#wastewater enthusiasts: the CDC revamped their National Wastewater Surveillance System landing page: https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/index.html. They also added a Measles wastewater section: https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/rv/measles.html So, congratulations everyone?

Remember those two wildland firefighters that got hauled off by ICE while fighting the Bear Gulch fire? His lawyer says ICE has dismissed the proceedings, after holding him in detention for a month. No word on the other firefighter […]

Hello, it’s the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots. A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government. Let's start […] [Original post on infosec.exchange]

Me, to myself: ok, this is a completely weirdo thing that imma gonna post that will be of interest to maaaayyybe two other Mastodon weirdos, here goes! [gets trending bot notification]

Niche #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater content right here: The CDC has archived their older SARS-CoV-2 wastewater dataset and created a new dataset at: https://data.cdc.gov/Public-Health-Surveillance/CDC-Wastewater-Data-for-SARS-CoV-2/j9g8-acpt/about_data. I have been thoroughly conditioned to […]

It's a glorious Saturday night in the mountains of southern New Mexico. The Milky Way stretches from horizon to horizon. Cygnus the swan is at the zenith. (North is left) First photo is a circular fisheye. It's field of view is greater than 180 degrees […] [Original post on universeodon.com]

I hope peeps out in the Blewett Pass area are keeping close tabs on the Labor Mountain fire via Watch Duty or text alerts. Parts of the area are in a go-now evac zone: https://chelangis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/media/index.html?appid=ca1e19e4123b4002a9fb176b25434e03 #washingtonstate

Unprocessed mosaic of the Orion Nebula M 42 shot through light pollution filter. #astrophotography #seestar #m42

Proposal: we crowdfund the duct tape to keep ISS running indefinitely, so we can all continue to get these very cool photos from space https://flipboard.com/@skyatnightmag/astrophotography-41c02g93z/-/a-eOuKevi8QVKeEQlN9X4Grg%3Aa%3A3136858971-%2F0

So many things happened at the CDC's ACIP meeting that will be keeping science journos, lawyers, and other science communicators busy for some time. But one of the things that didn't happen, as far as I can tell, was any sort of discussion or vote on mnexspike. Some of the states that have been […]

An Apoorva Mandavilli article about whatever that was that took place at ACIP today. #giftlink https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/health/cdc-vaccines-mmrv-hepatitis-b.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nU8.eK4l.4t3yD1LGKjkv&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare Here is what Katelyn […]

The slides are (mostly) up for Day 2 of the CDC ACIP meeting, which is slated to focus on #COVID and #COVID19. Most people expect this to be a clown show, and I have no reason to doubt the conventional wisdom. But I did want to highlight some non-🤡 content, which is a slide deck on vaccine […]

Katelyn Jetelina has a great writeup on the first day of the CDC ACIP meeting, and the votes they took on MMRV and HepB pediatric vaccines: https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/measles-and-hep-b-vaccine-changes

I’m going to try to re-frame yesterday’s hive mind request. I’m sure there are US-based journalists (independent or otherwise) or even credible blogger or newsletter writer types who cover environmental and conservation issues from a Hispanic/Latino perspective. Can you help me find them? Many […]

Washington, California, Oregon and Hawaii have put together a handy chart of recommendations for #COVID, #COVID19, flu and rsv vaccines: https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/09/17/west-coast-states-announce-broadened-covid-19-vaccine-guidance-amid-cdc-turmoil/ My understanding is that how […]

Hello, it’s the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots. A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government. Let's start […] [Original post on infosec.exchange]

Hive mind: I have a news tip that should go to a US-based Hispanic media outlet. What non-Trumpist media orgs or independent journalists should I be looking at? TIA.

Comet Swan25B now has a formal designation of C/2025 R2 (SWAN) because the orbit is now known sufficiently. Yesterday it was showing a five-degree tail. (Best views are in the southern hemisphere.) This photo was pulled from Facebook's ICQ Comet […] [Original post on universeodon.com]

Since people are asking: Moderna has TWO fda approved #COVID #COVID19 vaxxes this year. Both have been updated for 2025. The new one is mnexspike. It has some changes that in theory will make it work better as the virus evolves. And when they looked at the bloodwork of study participants who […]

My apologies for the world’s most niche post: KP generally just does Pfizer #COVID #COVID19 shots for adults, so if you want one of the Modernas you can go to an in network third party pharmacy instead. But when I looked at the in network pharmacy list for my plan, there was just one in the […]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s a photo I never expected to take: the International Space Station photobombing the aurora. The ISS is the short bright streak above the cherry tree. 9:48 pm EDT, September 14, 2025. Wolverine Lake, Michigan. #aurora #NorthernLights #photography […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets @ai6yr Southern New Mexico has entered the chat. Red auroral glow was barely visible just above the horizon around 10PM local time...needed 30-second exposures, f/1.4, ISO 400. But what surprised me more was the green airglow. It was bright […] [Original post on universeodon.com]

Wow! #aurora watchers we are at KP7 (of 9)! corwin just got off a plane in Seattle (flew from nyc) and sent me these photos from the window

Check out the beautiful aurora happening in Minnesota right now. 😍 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gf0S5XphiXg&pp=0gcJCckJAYcqIYzv

My country, destroying itself for no particular reason, cancer research edition. #giftlink https://nyti.ms/48iH3Cr

Damaraland by night #namibia #milkyway #astrophotography #darksky #landscape

From Jerry Cornfield at the Washington State Standard, Justice Mary Yu is retiring from the Washington State Supreme Court: https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/09/11/justice-mary-yu-to-step-down-from-wa-supreme-court-this-year/. I met Justice Yu when my partner and I were witnessing a […]

I'm not clear on where a discussion of mRNA-1283/mNexSpike will fall in next week's CDC's ACIP meeting. It was approved by the FDA some months ago, and was originally set to be discussed in an earlier ACIP meeting. A CDC recommendation may be important for access in some states. In […]

The draft ACIP meeting agenda for next week is up: https://www.cdc.gov/acip/downloads/agendas/draft-posted-2025-09-12-508.pdf. The Friday is devoted entirely to #COVID #COVID19 vaccines, and there is a vote scheduled for the end of the day. With Dr. Retsef Levi -- the "Dr." part comes from a PhD […]

Hello, it’s the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots. A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government. Let's start […] [Original post on infosec.exchange]

More on the #beargulch ICE operation, from Isabella Breda at the Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/climate-lab/time-card-investigation-preceded-immigration-arrests-at-bear-gulch-fire/ From the story, both the detained firefighters had visas. So why are they being held? […]

This is good reporting by Alex Brown at the Washington State Standard, thoroughly debunking the GOP claim that the two firefighters arrested by ICE at the #beargulch wildfire weren't actual firefighters. Brown found documents proving that they were all classified as firefighters and had been […]

Pfizer issued a press release about a small study they did, looking at immune responses to the 2025-2026 (LP8.1-adapted) version of their #COVID #COVID19. The press release says that 14 days after vaccination, participants had an average of 4-fold increases in their neutralizing antibodies […]

I’m a little late on this one, but this is a very thorough Elise Takahama article on the #washingtonstate #COVID #COVID19 vax standing order that makes it possible for nearly everyone to get vaxxed without a doctor’s prescription […]

Here is my processed version of the Elephants Trunk nebula, in the constellation Cepheus. IC 1396B is a dense cloud of gases, getting ionized by a nearby hot star, and is about 2,400 light years away from Earth. I took this image with my little toy […] [Original post on infosec.exchange]

Health #canada has a group of 8500 volunteers (I am one!) that help track Covid-19. Every Monday they send me an email question: Did you develop a cough this week? Did you develop a fever? You simply click Yes or No. And hit reply. That’s it! This citizen-science group info is matched with […]

#washingtonstate just issued a public health standing order to allow individuals 6 months and older to access #COVID #COVID19 vaccines from a health care provider: https://doh.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2025-09/COVID19VaccineStandingOrder.pdf. I ~think~ the impact on this is that people between […]

This Elise Takahama piece in the Seattle Times has some details about the new West Coast state vaccine alliance, though many details are still to be worked out: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/wa-forms-vaccine-alliance-with-other-states-but-some-questions-remain/ For the moment […]

Katelyn Jetelina (“Your Local Epidemiologist”) has a guide to the fall 2025 vaccines: https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-fall-2025-vaccines #COVID #COVID19

Hello, it’s the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots. A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government. PS: Remember the […] [Original post on infosec.exchange]

This story, about a successful Wall Street trader who quit in middle age to become an FDNY paramedic, spoke to me in so many ways. It inverts the usual EMS career arc - eager kid becomes a paramedic, burns out after a few years, leaves to get a "real" career - and reflects on what it means to […]

From Mary Van Beusekom at CIDRAP, researchers analyzed health records from the UK, looking at a 624,000 overweight patients who had been treated for #COVID. Almost three thousand of these patients started Metformin within three months of their covid diagnosis., and the researchers found that […]

The CDC's ACIP Sept. 18 and 19th meeting is now officially on their website. They have also scheduled another meeting for October 22nd and 23rd. No agenda for either meeting has been posted yet. The September meeting will be accepting written comments from the public starting September 2nd and […]

Some lovely aurora pics… though I think the last one is from NZ. https://universeodon.com/@g7izu/115136765721556512

This is a wild article about fallout from the #washingtonstate Bear Gulch firefighter immigration action by Alex Brown of the Washington State Standard. Some of the on-the-ground firefighters think the immigration raid was a setup by the California management team that was overseeing the Bear […]

Sadly, I am not feeling the aurora love tonight. But I see Isle Royal National Park is: https://www.nps.gov/media/webcam/view.htm?id=A3720AFA-E940-6127-6902E95ED431184B

Just a heads up for folks who are following #COVID #COVID19 at the US federal level: The CDC added some new (AFAICT) pages about genomic surveillance and about their all-disease wastewater surveillance data methods. The pages are […]

Me, exclaiming excitedly to my wife after reading something on the glowing rectangle in my hand, once again completely forgetting that the whole world does not live in my head and see things precisely as I see them and that context is beautiful thing: WOOOOOOOW!!! Tomorrow night might be REALLY […]

I read this story by @gbrockell.bsky.social in Rolling Stone about how Coast Guard search and rescue planes are being diverted to do ICE deportation flights: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-ice-coast-guard-planes-immigrants-detention-1235414267/. Fortunately I can […]