My Hobby and Interest - Research

  Join me in the Scarborough main conference room on this week or on zoom: Tuesday Sept 22 and Sept 24, 8:00am-8:30am https://maine.zoom.us/j/4625543963 If you are joining in person in the main conf room in Scarborough, mats are available in the lobby closet. Come early to make yourself a space for practice.

The Magic Found in Paying Attention to the Silence There is beauty and bounty in the quiet. Writer Emma Tynan encourages us to see it. By Emma Tynan September 19, 2026

 Thanks to those of you who attended the workshops, discussion sessions, and coaching sessions with Sharon Milgram last week. We are continuing a partnership with her, so stay tuned for more information!

 This amazing group right after they finished their 20 mile run - their longest in preparation for the Chicago marathon next month. You can still support all of our marathoners:

Thanks to Liz Scharnetzki for this contribution! In addition to being the team's halfway training mark, this Thursday is also World Cancer Research Day. In Northern New England, it is projected that 25,510 new cancer cases will be diagnosed this year. In recognition of this, Liz and her team are adding an additional 2.55 mile run to their training plan on Thursday morning. Feel free to join the team for this run (all paces welcome) and a conversation. The team will meet at 6am at the Back Cove main parking lot.

 Science Magazine Researchers file First Amendment challenge to NIH grant screening Lawsuit argues that Trump policy of purging politically sensitive terms from research projects violates free speech by Jocelyn Kaiser Researchers today asked a federal court to find that the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) is acting illegally in barring grants on topics disliked by President Donald Trump’s administration. NIH, which screens grants for sensitive terms and requires changes in how projects are described, is violating the Constitution’s First Amendment protections of free speech and rules requiring that grants be awarded based on scientific merit, the class action suit contends. “NIH is systematically trying to silence research-related speech, including biomedical results that it suspects will express views the administration does not like on everything from DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] to gender identity to climate change,” says Olga Akselrod, an attorney with the Am...

 Nature News Successful early-career scientists rely on network of mentors Large networks are particularly beneficial to researchers in under-represented groups. By   Mohana Basu The most successful early-career researchers often rely on a network of mentors who each have different roles — from advising on research and grants to making professional introductions and providing emotional support, finds a study of nearly 900 scientists just starting out 1 . The findings are consistent with what mentorship scholars and practitioners have long argued: no single  mentor  can meet all of a trainee’s scientific, professional and psychosocial needs, says Keivan Stassun, an astrophysicist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. “It is encouraging to see these patterns emerge so clearly in a large data set of successful early-career investigators,” says Stassun, who has won awards for his mentorship. For the study, which was posted on the bioRxiv preprint server and h...

 Join me in the Scarborough main conference room on this week or on zoom: Tuesday Sept 15 and Sept 17, 8:00am-8:30am https://maine.zoom.us/j/4625543963 If you are joining in person in the main conf room in Scarborough, mats are available in the lobby closet. Come early to make yourself a space for practice.

 Wired The 9 Best TV Shows to Stream This Month South Park ,  Slow Horses ,  Neon Genesis Evangelion , and a Lego-fied  Mandalorian  are just a few of the things you should be watching right now. SEPTEMBER IS TYPICALLY  the time when  television  gets serious again. The summer’s biggest TV shows have aired their finales, the fall schedule is kicking into high gear, and streamers are rolling out everything from high-concept sci-fi to prestige dramas. There’s plenty of familiar IP in the mix, but also some genuinely original shows worth putting on your to-watch list. While plenty of outlets will tell you what everyone is watching (see:  Reacher ), that’s not our goal. As always, the TV shows we’re watching this month reflect the kinds of stories WIRED covers every day—shows that explore technology,  science ,  politics ,  culture , and the sometimes unsettling ways they intersect. From returning favorites to ambitious new series—...

 Wired Congratulations! You Just Lived Through the Hottest Month Ever Recorded While the strengthening El Niño helped boost temperatures, climate change is the main culprit for making August so hot. August was the planet’s hottest month ever recorded, capping a remarkably grim summer of heat records. With  El Niño strengthening —and  climate change continuing to heat things up—more records are likely in store well into next year. Data from Copernicus, the European Union’s climate agency, shows that last month tied with July 2023 for Earth’s hottest month. (July is also usually the hottest month of the year.) This July also tied with July 2024 for the second-hottest July on record, while June 2026 was the second-hottest June ever recorded. The news comes on the heels of a separate  announcement  on Wednesday from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which declared this was the hottest summer for the US, beating a previous record set during the Dus...

The Principled Investigator - September 11, 2026 Weekly digest On September 1, the House approved a Continuing Resolution to fund the government through December 11, avoiding a shut down before the midterms and delaying implementation of the proposed OMB rule that would give political appointees control over the award of NIH grants. This is good news in the short term, since it will further delay any implementation of the proposed OMB rules. Unfortunately the rules have not been permanently removed or modified, so we need to stay vigilant and continue to contact our members of Congress to fight against their implementation.  https://thehill.com/homenews/ house/6063667-house- government-funding-cr- shutdown-midterms/ NIH (policy & budget) Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee, led by Rosa DeLauro, have announced that the Department of Defense is attempting to supplement their budget by taking funds from NIH. Although there has been a good deal of progress at NIH and ot...