What blast! 40 AI for Science Fellows from AIMS South Africa and Google DeepMind at CERI - Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation. This collaboration aims to advance AI technologies in Africa. We also welcomed the directors of AIMS, Ulrich Paquet and Karin-Therese Howell #AI #Africa #Science

Happy Diwali 🪔 to all The world needs more light, compassion and peace

So this interview lasted 2 hours so this “you’re scaring me” part might seem like an overreaction or fearmongering to someone without that context. There’s a lot of evidence to support my hypothesis that a potential H5N1 pandemic would be worse than COVID.

"We're sleepwalking into a disaster," he says. "I shouldn't say we are — we already have sleepwalked into a disaster." @npr.org Just under half of all infections are now resistant to antibiotics. Not the time to reduce funding for science and health. www.npr.org/sections/goa...

Rasmussen: What Would it Take for Bird Flu to Go Pandemic? bit.ly/4n7WgKr by @angierasmussen.bsky.social #h5n1 Wow -- great primer on flu

#Chikungunya spread in New York by a home grown infected mosquito apnews.com/article/chik... #medsky Important: #WestNile entered the US in New York and has now spread across the continent. Another mosquito-borne disease.

Finally, someone has solved a real problem with AI! No more having to take a paper in the format for a journal that rejected you, and reformat it for a new journal. Well done!! formatmypaper.com

The Maldives 🇲🇻 became the first country in the world to eliminate mother to child transmission of: -HBV -HIV -Syphilis #IDSky www.who.int/news/item/13...

“This year’s award comes at a time when funding for scientific research is under threat in the US…. “It’s a very timely message when we’re seeing the US undermining so much of its science base,” says Coyle. Aghion said, “Openness is a driver of growth. I see dark clouds accumulating.”

One of the ways we know the perinatal dose of Hepatitis B vaccine makes a difference? NHANES & the people who powered it ACIP recommended the birth dose in 1991. The prevalence of Hepatitis B among children 6–19 years old declined 68% from 1988–1994 to 1999-2006. academic.oup.com/jid/article-...

@who.int there's no sound on your livestream! the video worked, so it seems it's just the conference sound that's not working...

The cruelty is the point. They are using this as an excuse to fire even more of our best, most dedicated scientists, researchers, and civil servants. They do this because they do not believe in science, and they do not genuinely care about the health of America.

Further devastating job losses at CDC. This is terrible news not only in the US but for the ability to respond to disease outbreaks globally. CDC have saved countless lives and we appreciate everything that you've done to make the world safer. #CDC

Lost Science is a new NYT series of accounts from scientists who have lost their jobs or funding. You can send your story to the Times here www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/c...

I just introduced my 7yo to the original (thanks YouTube!) and realized how much my generation benefited from quality educational kids programming (thanks CPB/PBS!). Good thing they're rebooting bc my kid was fascinated ...but mostly by how old it was. 🫣🤦🏼‍♀️😅

“There are probably thousands of species with human pathogenic potential that currently do not cause disease because they can’t tolerate human temperatures. Predicting the species that will break through human temperature defenses is very difficult” www.leadersedge.com/healthcare/f...

Mailing HPV self-test kits directly to women is both effective and cost-saving, with benefits seen across different screening histories according to new research. Home-based testing can help overcome barriers to cervical cancer screening. www.cidrap.umn.edu/human-papill...

The best news! ❤️

"It is an inherently political position, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be politically compromised," says Susan Monarez. Q&A with the former CDC director by @maxkozlov.bsky.social @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...

This is why you vaccinate populations, not individuals. The baby was too young for the vaccine. Tragic. Also, a solid reminder to check up on your potential need for a booster.

A pregnant woman in Alberta, Canada contracted measles. This led to her baby being born prematurely. The baby died. Another preventable tragedy.

Is it just me, or does this smell of elderberries?

Exactly.

Remembering Jane Goodall: Read this inspiring cover story about the wonderful scientist and brave guardian, from the July 2024 issue of STEM Magazine. Here’s the link: article by Dr. Brad McLain stemmagazine.com/gJULY24/view... 🧪🌎 📚 🙏

I will forever thank Matt @theferrarilab.bsky.social for inviting me to give my first grad student talk at Penn State. Did I bomb the talk? Of course. But I also got to see Jane Goodall in person. 🤩 May she rest in peace. www.npr.org/2025/10/01/4...

🚨 New publication! 🧪 "The potential of attractive insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in reducing #malaria transmission: a modeling study" has just been published in @peercomjournal.bsky.social following preprint recommendation (buff.ly/5sOiqDx) by @jessieabbate.bsky.social 🎉 🔗 pdf: buff.ly/bv1GUxG

not just fun science, but a huge business opportunity... www.bbc.com/news/article...

We’d love to see more of this is Congress. More new moms would mean more support for working families and, ideally, fewer idiots in charge of women’s health.

New from #SCIMaP - analysis of the White House’s Proposed FY 2026 National Science Foundation Budget. Take-home: Slashing NSF by >50% will lead to ~$11 billion in economic loss and extensive job loss and reduced training opportunities in communities nationwide. Report: osf.io/e8rnc a 🧵

This is huge: “A drug that provides near-perfect protection against H.I.V. with shots just twice a year will be made available at $40 per patient annually in low- and middle-income countries, offering new hope… making lenacapavir a realistic choice in countries with constrained resources.”

That's right. www.wired.com/story/trumps...

As the saying goes: There are old mushroom pickers and bold mushroom pickers. But here are no old, bold mushroom pickers. By which I mean, if you don't know what the hell you are doing, don't give millions of people bad medical advice because of a hunch or grift; instead rehire real scientists.

🚨 "Sick to my stomach." That's how the researcher who found a link between Tylenol and autism felt when she realized MAHA would link her analysis to vaccines. My latest exclusive @kffhealthnews.org kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

🦇🦠 New preprint - in a long-term effort led by the amazing @mayajuman.bsky.social, we've shown that the ML tools developed by @viralemergence.org let us efficiently screen museum collections for pathogens with pandemic potential 🎉🔓 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The 400 richest Americans are now worth a record $6.6 trillion. The entire bottom 50% of America is worth just $4.2 trillion. Our problem isn't a lack of resources. Our problem is ever-expanding inequality.

NEW: Hours before a new entry ban is supposed to go into effect, the federal government officially acknowledges for the first time that the restrictions do NOT apply to people who currently have H-1B visas. Link: www.uscis.gov/sites/defaul...

RFK Jr.’s CDC is pushing a two-tier vaccine system: rich kids keep options, poor kids lose them. More needles, more visits, less protection—for politics, not science. #Vaccines #HealthEquity www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/...

This is the type of misinformation that is going to lead to decreased vaccination among pregnant women and result in more sick infants. WILD statement being made. The data is clear that the COVID vaccines are not associated with birth defects.

“It’s an extremely safe vaccine, a very pure vaccine. So I think we will be creating new doubts in the mind of the public that are not justified. There is no evidence of harm from administering the neonatal vaccine” www.statnews.com/2025/09/19/c...

“Over the course of the meeting, many clinicians in attendance raised concerns about how ACIP had sidelined expert input, elevated questionable or preliminary data, and broken from the established process for developing these recommendations” apple.news/AMUPY2M0uSXe...

Any academic folks on H1B visas (even with stamps in passports) please get legal advice from your University attorneys before leaving the US.

I like this. Since under RFK Jr, Covid shots are now for people with underlying conditions that put them at risk, Michigan’s chief medical executive Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian states that not having the most recent Covid shot constitutes such an underlying condition. www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/inside...

🚨 CDC Website Scrubbing Alert We do not have a complete list but can report that CDC plans to delete or otherwise takedown many CDC pages about LGBTQ+ health, health equity, disabilities, hepatitis, HIV and more.

Wanna know how to tell whoever is running the CDC has no clue what they're talking about? It's "correlate of protection," not "correlative protection." h/t @malar0ne.bsky.social In another era, this would be extremely embarrassing.

Now here is my summary of the ACIP meeting itself. 1. The chair permitted people to present harmful misinformation about vaccines throughout the entire meeting. 2. Retsef Levi and several other members appear to have no understanding of basic public health principles and IMO should be removed.

This is the best summary I can personally come up with from ACIP’s meeting on COVID19 vaccines: 1. I think the situation is the same as it was *before* the meeting. 2. They voted that prescriptions are not required, but if you live somewhere that currently requires them, they still may be.

Where the separate divisions of ANTIFA landed on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944: