for what it cost for our allies to shoot down three of our own planes by accident in a murderous illegal war we could have funded the NEH at 150% of its historic peak funding for a year

87% of NPs are primary health care providers. “Yet an obscure committee now promises to strip them of access to educational funds, putting the healthcare system, the nursing workforce, and patients at risk,” writes Cory Ellen Gatrall in this week’s ER essay. nursingclio.org/2026/02/23/p...

The Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine invites applications for research fellowships in their eponymous topics. For more details see: www.chstm.org/fellowships #histmed #histstm

Reposting with tags because I’m incompetent: #HistSTM #STS #HistMed #InjuryStudies #HistSci

Why are so many commercial toys made of plastic? My new essay for The Strong National Museum of Play shows how safety concerns have alternately fueled and slowed the spread of plastic toys since the 1950s. www.museumofplay.org/blog/problem...

Thanks to everyone who was able to attend my Grand Rounds talk today! You can access the recording downthread, but folks have to see this R.J. Matson cartoon poking fun at the toy trains pulled from the market for lead contamination during the “Year of the Recall” in 2007:

Stay tuned for an amazing political cartoon about an influx of imported toys that led U.S. media to refer to 2007 as “The Year of the Recall.”

Thinking about the impact of LLMs on the way I earn a living - writing - and I wonder what the long-term impact will be. On the one hand, LLMs do not seem capable of producing *good* writing, in the sense of original, engaging writing (they can manage clarity, though). But they can do *quantity.*

Once again, people who have no experience with history (or, for that matter, translation, “writing,” and archival work) insist that we’re replaceable. AI can compile information, but it’s terrible at two of the most important historical skills: contextual analysis and asking the right questions.

Well, let's give it a shot again and see what we get.

Ironically, this is also why LLMs are terrible for historical analysis. They tend to overgeneralize instead of carefully interpreting specific primary sources and pass off the claims of previous researchers as new insights.

“Job placement” jfc The commodification of a degree is now complete. Come to school for four more years to make sure you get a job, or your teachers will all get fired…

eighteen times the amount of money that was cut from the NEA last spring

A sneak peak of our new book, Sick Jokes, which shares some of the best medical humanities research happening around visual humour & health! It's been so great to work on this w/ our contributors. On the @manchesterup.bsky.social website come spring 🌱 @slobogin.bsky.social @lauracowley.bsky.social

in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today

I don't post about work super often on here, but here's a short essay I wrote for our weekly newsletter on the more than 60-year effort to make the Parker Solar Probe the first spacecraft to touch the Sun.

I'm assembling a list of scholarly histsci (and adjacent) virtual events my undergrads could attend during the spring semester. Help me out by advertising your event in this thread! #histsci #HSTM

We could have paid teachers at any time. We could have simply offered a dignified wage to do any of the work we need done at any time. San Fransisco could be clean right now. It was always a matter of political will.

Why should historians be writing op-eds? @geraldo-cadava.bsky.social was spot on here 👇🗃️ #AHA26

The Organization of American Historians is conducting an oral history open to those who worked for the federal government or were contractors. This includes those who retired or were forced to leave because of changes since January. www.fecohp.org

It's illegal for the president to relieve student loan debt. It's completely fine for the president to unilaterally decide to have the head of a foreign nation black bagged on foreign soil.

I sincerely hope this appeal leads to the exoneration of Ms. Curth and a formal apology from the OU administration. It remains an embarrassment that the university took this complaint seriously in the first place.

Quote this with what you accomplished in 2025, no matter how big or small Published three articles Set up our Adv. Certificate in Health Humanities program Became an editor for the Pediatric Humanities section of JPeds Launched the Injury Studies Network website Saw ten movies at The Little!

To reiterate: it doesn’t matter if you’re an expert. Unless you have formal labor protections, universities are more than willing to discard their instructors, especially if they’re not straight white men with the right politics.

As soon as a contingent instructor becomes the subject of an official administrative review, even if they’ve done nothing wrong, their job is in jeopardy. This is one of the many reasons TT faculty should support graduate student and adjunct unionization.

The news has been… bad. In an effort to bring SOME cheer to the holiday season: what’s one thing (professional or personal) that you’re proud of this year? I’m glad to have written about the reasons why healthcare professionals should care about product safety. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Constantly rehiring and retraining people every 18 months due to churn is a way bigger resource sink than building a high retention culture, but there’s a certain kind of brain which is incapable of viewing employees as nonfungible

RFK Jr. is dismantling our already broken healthcare system, and Congress and the president are aiding and abetting his project to make us all less healthy, less safe, and less prosperous.

It’s feeling very real!!! Publication date: June 16, 2026. @pennpress.bsky.social

Excited to learn about the launch of the Injury Studies Network. Lots of talented scholars are involved, including @safetyworkhstm.bsky.social, @bachynski.bsky.social & @slobogin.bsky.social! (Many thanks to @neurotimes.bsky.social for calling attention to this group on LinkedIn!) #histSTM #STS 🗃️

I’m thrilled to announce that the Injury Studies Network website is now online! We are an international community of researchers, practitioners, artists, and advocates committed to the interdisciplinary study of injuries. Visit the site to learn more and connect! #Histsci #Histmed #injurystudies

My PhD is in History, not English. But as an alumnus of @CarnegieMellon and a firm defender of the Humanities, I categorically and in the harshest possible words condemn the decision to cut/replace Literary and Cultural Studies. www.chronicle.com/article/a-co...

I’m in this picture and don’t like it.

It’s beyond infuriating to see people filling the comment sections of Tiny Desk videos with complaints about “wasting taxpayer dollars” on NPR when NPR has an annual budget of $320 million, which amounts to less than ONE CENT per person.

The AHA's Vetted Resources compile materials that have been professionally vetted by historians, offering instructors access to high-quality accessibility guides, pedagogy resources, and materials specific to a range of places, eras, topics, and fields that meet professional standards.🗃️

Northeastern is hiring in Ethics and Health! The job is tenure track with great colleagues in a great city. Philosophers of science, bioethicists, research ethicists, and STS scholars, please apply! Soft deadline is December 15th. philjobs.org/job/show/30469

(Male) academics would rather write an incomprehensible, 200-page screed than go to therapy.

Someone should fix this.

A millennial confession: I still unapologetically enjoy Avril Lavigne.

Between this and previous rulings, U.S. corporations have effectively put a bullet in the head of labor protections, consumer protection, public safety, environmental law, and corporate oversight I wish journalists would go a bit lighter on the legalese and a bit heavier on the real-world impact

Even from a purely practical perspective, you never know what your career might involve. I never expected to do much with technical writing after my MA, but I use those skills all the time to write grants and manage projects.

My latest for JAMA Pediatrics on the history of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and its continued importance to health professionals. The U.S. needs a product safety system with robust government oversight. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

it's particularly sickening that the US is committing atrocities against immigrants given that it has historically invited and recruited immigrants as a desired labor source. Irvin Ibarguen wrote about this for Made by History. time.com/7334455/immi...

Banger

The Oklahoma House of Representatives gave that girl an award for writing a terrible essay? For getting a trans person fired? This whole thing is an op.

In my book, I talk about the “dog-too” drug pipeline which wrings profit from human drugs by remarketing them (often needlessly) to companion animals and I could literally not imagine a clearer example than this

This thread is 💯. Labor precarity in academia means the evisceration of faculty governance and academic freedom, opening the door to administrative purges of the most vulnerable. And faculty-esp tenured faculty and academic leaders-who aren't defending their trans colleagues are enabling it.