A bit like spiralling publication costs we need to start having a proper discussion around lab equipment servicing costs. These are often completely disproportionate to the cost of instrument and the service that is provided and seem to serve as a cash cow for vendors.

Immigrants, particularly on H1Bs, are the lifeblood of American innovation. If you wanted to hurt US competitiveness in the next century, I can think of few more effective ways than a move like this Even when found illegal, the mere intent will have irreparably harmed our future

Science: Gold standard science requires gold standard scholarship by Holden Thorp bit.ly/46K5A26

bioRxiv partners with Dryad to enable easier, better linking to curated datasets connect.biorxiv.org/news/2025/09...

🗒️Ebola update: 48 cases & 31 deaths in Kasai Congo. ~1000 contacts monitored to stop chains of transmission -Tests turned around in <6hrs (fast!) -523 healthworkers & contacts vaccinated Luckily, DRC has become mighty at Ebola response at at time when US funds & assistance is underwater. From WHO:

MMR vaccines do not cause autism (see my 🧵 of studies) At the same time, one potential cause of autism is rubella, which is *prevented* by MMR vaccines. Which means...vaccines may actually help prevent autism. 🧵 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21592401/

To my surprise, OS26 is pretty nice... First time in many years I actually noticed an OS upgrade.

This is an important article and a key reminder that, while tech companies can't be held responsible for content on their platform, they can, and should, be held responsible for how they serve and amplify said content. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

We just went through the submission process with a Lancet sub-journal for consideration of our latest preprint. Then we got to the "fees" page - more than $8,000. I'm not sure journals realize how squeezed ID funding is, but what I'm not going to spend eight grand of tax-payer money on is that.

Mosquito-borne viruses surge in a warming Europe www.science.org/content/arti...

David Baltimore, for much of the past three decades, has been one of my most helpful, thoughtful sources. I wrote an obit about his remarkable career, and I included a few of my interactions with him. www.science.org/content/arti...

More details on #Ebola outbreak in DRC: Index case was a pregnant woman (in third trimester), who came to Bulape General Reference Hospital on 20 August with fever, bleeding, bloody diarrhea. She died on August 25. Then two health care workers, who first had contact with her, developed symptoms...

Inside Medicine: Breaking News: Read three top CDC officials' resignation emails. by @jeremyfaust.bsky.social 👉 bit.ly/4fVt2wt

Launched today! Join 6 Nobel Laureates, 27 Members of the US National Academies & the Scientific Advisory Board of @accountabilityji.bsky.social in signing this petition demanding RFK Jr.'s resignation. www.change.org/p/demand-rfk...

Wondering what vaccines to get this fall or whether they will even be available? Most will be, but maybe for the last time. Make sure your family is up to date while you still can. open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...

The administration isn’t just taking vaccines away. They aren’t responding to outbreaks. They are not preventing disease. They are enabling it. Essential reading from @amymaxmen.bsky.social. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

I completely missed the news that David Nabarro died back in July. He was a very strong leader in the global health space - his deep insights and straight talk will be sorely missed. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Now it’s #FEMA workers standing up to an administration that is destroying our capacity to respond to natural disasters. These workers have more integrity and courage than anyone in this White House. To them, their duty sacred. To protect Americans from the worst that nature can bring.

If you believe that keeping your head down and being quiet will spare you from this fate, you are mistaken. This will be all of us.

"exposure to public service broadcasting and broadsheet newspapers was associated with accurate belief stabilization and correction, whereas [...] social media consistently undermined accurate beliefs, increased transitions into misinformation or uncertainty, and hindered corrective belief updating.

As one can imagine, I have some thoughts. Here’s a thread no one asked for: 1. SCIENCE IN THE US IS POLITICAL. No matter how much you want to ignore that fact, it is supported by taxpayer dollars and is therefore, political by nature. 2. BUT it has had bipartisan support for decades, which…

These rulings don't just have direct effects on the specific grants in question, but they have much larger indirect effects. If every federal grant can now be terminated with no notice for any (political) reason, no awardee can make any long term (> 3 months?) commitment to infrastructure or people.

This week's @thelancet.com cover and editorial www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

There is no solace for NIH funded researchers in this Supreme Court decision. Grants that were ripped away on dubious grounds, restored by a reasonable judge are now again terminated by an out-of-control Supreme Court. Labs will shutter, people will lose jobs. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

In new study led by @bdadonaite.bsky.social, we measure how spike mutations affect function & antigenicity of spike of KP.3.1.1 strain of SARS-CoV-2. Sheds light on how key neutralizing epitopes are changing & importance of RBD up/down motion. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New paper from @naturehealthglobal.bsky.social scientists identifies extensive spillover risk of an under-researched group of coronaviruses in China and Southeast Asia. 🧵 naturehealthglobal.org/new-paper-id...

A few have asked me about this. XFG is the main lineage in the US at the moment. If there is a choice between a JN.1 or an LP.8 vaccine, I would take LP.8.

Monoclonal antibodies were invented at the institution I did my PhD - MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. A funny backstory to this is that Milstein tried to patent the finding, however, the MRC concluded that they were unable to "identify any immediate applications".. Oopsie 🤦‍♂️

Привет, товарищи! It’s another glorious day in which Trump’s America is increasingly indistinguishable from Stalinist Russia, so I thought an armchair comparative analysis was in order. Specifically about Jay Bhattacharya's twin from times past, Trofim Lysenko. open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...

Really recommend that everyone read this thread from Kristian. Receipts of the straight line from Bobby's rhetoric to the 500 bullets fired at the CDC last Friday.

God, this is disturbing I’m grateful to @kgandersen.bsky.social for compiling this thread of all the vile, horrific, extraordinarily dangerous things RFK Jr has said about the CDC But be warned: it’s really disturbing Imagine working at the CDC & knowing that your boss thinks *this* about you

A key point 👇 is that the engine of scientific research has already been mangled, with further destruction planned. It's not simply "about the budget" for scientific research (which is what most focus on), it's the whole system. Yes, the budget needs to be maintained, but that's not sufficient.

H5N1 bird flu has now spread to U.S. dairy cattle, raising serious concerns as we head into fall. Scientists at @scripps.edu are working to prevent a wider outbreak and future pandemics, but this vital work depends on continued support. Join us in protecting public health at: ow.ly/fXAj50WGKB3

NEW 🚨 The violence is the point. Elected Dems must call for widespread resignations (RFK, Bhattacharya, Prasad) in response to the CDC shooting. Public health must demand this of them, and the public must demand that of us. With @publichealthguy1.bsky.social in STAT: www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/c...

"Last week’s attack on the #CDC could have been a slaughter." Absolutely. And, importantly, thanks to the inflammatory rhetoric, falsehoods, disinformation, and conspiracy theories constantly spouted by the very same person who's responsible for the agency - HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He must go.

Postdoc position is still open! Definitely reach out if you’re keen on tracking pathogen evolution and spread (especially using wastewater 😎)!

Biologists, virologists, evolutionary biologist, and public health experts have much to learn from climate scientists on tackling misinformation. This is the model to follow and the culture to foster:

The main thing - is it not already clear - RFKr Jr is uniquely unqualified to lead the HHS. All main agencies under his watch - NIH, FDA, CMS - are also headed by incompetent contrarian peddlers of disinformation, conspiracy theories, and pseudoscience. This will, and already does, cost lives.

🚨New peer-reviewed commentary that I co-authored with Chris Beyrer is now out in the journal Vaccine, gift link below We show the ways in which the MAHA & MAGA guys—RFK Jr, Makary, Bhattacharya, Prasad—have dismantled the US vaccine regulatory framework authors.elsevier.com/a/1lbDt,60n7... 1/5

Just a reminder that if you want to do your postdoc in the best city in the world, well, you might be in luck - our position is still open and we're hoping to fill it within the next couple of weeks, so hurry up!

Defending US democracy: the role of scientists @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

"I have not been targeted by a political figurehead in this way before," said the paper's 1st author. Welcome to the club! 🫠

American Scientist: Support Scientists Who Stand Up Researchers should not have to endure death threats or public attacks when they engage publicly and try to combat misinformation. By @michaelemann.bsky.social @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social 👉https://bit.ly/3J9hnhh

🧵 in response to www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

I’ll belabor the point. We told you so. And now we are telling you so again because if we don’t do something as a scientific community now we are all gonna be cooked.

This is really reporting 'inside' the response to the devastating Mpox outbreak in Sierra Leone. Critical reading, as we are facing a future in which we will increasingly be confronted with emerging diseases, even preventable ones. www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...

Grateful to @marionkoopmans.bsky.social for writing this thoughtful piece in Nature Rev Micro. We can’t push back against anti-science movements without taking the threat seriously, proactively address our limitations, and engage with the public clearly & candidly. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The irony of seeing David Wallace-Wells and Emily Oster - two of the worst communicators during the pandemic - writing this piece is so thick that it goes all the way from New York to San Diego. I heard Amazon has a sale on mirrors. Feel free to pick one up, folks🪞. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/o...

Not to belabor a "I told you so", but it's been clear for years that the whole "lab leak" discourse has absolutely nothing to do with a potential lab leak and everything to do with a broader anti-science agenda. I really, and truly, hope more scientists will realize this and take corrective action.

The mRNA vaccines did EXACTLY what they needed to do. Prevented vast numbers of people dying or being seriously ill with COVID19 who would otherwise gummed up hospitals necessitate further lockdowns.