The declyne of readinge ys caused by manye thinges. One major cause ys a systematic & decades-long devaluinge of literature at all levels of educacioun. We kan not put instrumentalitye above meaninge and still thrive. Fundinge the humanityes ys key to a just societye of well-informed citizens.

Spots are still available for my CalRBS online summer course on feminist bibliography! Spread the word and come explore with me! 📜 📚

So weird that women are always coming down with a case of the hysteria

This, from Nicholas Kristof, is extraordinary, harrowing, morally urgent journalism. Notably not in the NYT’s news pages, which are an exemplar of that silence. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/o...

Study finds that students using chatGPT learned and remembered less than students who did not use it. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Everyone: ‘This is unheard of’ Historians: ‘ JFC, not again!’

I was consulted recently by an editor of an interdisciplinary journal who was ready to retract a paper based on hallucinated citations. It’s a real research integrity problem, and it’s arriving in humanities and social sciences publishing. (It’s already been a problem in STEM.)

Pomegranates, shells, and a stag beetle because everybody had to do one of those. By Maria Sibylla Merian, whose day is today.

apparently Wikipedia has more rigorous standards than every university on the planet, university administrators, edtech enthusiasts, (certainly more than) AI bros, several prominent academic journals, and too many professors and teachers

@profchrisadams.bsky.social and I remember two remarkable scholars, Elborg Forster and Patricia Ranum, "faculty wives" who never held formal positions but their generative scholarship made contributions to the field of French history. www.societyforfrenchhistoricalstudies.net/in-memoriam

Did you know you could pre-order a copy of The Public Scholar from @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social? Help a local bookstore. Help a local author. And if you want it signed, I'll drive over. We're about a month out. :) moonpalacebooks.com/item/I12x_a-...

This is the same thing as saying modern Evangelicals aren't "real Christians".

Happy birthday to one of greatest mathematicians of all time Emmy Noether (1882-1935), here with her eponymous theorem, the backbone of modern physics. 🐡🧪👩🏼‍🔬🧮🎢 #histsci Noether’s theorem links any symmetry of a system with a conservation law. In my portrait, I chose to depict a young Emmy in front 🧵

Another university getting rid of things you could only ever do at a university and replacing them with stuff a 13-year-old can do on a phone

In underfunded fields, people tend to do their own work. In overfunded fields, people pay others to do everything, including “their” research and writing. It’s not an accident that AI is an overfunded field that grew out of other overfunded fields.

If only more people understood this

What happened in the consulting room of an astrologer physician in rural England 400 years ago? Find out at CASEBOOKS THERAPY, Wed 25 Mar DM @laurenkassell.bsky.social for details @hagenilda.bsky.social @robralley.bsky.social @jakubochocinski.bsky.social #histmed #astrology @eui-history.bsky.social

In the first semester of my PhD, I wrote an essay about menstruation in Hildegard of Bingen's intellectual work, which is absolutely fascinating if you've never looked into it. If I'd had Lee's incredible book back then, the essay writing would've been much easier! nursingclio.org/2026/03/18/r...

Today for NC we have a fantastic review of Minji Lee’s book THE MEDIEVAL WOMB. Read the full review here! nursingclio.org/2026/03/18/r...

Have you had your eye on “Public Health in the Premodern World” ed. by our G. Geltner with Janna Coomans & Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim (@yoelitlalim.bsky.social) which illustrates the rich history of public health? Check out the code below to get 30% off! #histmed #medhst

For those wondering about the "overly simplistic narratives about the history of science & tech" referenced below, consider this "disclaimer" from an advertisement for the library's most recent exhibition... (You can see the full ad on p. 18: kcstudio.org/digital-edit... ) #histSTM #histsci #AI 📜🗃️

Wonderful new open access book on Hildegard of Bingen by Minji Lee! #medievalsky #HistSTM nursingclio.org/2026/03/18/r...

Just casually reminding everyone that my book comes out in a few weeks, it REALLY helps if you preorder, and if you want a signed copy, you can get one shipped to you from Loyalty Books in DC 🖖🏽

Under this administration, there are both reproductive restrictions and decreasing access to prenatal care. www.salon.com/2026/03/01/e...

Excited to share my latest project, due out early next year: The Book Everyone Read | Princeton University Press press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

A historian has discovered that a 16th century printing of The Almagest—a highly influential ancient astronomy text—contains extensive annotations from Galileo Galilei, the astronomer who later overthrew that text’s conception of a geocentric cosmos. Learn more: https://scim.ag/4aMAwRm

"Galileo prayed each time he sat down with The Almagest." I like this idea that, when assessing the universe & the centuries of human endeavors to understand it, we are in the presence of something that is itself miraculous.

I love everything about this! The conviction that a major figure was not struck by a bolt of lightning but worked to understand the system he would ultimately critique and help dismantle. The scholarly sleuthing rare books — all of it. 😎🤓 www.science.org/content/arti...

Even as a historian of medicine, I cannot fathom how much damage is being done to the healthcare systems in the U.S., or imagine what colossal efforts (& investments) will be needed to rebuild a fraction of it. www.bmj.com/content/392/... #histmed #vaccines

BREAKING: The DOJ has explained there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for dozens of Epstein files related to Donald Trump going missing. That reason is if they didn't go missing, they would incriminate Donald Trump.

what even is the fucking point

Folk thynke that innovacioun yn academia will come from technologye. It will come ynstead from settinge asyde olde assumptions and hierarchies and givinge people more chances to trulye and radicallye thynke wyth each othir wyth no specific outcome yn mynde.

It’s hard to describe to normal people the years and years of work that was scrapped over all of this.

Every uni that dismantled depts and offices did so because they wanted to. DEI was always window dressing for admin and faculty who did the work were labeled problems. At best, unis believed complying in advance would save them from the fire directed at Columbia and Harvard. Cowards.

Thousands of institutions abandoned programs, ended or rewrote scholarships, closed down clubs and publications, all in pre-emptive compliance. And you know why? Mostly because they wanted to do it if they thought they could blame someone else for it.

Hey, do you know a grad student who's written a good history of medicine paper? Suggest that they submit it for the AAHM Shryock prize. histmed.org/shryock-medal/ Deadline extended to 15 Feb.

New post to #FindTheMidwife! Gaby Baez talls with me about her research on 18th century Mexican midwives in Inquisition records. www.findthemidwife.com/eighteenth-c...

Which Superb Owl Are You Today? Every #SuperbOwl is from @newberrylibrary.bsky.social!

With that in mind, please remember that @nursingclio.bsky.social has an ongoing 'breaking news' series. If you are also a pissed off feminist with thoughts on the Epstein files, pitch us. nursingclio.org/write-for-us...

H-Science, Medicine, and Technology (H-SMT) is looking to recruit new editors and advisory board members. networks.h-net.org/group/announ...

Bet you thought I couldn't find something for the letter X, but... new post to A is for Abortion today! maryfissell.substack.com/p/x-is-for-e...

Forensic analysis of objective video evidence. This is how you serve readers searching for clarity.

Reading Black and Native histories will rip the scales from your eyes, about the lies White Americans tell themselves about themselves, and their country. Which is why this administration is so insistent on re-whitening media, academia and public history (museums, etc) But. Yeah. This thread.

Exciting news for #histsci friends in the heartland: The 2026 meeting of the Midwest Junto will be held at Purdue on April 17-18! The Junto is America's oldest regional history of science organization. Learn more and submit abstracts before Feb. 15: midwestjunto.wordpress.com #histSTM #CFP 🗃️📜

Just published today: www.nature.com/articles/s41.... Mongol expansion; smallpox; aDNA. Lots to work w/ here. Notice to historians: This is the intersection of documentary & genetic histories that has been forecast. What are we going to do w/ it? More comments later. #histmed #EarlyModern #TengriSky

Ptolemy, depicted as a king, pointing to the heavens #HeavensAbove BL Harley 334; Gautier de Metz, Image du Monde; 15th century f.95v

Astronomy showing the stars to a group of scholars at the beginning of Ptolemy's Almagest translated by Gerard of Cremona #HeavensAbove BL Burney 275; Scholastic miscellany; 14th century; France, Central (Paris); f.390v

Maybe, if you're not actually in university classrooms, teaching students in the age of gAI, perhaps you might want to stop and listen when people actually in those classrooms raise concerns about what they are seeing; and not just dismiss us as luddites, or boomers, or cruel profs playing cops