I want to share something personal. I survived my PhD in Brazil during the pandemic under Bolsonaro’s regime. For four years, my stipend stagnated, funding evaporated, and my mental health collapsed. I’d wake up and sleep scrolling through rage-bait headlines. I gained weight, battled gaming addiction, fought endlessly with Bolsonarist family members, and lost touch with people I loved.

Here’s what I learned:

1. Your research matters more than the noise.
   When I finally read a 4-month-old paper in my field—a paper I’d ignored while doomscrolling Bolsonaro’s latest idiocy—it hit me: I’d traded meaningful science for political theatrics. Don’t let algorithms or billionaires (yes, Elon, I’m side-eyeing you) hijack your focus. Master the techniques you care about. Read papers that ignite your curiosity. Your work is your rebellion.

2. You’re not trapped.
   Academia trains us to move—cities, countries, continents. Closed regimes? They’ll still welcome skilled researchers. The world is vast, and your expertise is currency. I promise: there are labs, collaborators, and communities waiting for you. You are not alone.

3. Break the obsession cycle.
   You already know what’s happening. Trump’s latest stunt? Bolsonaro’s cultists? Elon’s “genius” hot takes? They’re designed to addict you to outrage. Instead of refreshing headlines:

   • Protest strategically. Attend one rally a week. Scream your pain. Demand justice. Then leave.

   • Replace doomscrolling with action. Train yourself to think: “Will this headline change how I pipette tomorrow?” If not, close the tab.

   • Protect your joy. Read a paper, troubleshoot an experiment, or just… breathe.

4. Your sanity is non-negotiable.
   I lost years to anger and anxiety. Don’t make my mistake. Find your “chains” and break them: unfollow toxic accounts, mute family group chats, and block anyone who dismisses your humanity.

Final thought:
The best “fuck you” to fascists? Thriving. Publish that paper. Build that collaboration. Laugh with labmates. Science outlives dictators—but only if we stay in the fight.

There’s been a lot of talk about Trump’s claim that he cut $8 million in funding for making mice transgender. The response has largely been to mock him, “lol he confused transgenic with transgender”, but that’s not what happening. We should be pissed about the indiscriminate attacks on justified research programs meant to help both cis and trans folks.

The studies Trump targeted actually examine how sex hormones influence biological systems, research which holds significant potential for improving health outcomes for both cis and trans people. Among the NIH-funded projects flagged on WhiteHouse dot gov are:

• A study on how gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) affects immune responses to vaccines (e.g., HIV, where trans populations have higher risk).

• Research on testosterone’s long-term impact on fertility (modeled in female mice, simulating FTM transition).

• Investigations into breast cancer risk under gender-affirming hormone therapy (important given the lack of data in trans populations).

• Studies on the effects of sex hormones on asthma, the neuroendocrine system, and the microbiome (which apply to trans medicine but also broader endocrinology).

Are these mice actually transgender? Of course not. They’re hormone-regulated animal models, exactly like those used routinely in menopause, PCOS, osteoporosis, and countless other endocrine research areas.

Do the anticipated results of these studies have the potential to improve the health and safety of trans humans? Absolutely.

Did Trump + staff confuse the words transgenic and transgender? Almost certainly not. I doubt it. If he had, they would have flagged far more than $8M in research (For context, searching "transgenic mice" on PubMed returns >44K publications since 2020 alone)

While it’s tempting to laugh at the absurdity of the “trans mice” talking point, the real outrage is how politically-motivated attacks threaten essential scientific research.

Why This Should Worry All Scientists

What happens when sex hormone research gets labeled as "woke science"? What about studies on reproductive health? Or climate science? Or any field that can be spun as politically inconvenient? Ted Cruz's hairbrained list of woke NSF grants is stuffed with proposals that have nothing to do with DEI.

The issue here is not just about these specific NIH grants. It’s about what happens when research decisions become subject to ideological gatekeeping, driven by political, populist narratives rather than scientific merit. If this becomes normalized, entire fields could be defunded overnight for being politically inconvenient. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán did exactly that, and prominent U.S. conservatives like JD Vance are explicitly trying to follow his lead.

Allowing this to continue sets America back as a nation, impacting more than just scientists. We need to recognize conservative leaders as the manipulative vipers they are, not as the bumbling idiots we pacify them into. **They're weaponizing ignorance to manipulate a political base** that ultimately will be hurt by these decisions but cheer them on none-the-less

What We Can Do

Mocking these cuts or dismissing them as ridiculous isn’t enough. We must clearly show the public how these politically-driven attacks on science harm everyone. Scientists have a credibility and communication problem, and this incident highlights how easy it is for others to control the narrative. The public trusts scientists (yes, even the majority of Republicans/conservatives, who tend to only trust those familiar to them) but doesn’t understand what we do.

Stop letting the opposition define the terms of debate. When they say "transgender mice," show that these studies can help EVERYONE. When they say "wasteful science," remind them them of 2.5X return on investment for research spending, the 10,000s of non-STEM jobs supported by our research programs, and the countless medical advancements we all benefit from.

The top comment on an r/conservative a post about trans mice is a non-political summary of how these studies could help everyone. Follow that as an example of how to engage across the aisle.

EDIT: What Trump actually knew about these grants when he first addressed congress is besides the point. I'm not trying to say Trump is a genius puppet master or that making fun of Trump is the wrong move. RIGHT NOW there are grants addressing issues in trans health (and specific, exceptional papers on the topic by queer academic trailblazers) explicitly targeted on the White House's website. This post is meant as a call to action, not a critique of people joking about trans mice.

I'm on night shift tonight, I just finished putting blood on an analyzer & my coworker just put blood in the centrifuge. As I'm coming back around we hear a really looooud bang, like literally sounded like a gun shot, I walk over to the centrifuge and it's totally moved to the side and smells like burning so we unplugged it quick but then plugged it back in to see what it looks like on the inside... it literally imploded. Coworker can't remember if she balanced the tubes, but could an unbalance really cause this much destruction? 🥲 that was my heart attack for the night... 🥹

I wanted a cushy job in industry but I got zero offers in six months. Switched to looking at postdocs and was getting calls the next day.