Everyone in the virology, Infectious diseases, epidemiology, and public health fields has looked at the case for the lab origin vs. natural spillover as the origin of COVID. The evidence is far more compelling for spillover. Good debunking by @michaelhobbes.bsky.social

Daily life in 2025. #AI #Tech #JustLetMeBe #FFS

60% of American households can’t afford a minimal quality of life. Meanwhile, the 19 richest households saw their wealth increase by $1 trillion in 2024 — the biggest one-year increase ever. Our problem isn't a lack of resources. Our problem is ever-expanding inequality.

@kylie-m-smith.bsky.social discusses how and why she teaches the hidden curriculum in her courses in this class note from August! thesocietypages.org/firstpublics...

The conservative movement has turned against reality on every scientific issue of our time, from gun violence to climate change to epidemiology. If campuses are ideologically homogenous, it's not because academia has ostracized conservatives. It's because conservatives have ostracized academia.

Are you interested in writing for us? We're always looking for new articles on teaching as public sociology! Check out how to submit at the link below! buff.ly/3AQkCpy

Curtailing people’s ability to read widely and carefully, to locate, assess, and compare different sources for themselves, and to write in their own voice about what they find and what it means, is arguably more effective than censorship. It is also one of the most obvious effects of generative AI.

The attacks on DEI are a pretext for a much more radical agenda of reversing the gains of the civil rights movement, an objective the Trump administration is pursuing with zeal. A Great Resegregation. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

oh

So it turns out government grant funding is actually very critical for public safety, protecting our environment, the health & well-being of Americans, our neighborhoods, making sure people have food, job programs, infrastructure and a whole lot more. You know, basic functioning of our society.

When someone in power asks you to rat out your peers, they're not doing it to make you safer. They're doing it to make you 1) paranoid and 2) completely dependent on them. Never let power divide you against other people who are under the same power.

Yup, @jamellebouie.net has this exactly right. What these guys are celebrating/pursuing/yearning for is not masculine energy, it's *adolescent* energy. Drinking Red Bull, crushing Call of Duty, refusing to clean your room. It is indescribably pathetic. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/o...

New study finds that frequent use of AI tools encourages offloading cognitive tasks and reduces critical thinking. Higher AI usage correlated with lower critical thinking skills, especially in younger users. www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15...

I wrote a book about happened in a school after he was elected last time. Here's what to expect: an increase in calls for civility & kindness and a simultaneous crackdown on actions labeled as "political" which means any speech/action addressing systemic racial, class, gender or sexual inequality.

This one-page piece by Ridgeway (2024) from Contexts Magazine is a great introduction to status and status processes for students! https://buff.ly/3BosgIw

Predictive text models do not ever "answer your question" They predict what an answer to your question would probably look like. Which is very, very, very different

Very excited to say that I won our department's Superlative Teaching Award for my work in and outside of the classroom! While I love the research I'm doing this year on teaching evaluations, I do miss actually being in the classroom and students -- but I'm very grateful for my work to be recognized!

One thing I didn’t expect in the wake of the CEO shooting is the sudden attention on health insurance policy. I have seen this video and the BCBS policy itself go viral on almost every platform. People are waking up. Real lasting change in healthcare is coming. youtube.com/shorts/vWA2a...

This came out a bit ago, but since I’m on a new platform I thought I’d share it here — my solo-authored paper on emotional labor and STEM graduate students! bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

A poem for my last day working at the writing center for the semester (by Joseph Fasano)

Jfc cis people, we really fucking need you on this one. Barring people from accessing bathroom facilities is barring people from public life, and if they succeed here they’re going to move on to barring them from every other possible place. Call your reps please.

I love the work I’m doing with @firstpublics.bsky.social!