Another actuarial report from June 2025 concerning excess mortality. "The analysis of excess mortality offers valuable insights into the Covid pandemic. Excess mortality was originally attributed to the Covid pandemic; however, it has persisted beyond the height of the Covid pandemic,

Gift Link: www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1c12514...

We have the tools to “dramatically cut the spread of respiratory infections” such as flu, Covid, RSV, measles, etc It is a political choice not to tell people how to reduce the spread of airborne disease spread… & to let Ireland’s hospitals fill with sick adults & children this Christmas

Policy on health is clearly broken - politicized, out of touch, reactive and slow. My recent keynote at the Canadian Biosafety Symposium took a big-picture look at how and why that's happening, and how we can turn things around. Here's a general-audience version, recorded at the Deep River library.

One of the things about my anthology that I am both excited and extremely humbled by is the fact that Samuel Delany sent @broadviewpress.bsky.social a newly edited version of his story “Among the Blobs” for me to use, complete with some relevant images, new notes, and a new introduction! #SFF

I kind of like this whole “We won’t buy your liquor but we will air your state-suppressed news stories” niche that Canada’s apparently carved out.

I will never understand how people who know better continue to embrace denial about the reality of C19…for themselves & their kids. The extent of said denial must be beyond imagination. I so wish we could find better ways to more gently welcome them into reality vs having them learn the hard way.

'John Muir, co-founder of the Corsi-Rosenthal Foundation, a UK charity campaigning for the improvement of clean indoor air, said any investment in the devices was well worth the money'. There's a poll in this article - please vote. www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/educati...

...people are focusing on the cities, but my god the topography!

One of the reasons why I go so hard on science misinformation/disinformation, is that as a working scientist it is frustrating to see your research misreported to push an agenda. For example, consider this piece of right-wing propaganda from The Telegraph that was just published

After the devastating loss of the 3 children in Ottawa, it was urgent to get info out re the additional ways avail to protect one’s loved ones from serious illness as we enter the holidays… and to remind young fams this amt of sickness ISN’T normal. #VaccinePlus ottawa.citynews.ca/2025/12/21/s...

Lucid commentary by Drs. Ashley and Mackay. "A resilient Nova Scotia needs both universities and community colleges. But collapsing their missions into a single, labour market-driven framework risks weakening them both." www.halifaxexaminer.ca/commentary/w...

A tale in two parts: 1/2

So, they have to pay $1.5bn for using authors’ work without permission to train their AI, and their AI can’t even order snacks?

Sincerely one of the funniest things the WSJ has ever written or done. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...

Effective December 18, Nova Scotia Health is requiring everyone to wear a mask in their facilities. 👏👏👏 Please protect yourselves and others during this season of illness by wearing a mask, staying home when sick, getting vaccinated, and increasing ventilation & filtration.

Congrats to Julia M. Wright, DFA Member! She received the CAUT Dedicated Service Award in 2023. Last night, DFA held its first in-person social event in more than 2 years, and finally presented Julia with her award. Thanks, Julia, for your continued dedication to DFA and our members. #KeepDalStrong

Congrats to DFA Members Jason Haslam, Kiran Banerjee and Kassandra Luciuk for receiving the 2025 CAUT Dedicated Service Award! Their commitment, focus and energy during DFA's recent month-long lockout was outstanding. Awards presented at the DFA Solidarity Party held last night. #keepdalstrong

If you are advising a graduate student in Irish Studies at a North American institution, please encourage them to apply for the Larkin Interdisciplinary Fellowship for research support from the American Conference for Irish Studies acisweb.org/larkin-inter...

One of those useful bits of science that we have unaccountably somehow managed to spurn. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

"Along with improving indoor air quality and avoiding crowded, underventilated places, [masks, e.g. N95s] provide the best way to avoid catching a respiratory infection." www.independent.co.uk/news/health/...

Do I dare Disturb the universe? In a minute there is time For decisions and revisions which an admin can reverse. For I have known the MF Authentications: Have known the lockouts, resets, sign-ins...

We all know Clarke's "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" Well we have corollary:

Great to see this volume published last week! Fabulous work by the editors, Paul Foley and Jennifer J. Silver. www.routledge.com/Routledge-Ha...

I am increasingly worried not only about AI shortcuts undermining evidence-based policy and action but also about the growing contamination of the infosphere. Reports such as this get used for other reports etc., as well as mined by AI for other prompts, letting errors spread widely.

Starting soon!!

Covid vaccines released last fall sharply decreased the risk of ER and urgent care visits in children, according to new data released by the CDC — providing a striking counterpoint to Trump administration rhetoric about the shots Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/h...

Requiring temporary visitors to surrender five years of social media to the U.S. sends the message that the American commitment to free speech is pretense. This simply is not the behavior of a country confident in its freedoms. It's a threat to free speech around the world and must be opposed.

I wish a notice like this wasn't necessary. www.icrc.org/en/article/i...

Yikes, what fresh hell is this? Microsoft and its AI having broad access to #cdnpse computers seems like a security hole (even a national one), not a security fix. How many times has MS been the hackers' way in? Oh look, here's an example from this past July: www.reuters.com/sustainabili....

This is an excellent read for middle-age #women: "Aging Out of Fucks: The Neuroscience of Why You Suddenly Can’t Pretend Anymore." It's science! substack.com/home/post/p-...

Suggestions on what to do to reduce our risk when public health fails, again, to anticipate the inevitable while our governments sit on their hands instead of raising standards for indoor air quality in schools and other crowded public buildings:

Ugggghhh, but this is familiar: “All of the programs on the chopping block appear to be profitable, according to the leaked spreadsheet… every program that the chancellor proposed eliminating generated more money from tuition dollars than the department costs to run.” #cdnpse

Add this to the growing pile of evidence that we need better Indoor Air Quality in educational settings: "Prolonged exposure in shared, poorly ventilated spaces, which potentially includes several infectious sources, drives respiratory virus transmission more than close contact." #Airborne 🪟💨😷

🦠Tis the season MASK MANDATES in HEALTHCARE SETTINGS are spreading FAST ...including jurisdictions in -Spain -Japan -U.S. -England -Wales Shout-out to Canada: Let's MOVE ON THIS ! www.bbc.com/news/article...

The government of Canada and Ontario should ensure N95’s are used at all times in healthcare settings to protect patients and healthcare workers. This is what the Canadian Standards Association new standards tell us to do!

COVID isn’t acting like the viruses most of us grew up with, and treating it like “just a cold” is putting people at real risk. David Brasure breaks down why SARS-CoV-2 is fundamentally different, how it causes long-term damage, and what we can do to protect ourselves.

What if I told you that the problem with #cdnpse budgeting isn't the range of academic programs, but the massive growth of senior admins who rely heavily on consultants. Together, they siphon millions out of university budgets for non-academic purposes. Our prov govts might try reining that in.

I showed my scientific illustration students this example a few weeks ago. Told them they may yet have jobs. Their confidence grew a bit, they seemed reassured.

I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.

Cartoon by @deadder.bsky.social.

I wrote a little thing. Alt title: the Hypocrisy in Having Value(s)

Steven Guilbeault just QUIT CARNEY'S CABINET (but not the Liberal caucus) following the Alberta-Canada MOU. Yowza. www.ledevoir.com/politique/ca...?

"From Long Flu to Long COVID: A Brief History of Postviral Illness" by Emily Mendenhall and Philip Finkelstein.

It won’t be long before professional engineers blame their AI tools for a bridge collapse. We need regulators to get ahead of this. Because it’s clear that this is coming.

Debbie Martin: "The lasting harm of universities’ rush for Indigenous identity policies" policyoptions.irpp.org/2025/11/indi...