The Dean and the Donkey Despite a very hot day, I was able to visit with my buddy Protege @ucdavis.bsky.social. And yes, we talked a lot about the weather. @ucdavisengineering.bsky.social

The Donkey and the Dean A recent visit with my buddy Protege. Donkeys may be a bit stubborn at times, but they are also intelligent and can bond with humans once they achieve a level of trust. While non-human animals learn by observing us, we stand much to learn from them.

RFK Jr.: “You probably don’t understand this as you’re not a scientist.” Dana Bash: “You’re not a scientist either.”

I worked for New York’s largest medical center at the start of the pandemic. There were morgue trucks on the streets. They set up emergency medical tents in Central Park. Healthcare worker colleagues died. It is horrific that RFK Jr is on national TV lying that ICUs were empty.

Let’s be clear here, when scientists say mistakes were made at the start of the pandemic, we DO NOT mean that we did too much. We mean not socially distancing quickly enough, not making tests widely available, and not acknowledging COVID is airborne and distributing N95 masks to everyone.

Art in baggage claim area of Sacramento International Airport.

Wrote this in 2023 with @susananenberg.bsky.social Reposting now, and likely will to have to repost it again and again.

Smoke from Canadian wildfires shows outdoor workers need air quality protections

The smoke from Canadian fires illuminates the lack of government policies and programs to protect the public, especially outdoor workers.

statnews.com

Reporters used to have to write that no single weather event can be linked to climate change. The developing science of extreme weather attribution has changed that. And those who have damaged the climate might someday have to pay. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/c...

National Academies Report Backs Climate Change Attribution Science

Attribution science is advancing quickly, researchers said. That could support lawsuits seeking damages for severe events worsened by global warming.

nytimes.com

Thanks to Canadian @shiventaneja.bsky.social for developing these instructions. The CR Box has a high clean air delivery rate for particles in the size ranges of wildfire smoke & should remove a large amount of heavier organic gas-phase components. All at a fraction of cost of other air cleaners.

🍁Mel🇨🇦@melhathnofury.bsky.social · 4w ago

Here’s instructions on building your own Corsi-Rosenthal box.

Thanks for the post, @thefreeradical.org. #CRBoxes are proven through a significant number of research studies and real world applications. Glad it is doing the job for you! Filming an updated video next week and will post when complete.

Mira@thefreeradical.org · 4w ago

my unholy creation. its actually working, it hasnt been an hour yet and the air quality in my place is noticeably better. i can breathe in comparable comfort, and my eyes dont hurt! link to build ur own here: engineering.ucdavis.edu/news/science... beware walmart, they overprice their filters

Modelling shows universal masking by healthcare workers leads to huge reduction in healthcare worker illness, even when people unmask in breakrooms www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Moment of Zen Momma and her chicks @ucdavis.bsky.social arboretum.

When red-tailed hawks lose feathers, they adapt their wing and tail movements to keep performing certain flight maneuvers, a finding from UC Davis researchers that could inspire aircraft design. Listen on NPR CapRadio: https://ow.ly/NFfm50ZmeCs #UCDavisEngineering

How the way red-tailed hawks adapt could change rehab efforts and aircraft design

When red-tailed hawks lose feathers, they adapt their wing and tail movements to keep performing certain flight maneuvers, a finding that could inspire aircraft design.

ow.ly

Long trip with a lot of amazing nature experiences in Newfoundland and visits with old and dear friends and colleagues in Ontario, and yesterday with a student from an undergraduate course I taught 35 years ago (gulp). Trip too short and missed a lot of other old friends. Back home soon. Return?

With old friend and ex - @utcaee.bsky.social colleague ( and now distinguished faculty member and construction engineer extraordinaire at @uwaterloo.ca), Carl Haas.

Three spire iceberg. Twillingate, Newfoundland.

We gave a sneak preview of our clean air system for buildings at the @arpa-h.bsky.social BREATHE Demo Day. All the credit goes to Rajan Chakrabarty et al. at WashU, Madhav Marathe et al. at UVA, and Chris Cappa + Theresa Pistochini et al. at UC Davis. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/s...

Buildings May Soon Have ‘Immune Systems’ That Fight Airborne Disease

nytimes.com

“We’ve only had 114 years to do something, let our kids sort it out!”

Moment of Zen Puffin colony on the Bonavista Peninsula, Newfoundland

Algae is loving this news cycle. They’ve never been more relevant. Microzooplankton sitting at home changing the channel like, what about us? we even have cilia and pseudopods, this is bullshit.

Moment of Zen Cape Spear, Newfoundland, the eastern-most point in North America.

Just had my six month booster two weeks ago. Does it mean no risk? No. Does it mean less risk of adverse outcomes? Yes. 👇🏻

Eric Topol@erictopol.bsky.social · 2mo ago

3 new papers on Covid boosters today 1. Less major adverse cardiovascular events in US Veterans jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... 2. High effectiveness for older adults jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... 3. Improved outcomes across all adults jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Bob Odenkirk is a national treasure. Take 44 seconds and watch. www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0rB...

Spurs fan. 🥲. Disappointed, but hit to give the Knicks credit. They were the better team in the clutch. Don’t think I have ever seen such a great 5 game series.

1/ Please put aerosol scientists and engineers back in charge of public health. We built infectious disease policy around outdated droplet assumptions while ignoring aerosol physics, ventilation, and indoor air quality.

The Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda continues to evolve rapidly, with increasing case numbers, geographic spread, and evidence of ongoing cross-border transmission. Read the current situation report: bit.ly/49qPmfk

President of MIT not mincing words today in @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2026/05/27/s...

Spurs v. Thunder is the best of basketball. Wow!!!

👇

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 3mo ago

The US withdrawal from its global public health responsibilities is a disaster for local communities and a risk to everyone worldwide. Gift link

Great NYT essay by @linseymarr.bsky.social, framing the hantavirus story. Independently, the same key points and perspective from @donmilton.bsky.social in our conversation that day erictopol.substack.com/p/assessment...

Linsey Marr@linseymarr.bsky.social · 3mo ago

It's widely accepted that hantavirus transmits from rodent excreta to humans via inhalation of aerosolized virus, so I don't understand why we're so reluctant to acknowledge the inhalation route for human-to-human transmission. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/h...