Dave Blake
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blakestah.bsky.social
Dave Blake
@blakestah.bsky.social
690 followers 130 following 830 posts
Med School Professor. Brain Physiology researcher. Biomedical Engineer. Biomedical device work. I stimulate mammalian brains to improve cognition. OMHIWDMB.
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Reposted by Dave Blake
benbraun.bsky.social
The central argument in this excellent paper & thread is that the open-access turn has neglected profit; indeed, it turbo-charged publishers’ margins. As political economists who know a thing or two about profit and power we should speak up a lot more. As it says below: What we’re doing is crazy.
hansonmark.bsky.social Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 2d
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 12, 2025 at 8:30 AM
blakestah.bsky.social
The online betting market over/under for the government re-open is this Wednesday/Thursday.
November 10, 2025 at 6:30 PM
blakestah.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 6:29 PM
blakestah.bsky.social
The election did not really move the online betting market predicted end of the shutdown.

The over/under is Nov 18th as of lunchtime on Nov 6.
November 6, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Reposted by Dave Blake
snowcohen.bsky.social
I review in full the October #Siberian #snow cover & what it may portend for the #winter #PolarVortex (PV). O Canada - PV can't seem to quit Canadian Warmings but what does it mean for Greenland blocking & our weather in the upcoming weeks. Blog is now public: published.aer.com/aoblog/aoblo...
November 4, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Reposted by Dave Blake
blakestah.bsky.social
Attention please. Temple Ophthalmology is chaired by an old friend. They have a super competitive office pumpkin carving contest each Halloween. Please HELP!!!

Click into the thread and vote for your favorite using the"like" button. I will inform the dept who won the online vote.

Retweet!
October 31, 2025 at 2:26 PM
blakestah.bsky.social
Attention please. Temple Ophthalmology is chaired by an old friend. They have a super competitive office pumpkin carving contest each Halloween. Please HELP!!!

Click into the thread and vote for your favorite using the"like" button. I will inform the dept who won the online vote.

Retweet!
October 31, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Dave Blake
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Well reported story on the PBS News Hour about science cuts and the ongoing and potential brain drain.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLvO...

Thanks to Terrance Tao and other scientists at various career stages for having the courage to speak out.

Watch and share!

1/7
Top researchers consider leaving U.S. amid funding cuts: 'The science world is ending'
YouTube video by PBS NewsHour
www.youtube.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Dave Blake
dralisonweiss.bsky.social
New HD focused article leveraging multi-modal imaging from our long-standing collaboration with @danielebertoglio.bsky.social and colleagues! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Longitudinal investigation of structural and resting-state effective connectivity alterations in a non-human primate model of Huntington's disease
Huntington's disease (HD) is a genetic neurodegenerative disorder caused by expanded CAG repeats in the huntingtin gene which produce a mutant hunting…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Dave Blake
markgbaxter.bsky.social
Apropos of nothing, I would really like healthcare organizations that think "The Pulse" is a clever title for a newsletter to consider what that name might evoke for members of the LGBTQ community. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_n...
October 22, 2025 at 7:04 PM
blakestah.bsky.social
I am beginning to see the light. In the next few weeks, new health care premium amounts will be revealed to voters who enter open enrollment.

And that will be that.
blakestah.bsky.social Dave Blake @blakestah.bsky.social · 24d
Kalshi, an online betting site, has the shutdown over/under bet at 36.5 days, roughly Nov 5th, for the expected end based on bettor choices. It has dropped over the weekend, perhaps as reports that Republicans are beginning to think $35B/yr for ACA tax credits might be reasonable.
October 20, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Dave Blake
guidomeijer.com
Want to make publication-ready figures come straight from Python without having to do any manual editing? Are you fed up with axes labels being unreadable during your presentations? Follow this short tutorial including code examples! 👇🧵
October 16, 2025 at 8:26 AM
blakestah.bsky.social
Kalshi, an online betting site, has the shutdown over/under bet at 36.5 days, roughly Nov 5th, for the expected end based on bettor choices. It has dropped over the weekend, perhaps as reports that Republicans are beginning to think $35B/yr for ACA tax credits might be reasonable.
October 20, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Dave Blake
neurobiology-aging.bsky.social
✨ SHINY NEW PAPER ✨

Cortico-striatal gray matter atrophy and white matter microstructural degradation across the rhesus macaque adult lifespan.

@dralisonweiss.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197458025001010
Age-related differences in cerebral morphology and microstructure in rhesus macaques
The rhesus macaque presents a promising model for translational research into human brain aging due to this species’ long lifespan and close phylogeni…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 16, 2025 at 4:06 AM
blakestah.bsky.social
The betting over/under on the shutdown (Kalshi) is currently at 35 days total, which would occur Nov 4th. Polymarket is broadly consistent with the shutdown expected to last past Halloween.
a black and white photo of a young boy with his hand on his chin .
ALT: a black and white photo of a young boy with his hand on his chin .
media.tenor.com
October 13, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Dave Blake
ubadahsabbagh.com
If you've been hearing a lot about "AI Scientists" and wondered how much is real, how much is hype, and what's possible, so have I. So I spent some time thinking about it and this came out.
open.substack.com/pub/ubadah/p...
October 13, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Dave Blake
owenmuir.bsky.social
A eulogy for my friend Nolan Williams.

open.substack.com/pub/thefront...
October 11, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Dave Blake
mnrajah.bsky.social
@sfn.org please consider hosting your next meeting outside of the 🇺🇸
sfn.org Society for Neuroscience @sfn.org · Oct 8
#SfN25 is packed with amazing science and networking opportunities!

The 2025 Neuroscience Meeting Planner makes it easy to find exactly what you're looking for.

Search, explore, and start planning your experience today.

🔗 vist.ly/49qex
October 8, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Dave Blake
jeremymberg.bsky.social
The fiscal year is over.

So how was the NIH appropriation committed?

A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .
ALT: a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .
media.tenor.com
October 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
blakestah.bsky.social
Musing at lunch yesterday.

Would there be advances in healthcare if, when an endovascular surgeon does a coronary angiogram, they do a head angiogram and vice versa?

I mean, if there is stenosis in the coronary RCA, isn't there also possible stenosis in (head) MCA or basilar or PICA or PCA?
1/
October 1, 2025 at 12:53 PM
blakestah.bsky.social
Appropriations failure. Non-essential government work is shutdown.

www.opm.gov/policy-data-...
US OPM - DC area Federal Government Operating Status : Due to a lapse in appropriations, Federal Government operations vary by agency.
Welcome to opm.gov
www.opm.gov
October 1, 2025 at 11:47 AM
blakestah.bsky.social
Fat Bear Week 2025 voting finals are today from noon to 9 pm EDT.

Vote your conscience.

explore.org/fat-bear-week
Fat Bear Week 2025
Fat Bear Week 2025
explore.org
September 30, 2025 at 12:45 PM
blakestah.bsky.social
Once again, a shutdown appears likely after today 9/30.

Please get anything you need from ERA Commons and any communications you may need from SROs and POS.

Down the rabbit hole we go….
blakestah.bsky.social Dave Blake @blakestah.bsky.social · Sep 22
For the scientists out there, please download anything you may need from ERA Commons before Oct 1. If there is a shutdown, it will go dark. SROs and POs will likely not respond to your emails, also, and study sections will not meet.

2/2
September 30, 2025 at 11:28 AM
blakestah.bsky.social
www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/09/...
'We're headed to a shutdown,' Vance says after Trump meeting with leaders ends
Democrats have insisted that any short-term funding deal to avoid a shutdown of the U.S. government include an extension of enhanced Obamacare subsidies.
www.cnbc.com
September 29, 2025 at 9:26 PM
blakestah.bsky.social
I have not seen anything new reported but being markets are at 67% for a Wednesday govt shutdown.

Scientists remember to grab things you may need from ERA Commons before end of day tomorrow.
September 29, 2025 at 9:43 AM