Holy shit FOUR members of the ethics committee in Denmark that gave the green light to allow the widely-condemned RFK Jr-funded trial to proceed in Guinea-Bissau have now resigned in protest This quote is 🔥 Great reporting by @melodyschreiber.com www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH@gavinyamey.bsky.social · 3d ago

RFK Jr is funding a grotesquely unethical study on newborn babies in Guinea-Bissau; ethicists, pediatricians, clinical trial experts, & infectious disease experts are calling this horrific trial The New Tuskegee. It is unethical to withhold a life saving intervention from half of newborns FFS.

Really important new study focusing on "a continuing debate over which typically comes first, the epidemic or the food shortage." The category "Plague & Famine" was recently added to the 2nd Plague Pandemic bibliography & this study captures some of the reasons why. tseg.nl/article/view... #histmed

"...Little public things—like designing postage stamps or National Park Service photographer stipends or spending the pittance of pre-DOGE NEA dollars on public programming—did something to cohere a nation. Everyday aesthetics made place."

Anna Kornbluh@annakornbluh.bsky.social · 17h ago

"An essential state role, parallel to provisioning basic services like education and healthcare, is endowing a wide open aesthetic field of form and meaning and collective sensibility." www.artnews.com/art-in-ameri...

Picking up on @susanwabuda.bsky.social‘s comment below, the problem w/ calling this “medieval” is the implication that only the deep dark past was cruel. Surely the events of the last 125 yrs demonstrate that mediatized cruelty is thoroughly modern & American/Western. We need to own it: This is Us.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d ago

Ossoff: "I think Pete Hegseth is frankly a deeply unwell person who seems to relish this kind of brutality all the while he's running a department that is falling into chaos. The guy cannot run the military competently and is spending his time with this kind of obscene medieval spectacle."

Do you want good tortoise news? I thought so. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Scientists discover 180,000 giant tortoises on one Seychelles island

Free-roaming Aldabra population far exceeds human population of Seychelles after decades-long recovery programme

theguardian.com

Friend got us tickets to the Bayeux Tapestry. It felt harder to get into than a sold out rock concert! If everyone who goes to see it takes one action help save Humanities in Higher Ed (letter/petition etc) I feel we would be okay for the next while #medievalsky

Amazon too, those fucking fuckers. I live in NYC. It will take me a longer to find the thing or a little more expensive, but it can be done. I have no illusion that my withholding of buying will topple these rich corporations, but I don't want any part of them.

There is a Target conveniently located near where I work. I haven't shopped there in years because I've been buycotting them. I will continue because they suck in a multitude of ways.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez@ocasio-cortez.house.gov · 2d ago

My statement on the ICE shooting in Marble Hill ⬇️

Oklahoma, land of weather: "In most of [Oklahoma], even at the tiny geographical scale of an individual roof, you have about a 1-in-10 chance each year of seeing 2-inch or larger hail... over the last 4 years, nearly 50% of Oklahoma roofs were hit by severe hail—the highest rate nationwide."

Pity the Next Insurance Commissioner of Oklahoma

The state’s market is in such disarray, a Democrat actually stands a shot at winning the office.

heatmap.news

The Dark Ages (1800-2671)

Monica H Green@monicamedhist.bsky.social · yesterday

I sent a note to someone the other day, saying that I was worried that a century-old book I was trying to find might be unavailable b/c of the acid so commonly used back then. And here's an example of what I meant. We are bemoaning the loss of early blogs & websites b/c of digital impermanence.

I sent a note to someone the other day, saying that I was worried that a century-old book I was trying to find might be unavailable b/c of the acid so commonly used back then. And here's an example of what I meant. We are bemoaning the loss of early blogs & websites b/c of digital impermanence.

This notice doesn't say where the job is. It's UC-Berkeley. "off-scale salary and other components of pay, which would yield compensation that is higher than this range, are offered to meet competitive conditions." #MedievalSky

The Medieval Academy of America@medievalacademy.bsky.social · 2d ago

Jobs For Medievalists Assistant or Associate Professor – Mediterranean and its Hinterlands, 500-1500 CE - Department of History Position overview Position title: Assistant Professor or Associate Professor Salary range: The current https://www.themedievalacademyblog.org/jobs-for-medievalists-349/

At a panel today, on the future of global health, I am pleased panelists discussed the domestic terrorist attack on the CDC by an anti-vaccine activist; I agree with the panel that this was a genuinely seismic event for the global public health community & I feel its impact has been underappreciated

Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH@gavinyamey.bsky.social · 2d ago

20th anniversary of Duke Global Health Institute today! Keynote will be by John Nkengasong, who led Africa CDC & PEPFAR The morning will address 3 big questions 1️⃣ who will lead global health’s future? 2️⃣ how will we meet the challenges of climate change? 3️⃣ how can students chart a path forward?

I am angry tonight. Because tonight ICE shot a New Yorker. They shot a New Yorker while his five year old child was in the car. ICE makes this city less safe. We want them out. Now.

"That’s why we’re marching toward November with our CVS-length receipts." Yesssss!

Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove@kamlager-dove.house.gov · 2d ago

The American people are tired of the lies, the cover-ups, and footing the bill for both. That’s why we’re marching toward November with our CVS-length receipts.

The British editor of my book on the Golden Horde asked for a clear opinion on this matter, and so I had to insert a parenthetical statement that de Mussi's fiction had nothing to do with reality

The Stolen Neighbors Quilt, made of 12,500 fabric squares and unveiled at the State Capitol’s rotunda, represents the lives of the estimated 11,000 people deported in Minnesota between the beginning of President Trump’s second term and the end of Operation Metro Surge.

Medieval Mythbusters, Season special. #medievalsky

Monica H Green@monicamedhist.bsky.social · 2d ago

An update on this post from yesterday (Wed, 10/07): the @nytimes.com has updated their report, now adding "though some experts have cast doubt on that account", with a link to Hannah Barker's paper that I had flagged. "Some experts"! There's not a medieval historian who disagrees. Anyway, progress.

After more than 200 years, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is coming home! I am proud to have worked with Chairman Rupnick to secure $1M to build a Tribal Government headquarters here, on Illinois soil. Honored to have played a small role in this long-overdue homecoming.

184 new cuneiform tablets ✍️ (total), dating to c.1400 BCE. “Preliminary examination of the texts has revealed references to military activities, epidemics, the death of an infant princess & requests for assistance sent to the king by Hittite military commanders” www.heritagedaily.com/2026/10/184-...

184 cuneiform tablets discovered in Hittite royal archive

Archaeologists excavating the ancient city of Kayalıpınar in Türkiye have discovered a Hittite royal archive containing 184 cuneiform tablets and fragments. - HeritageDaily - Archaeology News

heritagedaily.com

"My fondest memorye as a childe ys the A.I.-generatid voyce of my fathir, sayinge, 'as sure as handes are vague globs of paste, my son, and as true as hydrogen tarifffs are enshrined yn the bill of rights, you are loved by your ChatGPDad.'"

Honestly think this might be where his work in public health is helpful here. straightforward message.

An update on this post from yesterday (Wed, 10/07): the @nytimes.com has updated their report, now adding "though some experts have cast doubt on that account", with a link to Hannah Barker's paper that I had flagged. "Some experts"! There's not a medieval historian who disagrees. Anyway, progress.

Monica H Green@monicamedhist.bsky.social · 3d ago

#MedievalSky This from the New York Times, minutes ago: "Has plague ever been used as a bioweapon? Maybe — but it’s been a while. In the 14th century, according to one account, a Mongol army catapulted plague-infested bodies into the Crimean city of Caffa." Please don't let this nonsense persist!

In light of recent events in Russia, I spoke with @npr.org today about the international law that governs information sharing early in outbreaks, along with the wonderful as ever Larry Gostin. www.npr.org/2026/10/08/n...

Global guidelines for sharing illness information date back to the 1850s

International Health Regulations mandate that countries share information about illness that may affect people beyond their borders. It's being put to the test after a Russian plague researcher died.

npr.org

This is too late chronologically to go on my 2nd Plague Pandemic bibliography (my cutoff is ca. 1500), but it looks like a v. important assessment of a crucial transition in the Ottoman Empire from a "plague regime" to a "cholera regime." turkishstudies.net/religion?mod...

It’s a fair concern; we discuss in great depth the deeply troubling history of the term. @ramckay.bsky.social literally wrote the book on this history—which was the basis for the movie “Killing Patient Zero.” We pose, as a question, the possibility that Taylor Swift’s use gives it a new meaning.

For myself at least, and I cannot speak for others, our BMJ piece has sparked really fascinating conversations in my classroom with my students—who new nil about the history of the ghastly stigmatizing term “patient zero” & who welcomed a way to discuss this history through a song

As a historian of medicine who's taught the history of HIV/AIDS throughout her career & has been teaching the history of other global diseases the past 20 years, I find myself troubled by this new piece in @bmj.com on the claimed rehabilitation of the term "Patient Zero." www.bmj.com/content/395/...

Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard put her body on the line to protect students fighting for Gaza & police assaulted her. Instead of protecting her, UC Irvine has stripped her faculty role & her health benefits. Please sign petition, write a letter, signal boost robindgkelley.substack.com/p/in-support...

In Support of Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard

Most academics in the U.S., as well as activists resisting the genocide in Gaza, are familiar with the case of Professor Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, a renowned Global Studies scholar at the University ...

robindgkelley.substack.com