Cadhla Firth
@cadhlafirth.bsky.social
Molecular and evolutionary biologist studying zoonotic disease emergence.
This is such an important and underrepresented perspective on the past and present relationships between tropical health/medicine and colonialism
BK. Titanji@boghuma.bsky.social · 2w agoWhy have we made it safer for some people to seek adventure in dangerous places, while so many who call those places home still struggle to access basic healthcare? A bit of medical history, some infectious diseases, and reflections on the unequal privilege of adventure. substack.com/home/post/p-...
It would be great if the media remembered that fact checking exists 🤦♀️
Okay this is insanely cool - we've had a front/mid brain and a totally distinct hindbrain for like 500 million years!
⚡⚡MAD DOCTOR IMPOSSIBLE⚡⚡@impossiblephd.bsky.social · last mo.*Frothing at the mouth with excitement* HEY GUESS WHAT, YOU DON'T HAVE ONE BRAIN, YOU HAVE TWO! med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...
“When it comes to the choices my husband and I have made about public education, these days I feel that I failed both my values and my child.” A deeply personal piece from Nikole Hannah-Jones, 10 years after her landmark story about choosing her child’s elementary school, is your Sunday must-read
In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own? (Gift Article)
A decade ago, I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge New York City’s separate and unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice.
nytimes.com
As good as many of you said. I really appreciate the unambiguous point that this primarily a racist moral panic before unpacking the nuanced second-order explanations. dannykatch.substack.com/p/we-used-to...
We used to be able to buy things in this country
Locking up toothpaste was a warning sign that our executive class was crazy
dannykatch.substack.com
The forest management argument, largely valid in a California pine stand, mostly falls apart when you move it a couple of thousand kilometers north. Today's Climate Brink post provides in-depth details as to why: www.theclimatebrink.com/p/canadas-bo...
Canada's boreal wildfires aren't just bad forest management
Higher fire season temperatures are strongly correlated with increased area burned
theclimatebrink.com
It’s almost as though we had an excellent public health infrastructure until DOGE hobbled the hell out of it. You know, like thousands of us were screaming at the time.
WIRED@wired.com · 3mo ago“Based on simple math, these outbreak responses—which require rapid, timely responses—are going to be greatly diminished,” the former CDC lab director tells WIRED. www.wired.com/story/cdc-cy...
I'll summarize this: Mamdani asked NYers to keep air conditioning at 78 degrees. A wave criticism hit online. A MSNBC broadcast pointed out the US Department of Energy recommends that 78 degree figure. Immediately after, the US Department of Energy deleted 6,000 web pages related to energy saving.
Scott Atlas, the champion of herd immunity as an Fox News commenter and the Trump Advisor during COVID, weighs in with a DEEPLY MININFORMED op-ed in the WaPo. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202... 1/7
Opinion | Abolish the NIH
A $48 billion government monopoly should give way to the market.
washingtonpost.com
Dreaming up the most convoluted schemes imaginable to avoid paying reviewers (real money) www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
A transparent universal credit system to incentivize peer review | PNAS
A transparent universal credit system to incentivize peer review
pnas.org
Trying to leave an abusive relationship is one of the most difficult things for anyone. It's horrible to see the US gov taking a DARVO-informed approach to immigration. I can't see how these changes will do anything but hurt people when they're most vulnerable
Documented@documentedny.bsky.social · 6mo agoNew federal guidance will have a devastating impact on vulnerable populations seeking to live and work in the U.S., legal advocates say.
While we wait for more information on the hantavirus outbreak on that cruise ship, there is a strong narrative about the risk of human-to-human transmission that may not hold up. In the absence of epidemiological data, this paper is worth a read: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Evidence for Human-to-Human Transmission of Hantavirus: A Systematic Review
Hantavirus is known to be transmitted from rodents to humans. However, some reports from Argentina and Chile have claimed that the hantavirus strain Andes virus (ANDV) can cause human-to-human transmi...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
From this thread it seems like with universal basic income we might also have more arts and culture and community
Michael Druker 🇨🇦@mdruker.app · 6mo agoTake a break from the discourse and quote this with a business you would want to start if you could afford to lose money on it
It's no wonder we're losing the war on vaccine misinformation when we don't even agree on what math is 🤦♀️
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6mo agoRFK Jr: "A Democratic senator claimed it's mathematically impossible to have a drug drop by 600%. I said, 'Well, if the drug was $100 and it raises to $600, that would be a 600% rise. If it drops from $600 to $100, that's a 600% savings.'" Trump: "Right"
NEW—I got an exclusive excerpt from a USAID whistleblower's new book that made me gasp multiple times. It details Trump's dismantling of the humanitarian aid agency & his team/DOGE's shocking ignorance to public health. 'Into the Wood Chipper' by Nicholas Enrich is out tomorrow. Read excerpt here:
Whistleblower says Trump officials thought USAID did 'just abortions,' asked for 'Barney-style' slides before gutting agency, per new book
Read an exclusive excerpt from Nicholas Enrich's "Into the Wood Chipper"
thehandbasket.co
The annual observance marks how far into the new year women must work to make what men earned in the previous year. This year, it's March 26, a day later than it was in 2025. n.pr/4t9rLqU
It's Equal Pay Day. Women have lost ground for the second year in a row
The annual observance marks how far into the new year women must work to make what men earned in the previous year. This year, it's March 26, a day later than it was in 2025.
n.pr
Title: "The United States is Driving a Public Heath Emergency of International Concern" www.bmj.com/content/392/...
Race is not a biological category: challenging this misconception will help tackle racism in healthcare www.bmj.com/content/392/...
bmj.com
“The State Department is considering withholding lifesaving assistance to people with H.I.V. in Zambia as a negotiating tactic to force the government of the southern African country to sign a deal giving the United States more access to its critical minerals” Extractive, colonial, & depraved 1/2
Exposure to chemical irritants can cause chest tightness, coughing and shortness of breath. For kids, there’s more potential for serious side effects.
Public Health Experts Sound Alarm as Feds Keep Deploying Tear Gas Near Kids
“We don’t know the long-term effects. We don’t understand their effects on children,” said a pediatrician.
buff.ly
A beautiful reminder that we all have the power to make a difference
CLICK4TRUTH@kellyrogers.bsky.social · 9mo ago😭😭😭 a community member just handed this off to a patroller in our neighborhood
This is excellent & draws out something the rest of the media is ignoring: among other things, the Epstein files have made it super, super clear that the entire "anti-woke" cultural hysteria was engineered by powerful men averse to accountability.
Elizabeth Lopatto@lopatto.bsky.social · 9mo agoI wrote about the Epstein files (gift link) www.theverge.com/tech/874721/...
A landmark study challenges the foundation of blanket bans, “finding that despite larger muscle mass about one to three years after hormone therapy, trans women have physical fitness levels comparable to those of cis women.”
The Independent@the-independent.com · 9mo agoTrans athletes may not have fitness advantage in women’s sport, landmark study finds
Virologist Nathan Wolfe sought funding from Jeffrey Epstein to study whether sexually transmitted infections increased women’s sex drive. He planned to conduct this study among female undergraduate students.
Former Stanford professor Nathan Wolfe ’92 planned sexual behavior research, described interns with Epstein
The Daily investigated correspondence between virologist Nathan Wolfe ’92 and Epstein in which the two men discussed interns’ attractiveness, “female viagra” and sexual research projects.
stanforddaily.com
There’s literally a straight line between Trump, Epstein, and the retaliatory lawsuits against women who came forward with allegations against celebrity men like Amber Heard and Blake Lively. They all even have the same PR folks. And yet people still refuse to see it
Of course there are academics in the Epstein files Academia is not a natural space for radical politics, knowledge and emancipation as many pretend it is, buoyed by reactionary moral panics It is primarily built on conservatism, hierarchies and thirst for power so this should not be surprising
It's easy to see these academics as individual bad actors. But I'd argue--they were enabled by "elite" schools' look-the-other-way approach to dealing with big-name abusers, and by the fact that, societially, we treat people associated with "elite" schools as automatically deserving of deference.
Dr. Katja Thieme (she/they)@katjathieme.bsky.social · 9mo agoAcademics vying for a spot in Epstein‘s world. There are so many. I feel the need to make a thread, so I don’t keep confusing them. 1/
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche admits that the DOJ excluded all images showing “death, physical abuse, or injury” from yesterday’s Epstein files release. WHAT ELSE ARE THEY HIDING???