I know I’m a good reviewer because authors always thank me for my helpful comments.

“In a pair of recent interviews with STAT, Plotkin expressed dismay at seeing the achievements of his career & his field slip away. He knows what lies ahead… “All I can say is that I’m beginning to regret having lived so long —because we’re going downhill,” Plotkin said” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social

Tillykke! Congratulations, #Denmark for becoming the first country in the European Union to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis! This is a major public health achievement! Read more 🔗 bit.ly/4rGjxGw

National Science Board meeting starts in 20 mins—I'll try to follow along and do some live coverage. Open session will discuss merit review and changes to agency management/decision-making.

@bawmn.bsky.social is offering an intimate World Café luncheon March 19th at the AABAs on the timely theme of Collective Action ~ a chance to really connect and reflect in a relaxed setting over a delicious Italian meal. Register here: forms.gle/vXsTK8EWPf9A...

The Developmental Origins of Health & Disease (DOHaD) Canada's @dohadcanada.bsky.social meeting will take place June 2–3, 2026 in Western University in London! The theme is: "From Womb to Well-Being: Biological and Psychosocial Pathways in DOHaD" - Join us! 👇🏽 www.dohad.ca/annual-meeti...

My department is hiring a Biological Anthropologist, spread the word!!! jobs.radford.edu/jobs/teachin...

Check our new paper “Reframing the sex debate in scientific research - three frameworks to support rigor without rigidity” in Journal of Biology of Sex Differences. Co authored with Stacey Ritz. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

In terms of what cures are being lost: - Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis - herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis - shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease

Our latest in EMPH - an #evolutionarymedicine perspective on betel nut chewing in Bangladesh: academic.oup.com/emph/article...

Few scientific ideas have traveled as far — or had consequences as wide-ranging — as Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. For #DarwinDay, we’ve compiled a selection of books inspired by his work: bit.ly/3Zl6T3a

"There is grandeur in this view of life - that from so simple a beginning, endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." Happy birthday to the only and only Charles Darwin. 🧪

What day is it? It's #Darwin's birthday! Happy 217th to our boy Charles.

Good morning! We have just learned that our article on experiences and recommendations for faculty with disabilities has been published: www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/15...

The Taung Child was first mentioned in print today in 1925. 🏺🧪 📸 Len Richardson, Johannesburg Star.

Updated application portal is now live! arizona.csod.com/samldefault....

We’re hiring! UC Press is looking for an Editorial Assistant (hybrid, Oakland) to support acquisitions, work with authors, and help bring scholarly books into the world: careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psp/ucop/EMP...

Dr. Ian Wallace will deliver a seminar at Rutgers University on 2/13 on the evolution of osteoarthritis. Please see the attached flyer and come if you can!

William Foege has died. He was a central architect of smallpox eradication, pioneering surveillance-driven ring vaccination when vaccine supply was limited. That strategy helped eliminate the deadliest human pathogen we’ve ever known. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...

I saw this a million years ago and could not stop laughing.

Our latest, open access, publication - Feeling Unsafe in One’s Own Body: The Impact of Illness on Psychological Safety and Social Engagement www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/23...

WHO removing Us Flag

Latest Treponema genome just dropped: it's 5,500 years old, was found in Colombia, and is a different branch of the evolutionary tree than the strains that cause today's syphilis/yaws/bejel. 🏺🧪

Sick n tired of evolution smdh. 20 million years ago it took away our tail, 350 million years ago it took away a few extra fingers, now we learn we could've had an extra set of eyes. always takes and never gives 😤 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Letter in Times today

Do I know anyone who is on committees for admissions to medical school that has 30 mins to chat?

Professor position in Global Health at the University of Geneva, Institute of Global Health! This is really an exciting opportunity with lots of possibilities for collaborations, e.g. with our Centre, in the field of infectious diseases, international Geneva, WHO... jobs.unige.ch/www/wd_porta...

And my group at the Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases is also hiring: We are looking for a postdoc for our work on mucosal immunity and respiratory viruses! jobs.unige.ch/www/wd_porta...

We are collecting information on terminated SAMHSA grants at Grant Witness: grant-witness.us/submit-samhs... If you worked on one of these programs, please let us know at the link! And please share with your colleagues. We need a comprehensive record of these terminations to fight back!

EMPATHY: In a new article out in Behaviour "The Evolutionary & Developmental Origins of Empathy: Honouring Frans de Waal’s Legacy", I consider how processes like mimicry, contagion and early social experiences shape later social-emotional development. #OpenAccess here👉: brill.com/view/journal...

Thanks to all who have signed so far. We have 73 signatories across a variety of disciplines. Let's see if we can break 200 before we send it off next week. Please re-post and send on to your colleagues. Thank you!

Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).

New from @helenbranswell.bsky.social with a chart by me: the United States is now a global outlier when it comes to vaccines www.statnews.com/2026/01/09/c...

If you are submitting an NIH grant in February, you will be required to use SciENcv to prepare you biosketch. IT IS MUCH WORSE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE. Set aside *at least* 4 hours just to transfer an existing an biosketch into SciENcv.

If you have someone in your life who likes #watches, #mathematics, #linguistics, or is just the kind of wonderful nerd who would like to own such a thing, please send them to the Kickstarter for the new Dana watch, which I co-designed. www.kickstarter.com/projects/dan...

I'm hiring 2 postdocs on my Wellcome project "How Did Infectious Diseases Become Wild?: Plague, Yellow Fever, and Disease Ecology in the Brazilian Hinterland (1920-1975)" Department of Global Health and Social Medicine King's College 3 years 01/10/26- 30/09/29 Deadline: 01/02/26 shorturl.at/KZ6Vh

Fully funded PhD project available at Nottingham Trent University. Linked to a BBSRC funded grant, this project will investigate how primates perceive and respond to infants, combining cutting-edge cognitive testing with behavioural data. See 🧵

Don't forget--the deadline is coming up on January 5th!

EXCLUSIVE: @laurenweberhp.bsky.social & I have spent the last year collecting school+county-level vaccination data from across the US and found that only about 28% of counties now have herd immunity for kindergartners from measles—that leaves about 5.2mn kids unprotected. Gift link: wapo.st/49zDc43

30 years ago today, December 31st 1995, the last ever Calvin & Hobbes comic strip was published. Even now, I still find it so poignant & moving.

Wanna see real-life miracles? Fund scientific research. A team of US scientists just cured Alzheimer’s in mice — and there is now hope that the disease can be reversed in humans. futurism.com/health-medic...

If anyone has prepared some basic overview materials (w/ citations?) on the broader effects of GenAI (water use, energy use, energy costs, climate change, unconsented IP use, etc) that could be used in an intro genEd course as part of the basis for not allowing it, please share? I will credit you!

Sauropods xkcd.com/3185/

A free, open-access library of high-quality organism illustrations for science communication

New source of long-run infectious disease reports - monthly from 1903 for Ontario, from 1915 for Quebec & from 1924 for all Cdn provinces doi.org/10.1371/jour... Might be interesting to use together with new complete count historic census data borealisdata.ca/dataverse/TC... thecanadianpeoples.com

This was *entirely* preventable.

Some brave souls choose to face the feare of failure and the terror of a blanke page. Thrugh harde worke and luck thei come back wyth storyes that bringe us mirthe, or horror, or thrilles, or beautye, or wisdom, or delighteful surreal confusioun. Gen A.I. ys nothinge lyke that. Long live artists.

Share this with a colleague. This org does grants for academic moms to help with things like childcare at a conference, covering unpaid days off with a sick kiddo, or just getting through a rough patch. We need more stuff like this. 🧪 #WomenInSTEM #BlueSci #SciMom iamas.com/academic-mam...