• Max Kozlov for Nature: Inside the new political screening that’s stalling NIH grants (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01924-8). The plot to murder American science in the style of Rasputin (poisoned, shot, shot again) is well under way, and this is the slow-release poison. Choke off funding, dissuade people from thinking about federal funding, see the number of scientists drop for years to come. • Vinay Prasad: Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Jose Baselga (https://www.drvinayprasad.com/p/marc-tessier-lavigne-and-jose-baselga). To be clear, there are many things wrong with American science and Prasad in his review of the book How To Rule the World (https://theobaker.info/book) presents some good examples, but you don’t treat a serious diagnosis by killing the patient. • Andrew Gelman: Bayesian Workflow exists as a physical book! (https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2026/06/27/bayesian-workflow-exists-as-a-physical-book/) An example of what’s right in science. I will be ordering a copy. • Ann Lee for the Guardian: ‘David Bowie was a crazy workaholic’: Labyrinth at 40 – an oral history (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/16/david-bowie-workaholic-labyrinth-at-40-oral-history). ⊕ ᔥBill Harris (https://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2026/06/friday-links_01209488407.html) An oral history done the right way, about a genius person in a genius movie. • Catherine Ruth Pakaluk for The NYT: Life Is Better With Siblings (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/29/opinion/siblings-families-shrinking.html). Sure is — just ask Jennifer Connelly from The Labyrinth! Joking aside, this is a serious case for large families and one with which I largely agree, though the double-digit census of children in some of the families mentioned gave me pause. The old George Carlin bit about idiots and maniacs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWPCE2tTLZQ) applies. Regardless, for most people the right number is greater than two, and for almost everyone it is certainly greater than zero.