Bad news: Screwworm is back in the US. Good news: We know how to fight it. With millions of sterilized male screwworm flies. Bad news: We don't have enough capacity to produce all the flies we need. My latest for @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/us-pla...

NEW: A @wired.com analysis of Meta's app for its smart glasses found that the company has been adding code for face recognition since January, while saying that it is still "thinking through" whether to deploy it. @dmehro.bsky.social and @dell.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/meta-s...

AI execs are urging Congress to adopt new laws requiring gene synthesis companies to vet customers and orders. Experts I spoke with said AI companies also have a responsibility to make sure users can't do dangerous things with their models. My latest for @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/openai...

A bunch of chocolate that claims to be made with natural herbal ingredients for "sexual enhancement" actually contains the active ingredients found in Viagra and Cialis. www.wired.com/story/sexual...

After our story was published, an HHS official emailed us and said: "NIH will continue to fund the CREID program. NIAID is currently reviewing applications and will prioritize funding meritorious awards that meet agency priorities. Awards will be made in FY 2026." We've updated the story.

A network of research centers that was well-positioned to respond to the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo had its funding canceled last year by the Trump administration. My latest for @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/us-res...

What if essentially all research collaborations with China were banned? There's a new bill before Congress that would do exactly that www.science.org/content/arti...

I'm tired of journalism that assumes everyone is going to get a brain implant and that ethics matter because this is inevitable. Everyone is not going to get a brain implant, and ethics still matter even if only a small group of people get these devices.

Young men torched an Ebola center bc they were mad they couldn't retrieve their friend's body for burial, AP reports. People get mad when their loved ones are disappeared. If that's not taken seriously, the whole response will go south. My piece from 2015 www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/ar...

Trump's cuts to foreign aid are having a direct impact on the Ebola response. “We are so far behind in this outbreak,” says a CDC employee with outbreak experience. “This is a perfect storm.” Crucial reporting by @knibbs.bsky.social and @leahfeiger.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/how-tr...

In 2025, HHS issued stop work order for federal research lab that studies Ebola virus and other deadly pathogens and fired its director. This lab was a world leader in accelerating development therapies and vaccines for Ebola and other viruses. 1/ www.wired.com/story/hhs-ni...

CAR-T cell therapy has become a powerful tool against hard-to-treat blood cancers. Now, it's being used against HIV. Two people have undetectable levels of the virus nearly one and two years out after a single infusion of souped-up T cells. My latest for @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/car-t-...

1. If you've been following the rollercoast that #CDC 's #ACIP has become under Sec. Kennedy, you'll find this interesting. The new ACIP charter that was published in April has been withdrawn. The announcement here: public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-10012.pdf h/t @doritreiss.bsky.social

every time “birth rates” come up in the discourse eventually someone remembers its because teenagers arent really getting pregnant anymore and then we all go “oh yea” until we forget again a few weeks later and start all over again

Africa CDC is sounding the alarm over an Ebola outbreak in DRC, where 13 of 20 samples tested were positive for Ebola - likely a non-Zaire ebolavirus. So far, there are about 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths.

Still no confirmed cases in the US. Looks like an update from WHO coming soon. Here's my latest for @wired.com on the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak: www.wired.com/story/how-ma...

I deleted my previous post. It was poorly worded. The Nebraska lab has started testing the 16 passengers w/ their own PCR. CDC guidance is to test once symptomatic because they only have a serology (antibody) test. My guess is Nebraska is doing PCR to confirm these people don’t have the virus.

CDC says it is monitoring a total of 41 Americans for hantavirus including: -the 18 passengers in quarantine in Nebraska and Emory -those who had already left the ship and returned home before the outbreak was identified -people potentially exposed during travel where a symptomatic case was present

Actor Mel Gibson appeared on Joe Rogan’s show on January 9, 2025, and made the evidence-free claim that ivermectin and fenbendazole would cure cancer. For the subsequent 6 months, prescriptions for the drugs doubled. Misinformation is powerful, and it is killing us from several different angles.

NEW: Your (my) dumb hantavirus questions, answered. @emilymullin.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/all-yo...

Remember PCR tests from Covid? The CDC doesn't have one for the Andes virus. I learned that a lab in Nebraska built and validated an Andes-specific PCR test in literal days in anticipation of receiving the American cruise ship passengers. My story for @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/race-t...

While BioNtech & Moderna become household names because of their Covid vaccines, those emerged from different projects: finding ways to treat the most challenging cancers. They hypothesized that we could vaccinate patients against their own tumors, & evidence is mounting that they were right! 1/n 🧪

Women on Facebook and Reddit are vagina-mogging each other by posting their vaginal microbiome test results. I wrote about it for @wired.com and talked to a lady who got vaginitis at a pirate themed aquatic dinner theater show www.wired.com/story/some-w...

there are already tons of conspiracy theories (and grifts!) out there about the hantavirus and @davidgilbert.bsky.social explains them best:

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

some (belated) personal news: wrapping up my first week @wired.com where I'm overseeing science coverage. I'm still working on climate but so excited to cover everything science at a time when so many fields are both under attack and churning out amazing discoveries

This is not the kind of prediction market you want to see: www.newscientist.com/article/2524...

With telehealth access to mifepristone in legal limbo, clinics say they are ready to pivot if access is cut off. Medication abortion usually involves two drugs, but virtual providers plan to switch to a one-pill protocol if needed. From me and @knibbs.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/telehe...

NEW: Babies Are Bleeding to Death as Parents Reject a Vitamin Shot Given at Birth The vitamin K shot, a lifesaving injection given to newborns to prevent uncontrollable bleeding of the brain and intestines, has become collateral damage of the anti-vaccine movement.

It's a weird limbo moment for telehealth abortion access. But despite legal challenges, providers want people to know virtual clinics are still open—and ready with backup plans @emilymullin.bsky.social and I: www.wired.com/story/telehe...

For my latest @opinion.bloomberg.com, wrote about the White House/FDA push to accelerate access to psychedelics--and the risk of pushing this class of treatments onto the market without sound evidence and a solid infrastructure:

NEW: DHS is using a legal tool called a 1509 customs summons to try to obtain info from Google about a Canadian after he criticized the Trump admin online. He says he hasn't been to the US in 10+ years and didn't ship anything during the time period DHS asked about: www.wired.com/story/dhs-de...

I listened to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new HHS podcast so you don't have to: www.wired.com/story/rfk-jr...

Nicole Saphier is a better communicator than Casey Means, and she's actually a licensed, practicing doctor (breast radiologist). That seems like enough to get confirmed. But she has troubling views on vaccines and public health. My latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

#NIH funding cuts & visa crackdowns are driving away talented foreign researchers who normally would have flocked to the US, a @statnews.com survey shows. "It is going to cause a long-term brain drain." www.statnews.com/2026/05/04/t...

So sad to see that a beloved local swimming and fishing spot may be forever contaminated due to the negligence of a nearby shooting range owned by the Pittsburgh Pirates' Bob Nutting. This is also a prime water source for backpackers on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail. triblive.com/sports/laure...

As Dr. Harris points out, babies don't get the HPV vaccine and men *do* get preventable throat, penis, and anal cancers

Pioneering geneticist and decoder of the human genome J. Craig Venter dies at age 79 www.scientificamerican.com/article/gene...

Saphier also helped drive a false claim that got national attention in 2022, saying that CDC was about to mandate that schoolchildren get coronavirus vaccines. (CDC doesn't have that power.) @lenasun.bsky.social and I wrote in-depth about it here.

Saphier is the 25th current or former Fox employee that Trump has selected for a top post in his second administration. www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump...

'We've been a little bit too romantic about the idea that we should have employees and give people long-term job security' is an extraordinary thing for a video games CEO to say on record: aftermath.site/video-game-job...

The Trump administration is downsizing US science by historic margins — but it's not just via funding or workforce cuts. Our new @nature.com analysis reveals the government has cut more than 100 scientific advisory panels across major agencies. w/ @alexwitze.bsky.social @dangaristo.bsky.social

you know a state bill is probably important when multinational tech companies are lobbying hard against it

Startup Neurable is licensing its wearable brain-scanning tech and promises a “flood” of new consumer gadgets. We are not remotely ready for the privacy and security concerns that come with consumer neurotech. Story by @julianchokkattu.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/get-re...

The latest brain-computer interface could help people with severe depression. The FDA has approved a trial testing a blueberry-sized implant that delivers mild stimulation to boost the brain's central executive network. More at @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/a-brai...

When people talk about self-censorship, they often focus on campus events or classroom discussions. But self-censorship of research is different and more impt. Big difference btw "I don't want to offend others" to "I don't want to speak truth to power" www.chronicle.com/article/near...

RFK Jr. is trying to downplay his hostility to vaccines. Don’t believe the hype. My latest, for @opinion.bloomberg.com, on his measles blame game during his testimony before lawmakers: (🎁)

Critics claim large solar farms are a public health threat. Despite little reputable evidence for this, their fears have helped undercut efforts across the U.S. to broaden energy sources, slowing installations even as customer costs are rising. ☀️ My new story at @propublica.org -

Reminder that @wired.com remains interested in what’s going on at HHS. If you’re an employee and would like to pass on a tip, you can reach me at emullin.06 on Signal.

Two companies that launched last year with plans to make gene-edited babies have already shut down. Bootstrap Bio's CEO told @wired.com: "We ran out of money... I couldn’t get enough investors interested for us to keep our operation going." www.wired.com/story/design...