Bimal Desai

Professor of Pharmacology, UVASOM. All views personal | I study ion channels and Ca2+ signaling in immunity & tissue homeostasis. RTs may not be endorsements.

[Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins]

Obama tonight on his Cheesecake Factory line: "They mobilized a whole of government response to that joke. Not to inflation, but to that joke. The White House even called the Secretary of the Treasury. This is the man who is in charge of the economy. The person who's supposed to be figuring out how to make your life more affordable. The guy who's supposed to be figuring out how to lower inflation. And reduce interest rates. They told him he should hold a press conference in front of the Cheesecake Factory."

[Bimal Desai @bimald]

This just shows you have no clue. It’s not even just about the cuts. In reality, Congress did not cut the NIH budget. The admin went out of its way to screw with the funding. They cancelled grants on a whim, introduced a lot of bullshit science (remember the hoopla about Tylenol as a cause for autism, etc.) and delayed funding on meritorious grants. They have so disillusioned the trainees that interest in pursuing research careers has dropped, and they have gone out of their way to sabotage the US’s ability to recruit global talent. This is not even getting started. Wake up and smell the coffee—or at least don’t mouth off on topics you have no clue about.

[Bimal Desai @bimald]

@neerajadeshp This is X - you are not obligated to engage me but if you does utter bullshit, you are going to get called out on it.

[Bimal Desai @bimald]

@neerajadeshp Well, just because it’s not a fringe issue for you doesnt mean it’s not a fringe issue for science policy in general. You are neither a scientist, not GFP you have any deep understanding of what they have actually done.

[Bimal Desai @bimald]

@neerajadeshp And if that’s all you got, we know that they have done nothing but harm. 90% of scientists who actually do science would agree on this.

[Bimal Desai @bimald]

@neerajadeshp Oh please, give me a break. Do the rightoids think beyond transgender issues? They have set us back in dozens of ways and you are fixating on some fringe issue because you have become a mouthpiece for the rightoids.

[Bimal Desai @bimald]

@neerajadeshp What system have they changed for the better. Let’s hear the specifics.

[Bimal Desai @bimald]

@neerajadeshp Sorry, that’s complete bullshit and you have no idea what you are talking about.

[Jay in Kyiv @JayinKyiv]

Witkoff tried to convince Budanov of how rich he could be if he sold out his country by allowing Russian pipelines to again flow through Ukraine. Budanov ended the meeting.

[BryanRoth @zenbrainest]

mechanoLight: A genetically encoded fluorescent biosensor for visualizing 5-HT2AR mechanotransduction in live cells | PNAS https://t.co/7XmxOZajkv

[Chaz Nuttycombe @ChazNuttycombe]

Should the South Asian vote swing wildly to the left, as it seems will be the case this year, it's going to be not just due to perceptions of racism from right-wing folk this year against them, but also because they're small business owners being squeezed by the economy.

@DavidIRamadan put it very aptly: you can't look past that resentment if you're feeling the pain in your pocketbook.

This is not a Loudoun thing, just like how what happened in 2024 wasn't a Loudoun thing. If you're a Republican running in a district or state with a significant % or growing number of South Asians, wear a helmet. I'm particularly thinking of TX and GA here (no, our poll tomorrow in GA did not prompt this tweet).

[AI Will @FinanceYF5]

17 岁时的 Dario Amodei，履历已经夸张到像开挂：

- 多次入围美国数学奥赛
- 湾区数学奥赛第二名
- 参加物理奥赛训练营和斯坦福数学夏令营
- 高一学完 AP 微积分 BC
- 高中学习实分析和抽象代数
- 1 英里跑进 5 分钟

真正的智商与体能双重碾压。

[Jimmy O'Brien @Jomboy_]

The Cricket vs Baseball debate is HOT right now. As someone who loves and understands both sports here are my thoughts.

[Jonah Goldberg @JonahDispatch]

I think it’s mostly lame that MAGA and Fox types are trying to make the Saddam-Cheesecake Factory line into an outrage. But I think it’s hilarious that nearly all of them are offended on behalf of the Cheesecake Factory and not Trump. I haven’t heard anyone defend Trump’s interior design. The logic of their freakout is, “How dare you say the Cheesecake Factory looks like the Trump White House!? The Cheesecake Factory is awesome!”

[evan loves worf @esjesjesj]

Space genius now spreading an extremely stupid conspiracy theory
-mathematically impossible for Lula to have amassed 4 million votes in the 2 hour extension
-Bolsonaro campaign also requested extension, Bolsonaro judge signed off on it
-Literally what is the conspiracy theory

[Bimal Desai @bimald]

@orangeanddrew Different sports and batting skills aren’t transferable from one to the other. But in catching, it’s rather lame to use a mitten to catch a ball.

[Bimal Desai @bimald]

Scandinavians typically have no interest in moving to the US. In the rare circumstances that they do, they never look past Boston, SF, NYC and Washington DC. Once I tried to recruit a Danish student to my lab for a postdoc and he looked up Charlottesville on the map and said: “but that is almost 150 miles from Washington DC - it’s too much”.

Let’s face the facts here - they also consider much of the US as a “shit house country” but you would never catch their politicians be so crass.

[Reuters @Reuters]

WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE
President Trump escalated his invective against Norway, calling it a ‘shit house country’ and saying Norwegian immigrants are not welcome in the United States because the Nobel committee, based in the capital Oslo, has not awarded him a Peace Prize https://t.co/zMMNukdzi9

[Bimal Desai @bimald]

AI is a transformative technology that will change our world, but the rate of change is exaggerated and overinvestment is inevitable. The bubble will pop as people grow cautious about AI investments, starting in the weakest sectors. One such sector is the AI-centric biotech. In that frenzied party, people with the least understanding of biology are drinking each other’s Kool-Aid. Ironically , the smartest ones in that party are the ones who are knowingly selling snake oil to the VCs, while risking the least, and they will exit before the bubble pops.

[Bimal Desai @bimald]

@AnatomyTextbook @skorowidz You are too dumb and I don’t suffer fools.

[Bimal Desai @bimald]

Lol - Vivek is primarily losing because he is a dark-skinned Indian on a Republican ticket. He must spend most of his effort convincing the rightoid base to vote for him. Acton, on the other hand, can take the D base for granted and focus on independent swing voters. Every week, Vivek looks pathetic groveling to the conservative base, pleading that he does not worship demons and has read the Bible, etc. He couldn’t even issue a statement on the mass-shooting attempt at the Hindu temple for fear of seeming too close to the Hindu community. His latest attempt emulating Trump’s crass attack ads just convinced independent swing voters to steer clear of him. Game over.

[Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D. @neoavatara]

Here is what is insane about the Ohio Governor race:

Amy Acton is a terrible candidate.

She has no platform. She couldn't debate. She has many weak points, the biggest being COVID policy.

And Vivek is still finding a way to lose to her.