Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
@bethcimini.bsky.social
She/her. I turn pictures into numbers so others can turn them into medicine. Also I yell about politics a lot. See the fantastic things my team does at https://ciminilab.github.io/WeMakeStuff . Views my own, awesome science from my amazing team.
Pinned
Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
@bethcimini.bsky.social
· Nov 12
The highs of the conference yesterday and advising people on Twitter this morning have made me a bit reflective - I want to share some stuff I've never put online before, in case it helps others out.
In grad school, by any measure of academic success, I was a complete failure.
In grad school, by any measure of academic success, I was a complete failure.
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
do you think they were twirling their moustache while writing that memo?
Facebook plans to put facial recognition in its glasses and they think we’re too stupid to fight back.
Their internal memo: “We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.”
Their internal memo: “We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.”
Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses
www.nytimes.com
February 13, 2026 at 1:27 PM
do you think they were twirling their moustache while writing that memo?
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
NEW at @thebulwark.com
I wrote about this week’s big RFK Jr. news — his team blocking a cutting edge flu shot — and the chilling implications that decision has for the future of vaccines www.thebulwark.com/p/this-is-wh...
I wrote about this week’s big RFK Jr. news — his team blocking a cutting edge flu shot — and the chilling implications that decision has for the future of vaccines www.thebulwark.com/p/this-is-wh...
This Is What Destroying the Vaccine Market Looks Like
A shocking move by RFK Jr.’s team has the industry spooked—for good reason.
www.thebulwark.com
February 15, 2026 at 2:44 PM
NEW at @thebulwark.com
I wrote about this week’s big RFK Jr. news — his team blocking a cutting edge flu shot — and the chilling implications that decision has for the future of vaccines www.thebulwark.com/p/this-is-wh...
I wrote about this week’s big RFK Jr. news — his team blocking a cutting edge flu shot — and the chilling implications that decision has for the future of vaccines www.thebulwark.com/p/this-is-wh...
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
They won’t stop until the National Institutes of Health is a hollowed out RFK Jr. echo chamber and revenue generation machine for snake oil peddlers.
National Institutes of Health faces leadership vacuum as director positions sit open
More than half of the NIH's institutes and centers don’t have permanent directors, giving the Trump administration an unusual opportunity to reshape the agency. The latest departure came on Friday.
www.nbcnews.com
February 15, 2026 at 3:01 PM
They won’t stop until the National Institutes of Health is a hollowed out RFK Jr. echo chamber and revenue generation machine for snake oil peddlers.
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
Thanks to @inquirer.com for including my comments in its feature about FIRE.
(And subscribe—it’s a great independent newspaper!)
www.inquirer.com/news/a/fire-...
(And subscribe—it’s a great independent newspaper!)
www.inquirer.com/news/a/fire-...
February 14, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Thanks to @inquirer.com for including my comments in its feature about FIRE.
(And subscribe—it’s a great independent newspaper!)
www.inquirer.com/news/a/fire-...
(And subscribe—it’s a great independent newspaper!)
www.inquirer.com/news/a/fire-...
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
I see no reason not to look at the online gambling and prediction market craze as a new opioids crisis.
It will wreak havoc on lower-income Americans and leave a trail of destruction and despair in its wake.
The companies are just Purdue Pharma 2.0
www.liberalcurrents.com/from-pill-mi...
It will wreak havoc on lower-income Americans and leave a trail of destruction and despair in its wake.
The companies are just Purdue Pharma 2.0
www.liberalcurrents.com/from-pill-mi...
From Pill Mills to Prop Bets: Prediction Markets and Mobile Sports Betting Apps Are Fueling America’s Next Addiction Crisis
Against the gamblification of the world.
www.liberalcurrents.com
February 12, 2026 at 3:00 PM
I see no reason not to look at the online gambling and prediction market craze as a new opioids crisis.
It will wreak havoc on lower-income Americans and leave a trail of destruction and despair in its wake.
The companies are just Purdue Pharma 2.0
www.liberalcurrents.com/from-pill-mi...
It will wreak havoc on lower-income Americans and leave a trail of destruction and despair in its wake.
The companies are just Purdue Pharma 2.0
www.liberalcurrents.com/from-pill-mi...
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
Yikes: guy who blogged about how an AI agent published a “hit piece” against him, says (human) reporters seem to have used an LLM to read (and misreport) his blog post
theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-...
theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-...
February 14, 2026 at 1:47 AM
Yikes: guy who blogged about how an AI agent published a “hit piece” against him, says (human) reporters seem to have used an LLM to read (and misreport) his blog post
theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-...
theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-...
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
<redacted>
On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast.
The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.
But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.
But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
February 13, 2026 at 8:29 PM
<redacted>
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
Moderna is at least the ninth company to have received a surprise rejection from Vinay Prasad and his team.
Trump official overruled FDA scientists to reject Moderna's flu shot
FDA's top vaccine regulator, Vinay Prasad, is known for overruling scientists.
arstechnica.com
February 13, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Moderna is at least the ninth company to have received a surprise rejection from Vinay Prasad and his team.
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
After more than 1.2 Americans lost their lives to Covid, NIH director Jay Bhattacharya orders the agency to deprioritize pandemic preparedness & biodefense.
Make it make sense.
Scoop from @maxkozlov.bsky.social @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Make it make sense.
Scoop from @maxkozlov.bsky.social @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: Key US infectious-diseases centre to drop pandemic preparation
Staff members have been instructed to scrub this topic and ‘biodefense’ from the agency’s website.
www.nature.com
February 13, 2026 at 8:16 PM
After more than 1.2 Americans lost their lives to Covid, NIH director Jay Bhattacharya orders the agency to deprioritize pandemic preparedness & biodefense.
Make it make sense.
Scoop from @maxkozlov.bsky.social @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Make it make sense.
Scoop from @maxkozlov.bsky.social @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
Another headline to rewrite: "Money meant for starving children used to provide security theater escorts for OMB Director."
“.. using millions of dollars from the former U.S. foreign aid agency to pay for the security detail of Russell Vought ..”
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/whi...
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/whi...
February 13, 2026 at 1:43 PM
Another headline to rewrite: "Money meant for starving children used to provide security theater escorts for OMB Director."
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
I'll never get tired of lazily browsing elastix-coregistered #WSI data in @napari.org using the upcoming @openmicroscopy.org ome-zarr @zarr.dev format version that allows to specify and read transformations directly from the image data itself.
Data source: rodare.hzdr.de/record/3131
Data source: rodare.hzdr.de/record/3131
February 12, 2026 at 5:11 PM
I'll never get tired of lazily browsing elastix-coregistered #WSI data in @napari.org using the upcoming @openmicroscopy.org ome-zarr @zarr.dev format version that allows to specify and read transformations directly from the image data itself.
Data source: rodare.hzdr.de/record/3131
Data source: rodare.hzdr.de/record/3131
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
what if an environment where its possible to be functional
February 12, 2026 at 6:28 PM
what if an environment where its possible to be functional
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
NIH, CDC, HHS, and all of US cancer research and public health needed and still needs protection from Russell Vought and the P2025 White House.
The defining feature of 2025 at NIH was not merely grant changes.
It was unprecedented levels of presidential interference with NIH decision-making.
1/
The defining feature of 2025 at NIH was not merely grant changes.
It was unprecedented levels of presidential interference with NIH decision-making.
1/
"The White House is looking to exercise tighter control over [HHS] ...restructuring HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s senior-most ranks, installing four new senior counselors who will be charged with more closely managing the department..."
www.cnn.com/2026/02/12/p... @cnn.com
www.cnn.com/2026/02/12/p... @cnn.com
White House seeks to tighten control over HHS with personnel shakeup | CNN Politics
The White House is looking to exercise tighter control over key areas of the Health and Human Services Department, planning a shakeup of top personnel as the administration looks ahead to the midterm ...
www.cnn.com
February 12, 2026 at 10:58 PM
NIH, CDC, HHS, and all of US cancer research and public health needed and still needs protection from Russell Vought and the P2025 White House.
The defining feature of 2025 at NIH was not merely grant changes.
It was unprecedented levels of presidential interference with NIH decision-making.
1/
The defining feature of 2025 at NIH was not merely grant changes.
It was unprecedented levels of presidential interference with NIH decision-making.
1/
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
February 12, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
This is a very vulnerable and important essay, pointing to the fact that there are so many ways to contribute to computer science research
I wrote about how I don’t know math but still am somehow a successful computer scientist. I have strong feelings about this. But I also want to understand.
togelius.blogspot.com/2026/02/math...
togelius.blogspot.com/2026/02/math...
February 9, 2026 at 1:47 PM
This is a very vulnerable and important essay, pointing to the fact that there are so many ways to contribute to computer science research
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
Some personal news
Scoop–CFPB just fired employee alexisgoldstein.bsky.social for allegedly disrupting &documenting a meeting a year ago between CFPB & DOGE www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
She says she's being retaliated against after asking DOGE visitors who they were & if they'd completed training on handling info
She says she's being retaliated against after asking DOGE visitors who they were & if they'd completed training on handling info
CFPB Fires Employee Over a Confrontation With DOGE a Year Ago
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fired an employee for disrupting and documenting a 2025 meeting between the agency and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to emails rev...
www.bloomberg.com
February 12, 2026 at 1:10 AM
Some personal news
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
The abstract submission deadline for our upcoming 'Imaging Cell Dynamics' meeting is this Friday. We still have a few places remaining so apply now to secure your spot!
Find out more at:
www.biologists.com/meetings/jcs...
#imaging #microscopy #cellbiology
Find out more at:
www.biologists.com/meetings/jcs...
#imaging #microscopy #cellbiology
February 11, 2026 at 4:19 PM
The abstract submission deadline for our upcoming 'Imaging Cell Dynamics' meeting is this Friday. We still have a few places remaining so apply now to secure your spot!
Find out more at:
www.biologists.com/meetings/jcs...
#imaging #microscopy #cellbiology
Find out more at:
www.biologists.com/meetings/jcs...
#imaging #microscopy #cellbiology
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
💖 We join #LoveDataWeek2026 by sharing the recordings from Image Data Community Days 2025! Follow the “Where’s the data?” theme with on-demand sessions on FAIR principles, analysis tools, AI & preclinical imaging.
🎬 Watch anytime here
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
🎬 Watch anytime here
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
February 11, 2026 at 9:49 AM
💖 We join #LoveDataWeek2026 by sharing the recordings from Image Data Community Days 2025! Follow the “Where’s the data?” theme with on-demand sessions on FAIR principles, analysis tools, AI & preclinical imaging.
🎬 Watch anytime here
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
🎬 Watch anytime here
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
So they can sue for $10 billion now, right?
Internal Revenue Service improperly shared confidential tax information of thousands of individuals with immigration enforcement officials, according to three people familiar with the situation, appearing to breach a legal fire wall intended to protect taxpayer data.
IRS improperly disclosed confidential immigrant tax data to DHS
The tax agency only recently discovered it improperly disclosed tax information on thousands of the wrong people to immigration enforcement.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 11, 2026 at 9:50 PM
So they can sue for $10 billion now, right?
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
My doomer-worry about AI is not that the LLMs become omnipotent and take over the world but that the wealthy and powerful use it as a means to consolidate power and marginalize or lay off skilled workers and also everything about our technological and political and social life gets worse
February 11, 2026 at 8:20 PM
My doomer-worry about AI is not that the LLMs become omnipotent and take over the world but that the wealthy and powerful use it as a means to consolidate power and marginalize or lay off skilled workers and also everything about our technological and political and social life gets worse
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
The ABIC Students in Bioimaging Working Group is excited to announce the Student Mentorship Pilot Programme.
This is an initiative aimed at students (Undergrad to PhD) who are seeking mentorship in the microscopy space.
For more info visit: bit.ly/4bOfEdn
Application Deadline: 27 Feb 2026
This is an initiative aimed at students (Undergrad to PhD) who are seeking mentorship in the microscopy space.
For more info visit: bit.ly/4bOfEdn
Application Deadline: 27 Feb 2026
February 11, 2026 at 12:00 PM
The ABIC Students in Bioimaging Working Group is excited to announce the Student Mentorship Pilot Programme.
This is an initiative aimed at students (Undergrad to PhD) who are seeking mentorship in the microscopy space.
For more info visit: bit.ly/4bOfEdn
Application Deadline: 27 Feb 2026
This is an initiative aimed at students (Undergrad to PhD) who are seeking mentorship in the microscopy space.
For more info visit: bit.ly/4bOfEdn
Application Deadline: 27 Feb 2026
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
📣 The Journal of Microscopy is pleased to announce the publication of a new special issue, Microscopy and Infectious Diseases!
The special issue was guest edited by Leandro Lemgruber (University of Glasgow, UK) and Mariana De Niz (Northwestern University, USA).
The special issue was guest edited by Leandro Lemgruber (University of Glasgow, UK) and Mariana De Niz (Northwestern University, USA).
February 11, 2026 at 11:12 AM
📣 The Journal of Microscopy is pleased to announce the publication of a new special issue, Microscopy and Infectious Diseases!
The special issue was guest edited by Leandro Lemgruber (University of Glasgow, UK) and Mariana De Niz (Northwestern University, USA).
The special issue was guest edited by Leandro Lemgruber (University of Glasgow, UK) and Mariana De Niz (Northwestern University, USA).
Reposted by Beth Cimini 🔬💻📊
This is real bad. Companies work WITH the FDA to design then execute the trial.
If Moderna dropped $750M on this trial (as reported) after setting it up with the FDA only to have FDA turnaround and not even consider the data after the fact is an abomination.
Absolute clown show
If Moderna dropped $750M on this trial (as reported) after setting it up with the FDA only to have FDA turnaround and not even consider the data after the fact is an abomination.
Absolute clown show
It will be interesting to see if any other pharma or biotech companies will speak up. A refusal to file after years of discussions is bad news for everyone…
www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/f...
www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/f...
February 11, 2026 at 1:19 AM
This is real bad. Companies work WITH the FDA to design then execute the trial.
If Moderna dropped $750M on this trial (as reported) after setting it up with the FDA only to have FDA turnaround and not even consider the data after the fact is an abomination.
Absolute clown show
If Moderna dropped $750M on this trial (as reported) after setting it up with the FDA only to have FDA turnaround and not even consider the data after the fact is an abomination.
Absolute clown show