An intriguing story about a doctor, bird listers, and a virus aboard ship. www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...

With thanks to @shokes.bsky.social for this thoughtful and generous reflection on our new film OVERBURDEN and the paradoxes posed by the convergences of #mining and #conservation for people and animals living in some of West Africa's most biodiverse and iron-rich regions. #envhist #envhum

After 15 years of reporting on infectious disease outbreaks, what continues to fascinate me about them is the challenge of making high-stakes decisions under uncertainty. The hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius is a perfect example My story in @science.org is here (and a thread to come): 🧪 #IDsky

Backed by the Trump administration, US mining firms, financiers, and tech investors are mounting an aggressive push into the DRC’s mineral sector, reviving an old imperial logic under the language of strategic competition. africasacountry.com/2026/05/the-...

Finally, a cover! And soon, a book! A Natural History of the Spirits offers profound meditations on the history of colonialism, racism, and social and ecological change. Coming to stores November 10! Pre-order here: bookshop.org/p/books/a-na...

I've spent yesterday and today talking to researchers across the globe trying to understand the hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius. My story in @science.org is here (and some threaded thoughts coming): www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪 #IDsky

Looking forward to this screening and panel discussion of our new film, OVERBURDEN, hosted by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative. Set in #Liberia, the film is emblematic of issues at the intersection of #mining and #conservation across West Africa. www.cambridgeconservation.org/events/film-...

*Globalizing Wildlife* is OUT THIS MONTH (!) with @uncpress.bsky.social “An essential and timely intervention… exciting, cutting-edge vantages on crucial global histories” -Daniel Vandersommers Edited by @rafdebont.bsky.social myself, & Tom Quick #animalhist #globalhist #HistSci #envhist

Thrilled to be part of an @envirohistory.bsky.social Forum on Subterranean Archives with co-author Emmanuelle Roth. In "Visual Tailings," a surfeit of photos & films born of industrial extraction by a Swedish #mining co. in Liberia makes for unruly remains. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....

JOB ALERT: Two 4.5 year postdoctoral positions to work on my Wellcome-funded project 'Conserving Global Health: Biodiversity Protection and the Prehistory of Planetary Health'. Please share widely! CLOSING DATE: 23 April (the date on Jobs.ac.uk is apparently incorrect)

Laying the red carpet for H5N1

Thanks to @africasacountry.bsky.social for working with us on this two-part series on The Underbelly of Conservation, as mining and #conservation increasingly work together to dispossess local communities of land and livelihoods in the name of development and environmental protection in West Africa.

📢 JOB OPENINGS at CSIC @cchscsic.bsky.social (Madrid)! As part of my ERC project WILDHIST, the Institute of History is hiring two 3-year postdoctoral researchers in the global history of rubber. Application deadline: 24 April 2026. More info 👉 euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/422012 @erc.europa.eu

On the history of the primate trade and colonial/postcolonial ecologies of extraction, conservation and care. Thanks to my co-editor Tara Suri and all who contributed to this Focus section in Isis. FREE ACCESS! #envhist #sts #conservation #primates www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

We just dropped the trailer to OVERBURDEN. Looking forward to getting this film out in the world. A huge thanks to the entire team involved, spanning four continents. overburdenfilm.com #biodiversity #mining #ConvivialConservation #envhist #liberia

It was a pleasure to work with the folks @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social in publishing this review of WARBODY, an unflinching examination of war as a toxic Superfund site. WARBODY is an appeal to listen: to veterans, to their bodies, and to their calls for a more compassionate system of care.

Looking forward to today's talks and discussion at the Hotspots of Concern: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Biodiversity and Health workshop convened by @emmanuelleroth.bsky.social & @greggmitman.bsky.social www.cas.lmu.de/en/events/ev...

was reading a poli sci book about the US response to the 2013-16 Ebola outbreak and the challenges to (not just) experts (but expertise), was also a function/subset of challenging sovereign authority. Just who’s in charge - or should be - during health crises? Whose/what knowledge is valued?

Department "Knowledge Systems and Collective Life" seeks a Collaborative Research Coordinator! 🤝 Help expand its community-based, publicly engaged research 🎤 Advise researchers on cooperative methods 📋 Coordinate cooperation agreements 🗓️ Deadline: Sep 28, 2025 🔗 bit.ly/45FXu8R #HistSci #EnvHist

There are still many ways that the MAHA movement can crush the NIH, but the Senate Appropriations Committee—including most of the GOP—grew a spine & rejected one of the biggest ones yesterday: a full rebuke of proposed budget cuts & reorganization of the NIH. open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...

We are looking for multidisciplinary panels to be presented at our upcoming conference "Beyond Dualism—Thinking Creatively Across Worlds," which takes place in July next year. The full call can be found in the news section on our website: www.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/news/news_ev... (1/?)

“A fascist society is one in which some people are deputized to do violence, and everyone else is forced to defend themselves.”

I urge everyone to read Unbreaking’s new page on everything the govt is doing to destroy & diminish medical research funding. It’s the best thing I’ve read on this topic: @lizneeley.bsky.social & co have such done an incredible job. unbreaking.org/issues/medic...

I subscribe to the @newyorker.com, I was part of ACT UP, I knew Larry Kramer well and know Tony Fauci too. Daniel Immerwahr's piece on RFKJr, features this and other passages that need a reponse. 1/

"A Big, Ugly, Destructive, Deadly Bill": Bishop William Barber Slams Bill Cutting Medicaid, Medicare

“It’s the next generation we have to protect and care about,” Gregg Gonsalves. Thankful to @gregggonsalves.bsky.social, who has never shied from speaking truth to power. Trump’s ‘fear factor’: Scientists go silent as funding cuts escalate | Science | AAAS

"Women are PIs on 58% of the canceled grants, although they are PIs on only 34% of all active NSF grants. Similarly, Blacks are PIs on 17% of the terminated grants, although they make only 4% of the total pool. Hispanic PIs and those with disabilities were twice as likely to lose a grant."

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

Poisoning the air of a Black community for a fucking chatbot.

Internal records show that the NIH axed grants for research about transgender people despite a court order barring the cuts. Agency officials also testified that DOGE was involved in directing grant terminations. By @anniewaldman.bsky.social

So we haven't heard much in the news about H5N1 lately...is it because the threat is gone? I don't think so. Viruses don't just go away when you stop looking for them. I spoke with @carlynzwaren.bsky.social @salonnewsroom.bsky.social about it 👇 www.salon.com/2025/04/30/b...

Nature reports that the National Science Foundation has stopped awarding new grants and allotting funds to existing ones. All of them. @colincarlson.bsky.social says that unless the freeze is lifted, it “is going to destroy people's labs.” 2/10 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

"Anthropology of Infectious Disease Emergence and Epidemic Control". A review by Tamara Giles-Vernick and Jules Villa www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

My latest: sexual violence/harassment, land appropriation, labor rights violations at African plantations co-owned by French billionaire Vincent Bollore. Rubber made by this woman, "Rebecca," who faces daily sexual coercion, is imported by Michelin for US tires. www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

As hate, vengeance, and greed are driving decisions devastating the planet and those most vulnerable, I highly recommend this Oscar-nominated doc on John Francis, a remarkable person, whose presence of being and message of kindness, are so needed today. #envhist www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/...

Stanley added: “You’ve got to just band together and say an attack on one university is an attack on all universities. And maybe you lose that fight, but you’re certainly going to lose this one if you give up before you fight.

Gift article about why it is a TERRIBLE idea to let H5N1 spread on farms, because it will 1. kill the birds 2. make them suffer 3. provide more opportunities for mutation 4. be a disaster to clean up because they would just be leaky feathered H5N1 bombs. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/h...

The UN’s new biodiversity deal aims to protect 30% of Earth by 2030—but does it tackle the root causes of nature’s destruction? Without addressing economic expansion, pollution & systemic issues, conservation alone won’t be enough. #Biodiversity #NatureCrisis theconversation.com/biodiversity...

POSTDOC ALERT! Postdoc in the history of modern medicine or public health at Wisconsin: details at the link below. 2 years, excellent conditions. #Skystorians #HistMed #medhum please repost widely! mhb.wisc.edu/2025/02/25/p...

"The entire first-year class of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Services officers, known as “disease detectives,” has been laid off! An incredible group of talented healthcare professionals devoted to help people and stop the spread of outbreaks around the world. Senseless. #histmed

"We will have to go toe-to-toe with this administration ... challenging its attacks on science in the courts, finding ways to protect public health through state and local action." Huge respect for Gregg Gonsalves, fighting for global health equity for decades. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/o...

BREAKING The Trump administration is maintaining a funding freeze at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in defiance of two federal court orders. The ongoing freeze was confirmed by an NIH official and internal correspondence reviewed by Popular Information.

NEH has posted updates to the funding restrictions for some grant programs.

This account is for sharing info with US scientists, both extramural and intramural to NIH, about attacks on science in the US. Education is power, and we can help advocate for science and medicine together. 💪🧪 We are a team of NIH people. Please ask us questions you might have.

Post-doc in planetary health humanities, to work with Andy Lakoff and colleagues at USC on their timely project on 'The city on life support: Los Angeles as a laboratory for planetary health'. Important topic... #STS #envhum #medanthro

My feed is overwhelmed with scientists right now calling out the catastrophic consequences of the NIH indirect cost order from last night. If those same people aren't also speaking out against the anti-trans, anti-DEI, anti-immigrant orders...we are lost. The only path forward is solidarity.

Danke, #München ❤️ Schön war's heute mit euch! ✊️ #defenddemocracy #munich

Here are the 25 institutions that receive the most NIH funding (98% of HHS is NIH). Basically, they're large schools with large hospitals. They receive 50% of all NIH funding. Source: ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/fede... (table 26) (Not going to do a whole thread but thought folks might be interested.)

This is dangerously irresponsible on every level. Indiscriminately slashing this funding will cripple lifesaving research on everything from cancer to opioid addiction.