an amazing job bringing evidence-based health science to a broad set of ears – exactly what the world needs when health disinformation is at a high point. We were blown away learning about Scarlet Fever, and hat tip for this week’s episode on the Childhood Vaccine Schedule.
watch this!
The Librarians is a full length documentary about book bans sweeping the US and the librarians and educators (almost all women) fighting them.