Science is labor

Photo by Mulyadi on Unsplash

“Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world” - Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the National Farmworkers Union.

Science has a labor history and is interwoven into both labor and anti-labor movements. Organizing within science has some unique challenges, and scientists often do not see themselves as workers. But the proliferation of low-paying jobs, the reliance on graduate students and postdocs as temporary cheap labor, the expanding “soft money” worker class without job security, and institutional barriers to labor organizing within science have all deepened exploitation of researchers.  Recent movements for unionization are overcoming institutional and cultural barriers and as attacks on science and scientists are expanding in the US, more scientists are looking to the labor movements for guidance. 

The rapid decline into authoritarianism in the US and abroad is an existential threat to science and society. This is the moment for scientists to join together with worker movements. We can’t sit on the sidelines and hope we have research funding. The fight of authoritarianism is our fight too. 

Lets roll up our leaves and get into it.

take action

  • Join a rally on May Day (May 1st) in your town. 

  • “we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses” - sign on to this letter calling for academic institutions to stand together - 270 institutions have signed (more expected)

  • Join the Science Homecoming op-ed writing efforts – as a start, volunteer with the McClintock Letters project to help edit 500 letters in support of science to local papers (email partnerships@500womenscientists.org)

weekly win

  • Trump administration tried to cancel the National Nature Assessment, scientists reinvent it as United By Nature: A Knowledge Assessment of Nature and Nature’s Benefits in the U.S. (NYT op-ed paywalled)

  • Divya Tyagi, a Penn State engineering grad student, revised a version of a 100-year-old equation to improve the accuracy of wind turbine efficiency modeling

check it out

  • This year’s Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize winners

  • Its time to be brave, a call to action from Cornell University AAUP president Risa Lieberwitz

  • Learning from Chicago’s organizing against immigration raids

perennial reads

  • Terry McGlynn’s latest “Science for Everyone” blog post and consider this: If your institution was relying on your DEI office to make progress, were you really making any progress?

  • Andy Revkin wrote about his visit to the Vatican in 2014, reflecting on a mix of science, spirit, will and love

  • Leveling up - from chilling to freezing effects on science.

    • In 2008, the Bush administration politically attacked NIH funding but NIH defended grants and no funding was lost.

    • In 2025, NIH is disqualifying universities from receiving grants if they have DEI programs and/or divestment from Israel. We are off the cliff. 

  • Republicans have terminated ~800 NIH & 1000 NSF grants so far. Those grants represent countless people, their ideas, and discoveries that will be delayed or die on the vine.

all ears

watch this

…by the way

  • It was never about illegal immigrants - the US administration deported a 2-yr old citizen (and her sister and mother). The cruelty is boundless. 

🙃

Oppression is the mask of fear

Photo by Cade Roberts on Unsplash

There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this: Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrections are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this: The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this: Try.

—Karis Nemik, Andor, Season 1 Episode 12

The US administration is rapidly attacking fundamental rights, including due process and free speech. The recent NSF efforts to rescind funding from projects that study misinformation, claiming "concerns for free speech," don’t square with the administration’s actions like kidnapping Rümeysa Öztürk off the streets and putting her in detention for writing an op-ed. The goals are tyranny, preemptive obedience, and control. And as Karis Nemik notes in his manifesto in Andor (season 1), the need for control is desperate. But we must also remember that it’s tenuous and the resistance will always persevere.

We continue to bare witness as things continue to unravel, so lets get into it.

Take action

  • Check the new NSF grant cancellation tracker (DOGE is in full force across the agency) to see if your work is being defunded and let your elected representatives know!

    • If your NSF grant has been terminated, please submit that information here

  • Check out and share these federal worker legal support resources

  • More actions on the Action Lab website

weekly wonder

There are ~300,000 moose in Sweden and they are on the move. Check out this livestream of their migration.

Check it out

Perennial reads

  • “What it means to tell the truth about America” by Clint Smith in The Atlantic, important read as the administration EOs target museums and libraries to white-wash and purge history.

  • The rise of unreason, coupled with our growing scientific knowledge and sophistication.

  • A catalog of cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, lest we forget the litany of horrors the US administration is spreading across the US and world.

weekly win

  • Institutions of higher education and faculty within are uniting to defend academic freedom.

All ears

  • Check out the bio/acc podcast by Harvard sophomore Shriya Prakash Bhat, featuring deeply researched interviews on fascinating topics in biotech and human health.

…by the way

We loved hearing the news of the wandering cat who joined the White House Press Corps (and the photos of journalists holding her released by the AP). Maybe if we all had more animals to snuggle things would be better?

🙃

NIH has been instructed to hold off issuing grants to Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, and Northwestern…. but can’t tell them?!?!

For Whom, By What Means, Toward What Ends?

Photo by Waldemar on Unsplash

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. 

  • The NASA and the CDC have been gutted.

perennial reads

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.

🙃

Is it just us or is this fascism?

Good trouble

Photo by Barbara Burgess on Unsplash

Last week, US Senator Cory Booker held the Senate floor for 25 hours and 5 minutes, kicking off his marathon filibuster by saying that he has “been hearing from people from all over my state and indeed all over the nation calling upon folks in Congress to do more, to do things that recognize the urgency—the crisis—of the moment. And so we all have a responsibility, I believe to do something different to cause, as John Lewis said, good trouble, and that includes me.” The urgency of the moment cannot be overstated. Thousands of people have been laid off from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The impacts of losing entire programs and core functionality of remaining programs will be felt for years to come and the most vulnerable members of our society will pay the price. 

And that was just last week… before the US put tariffs on 150 countries, including 2 islands inhabited largely by penguins.

Lets talk penguins and more in this week’s wrap up. 

Take Action

  • Share this safety and planning information with non-US citizens 

  • Next day of collective action is April 19th, find an event here or organize one for your area.

  • If you are in the US, keep calling your representatives! 5 Calls continues to be a great resource or you can find the contacts for your representatives here.

Weekly Wins

  • 5.2 million people joined #HandsOff rallies across 1,200 locations across the US. 

  • Susan Crawford won her election in Wisconsin, helping maintain liberal majority on the state’s Supreme Court and delivering a decisive rebuttal to Elon Musk’s attempt to buy the election

  • Tesla sales continue to plummet #teslatakedown

Weekly Wonder

  • Molecular hydrogen takes a spin

Check It Out

  • Act locally and interconnectedly - Rutgers University’s faculty senate passed a mutual defense resolution, endorsed by associated unions, with an aim of acting collectively with other campuses.

  • Some advice for folks who have lost their jobs, from the wonderful Laura Helmuth

  • If your grant has been terminated, this resource may provide some useful next steps

Perennial Reads

  • Curious about the legal ramifications of EOs and other administrative actions? Check out Joyce Vance’s blog posts, starting with this one on the legality of the use of the Insurrection Act.

  • Meditations on an Emergency by Rebecca Solnit - bookmark it and read weekly!

  • Waging Non Violence by Daniel Hunter - concrete things we all must do to keep ourselves grounded and effective

  • Making Sense of it All by Liz Neeley - a weekly recap of what’s going on, with an emphasis on science and scicomm.

Book Nook

Watch This

  • Backsliding and the Resistance in the United States - professors Erica Chenoweth and Steven Levitsky discuss what can be learned from mobilization and opposition to autocracy in the United States based on historical examples, and offer their assessments of where the U.S. stands today.

… by the way

We had a little snafu with our email last week, so if you missed last week’s wrap up, you can still read it (it was a good one!).

Weekly Wrap Up

Photo by Liam Truong on Unsplash

“Part of how they make you obey is by making obedience seem peaceful, while resistance is violence. But really, either choice is about violence, one way or another.” ― Charlie Jane Anders, The City in the Middle of the Night

Its been a rough week, folks.

Any semblance of due process is quickly deteriorating in the US, where ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents in plain clothes are abducting people off the streets, often specifically targeting people with legal immigration status but who are critical of the current administration. The climate of fear is rapidly spreading across academic institutions and anticipatory obedience is commonplace. The University of Michigan is ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across campus, just the latest in a long list of universities capitulating to the administration’s unlawful demands to end DEI in and outside of the federal government. NYU cancelled a presentation by a Canadian doctor for fear of being targeted by the US president and Johns Hopkins University told their faculty not to intervene in potential ICE detainments on campus. Hundreds of international students from India who allegedly participated in pro-Palestine actions or shared or “liked” social media posts that are deemed anti-national got a letter from the administration telling them they had 24 hours to self-deport or they would be detained. The United States Disappeared Tracker is attempting to track people who are being detained without due process.

If you don’t think what is happening to people like Rumeysa Ozturk can’t happen to you, consider the fact that she was detained not because she did not have a legal reason for being in the US but because she expressed an opinion, a right that is fundamentally protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

Take Action

Weekly Wonder

You can nominate your pick for The Guardian’s invertebrate of the year. We are loving the clever cuttlefish 💜

Check It out

More than 10,000 federal employees were laid off last week from US Health and Human Services. Its easy to become numb as the frequency and scale of these kinds of announcements, but these are real people who were fulfilling an important mission, including supporting addiction services and community health centers across the US, monitoring infectious diseases and food safety, and overseeing health insurance programs to make sure they are not scamming subscribers. This will not make us more healthy and this will not make us more safe.

Perennial Reads

book nook

  • The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders (sci-fi, reluctant revolutionaries, and there are crocodiles, but hear us out, its a good book for our current times)

All Ears

Watch this

Rumeysa Ozturk, an international PhD student at Tufts University, was abducted by federal agents on March 25. She was likely targeted because she co-authored an op-ed critical of the university and has voiced support for Palestine. And we gotta call out the ICE agent cowardice, pulling up masks to hide their faces when they abducted Rumeysa. If you can’t publicly stand by your actions, this is a critical moment to stand against them.

…by the way

March 25th was Tolkien reading day and we can certainly get behind the quest for vanquishing Sauron.

Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

🙃 DOGE is making some big claims about improving government efficiencies but their claims don’t add up. Check for yourself - math may not be this crew’s strength.

Weekly Wrap Up

“Who has the right to have rights?” wrote Mahmoud Khalil in his letter from a Louisiana ICE detention center last week. That question has been top of mind as more information and footage is shared from ICE detention centers in the US and abroad. And just like that, the U.S. has concentration camps again.

Its been a hell of a week, lets get into it.

Take Action

Here are some recent entries to Action Lab, our database that compiles action items that YOU can take part in.

  • Hands Off April 5 National Day of Action 

  • Kill the Cuts National Day of Action will be April 8, 2025

  • Survey seeking information regarding students' perceptions of funding and workforce cuts, from SciLight and The Science Classroom.

  • We are starting a list of women & gender minority STEM folks on Bluesky - DM or message us to be added 💜

Weekly Win

  • 34,000 people came out to see Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s rally in Denver last week, and huge crowds were in attendance in Greeley CO, Tucson Arizona, and other stops on their “Fight the Oligarchy” tour. We are not alone!

Check It Out

  • The 500WS Philly Pod put together a quick guide for how to contact your local reps and schedule meetings. 

  • And the same Philly Pod is taking it to their representative Fetterman - WTF Fetterman! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Perennial Reads

Book Nook

All Ears

… by the way

As #SignalGate continues to get attention, this is a good time to learn about encrypted messaging apps security.

Weekly Wrap Up

We are back with a weekly wrap-up, bringing you just some of the important content from the week. We can’t cover everything, we are only human. 

This past week was a doozy.  As Rebecca Solnit put it, “People are rising up. I feel a groundswell. There is a lot going on. There's a whole lot going on. And that's just what I can see, and I know that a whole lot of us are organizing, resisting, and not cooperating in a whole lot of ways we can't see yet. I'm horrified by what the Trumpists are doing and by the moral ugliness of it; but I'm moved and exhilarated by what a whole lot of the rest of us are doing, and the moral beauty of it. The horror and the wonder can coexist, just as the worst and best of us do.”

So lets get to it.

Take Action

Check out our Action Lab for inspiration and to take action, based on your interest and capacity. This week, we encourage you to:

  • Share your story about the benefits of federal science

  • Share the impacts you’ve seen or experienced from federal funding cuts or illegal firings at federal agencies with the Union of Concerned Scientists

Weekly Win

  • A second judge ordered US agencies to reinstate fired employees, including at DOE, NSF, National Park Service, and USDA. For now, that means folks are getting back to keeping our critical infrastructure running and people safe.

  • Student newspapers are crushing it. Check out this opinion piece from The Harvard Crimson “First They Came for Columbia”

Perennial Reads

Book Nook

watch this

… by the way

  • We are starting a list of women & gender minority STEM folks on Bluesky - DM or message us to be added 💜

  • Happy belated International Women’s Day 🤦🏻‍♀️ with a word from McSweeney’s

Dear scientists: we stand with you and for you

We are witnessing attacks on science and evidence-based policymaking in the U.S. at a scale we have not experienced in our lifetimes. We, former and current members of the 500 Women Scientists leadership team, are gathering in support of our community across the world in this critical moment.

We, 500 Women Scientists, know it is critical to bear witness to what is happening, bring community together, and build collective power to fight back. We are here to stand up to the rapid normalization of fascist rhetoric and actions, to stand against cuts to science and education more broadly, and to leverage our growing community to find small and large ways to fight back. Working together, we can still win.

Who pays the price for climate change? Examples of environmental injustice continue to grow.

This summer, the people living in Pakistan have faced an unrelenting series of extreme weather events, including heatwaves, forest fires, multiple glacial lake outbursts, and now, flash floods, coupled with a prolonged monsoon season. 

This is a climate catastrophe.

The widespread flooding in Pakistan has resulted in over 1,000 deaths since mid-June, impacting over 30 million, with the destruction of homes, crops, roads, bridges and more critical infrastructure across all four provinces in Pakistan. Right now, first responders, the military and volunteers are working to evacuate stranded Pakistanis, deliver food to remote regions, and mitigate the spread of waterborne diseases. Agencies estimate that about 6.5 million Pakistanis need shelter, food, potable water and medicine. 

This is environmental injustice.

As BBC noted, “Pakistan produces less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions but ranks consistently in the top 10 countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.” Early estimates state that these floods alone have cost Pakistan USD 10 billion. This  is not an isolated incident. People living in South Asia are more likely to die from climate crisis impacts.

This is a foreshadowing of the extreme weather that is happening, and is to come, as a result of climate change. 

Millions of people across India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have also been affected by raging floods and landslides. Rainfall, flooding and mudslides in western China are estimated to have left about 1,000 dead. In Ghana, fishers and fishmongers are struggling to catch fish, leaving fishing communities, especially women, very vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. Europe is grappling with record-breaking heatwaves and wildfires across the Mediterranean. In the US, wildfires in California and flooding in the south east threaten lives and are wreaking havoc on infrastructure. 

As António Guterres, the United Nations’ Secretary-General, aptly said last week: “Let’s stop sleepwalking towards the destruction of our planet by climate change. Today, it is Pakistan. Tomorrow, it could be your country.”

Photo by Dibakar Roy on Unsplash

Today, we ask that you take action to specifically support the people of Pakistan as they struggle for survival at the frontlines of climate change, and all those around the world who are also facing climate crises.

WHAT WE CAN DO TODAY:

  • If you are able to, donate what you can to organizations who are leading relief efforts to evacuate stranded Pakistanis, deliver food and mitigate waterborne diseases:

    • Established in 1951, the Edhi Foundation is a Pakistan-based non-profit social welfare organization. The Edhi Foundation has launched a flood relief campaign to provide cooked food, dry ration packs, tarpaulin sheets, medical aid and other non-food essential items to those impacted by floods.

    • Established in 1984, Islamic Relief is a global humanitarian and development agency working in over 45 countries to assist and transform the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. They have launched an appeal for the floods in Pakistan to provide food, cash grants and buy pumps to remove water from flooded homes.

    • You can find additional relief campaigns to support here (scroll horizontally to column L for links).

  • The United Nations has issued an appeal for $160 million in emergency funding to Pakistan, led by the Government of Pakistan. Call your representatives and ask them to support this appeal, and to take action to mitigate the consequences of climate change in Pakistan, and across the world.

  • Show support and solidarity. Re-share information about how flooding has impacted Pakistan, as well as calls for donations, in your personal networks. Take the time to speak with your family and friends about how climate change is impacting Pakistan, and countries across the world.

  • Learn more about the impacts of climate change in your local area. For example, if you live in Canada, use the Climate Atlas to explore how climate change will impact your community. If you live in the UK, use this tool (created by the BBC and the Met Office) to explore what climate change will look like near you.

BlackLivesMatter: We demand justice for Black lives lost to police violence

“He was ours. He was love. He came from us.” These were the words spoken by Naisha Wright after the murder of her nephew, Daunte Wright, at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer earlier this week. 

This is the same week — in the same county — where George Floyd’s murderer stands trial. The fact that Daunte Wright was a former student of Floyd’s ex-girlfriend speaks to how pervasive police violence is. 

This is the same week we saw footage of a seventh grader, Adam Toledo, running down a dark alley, away from the police. The chase ended with his hands in the air, and a police officer’s bullet in his chest. He was unarmed, a 13 year old.

A child.

In the past two weeks alone, five Black and Brown boys and young men have been murdered by a police state, including: 

Travon Chadwell, 18

Anthony Alvarez, 22

Iremamber Sykap, 16

We demand Justice. 

Next month marks the one year anniversary since the country took to the streets to demand justice for Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and countless other Black lives that have been lost to racism, police violence, and brutality.

These violent acts are a cruel irony as this week is the celebration of Black Maternal Health Week — a week where lawmakers, grassroots groups, and public health officials are focusing on ensuring Black mothers and children can thrive. Still, we lack action and accountability on the threat police violence poses to maternal mental health. No mother should have to get a phone call from her son, who fears for his life during a police stop, like Katie Wright did, or a phone call letting her know the unthinkable happened.

Black families, have the right to raise their children in a healthy and safe community. No one should have their children taken from them far too soon. In the words of Naisha Wright: it is “not because of a mistake. Because of a murder.” Too many Black mothers have been robbed of the opportunity to watch their kids grow, of the chance to see their kids feel safe and thrive in the world.

A new week begins on Monday. What can you do to push for next week to be different? And with it, a continued responsibility to push for a difference. We have a number of resources that can help you identify ways to take action and show support for #BlackLivesMatter

Previous posts: 

Other resources: 

Support Daunte Wright’s Family  

Photo by Dorrell Tibbs on Unsplash

We stand in solidarity with women who are fighting for human rights and democracy in Poland and Belarus. #IWD2021

Today, on this International Women’s Day, we stand in solidarity with women who are fighting for fundamental human rights, equality, and democracy in Poland and Belarus. To mark this year’s #IWD2021, women in Poland and Belarus continue to protest, facing criminal charges, jail, police brutality, and worse.

Quick scan of what has been going on in Belarus:

  • Aleksandr G. Lukashenko won re-election in August 2020 over Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the wife of a jailed opposition figure. The validity of that re-election has been widely disputed. 

  • Lukashenko has cracked down on opposition, jailing key opposition leaders or forcing them into exile. 

  • Women have played a central role in the democratic opposition movement of Belarus, with leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as their emblem. Holding flowers and flags, they gather weekly, risking arrest, harassment and beating by government forces.

  • Tikhanovskaya is currently in exile and women all over Belarus continue to protest and face brutality.

Quick scan of what has been going on in Poland:

  • Women in Poland have been protesting increasing limits to access to abortion and reproductive freedom 

  • A near total ban on abortion took effect in Poland in January 2021, despite strong public opposition from the majority of people in Poland.

  • This abortion ban extends to pregnancies with fetal abnormalities. 

What we can do:

Photo by Jana Shnipelson on Unsplash

Our mission is to serve society by making science open, inclusive, and accessible, and to transform society by fighting racism, patriarchy, and oppressive societal norms