Expectant mothers were left so hungry after the U.S. cut foreign food aid that one woman ate clay and charcoal. Her baby struggled to gain weight after being born prematurely. By @annamaria.bsky.social, photos by @storitellah.com & illustrations by Phoebe Ouma

NY is having a bad flu season. More hospitalizations last week than any week on record. Health authorities are encouraging everyone aged 6mo+ to get the flu vax (it's not too late). Find a provider here: on.nyc.gov/getvaccinated. You can filter for sites where there's no cost for the uninsured.

New findings from #AddingItUp and #FPImpact show why investing in sexual and reproductive health advances health, autonomy, and economic opportunity worldwide: https://youtube.com/shorts/rWMurafVMa0?si=lfScEOKIuCXMYq0z

IDSA has selected Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, MPH, FIDSA, as its next chief executive officer, effective Jan. 12, 2026. Learn more: bit.ly/4pHt2nF

The Vanity Fair photographer with a lot more courage than many titans industry and brokers of power

“Jeanne Marrazzo, a former leader at the National Institutes of Health, has filed suit against the Trump administration, arguing it violated her freedom of speech and whistleblower protections… Marrazzo is the first NIH leader to file a suit against the agency over their termination”

Just a reminder that at least 600 Americans were fired for failing to show sufficient respect after Charlie Kirk's murder.

Every reporter on Capitol Hill should carry a printout of this post, sharing it directly whenever a GOP elected inevitably claims not to have seen it.

All I can say this morning is look for the helpers, like Ahmed. “Seven News reported the bystander was a 43-year-old fruit shop owner from the Sutherland Shire named Ahmed.”

Every mass shooting is a horrific, preventable loss and a reminder that we have traded the rights of the many for the rights of a few. University or school shootings are especially gutting, not just because of their nearness (I’m a professor) but because it feels like such a violation of the sacred.

The Sandy Hook shooting was 13 years ago today. Yesterday, there was a shooting at Brown University. There have been at least 75 school shootings this year. The US has a gun problem, and it seems we're never going to do anything about it. www.cnn.com/us/school-sh...

Today is the anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting. There are no words to express the grief and anger that our young people continue to be slaughtered in school. And for what? More guns? This is a policy failure — and a moral one. Enough. My heart is with Providence today.

We cancelled our long-awaited winter vacation in Florida this year because of this bloodthirsty buffoonery - and wrote to the hotel to tell them exactly why - and you should too.

This was *so* good. Brava, @karenguzzo.bsky.social and thank you for your work!

An extraordinary loss of institutional knowledge. 🧪

Exciting news: Dr. Blair G. Darney has been named Guttmacher's Vice President for Domestic Research. Starting 2/1, she will lead Guttmacher’s US research vision, ensuring rigorous, policy-relevant & impactful work that advances #SRHR nationwide. Congratulations, Dr. Darney!

I’ve now had multiple sources tell me the UK NHS is removing the CDC from its list of reliable sources. Welcome to irrelevance.

My teen, who had dreamt of being an astrophysicist, just told me he wants to go to law school because, “Science isn’t going to be a priority in the US in the future…I don’t want a job where I’ll be constantly worried my funding will be taken away.” Gutting. How many future scientists have we lost?

Guttmacher’s latest global research highlights what’s needed to advance #SRH: prioritize contraceptive innovation, fund cost-effective SRH services and safe abortion care, and adopt person-centered measures that reflect people’s needs and wants. #GlobalHealth #ReproductiveHealth #Research

“When participants used ChatGPT to draft essays, brain scans revealed a 47% drop in neural connectivity across regions associated with memory, language, & critical reasoning. Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪

Overlooked infertility care should be part of national health services, says WHO reut.rs/48grjzH

Scientists: have you been the target of an online harassment campaign, doxxing, or weaponized FOIA requests? I'd like to talk to you about steps you had to take to protect your digital security for an upcoming Nature story. (You can be anonymous if necessary.) RTs appreciated.

Our paper "Contraceptive effectiveness: A synthesis of the literature" is freely available thru 1/9/26 lnkd.in/e5j-4pXw In choosing contraception, method effectiveness is often a primary consideration though rarely the only one. Ppl deserve accurate info (incl on effectiveness) for informed choice.

I’m not going to pretend it’s easy to say something in the moment when you witness the president do this and you’re aboard Air Force One with all the uniformed officers and secret service and fancy wood accents, but this is really an instance where you should. people.com/donald-trump...

NEW: When Andrew Tate landed in the US, Customs & Border Protection seized his electronic devices. But @propublica.org found that a White House official told DHS to return the devices, emphasizing that the request came from the White House. By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro

a two party system with one party completely & utterly devoted to a man who responds this way when asked by a woman about credible accusations he sex trafficked underage girls - like there’s no reforming a party like that

New Guttmacher data from Adding It Up 2024 shows what it would take to meet SRH needs across 128 LMICs: 928M women want to avoid pregnancy, 214M aren’t using modern contraception, and every $1 invested saves $2.48 in health care costs. Learn more: https://gu.tt/4qVHXfc

The lesson here is have good principles and stand on them. Stand for something that isn't power!

The United States was the leading destination for top scientists from all over the world. That is ending. Politicians ended it. It will cripple our future competitiveness. And it’s such a bitter tragedy. Almost no Americans, Conservative or Liberal, grasp what is now being stolen from them.

TrumpCare

Americans are on the verge of losing their ability to choose their government. But they don't seem to have realized it yet.

This is so exciting! The German National Library of Medicine @zbmed.bsky.social just had its first open meeting on the plan for an open & independent PubMed safety net. Here's my write-up @plos.org on the meeting & how institutions & others can help absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/05/14/g... #MedLibs

Part of politics is encouraging people to care, to give them reasons why they should care, to activate and sharpen misgivings they likely have about this brazenly authoritarian act of destruction, to help provide a vocabulary that explains that unease.

We're going to do <less> w/ less at R1 universities, unless federal funding is restored, & the sooner R1 chancellors/presidents get in front of microphones & loudly, collectively start telling people that's the case, the better. The lack of doing this & not shaping the political debate is maddening.

"An AP investigation found that the wave of legislation has cropped up in most states, pushed by people with close ties to HHS Secretary RFK, Jr. The effort would strip away protections that have been built over a century and are integral to American lives and society."

Head to a protest today. I can almost promise you will feel less hopeless. That's exactly what they don't want. There are more of us than there are of them.

Public health should never be politicized.   In the wake of the federal government abandoning science for conspiracy theories, it's up to governors to step up.   Proud to join my colleagues in the Governors Public Health Alliance to keep communities safe and put our people first.

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

marrazzo is one of the most respected and accomplished physician scientists/public health experts in the world

I'm worried about this too, including given where our world appears to be headed with (over)reliance on AI (picture me: a frustrated old, yelling at the sky in futility), and what that means about what kinds of information gets sucked up into AI output vs. what gets excluded/ignored.

On #InternationalSafeAbortionDay, and as attacks escalate and mis/dis-information spreads, a reminder: this starter pack can help get you started in finding some excellent Bluesky accounts sharing data & information on sexual and reproductive health. go.bsky.app/6WuJVjj

"As medical care evaporates, it is moms who die in childbirth. As food disappears and babies cry from hunger, some overwhelmed husbands abandon their wives and children. As social order unravels, it is mostly girls who are raped, & then scorned for having been raped." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/27/o...

Misleading info seems rampant, including about sexual & reproductive health. I’ve seen it up close: www.theguardian.com/science/2023... Many of us have devoted our lives to sharing evidence-based info about contraception & more - because we respect you. We won't stop. Happy #WorldContraceptionDay

Another reminder that people around the world risk their lives for liberties that many Americans seem ready to surrender without a fight or even a lawsuit. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/b...

Rest in peace, Dr. Rennie. Thank you for responding so generously, kindly, & wisely when I was an over-eager, ECR who cold emailed you a tome expressing frustration at some aspects of scientific publishing. Your open, collaborative, encouraging response & our exchanges left such a warm impression.

Listening to ACIP meeting which is a catastrophe, as predicted. I’d like emphasize in all this that the CDC subject matter experts and leads have been tremendous and continue to represent good science on our behalf. I am very grateful for their dedication, despite internal and external pressure.

Astounding. LaQuan McDonald Mike Brown Eric Garner John Crawford III Walter Scott Philando Castile All were shot on video. They looped the videos on social media. We saw their bodies on camera. What about the emotional toll on Black folks repeatedly seeing us killed? No concerns?

A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn’t like what they say. This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand. All elected officials need to speak up and push back on this undemocratic act.

The Trump admin is determined to destroy nearly $10M in contraceptives. We join 77 orgs calling on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to stop this harmful plan. The IUDs, pills, injectables & implants could help more than 1.5M women & couples. The US must reverse this order immediately. gu.tt/46kjPJK

Incompetence leads to chaos and confusion. Let's hope these life-saving contraceptive supplies have not been incinerated.