This year @nature.com published a gene therapy study showing success in mice and monkeys. It did not mention a little girl died from the treatment. That death is in a new @science.org story on the tragedy: bit.ly/4fCAvkk. Nature has not updated the article. The dead girl's family has complained. 🧪

In vivo base editing of Chd3 rescues behavioural abnormalities in mice - Nature

In vivo base editing of a causative mutation that leads to the neurodevelopmental disorder Snijders Blok–Campeau syndrome restores protein dosage and ameliorates molecular and behavioural deficits in ...

nature.com

This weekends #WorldCup championship between Argentina and Spain reprised the 1816 outcome of the Argentine War of Independence against Ferdinand VII.

Hoping that tomorrow's Spain -France match #WORLDCUP will finally rebalance the Treaty of the Pyrenees from the 17th century, which gave Louis IV too many concessions. I'm sure almost everyone agrees.

Mari-nerd friends can we blow up BlueSky with stars and anemones and other gorgeous explosions, of any taxonomy? Go 💥 💥 💥

Dr. Brooke Weigel@brookeweigel.bsky.social · last mo.

Super beautiful Hopkins rose nudibranch, tidepooling this morning at Asilomar! 🌊

I think it's time to replace "An eventful week at @Ssciam.bsky.social.." With "A terrible week at Scientific American..." Not messing with euphenisms." See comments for details.

Josh Fischman@jfischman.bsky.social · last mo.

An eventful week at Scientific American. Owner Springer Nature rushed to sell SciAm 3 days before the staff overwhelmingly voted to form a union, and laid off a lot of people. Including me. I got to work with amazing writers during my time, people who made me better. Thank-you list in comment below:

An eventful week at Scientific American. Owner Springer Nature rushed to sell SciAm 3 days before the staff overwhelmingly voted to form a union, and laid off a lot of people. Including me. I got to work with amazing writers during my time, people who made me better. Thank-you list in comment below:

People who think your research is too tied to diversity and inclusion can sue you-- and bring along the Justice Dept as lawyers. That's in the proposed Trump Admin rule controlling research, reported in @science.org .

Provision buried in controversial U.S. rule change would help people legally challenge ‘woke’ federal research

White House asserts expanded authority to prosecute any wasteful spending “in the national interest”

science.org

There's a lot of journalism layoffs going around. Here's how a union is helping a group at the big Minneapolis paper: workingpartnerships.betterworld.org/campaigns/st...

Support laid off Star Tribune workers! | Working Partnerships

Sign in to manage your activity, preferences, & tools.

workingpartnerships.betterworld.org

Late Sunday musing: Changed my LinkedIn status to "open to work" last week (see thumbnail for why). Suddenly flooded with invites from "executives known for transforming organizations." Big common profile phrase. If there's so much transformation, why do orgs stay the same? (Or get worse.)

#opentowork | Josh Fischman | 27 comments

Hi! I’m interested in a new role, or a different job, as Scientific American was just sold and the future there seems difficult. If you hear of any opportunities or just want to catch up, please send ...

linkedin.com

Hire this awesome journalist!

Kate Wong@katewong.bsky.social · last mo.

Today is my last day at Scientific American, which has been sold to LabX media group. For three decades I've led the magazine's coverage of human origins, archaeology, paleontology, animal behavior, ecology, BIRDS. End of an era. Anyway this feels weird to say, but I'm now available for assignments!

Scientific American is 180 years old. The most eminent science magazine for the general public. And today, sold off as scrap to stop the staff from unionizing. Many top editors I've worked with for a decade on several articles have been fired. What a disgrace @sciam.bsky.social

Hi! This is for any Scientific American fans, a support rally in Manhattan on Tuesday. (Not as elaborate as the #Knicks parade, unfortunately. )

SciAm Union@sciamunion.bsky.social · last mo.

On Tuesday, Scientific American was sold by international publisher Springer Nature. Large numbers of staff were immediately laid off, and salaries of remaining workers were cut by as much as 30% SciAm staff had just voted to unionize. We should call this action what it is – blatant union-busting.

More on #Sciam downsizing from an outside source, journalist Maggie Fox: open.substack.com/pub/maggiefo...

Something Bad Just Happened

The quiet layoff you might not notice

open.substack.com

An eventful week at Scientific American. Owner Springer Nature rushed to sell SciAm 3 days before the staff overwhelmingly voted to form a union, and laid off a lot of people. Including me. I got to work with amazing writers during my time, people who made me better. Thank-you list in comment below:

www.linkedin.com/posts/joshfi...

#opentowork | Josh Fischman

Hi! I’m interested in a new role, or a different job, as Scientific American was just sold and the future there seems difficult. If you hear of any opportunities or just want to catch up, please send ...

linkedin.com

Wow! 🧪 How to deal with tick bites without panicking.

Kate Wong@katewong.bsky.social · last mo.

I recently found a tick on my body and didn't know what to do. I went into journalist mode to find out. Here's what I learned about how to manage tick bites, with illustrations of the tick species that cause diseases in humans by Diogo Guerra and maps of where they occur by @jenchristiansen.com 🧪

Worth reading this project. Framing hostile to trans people is a bad problem. I wonder about the rubric fed to the LLMs & cause/effect assumptions. # of state laws that are anti-LGBTQ+ has shot up. Stories on the laws will show up as anti-trans in the rubric. Is that bias? Or reporting on the laws?

Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · 2mo ago

I've spent the last two months putting together this exhaustive analysis of the New York Times coverage of trans people. It covers 3,242 articles over 12 years. In 2022, the NYT shifted towards a hostile stance towards trans people in their framing. www.thedissident.news/exclusive-ho...

I learned a lot about glow-in-the-dark brains and how neurons 'talk' from @adam-bowman.bsky.social . My story about his cool work is in @sciam.bsky.social profiles of Young American Scientists, just out today! Thanks, Adam, for your patient explanations! 🧪

Scientific American@sciam.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Adam Bowman (@adam-bowman.bsky.social) is among the inaugural class of Scientific American's Young American Scientists. Explore his research: spklr.io/6009E3mjD Meet the other honorees on this year's list: sciam.com/youngscientists #SciAmYoungScientists

8 years ago I edited this story by @lindy2350.bsky.social about the return of infectious diseases www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-wa.... Now @amymaxmen.bsky.social shows US policy has made things worse: in Utah measles regularly bring death and tears.🧪 kffhealthnews.org/public-healt...

A Wave of Resurgent Epidemics Has Hit the U.S.

Resurgent outbreaks of infectious diseases are sickening thousands, and the causes are societal

scientificamerican.com

Aww. Sad news. In memory of Anthony Head, here's a fav quote from his character Giles on #Buffy the Vampire Slayer: “Demons after money. Whatever happened to the still beating heart of a virgin. No one has any standards any more.” www.nytimes.com/2026/06/05/a...

Anthony Head, Buffy’s Watcher and a ‘Ted Lasso’ Heel, Dies at 72

nytimes.com

Elle Cordova takes on Virginia Woolf on Tiktok-- with a baaad beat! vm.tiktok.com/ZT92HAhXaWTP...

www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪

Exclusive: NSF puts new research grants to top universities on hold

US science funder once again restricts awards to Harvard University and other institutions.

nature.com

The high # of people already infected by Ebola will shock you. 🧪 www.linkedin.com/posts/lauren...

The number of people already infected during the current Ebola outbreak is startling. That's because when an outbreak is declared, the numbers normally start lower and build from there. To see the...

The number of people already infected during the current Ebola outbreak is startling. That's because when an outbreak is declared, the numbers normally start lower and build from there. To see the com...

linkedin.com

Somehow, I’m not particularly worried. 🧪 “Here, we introduce Robin, the first multi-agent system capable of fully automating both hypothesis generation and data analysis for experimental biology.” 1/2 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This may be one of the worst health articles I've read. "Let's scare you to death and then tell you there's probably nothing to worry about." Ick. #medsky

4 Drugs That May Increase Your Dementia Risk

nytimes.com

Starbucks is selling protein-enhancing lattes. (I tried one. If you like gritty froth...) Pop-Tarts boasts of extra protein too. But this craze for extra protein in extra-processed foods isn't that healthy, @beebrookshire.bsky.social reports now in @sciam.bsky.social. 🧪 #medsky Read why:

Are protein-boosted foods and drinks actually more healthy?

Extra protein can be found in everything now, from potato chips to Pop-Tarts. Does this benefit the average eater?

scientificamerican.com

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Key US science panels are being axed — and others are becoming less open

A Nature analysis shows that the Trump administration has terminated more than 100 advisory committees to science agencies — and reduced the transparency and independence of those that remain.

nature.com

Hello, Bluesky! We, the staff of Scientific American, are pleased to announce we have formed a union with @wgaeast.bsky.social. Just as mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell, we are the powerhouse of the publication, and we’re excited to have a new way to contribute to its success.

Today's a day to remember the amazing success of the polio vaccine. It conquered both a disease and fear. www.linkedin.com/posts/kevin-... 🧪

On this day in 1955 at the University of Michigan, Dr. Thomas Francis Jr. announced that Dr. Salk's inactivated polio vaccine was "safe, effective and potent." The March of Dimes funde...

On this day in 1955 at the University of Michigan, Dr. Thomas Francis Jr. announced that Dr. Salk's inactivated polio vaccine was "safe, effective and potent." The March of Dimes funded this large r...

linkedin.com

There's an important new idea about the cause of heart disease--and there's a way to treat it and save lives. @sciam.bsky.social is having a webinar on it on April 16. Join me & @tanyalewis.bsky.social & @sethfletcher.bsky.social at 1pm, 4/16, at www.scientificamerican.com/page/events/