A lovely tribute from Steve Parker. When a tree in his yard died, Parker cut slices from the trunk that he then carved like vinyl. The oak records play bird song. www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/01/stev...

Great paper; similarities w other industries "..half of research published in top journals has disclosable ties to industry...These trends do not arise from broad scientific engagement with industry, but rather from a select group of scientists who maintain long-lasting relationships with industry"

Ever wonder what proportion of high profile social media research is tied to the tech industry? New from me, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social and @carlbergstrom.com. Thread tomorrow. arxiv.org/abs/2601.11507

"...as with e-cigarettes and reformulated foods, we should not take market-led solutions to public health problems at face value," write a group of prominent alcohol harm researchers in the BMJ. www.bmj.com/content/392/...

Wow, The Telegraph and Farage are really coming out to bat for... drink-driving 😶 I'd argue that, if your business model relies on people driving tipsy around country roads... it's not a good model. archive.ph/uVJdY

🚨Our new research has found that 1 in 5 alcohol products in Australia still lack mandatory pregnancy warning labels. Despite the Aug 2023 deadline, thousands remain unlabelled. Experts warn that alcohol at any stage of pregnancy can cause lifelong harm: bit.ly/4qeUGIR

We need more of this kind of work The socioeconomic patterning of Great Britain's fast-food outlets and ... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Awesome article with tantalizing details about the Tom Verlaine archives. Includes a snippet of a solo acoustic "Marquee Moon" demo from 1974! www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/a...

"We are much better informed today about the risks, and the message that any alcohol consumption carries a health risk is really starting to get through," says Mickael Naassila, the organiser of France's alcohol-free January initiative. www.rfi.fr/en/france/20...

25 years after Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser returns... @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/news/2026/ja...

Listen to @emmaboyland.bsky.social talk about the new junk food bans on #BBC today - listen at 1hr 52 into the programme. Also on with Emma was Jonathon Bone from @nestauk.bsky.social Brilliant discussion around the limitations as well as benefits. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Rare, and welcome positive messages in Nason's piece...I look forward too to more MPH podcasts in 2026

there's nobody alive left in this version

VicHealth Is a Health Promotion Exemplar: Evidence Demands Bolstering Investment (Not Eroding It) James Smith, Rob Moodie, Carmel Williams, Glen Ramos, Katherine Trebeck, Caterina Giorgi, Melinda Edmunds, Gemma Crawford onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Reminder that years ago it was found out that the FBI straight up made up a whole bunch of fake forensic sciences, plural. People have gone to jail and been executed due to literally pseudoscience. Hair forensics, for instance, is totally nonsense. They admitted it. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Many very well deserved congratulations to my friends & colleagues @felly500.bsky.social OBE & Alice Wiseman MBE in the #NewYearsHonours @adphuk.bsky.social plus work of social care colleagues recognised & @bevcraig.bsky.social OBE 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

They knew: Declassified files prove Stormont understood Lough Neagh’s pollution decades ago – but then made it worse. Stormont explicitly knew that intensive agriculture was killing our waterways, but then used public money to encourage more factory farms.

Analysis of BBC Question Time concludes “The findings reflect growing concerns about the role of sources on televised panels for broadcasters globally and a media agenda led by the radical right that is shaping the nature of political debate”

Watch The Insects’ Christmas from 1913: A Stop Motion Film Starring a Cast of Dead Bugs

Moving beyond individual choice: why public health language matters – Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/moving-beyon... By Mark Robinson, Mark Chenery and James Smith

#OTD in 1890 Bram Stoker published Gibbet Hill in a Christmas supplement of the Daily Express (Dublin). This long-lost story is published by the Rotunda Foundation in aid of the Charlotte Stoker Fund, supporting research on preventable hearing loss in newborns. This fund is already making an impact

I've been concerned recently to see a few blogs associating over-diagnosis & medicalisation critiques of mental health & neurodiversity with the right-wing, and even fascism. This excellent article by @jburnmurdoch.ft.com clearly shows some of the sociological concerns www.ft.com/content/8252...

Social media fuels smoking and vaping among children, especially girls, study shows. Via @pamelawrites.bsky.social @usrighttoknow.bsky.social usrtk.org/healthwire/s...

1. For at least 10 years, Pepsi has conspired with Walmart to force up grocery prices. That’s the shocking evidence made public today in an unsealed FTC lawsuit. The suit was abandoned in May by the Trump FTC just before it was to be un-redacted. We went to court to get it unsealed & won.

It's #MosaicMonday and miserable in the UK so here's an early Winter personification from Bignor Roman villa. It's from a room that had underfloor heating and was probably a dining room. www.romansociety.org/Imago/Image-...

Is there really a “new oligarchy” in America? Quinn Slobodian on why so many Silicon Valley billionaires have gotten so involved in everyday American politics. Read on. Link in comments.

Want to see the result of a 30 year campaign? Industry gets its wish to undermine risk assessment and formaldehyde www.propublica.org/article/epa-...

EXCLUSIVE: Epstein didn’t just prey on children. He helped bankroll and embed a worldview of race science, climate “culling” and eugenics inside Silicon Valley’s elite AI networks. Tonight we publish the final part of my @bylinetimes.bsky.social investigation bylinetimes.com/2025/12/05/h...

Are you a student-scholar researching health? Are you looking for a home for your work? Check us out here: ojs.library.dal.ca/hpj/index Full archive of previous issues here: ojs.library.dal.ca/hpj/issue/ar... Questions? Need to register to submit your work? Reach us at [email protected]

"Soon, CNN will run live odds on world events where its viewers can gamble on them in real time on their smartphones."

Who will benefit from this decision? The list would have to include: vaping/tobacco industry; alcohol & gambling interests; those who profit from unhealthy food systems.... Who else? www.croakey.org/shock-and-al...

loved this conversation. Anyone need a crash course on why the intersection of AI, fascism and climate breakdown? We tried to cover it all!

🚨The video recording of the AI and the Politics of Extraction panel is now live! Watch this fascinating 1.5 hour discussion with @naomiaklein.bsky.social, @profwhw.bsky.social, @mysdick.bsky.social, and @profhvdv.bsky.social as they explore the risks of unfettered AI implementation.

Wow. Should not be surprised because this really is the playbook of industry influence in action but this is a lot.

Watching Father Ted’s a Christmassy Ted and remembered this nugget of pop trivia, the priest with the most boring voice Father Fitzgerald (Sean Barrett) in Ireland's largest lingeree section was the cover star of The Smith's single "How Soon is Now" a still from the 1958 film "Dunkirk".

like big tobacco funding cancer research

I've recommended this book so many times! You'll learn about the PR strategies and government subsidies that promote and prop up cars and car infrastructure, fossil fuels, and unhealthy food. You can't change the world by buying virtuously. Organize! To change systems!

Mexico is Protecting the World from Gun Violence — Starting with the US "Most illegal guns trafficked across the U.S.-Mexico border come from American gun shops supplied by American gun manufacturers." From the @thehill.com and @jlowy.bsky.social

Look at this! For the first time since it was found, partially excavated and dispersed in the 1950s, someone has digitally reconstructed the 6th century mosaic from Qasr el-Lebia in Cyrenacia, Libya. 😮🤯 #MosaicMonday

Hey @erinbiba.bsky.social I hope this finds you

The government’s licensing reforms process has been rushed, opaque, and dominated by industry - and could seriously weaken public health 🎙️In our latest podcast, we spoke to Prof Niamh Fitzgerald & Dr @jamesnicholls.bsky.social about the proposals🎧 @stir.ac.uk Links: www.ias.org.uk/podcast/gove...

A new analysis of more than 10,000 first-time drink-driving cases reveals a troubling disparity.

As the Soft-Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) is extended to cover milkshakes and pre-packaged lattes, it's worth taking a look back at some of the findings from the evaluation of the SDIL undertaken by @martinwhite33.bsky.social and colleagues. studies.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/sdil 🧵(1/4)

Today’s episode of “Academic Gatekeeping”: my paper was sent back because the paragraphs had 6pt spacing between them. Apparently the biggest threat to quality scholarship is… paragraph gaps. #AcademicSky

Ultra processed food does harm to every major organ in your body. But hey, it makes them some very large profits, so the lobbyists keep working hard to sell it to you. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

This new paper in the Lancet shows the power of social network analysis and data visualization to convey complex connections among the global political influence of the ultra processed foods industry. I recommend reading this entire paper: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

They are easily identifiable actually. Read the first paper in the Lancet Series.

YES! No more artswashing by Big #Tobacco #publicHealthSky @mhef.bsky.social

"Meta internally projected late last year that it would earn about 10 per cent of its overall annual revenue — or $16bn — from running advertising for scams and banned goods, internal company documents show" - Reuters www.ft.com/content/4560...