Thanks to @monicavasile.bsky.social for arranging a screening of Overburden @oulu.fi. Issues around the uneasy alliances of #mining and #conservation resonate from West Africa to near the Arctic Circle. We need stories across the globe connecting mining, AI, extraction, and the extinction of life.

New report: Banking on Biodiversity Collapse shows banks have poured USD 595 bi into high-risk mining and agribusiness across the tropics since 2020. The result: annual fires and toxic haze, ecosystems on the brink of collapse and widespread human rights abuses forestsandfinance.org/blog/launchb...

October 14, 2026

forestsandfinance.org

Meanwhile the epidemic in the DRC is continuing to grow rapidly. There have been more than 9000 cases, about half of them deaths. And while you will hear way more about a single suspected plague case in most outlets, this outbreak is now by far the largest Ebola Outbreak the DRC has ever seen.

"Information from Russia has been incomplete, confusing, and contradictory." My colleague @martinenserink.bsky.social on what we know so far about the possible plague death in Russia and the implications. 🧪

Possible plague death at a Siberian lab baffles scientists

Much is unclear about the tragedy, but plague researchers say there is “zero” chance of an epidemic

science.org

Exclusive: A new analysis refutes James Watson’s claim that he was the first to recognize the significance of the famed photograph 51. https://scim.ag/4rTKck8

How did Rosalind Franklin miss the helix in her iconic DNA image? She didn’t

New analysis refutes James Watson’s claim he was first to recognize significance of famed photograph 51

scim.ag

Outbreak risk is "critically a question about inequality, about who is most likely to get sick, and why, and who can access healthcare, diagnostics and treatment at the point when they’re most needed.”

Far From A Hospital, Even A Deadly Outbreak May Go Undetected

New research on 58,319 infection records finds the geography of emerging disease tracks healthcare access more than deforestation or climate change

forbes.com

We’re thrilled to share that OVERBURDEN has been chosen to be part of the Wildscreen Official Selection Program 2026! It’s an honor to be recognized alongside so many incredible storytellers and filmmakers celebrating the natural world. overburdenfilm.com #envhumanities #envhist

This is an absolute travesty. Northwestern has, probably, the 2nd best library collection for African History/Studies in the USA (behind Yale and ahead of MSU, UCLA, etc). A self-inflicted wound that is absolutely, 100% unnecessary given the massive wealth of Northwestern--north of $15 billion.

SCOOP: Northwestern moves to close Program of African Studies

thepurplewire.beehiiv.com

It's been two and a half months since the Ebola outbreak in the DRC was declared and it is now the biggest the country has ever experienced and the second largest the world has ever seen. Dozens of cases continue to be reported each day across three separate provinces. 🧪 insp.cd/sitrep-n077-...

Greenhouse #envhum book talk Episode 201: Christos Lynteris @visualplague.bsky.social will discuss his book How Plague Got Rats: Mastering a Zoonotic Pandemic (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2026), Monday, 7 September 2026, at 4pm Central European / 3pm in UK. newnatures.org/greenhouse/e...

The Greenhouse #envhum book talks start up again this month! Episode 199: Sara Pritchard @sarabpritchard.bsky.social on Transforming Night: The History and Science of Light Pollution (@uwapress.uw.edu, 2026), Monday 24 August 2026, 4pm Central European / 10am Eastern. newnatures.org/greenhouse/e...

"This was not an attempt to find a ‘patient zero,’ but to gain a greater understanding of the outbreak from the perspective of the communities where it first began.” Excellent piece by @kakape.bsky.social on new WHO study that refreshingly doesn't focus on patient zero and zoonotic origin stories.

Kai Kupferschmidt@kakape.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Ebola may have been spreading for months in the DRC before anyone recognized it. A new reconstruction suggests the outbreak was already widespread in the gold-mining town of Mongbwalu by January. It wasn’t officially declared until 15 May. Why did no-one raise the alarm? My story for @science.org 🧪

Excited to announce Overburden’s selection in the Environmental Spotlight category at the Richmond International Film Festival. One of the film’s powerful voices, Liberian FDA ranger Moses Darpey, put it simply: “You break the mountain now, it can’t grow back.” #conservation #mining #envhist

Another massive jump in Ebola cases in DRC (reflecting new cases as well as "data harmonization"). Now 2,905 cases including 1,269 deaths. I find it harder every day to square the size and speed of spread of this outbreak with the lack of attention it is getting. insp.cd/sitrep-n069-...

Commentary by @cwalzer.bsky.social in @mongabay.com on the recent hantavirus & ebolavirus outbreaks. These outbreaks "are not isolated biological accidents, but predictable consequences of the ecological, economic, and political systems we have built."🧪 Read more: news.mongabay.com/2026/06/we-m...

We must prevent the next pandemic, not build perfect conditions for it (commentary)

In recent weeks, two outbreaks captured international attention: a hantavirus cluster linked to a cruise ship and an escalating outbreak of Bundibugyo ebolavirus in Central and Eastern Africa. How the...

news.mongabay.com

Look what book is now *available* for preorder!! @rebecca-altman.bsky.social’s SONG OF STYRENE coming next April. Important and gorgeous. Also that cover!! #envhist #envhum #plastics www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-So...

The Song of Styrene

A personal history of plastics, written by a plastic-maker’s daughter turned environmental sociologist who, for the past decade, has searched for t...

simonandschuster.com

The newest issue of 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘌𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 (@globalenvironment.bsky.social) is guest edited by PhD candidate Lijuan Klassen & RCC Director Christof Mauch! It brings an environmental humanities perspective to planetary health: liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/toc/whpge/current #envhist #envhum

A brilliant new study of the history of rats and plague by @julesskotnesbrown.bsky.social focused on the historically neglected case of the third plague pandemic's impact on Mauritius: "Rats, Islands, and Global Infrastructure" (OA) www.jstor.org/content/oa_c...

It was a pleasure to contribute a chapter, "Caring for Chimps as Viral Kin," on the complex relations of care and unequal relations of exchange that developed at Vilab II in Liberia, for this great volume! Open access is available @ www.jstor.org/content/oa_b... #envhist #medhist

Vanessa Bateman@vbateman.bsky.social · 6mo ago

*Globalizing Wildlife* is OUT THIS MONTH (!) with @uncpress.bsky.social “An essential and timely intervention… exciting, cutting-edge vantages on crucial global histories” -Daniel Vandersommers Edited by @rafdebont.bsky.social myself, & Tom Quick #animalhist #globalhist #HistSci #envhist

CEPI fastbacks three candidate vaccines for Ebola BDV. Two virus vector based candidates and one mRNA vaccine candidate. Once again it's taken a raging outbreak of a pathogen identified over two decades ago for vaccine development to be accelerated. cepi.net/cepi-fast-tr...

CEPI fast-tracks three Bundibugyo ebolavirus vaccine candidates

CEPI funding will advance vaccine candidates towards clinical trials as quickly as possible.

cepi.net

One glimmer of hope in the Ebola response: Within hours of the outbreak in DRC being declared, researchers convened to prepare drug trials. A lot has changed on that front since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a decade ago. But huge challenges remain 🧪 My story in @science.org (🧵 to come)

Can fast, nimble clinical trials deliver a drug to halt the new Ebola outbreak?

Past outbreaks spawned clever strategies for testing antivirals and antibodies, but researchers will still face major challenges on the ground

science.org

Moving tribute to my Columbia colleague David Rosner, who passed away unexpectedly a few days ago. David was pivotal to uncovering the dangers of lead, silica, and many products of industrial America. blanphear.substack.com/p/how-rosner...

How Rosner and Markowitz Revealed the Hidden Architecture of Disease

How two historians helped reveal the industrial origins of modern disease

blanphear.substack.com

We are all set for the 3rd Reimagining Global Health course, starting June 8th! If you are from a low-income country, or are a student, and would like a fee waiver, please contact me We have 10 free spots! www.mcgill.ca/summerinstit...

“the only durable answer is to invest in African institutions themselves: frontline surveillance, outbreak response, and local manufacturing of vaccines, therapeutics, and protective equipment” 6555a27a-21bd-45eb-b287-1c28900211e3.filesusr.com/ugd/73a7e6_8...

What Paul Farmer told me once: "People, when they are sick, are not looking to be sprayed, controlled, counselled, told about bush meat...they are looking to survive, and when they see the quality of care is not good, they are going to flee... Control without care is what amplified Ebola epidemic"

“Travel bans don’t stop viruses, they stop solidarity.” Dr. Githinji Gitahi www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Ebola: US ban on travellers from DRC, Uganda or South Sudan ‘not the solution’

Africa CDC says restrictions could increase public health risks and highlight ‘deeper structural injustice’ in global health

theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

US is ‘simply choosing not to stop’ Ebola outbreak after massive public health cuts, experts say

Hundreds of cases reported in the DRC after USAID has been dismantled and key scientific research canceled

theguardian.com

I'm very happy to launch the website for my Wellcome Trust-funded project, 'How Did Infectious Diseases Become Wild? Plague, Yellow Fever and Disease Ecology in the Brazilian Hinterland (1920-1975)'. wild-diseases.org

Led by Dr Matheus Alves Duarte da Silva, the Wellcome Trust-funded project (2025-2030) ‘How Did Infectious Diseases Become Wild? Plague, Yellow Fever, and Disease Ecology in the Brazilian Hinterland (1920-1975)” explores how, historically, infectious diseases became associated to wild animals in rural and natural settings. The project focuses on Brazil, a country that was pitted against an unprecedented sanitary phenomenon between 1920 and 1975: the wild diseases.

wild-diseases.org

And many thanks to Matthew McAdam for his editorial support of this project, and the whole @hopkinspress.bsky.social editorial team for an immaculate work and their wonderful support at each stage of the production

WHO has declared the #Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). First time this has been done without consulting an emergency committee. Extraordinary move that speaks to how concerning the facts on the ground look right now

WHO@who.int · 5mo ago

Under the IHR (2005), @drtedros.who.int, the Director General of WHO, having consulted the States Parties where the event is occurring, has determined that the Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in DRC & Uganda constitutes a public health emergency of international concern bit.ly/3P4ZDac