Mark Histed
@markhisted.org
How brain neural nets do computations; we aim to understand differences in brain wiring, using lasers and neuro-AI.
Lab head, NIH. Prev: media policy for democracypolicy.network.
linktr.ee/markhisted
Pers. views
neuro posts: 🧠 /🧪
Lab head, NIH. Prev: media policy for democracypolicy.network.
linktr.ee/markhisted
Pers. views
neuro posts: 🧠 /🧪
Pinned
Saying bad ideas are bad isn't censorship
The core goal is a free and fair public debate, and billionaires promoting their favored speech tilts the free marketplace of ideas.
scienceandfreedomalliance.substack.com
The American right, including Jay Bhattacharya, is trying to weaponize free speech by crying censorship.
But freedom of speech isn't freedom of reach.
To fight back, scientific institutions should say that junk science is junk.
New post from me:
1/
But freedom of speech isn't freedom of reach.
To fight back, scientific institutions should say that junk science is junk.
New post from me:
1/
“Leo, who has made care for immigrants and the poor key themes of his papacy, said…the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should [illustrate] that refusing to help the poor and strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself.”
Best wishes to all…
Best wishes to all…
Pope Leo, on Christmas Eve, says denying help to poor is rejecting God
Leo has made care for immigrants and the poor key themes of his early papacy.
www.reuters.com
December 25, 2025 at 5:35 PM
“Leo, who has made care for immigrants and the poor key themes of his papacy, said…the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should [illustrate] that refusing to help the poor and strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself.”
Best wishes to all…
Best wishes to all…
Reposted by Mark Histed
There’s something in here about how after Jesus was born, Joseph fled with Jesus and Mary to Egypt under the cover of night…for ~4 years until Herod died.
December 25, 2025 at 3:14 PM
There’s something in here about how after Jesus was born, Joseph fled with Jesus and Mary to Egypt under the cover of night…for ~4 years until Herod died.
The American right, including Jay Bhattacharya, is trying to weaponize free speech by crying censorship.
But freedom of speech isn't freedom of reach.
To fight back, scientific institutions should say that junk science is junk.
New post from me:
1/
But freedom of speech isn't freedom of reach.
To fight back, scientific institutions should say that junk science is junk.
New post from me:
1/
Saying bad ideas are bad isn't censorship
The core goal is a free and fair public debate, and billionaires promoting their favored speech tilts the free marketplace of ideas.
scienceandfreedomalliance.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:46 PM
The American right, including Jay Bhattacharya, is trying to weaponize free speech by crying censorship.
But freedom of speech isn't freedom of reach.
To fight back, scientific institutions should say that junk science is junk.
New post from me:
1/
But freedom of speech isn't freedom of reach.
To fight back, scientific institutions should say that junk science is junk.
New post from me:
1/
I not only have books on the shelves in my office, but I can do real pushups (with back rounded and chest to the ground).
this is a bit petty, and I may delete, but phew, looking at that timeline it really seems Musk's Twitter has cooked his brain
this is a bit petty, and I may delete, but phew, looking at that timeline it really seems Musk's Twitter has cooked his brain
December 24, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I not only have books on the shelves in my office, but I can do real pushups (with back rounded and chest to the ground).
this is a bit petty, and I may delete, but phew, looking at that timeline it really seems Musk's Twitter has cooked his brain
this is a bit petty, and I may delete, but phew, looking at that timeline it really seems Musk's Twitter has cooked his brain
Reposted by Mark Histed
We could teach more of all the kinds of history if we weren’t systematically defunding the humanities and the public universities
December 24, 2025 at 2:12 PM
We could teach more of all the kinds of history if we weren’t systematically defunding the humanities and the public universities
Reposted by Mark Histed
This is genuinely horrifying. Fact-free far-right agitprop given accolades by credible media across the political spectrum.
Congratulations to Stephen Macedo & Frances Lee, whose book In Covid's Wake has been recognized as:
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
December 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM
This is genuinely horrifying. Fact-free far-right agitprop given accolades by credible media across the political spectrum.
Reposted by Mark Histed
Good 🧵covering some of the issues either the Science story about Director Bhattacharya…
"One longtime colleague and friend, [John Ioannidis] who has kept in touch with [Bhattacharya], pleads for scientists—and reporters—to give him a chance. "
Ioannidis is part of the COVID contrarian crew.
Of course he says that. It's like a Big Oil exec asking to give EPA head Lee Zeldin a chance.
Ioannidis is part of the COVID contrarian crew.
Of course he says that. It's like a Big Oil exec asking to give EPA head Lee Zeldin a chance.
December 23, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Good 🧵covering some of the issues either the Science story about Director Bhattacharya…
excellent thread
You want men to be less threatened by women achieving, I cannot emphasize this enough, *while women are doing nothing wrong in pursuing achievement*? Make sure they have more girlfriends! Who are peers! Whose destiny they are invested in. Scott Galloway make a lady friend besides Kara challenge
December 24, 2025 at 12:14 AM
excellent thread
I’m co-organizing a neuroscience and AI meeting in Europe next year.
To all European scientists: sorry for this guy, the Trump NIH head.
He’s an apparatchik pushing American rightwing billionaires’ political agenda, if that helps take the sting out.
To all European scientists: sorry for this guy, the Trump NIH head.
He’s an apparatchik pushing American rightwing billionaires’ political agenda, if that helps take the sting out.
You can't make this shit up. The man has the charisma of a hung-over JD Vance.
December 23, 2025 at 10:16 PM
I’m co-organizing a neuroscience and AI meeting in Europe next year.
To all European scientists: sorry for this guy, the Trump NIH head.
He’s an apparatchik pushing American rightwing billionaires’ political agenda, if that helps take the sting out.
To all European scientists: sorry for this guy, the Trump NIH head.
He’s an apparatchik pushing American rightwing billionaires’ political agenda, if that helps take the sting out.
There is a direct line between Mario Rubio now weaponizing the government against “censorship,” Jay Bhattacharya crying “censorship,” M Shellenberger lying on Substack about “censorship,” and the ongoing destruction of our public health, vaccine, and science infrastructure.
The US State Department is now going to be deporting people and/or revoking visas over Benz, Taibbi, and Shellenberger’s “censorship industrial complex” hoax.
Let that sink in. This is what the Twitter Files pretext was actually about. Water boys for authoritarians.
www.state.gov/releases/off...
Let that sink in. This is what the Twitter Files pretext was actually about. Water boys for authoritarians.
www.state.gov/releases/off...
Announcement of Actions to Combat the Global Censorship-Industrial Complex - United States Department of State
The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose....
www.state.gov
December 23, 2025 at 9:10 PM
There is a direct line between Mario Rubio now weaponizing the government against “censorship,” Jay Bhattacharya crying “censorship,” M Shellenberger lying on Substack about “censorship,” and the ongoing destruction of our public health, vaccine, and science infrastructure.
Reposted by Mark Histed
New Perspective from myself, Sarah Heilbronner and @myoo.bsky.social . “Rethinking the centrality of brain areas in understanding functional organization” in Nature Neuroscience. 🧵
rdcu.be/eVZ1A
rdcu.be/eVZ1A
Rethinking the centrality of brain areas in understanding functional organization
Nature Neuroscience - Parcellation of the cortex into functionally modular brain areas is foundational to neuroscience. Here, Hayden, Heilbronner and Yoo question the central status of brain areas...
rdcu.be
December 23, 2025 at 1:02 PM
New Perspective from myself, Sarah Heilbronner and @myoo.bsky.social . “Rethinking the centrality of brain areas in understanding functional organization” in Nature Neuroscience. 🧵
rdcu.be/eVZ1A
rdcu.be/eVZ1A
👀
the town of Archbald, PA has a population of 7000
the town of Archbald, PA has a population of 7000
December 23, 2025 at 6:10 AM
👀
the town of Archbald, PA has a population of 7000
the town of Archbald, PA has a population of 7000
Reposted by Mark Histed
The comments on this video on TikTok are so interesting to me because it is a lot of people saying that we can’t do this because what if Republicans try it to or what if Republicans reverse it. “We have to change the court the traditional way.”
did a video a few days ago making the case for supreme court expansion www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjB_...
Why Democrats need to expand the Supreme Court
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
www.youtube.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:51 AM
The comments on this video on TikTok are so interesting to me because it is a lot of people saying that we can’t do this because what if Republicans try it to or what if Republicans reverse it. “We have to change the court the traditional way.”
Reposted by Mark Histed
asked RFK Jr a question about them at a Senate hearing and made him look bad, within hours they were renewed.
I won't discuss any information that is non-public from the agency, but it is striking that the renewals came after media coverage.
I won't discuss any information that is non-public from the agency, but it is striking that the renewals came after media coverage.
December 23, 2025 at 3:38 AM
asked RFK Jr a question about them at a Senate hearing and made him look bad, within hours they were renewed.
I won't discuss any information that is non-public from the agency, but it is striking that the renewals came after media coverage.
I won't discuss any information that is non-public from the agency, but it is striking that the renewals came after media coverage.
"One longtime colleague and friend, [John Ioannidis] who has kept in touch with [Bhattacharya], pleads for scientists—and reporters—to give him a chance. "
Ioannidis is part of the COVID contrarian crew.
Of course he says that. It's like a Big Oil exec asking to give EPA head Lee Zeldin a chance.
Ioannidis is part of the COVID contrarian crew.
Of course he says that. It's like a Big Oil exec asking to give EPA head Lee Zeldin a chance.
December 23, 2025 at 3:38 AM
"One longtime colleague and friend, [John Ioannidis] who has kept in touch with [Bhattacharya], pleads for scientists—and reporters—to give him a chance. "
Ioannidis is part of the COVID contrarian crew.
Of course he says that. It's like a Big Oil exec asking to give EPA head Lee Zeldin a chance.
Ioannidis is part of the COVID contrarian crew.
Of course he says that. It's like a Big Oil exec asking to give EPA head Lee Zeldin a chance.
This is also the Jay Bhattacharya and Vinay Prasad story. While many scientists and doctors today do feel responsibility to their profession and to the public, some self-promoter contrarians who worship power have been elevated to the upper echelons of science.
1/
1/
The Olivia Nuzzi story and the Bari Weiss at CBS story are the same story, which is that the upper echelons of legacy media are absolutely rife with people who worship power and don't feel burdened by any sense of responsibility to their profession or the public.
December 22, 2025 at 10:05 PM
This is also the Jay Bhattacharya and Vinay Prasad story. While many scientists and doctors today do feel responsibility to their profession and to the public, some self-promoter contrarians who worship power have been elevated to the upper echelons of science.
1/
1/
What has he got in his pocketses, the nasty noser, the Bagginses?
(Reading the Hobbit at bedtime this week)
(Reading the Hobbit at bedtime this week)
December 22, 2025 at 3:21 AM
What has he got in his pocketses, the nasty noser, the Bagginses?
(Reading the Hobbit at bedtime this week)
(Reading the Hobbit at bedtime this week)
Reposted by Mark Histed
I thought it would be worthwhile to substantiate @katherinejwu.com 's reporting on "Podcast Jay". I went looking on the internet for all the speaking engagements or shows he's been on since getting confirmed back in April. So far I've found the NIH Director in 66 separate appearances. 🧵
This is an important article by @katherinejwu.com on the destruction of infectious disease research - and the man behind it.
As someone in the ID field reliant on US federal funding for our research, know that once the next pandemic happens, we won't be around.
www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/...
As someone in the ID field reliant on US federal funding for our research, know that once the next pandemic happens, we won't be around.
www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/...
The Most Feared Person at the NIH Is a Vaccine Researcher Plucked From Obscurity
While NIH director Jay Bhattacharya focuses on podcasting, his second in command is dramatically remaking the agency.
www.theatlantic.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:56 AM
I thought it would be worthwhile to substantiate @katherinejwu.com 's reporting on "Podcast Jay". I went looking on the internet for all the speaking engagements or shows he's been on since getting confirmed back in April. So far I've found the NIH Director in 66 separate appearances. 🧵
“Once-unthinkable” here should be “in wild and blatant violation of the law and the US Constitution.”
At NIH alone:
The RIFs were illegal (as a judge, Illston, ruled). The grant terminations were illegal (Young ruling). The probationary firings were illegal (Alsop ruling).
We must say this. 1/
At NIH alone:
The RIFs were illegal (as a judge, Illston, ruled). The grant terminations were illegal (Young ruling). The probationary firings were illegal (Alsop ruling).
We must say this. 1/
This account of how the Trump admin carried out a once-unthinkable overhaul of government in 2025 is based on a year’s worth of messages and interviews with more than 1,200 current and former federal workers. Please read from me and @merylkornfield.bsky.social. wapo.st/4b14KAy
The year Trump broke the federal government
How DOGE and the White House carried out a once-unthinkable transformation of the nation’s sprawling bureaucracy.
wapo.st
December 21, 2025 at 4:41 PM
“Once-unthinkable” here should be “in wild and blatant violation of the law and the US Constitution.”
At NIH alone:
The RIFs were illegal (as a judge, Illston, ruled). The grant terminations were illegal (Young ruling). The probationary firings were illegal (Alsop ruling).
We must say this. 1/
At NIH alone:
The RIFs were illegal (as a judge, Illston, ruled). The grant terminations were illegal (Young ruling). The probationary firings were illegal (Alsop ruling).
We must say this. 1/
Those who have risen to the top in any system (including NYT writers, editors and publishers) always want to believe the status quo will hold. “Hitler no longer a threat, nothing big will change, we can just keep on doing what we are doing.”
that’s one lesson I’ve learned over the last decade
that’s one lesson I’ve learned over the last decade
Page 16 in the Sunday NYT 101 years ago today
www.nytimes.com/1924/12/21/a...
www.nytimes.com/1924/12/21/a...
December 21, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Those who have risen to the top in any system (including NYT writers, editors and publishers) always want to believe the status quo will hold. “Hitler no longer a threat, nothing big will change, we can just keep on doing what we are doing.”
that’s one lesson I’ve learned over the last decade
that’s one lesson I’ve learned over the last decade
Reposted by Mark Histed
It's an invisible need… an invisible center… helping invisible people. Meanwhile, I’m haunted by the invisible impact of the insatiable greed that’s so widespread (and sadly, celebrated) in our multi-millionaire and billionaire class.
🧵 5 of 9
🧵 5 of 9
December 21, 2025 at 2:51 AM
It's an invisible need… an invisible center… helping invisible people. Meanwhile, I’m haunted by the invisible impact of the insatiable greed that’s so widespread (and sadly, celebrated) in our multi-millionaire and billionaire class.
🧵 5 of 9
🧵 5 of 9
Reposted by Mark Histed
It’s the “season of love and giving”…but this year, doesn’t it seem more like a “season of fear and taking”? Like many of you, I’ve been saddened by the human impact of draconian government budget cuts and how angry many housed Americans are at unhoused Americans.
🧵 1 of 9
🧵 1 of 9
December 21, 2025 at 2:51 AM
It’s the “season of love and giving”…but this year, doesn’t it seem more like a “season of fear and taking”? Like many of you, I’ve been saddened by the human impact of draconian government budget cuts and how angry many housed Americans are at unhoused Americans.
🧵 1 of 9
🧵 1 of 9
Reposted by Mark Histed
We pranked our 12yo with an “Is It Cake” cake for his birthday. He actually doesn’t love cake so we told him we got him Fruit Loops instead. Since we don’t normally buy them this was plausible. Then he was confused about why we froze them.
Kit is on Goldbelly.
Kit is on Goldbelly.
December 21, 2025 at 2:56 AM
We pranked our 12yo with an “Is It Cake” cake for his birthday. He actually doesn’t love cake so we told him we got him Fruit Loops instead. Since we don’t normally buy them this was plausible. Then he was confused about why we froze them.
Kit is on Goldbelly.
Kit is on Goldbelly.
Reposted by Mark Histed
The atomic ensemble time scale at the NIST Boulder campus has failed.
December 20, 2025 at 10:53 PM
The atomic ensemble time scale at the NIST Boulder campus has failed.
Reposted by Mark Histed
Philanthropy won’t (alone) save journalism and it won’t save science either.
The biggest reason American science is so strong is public funding through agencies like NIH and NSF.
The biggest reason American science is so strong is public funding through agencies like NIH and NSF.
A biting critique of Big Philanthropy and local news.
"These funders — including the American Journalism Project, which drove the creation of Houston Landing — have increasingly been picking the winners and losers in American journalism, with no consequences when their calls go badly wrong."
"These funders — including the American Journalism Project, which drove the creation of Houston Landing — have increasingly been picking the winners and losers in American journalism, with no consequences when their calls go badly wrong."
A reckoning comes for journalism philanthropy
"These funders — including the American Journalism Project, which drove the creation of Houston Landing — have increasingly been picking the winners and losers in American journalism, with no conseque...
www.niemanlab.org
December 19, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Philanthropy won’t (alone) save journalism and it won’t save science either.
The biggest reason American science is so strong is public funding through agencies like NIH and NSF.
The biggest reason American science is so strong is public funding through agencies like NIH and NSF.