A cautionary tale for our modern times...a 32-year-old man experienced horrific bouts of "intractable" diarrhea, up to 30 times a day, after he took too much of an experimental peptide he bought online. gizmodo.com/man-gets-wor...

Check out science writer Ed Cara's @edcara.bsky.social piece 'Should We Finally Ditch Artificial Sweeteners?' Ed talks to @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social & @jhu.edu molecular microbiologist & microbiome expert Jotham Suez @suez.bsky.social gizmodo.com/should-we-fi...

Just in case you were having a good week, here's some insane body horror that you now know can happen in real life! gizmodo.com/the-biologic...

A classic boner. gizmodo.com/chocolate-bo...

I'm not that Nicole Carpenter aftermath.site/nicole-carpent...

Last Sept, RFK Jr. announced the govt had linked autism to taking Tylenol during pregnancy, to much derision. But he also stated the govt would approve an old drug, leucovorin, for autism. For my latest feature, I took a deep dive into why leucovorin's probably a dud. gizmodo.com/what-rfk-jr-...

Over the weekend, Florida surgeon general Joseph Ladapo endorsed the use of “structured” water—a fictional form of water that doesn't seem to actually exist, much less have any added health benefits. gizmodo.com/floridas-sur...

The Trump administration's unilateral decision to shrink the childhood vaccine schedule is "dangerous and unnecessary," Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told me. gizmodo.com/trump-rfk-jr...

uh holy SHIT?

My latest on the ACIP's tearing down of a policy that has kept kids safe from hepatitis B for 30 years: gizmodo.com/we-are-doing...

As for the #ACIP meeting today, this is the only thing you need to watch. And, to be clear, you do need to watch this.

ACIP just took an unplanned break, in part because its own members are complaining that they're not sure about what they're voting on today. So things are going great so far.

A raccoon was found passed out in the bathroom of the Virginia ABC Store in Ashland after breaking in and ransacking shelves, according to Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter.

yeah, this gets at the problem with these despicable cretins www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/o...

You may have heard that the tale of cat domestication began some 10,000 years ago. But new research today throws a furry wrench into that assumption, suggesting our pet cats aren't quite as ancient as we thought. gizmodo.com/the-story-of...

Don't get so distracted by the Nuzzi sex stuff, @melodyschreiber.com writes, that you forget about the dead kids. newrepublic.com/article/2035...

The CDC is lying to you about vaccines and autism sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-cdc-is-l... by @gorskon.bsky.social "The CDC webpage about vaccines and autism now misrepresents the science and lies to the public about vaccines and autism. It’s all part of RFK Jr’s "continuing war on vaccines."

underrated bit of handwaving in the lizza blog

ben smith’s take from last year when the nuzzi/rfk story first broke aged like cheese on a dashboard

Olivia Nuzzi is an overwrought writer, frequently unethical journalist, and quite possibly the world's dumbest adulterer. www.telos.news/p/part-1-how...

Nothing - and I mean nothing - will prepare you for how this ends

Earlier this month, RFK Jr. said he would task the government to study whether SSRIs are fueling mass shootings, while implying that scientists have been afraid to find out. But several studies have already tried to look for this link and haven't found much of anything. gizmodo.com/rfk-jr-wants...

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death. Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written." Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating. 🧪🧬🧫

If you read one thing today about public health, make it this one from Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, on the CDC under RFK Jr and how we go forward. “We should practice detachment from the organizations and focus on the mission. And the mission is the health of the public.”

halloween couples costume: monday 6am embargo and friday night news drop

Truth. Local and state public health are doing their level best to hold the line, and to build multi-state cooperation. Also: you’ll need to increase your state’s public health budget in the next few years. They are taking up an enormous new burden and likely losing their federal funding.

I love the sobriety of this message. It’s all fucked but we must plan for a brighter day. “what we can do is turn to local jurisdictions, states, and other professional organizations outside the federal government. They’re going to have to be the renaissance that will follow after the dark ages”

Bleak. Dangerous. Those are the words that come to mind while reading this- and actions like those of Desantis and Lapado in Florida with a legislature considering the end of school vaccine requirements will hasten and compound the harms.

Very good framing here on where to draw strength to continue advancing public health.

great interview with some really important points

A month ago, the White House fired Susan Monarez as CDC director just four weeks into taking the role—allegedly for refusing to rubber-stamp the sketchy recommendations of RFK Jr's vaccine advisors. In response, several senior CDC officials resigned in protest.

Happy 6-month birthday to Rise of the Zombie Bugs! I still kermitflail if I see it on a shelf or in someone's hands & I've had a blast talking about all the lovely zombifying parasites You can get it online at @hopkinspress.bsky.social & all the usual places for books, links at mindyweisberger.com

A dash of stevia just might help the rogaine go down... gizmodo.com/this-sweet-t...

perhaps the biggest story TFPever ran was a catastrophically shoddy argument that George Floyd ackshully died of an overdose. When confronted with irrefutable evidence that the piece was simply wrong, Weiss didn’t take it down, she asked her critic, @radleybalko.bsky.social, to come on a podcast.

The big ticket item during yesterday's autism announcement might have been Tylenol, but make no mistake; Trump and RFK Jr. are still looking to pin some blame on vaccines, too. gizmodo.com/its-too-much...

ACOG reaffirms that acetaminophen is safe for managing pain and fever during pregnancy. No reputable studies support suggestions like those in HHS’s recent announcement linking acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism; in fact, high-quality studies show no such risk. https://bit.ly/47Wxc59

"They are reviewing existing literature, and they're doing it badly." gizmodo.com/trump-and-rf...

This may come as a surprise, but the Trump admin may be a bit disorganized about its big autism announcement today. Scheduled conference announcing the findings now a half hour late.

Thanks to the Texas Tribune for this comprehensive, fully reported account of the firing of the Texas A&M Instructor for teaching “gender ideology.” www.texastribune.org/2025/09/19/t...

It's that most wonderful time of the year for us at Gizmodo's science desk: The Gizmodo Science Fair! Every year, we get the chance to highlight research projects and achievements on the cusp of changing lives or shaking up their scientific fields—or that already have! gizmodo.com/the-winners-...

Not sure anyone knows exactly what these ACIP recommendations will mean for people who want to get their covid shots, including the ACIP members themselves. gizmodo.com/cdc-panel-vo...

Liaison members to ACIP are pointing out that we’ve had an entire morning of discussion about COVID vaccines but the committee hasn’t actually revealed what policy they’re voting on. How can you discuss a secret policy?

One common theme across these two ACIP meetings, IMO, is most experts being unprepared to call out or refute misleading questions or assumptions made by the ACIP's vaccine contrarians. A lot of polite responses to clearly baiting queries based on flawed or misinterpreted research.

Universal hepatitis B vaccination at birth has gotten an unexpected reprieve from RFK Jr.'s ACIP. For how long, who knows? gizmodo.com/universal-he...

In a surprise move this morning, the ACIP delayed its vote on whether to continue endorsing universal birth vaccination for hepatitis B.

The first of what's likely to be a series of wholly unnecessary recommendations passed by the ACIP this week. gizmodo.com/rfk-jr-s-han...

RFK Jr.'s ACIP has just voted to recommend against the MMRV vaccine for children under 4 (previously, the CDC has trusted parents to choose the strategy they prefer).

My new piece is on Tylenol/paracetamol/acetaminophen use in pregnancy and why our current best evidence shows that it probably doesn't cause autism despite what RFK Jr. is apparently saying. gidmk.substack.com/p/tylenol-us...

Our lab at Yale literally studies government suppression of outbreak reporting. Please: don't promote unverifiable reports from anonymous accounts. They're very likely to be false, and it boosts unreliable actors. (If this is happening, I suspect CDC sources know how to text a journalist just fine.)