Health Nerd
@gidmk.bsky.social
Epidemiologist. Research Fellow. Doctor of Spreadsheets. Writer (Slate, TIME, Guardian, etc). PhD, MPH. Host of senscipod Email gidmk.healthnerd@gmail.com he/him. Find my writing on Substack and Medium.
Today seems like an excellent day to re-read @gidmk.bsky.social’s superb, accessible, beautifully written piece of science writing on Covid origins The peer-reviewed scientific research literature points to a zoonotic origin (as for most epidemics & pandemics) gidmk.substack.com/p/pandemic-r...
Pandemic Revisionism, Part One: COVID-19 Origins
Because people keep getting this very wrong.
gidmk.substack.com
Recent headlines are crying that an avocado a day helps heart health. The reality is a bit absurd. If anything, the data shows quite strongly that avocados do little/nothing for your heart. gidmk.substack.com/p/an-avocado...
An Avocado A Day Is No Panacea
Why eating more avocados probably won't cure heart disease
gidmk.substack.com
My new piece in Slate takes a look at the concept of "ultra" processed foods and why the whole thing is so bizarrely unscientific slate.com/technology/2...
One of the Biggest Boogeymen on Our Grocery Shelves Needs a Better Name
It’s all about the vibes.
slate.com
I can only imagine this would end in quite a lot of dead people.
New study from my fab masters student. There are some people who have so many retractions that they are famous for it. The most notorious frauds in science. Do the unretracted papers from these authors get cited in Cochrane reviews? Yes. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Research integrity within systematic reviews: investigating the prevalence of studies by authors with multiple retraction histories in Cochrane reviews - Research Integrity and Peer Review
Background Research misconduct poses a significant threat to the integrity of evidence synthesis. Although Cochrane reviews are known for rigorous methodological standards, the potential inclusion of ...
link.springer.com
Let's Streisand-effect these people. Here's the editorial that somehow merited calling the cops. Read and share.
Misguided Brushes of a Pen Continue to Dismantle and Destroy Biomedical Research in the United States: We Can No Longer Afford Complacency and Fear. We Must All Act Now!
The opinions expressed in this editorial are the personal views of the authors (S.E. Kahn, C.A.M. Anderson, J.B. Buse, and E. Selvin) and do not represent
diabetesjournals.org
Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 2mo agoRemember the current NIH director going on about protecting researchers from government censorship? Today his people called the police in to forcibly remove my colleagues from their own society meeting for sharing an editorial published in their flagship journal that was critical of him. Gift link
"What we can say with a great deal of certainty is that NHS England is currently relying on terrible evidence to make decisions about trans healthcare."
Hormone Therapy For Trans Teens
The remarkable deficiencies in new NHS policy looking at whether transgender teenagers should be able to access hormone therapy.
gidmk.substack.com
You Probably Can't Diagnose Autism Spectrum Disorder From A Urine Test • Picky eaters, pokey numbers, and powerful confusion
You Probably Can't Diagnose Autism Spectrum Disorder From A Urine Test
Picky eaters, pokey numbers, and powerful confusion
jamesclaims.substack.com
My new piece looks at recent bizarre overestimates of Long COVID rates. Also, how we can be fairly certain that the true rate of Long COVID is now very low in 2026. open.substack.com/pub/gidmk/p/...
No, 1 in 6 People Do Not Have Long COVID
The ongoing story of bizarre overestimates of Long COVID rates
open.substack.com
Haven't seen one of these in the wild in AGES. Scientific error-checking difficulty: very easy Why is this table definitely not real data?
Are omega-3 supplements destroying your brain? They definitely don't have a benefit, but the data showing that they are harmful is very weak. My new piece: gidmk.substack.com/p/are-omega-...
Are Omega-3 Supplements Destroying Your Brain?
New scary headlines and the rather uncertain science behind them
gidmk.substack.com
The massive decline of COVID-19 has been fascinating to watch. If current trends persist, the disease will end up nothing more than a common cold.
Prof. Michael Fuhrer@michaelsfuhrer.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe UC CDC's Covid-19 wastewater detection network passed an important milestone a couple weeks ago: More than half the ~1,500 wastewater detections sites in the network reported Covid -19 as below the limit of detection. Why is this important? Keep reading... 1/
It was remarkable to see this persistent myth about COVID-19 pop up again in 2026, so I wrote about it open.substack.com/pub/gidmk/p/...
The Most Persistent Myth About COVID-19
Six years on and people are still making this ridiculous claim.
open.substack.com
Are you worried about hantavirus? Well research on this virus and other emerging infections is disappearing in real time, right now. My Yale colleague just lost $5 million, which the National Science Foundation (NSF) has refused to release to his group. It is so twisted and sick.
Colin Carlson@colincarlson.bsky.social · 3mo agoMy colleague @stephseifertphd.bsky.social just published new groundbreaking work on hantaviruses in the United States as part of our shut down @viralemergence.org project. Want to prevent hantavirus outbreaks here? Fund her work. wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...
Everyone is freaking out about hantavirus, so I read my notes from my MPH and a bunch of articles so you don't have to. Long story short - it's shit for people impacted, but you are very, very unlikely to be impacted. gidmk.substack.com/p/you-probab...
You Probably Don't Need To Stress About Hantavirus
Some facts about the new outbreak that's worrying the globe
gidmk.substack.com
Every once in a while I re-read the retraction watch article about the 30th most-retracted researcher of all time, Hitler Louis, and his collaborator who fiercely defended their reputation, Innocent Benjamin: retractionwatch.com/2026/02/24/c...
Chemist nears three dozen retractions for image duplication, self-citation and more
A screenshot of Louis’ LinkedIn profile before we reached out to him. Racking up 35 retractions in just 24 months, chemist Hitler Louis has scored a place on our leaderboard. The papers…
retractionwatch.com
This puts Didier Raoult well and truly on the Retraction Watch top 10. With 56 retractions, he was joint 11th place, now he is firmly the 10th most retracted researcher of all time. Another two would make him 8th (with a tie at 58), after that there's a jump to beat Iwamoto's 91 retractions
Fabrice FRANK@fabricefrank.eurosky.social · 3mo ago69ème rétractation pour l'IHU de Marseille. La 57ème pour Didier 'Champion' Raoult. Autorisation éthique rétrospective et ne correspondant par pour des prélèvements de poux sur des SDF algériens. Science néo-coloniale.
There have been a bunch of headlines recently about ultra-processed foods giving us all dementia. Apparently just a packet of potato chips a day significantly harms your brain! Except it's very silly. My new piece: gidmk.substack.com/p/are-potato...
Are Potato Chips Giving Us All Dementia?
A tale of ultra-processed foods and very uninspiring research.
gidmk.substack.com
I knew that this would irritate me, but it is so much worse than I originally thought. Article incoming.
CNN@cnn.com · 3mo agoIncreasing your daily consumption of ultraprocessed foods by 10% — basically the equivalent of a small bag of potato chips — may raise your risk of dementia even if you normally eat a healthy plant-rich diet, according to a new study. https://cnn.it/4n0zNR6
You have to wonder if hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 - which is estimated to have killed thousands - would've been a thing if the man behind the idea was on the retraction leader board in 2020 rather than now.
Fabrice FRANK@fabricefrank.eurosky.social · 3mo ago68ème rétractation pour l'IHU de Marseille. La 56ème pour Didier Raoult qui intègre le top 10 des auteurs les plus rétractés. Absence d'autorisation éthique pour prélèvements de sang sur volontaires sains .
As the father of a 4 month old, this piece was one of the most personally intriguing ones I've written. Does sleep training work? Kind of. slate.com/technology/2...
It’s One of the Most Torturous Parts of Caring for a Baby. But the Biggest Payoff is Very Clear.
The upside might not be quite what you’d expect.
slate.com
i expect everyone in my parenting group chats and online will be very chill about this piece by @gidmk.bsky.social slate.com/technology/2...
People Love Fighting About Sleep Training. The Evidence for It Is Nuanced—but Very Clear on One Point.
The upside might not be quite what you’d expect.
slate.com
Ivermectin can't cure cancer. The story of a horrendously bad study based on what can only be described as an online clinic filled with scams. gidmk.substack.com/p/ivermectin...
Ivermectin Can't Cure Cancer
I can't believe it's 2026 and I'm still writing about ivermectin
gidmk.substack.com
Just thinking about things that have aged poorly. Like milk in the hot, hot sun.
Published less than two weeks ago. Retracted today. Impressively quick retraction from NEJM, but you have to wonder how it got published in the first place!
Fruit and vegetables won't give you lung cancer. Yes, some people really made this claim. Yes, it's as ridiculous as you'd expect. My new piece: gidmk.substack.com/p/fruits-and...
Fruits And Vegetables Won't Give You Lung Cancer
One of the most misleading headlines I've ever seen
gidmk.substack.com
