In this post, I summarize why Trump's new restrictions on foreign students are harmful and unjust, relying in large part on excellent analyses by @davidjbier.bsky.social and @mclem.org: reason.com/volokh/2026/...

Also don't sleep on the fact that yesterday RFK Jr said “there are cyclospora outbreaks every summer,” as though case counts aren't up like 500%

I've still never gotten any reply from the administration to this question: what happens if someone gets sick? Not only Ebola. What if someone has a heart attack or gallbladder trouble? Are they taken to the local hospital? If so, how?

Another idiotic move from the Trump regime: Capping foreign student visas at 4 years is a massive mistake. Most PhD programs take 5 to 7 years to complete. This will force top global talent into constant bureaucratic extension loops, or drive them away entirely.

Bhattacharya tries to take credit for HIV advances while his policies undermine the field.

Yesterday the US Administration supercharged its explicit effort to bar international students from staying in the US after graduation. All Americans should know: 1/3 of *all* STEM PhDs working in the US are immigrants who graduated from US universities, then stayed. www.piie.com/index%2Ephp/...

"Given the lack of details provided by Taylor Farms, Consumer Reports advises consumers in those states to discard all iceberg lettuce out of an abundance of caution." www.consumerreports.org/health/food-...

Judge rules against use of obscure clause to cancel grants to states | AP News share.google/wD4VYtibEazn...

"The investigation has raised questions about whether there is more lettuce posing potential risk." www.usatoday.com/story/news/h...

"Federal health officials have stressed that other brands, restaurants, retailers, or distribution channels could be tied to the outbreak." www.the-independent.com/bulletin/new...

CDC has updated their outbreak webpage in the past hour or so. it is much improved. thank you to the overwhelmed career public health workers who worked to get this out.

NEW: Taylor Farms said the lettuce associated with cyclospora & explosive diarrhea went to 27 states, but did not name the companies. It doesn't have to, said Sandra Eskin: “Without this essential information, a recall is not going to be effective.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/18/h...

Many faculty have been sounding the alarm about the problems generative AI poses for student learning. Strangely, some higher ed administrations seem have emerged as major AI boosters. Why? As I write in the latest @hedgehogreview.bsky.social it's a labor story: hedgehogreview.com/issues/the-f...

Cyclospora cases are spreading. Why don’t we know more about it? At least in part becuase it's complicated, explains @aetiology.bsky.social in @msnownews.bsky.social www.ms.now/opinion/cycl...

We should be avoiding all salads, including last night’s word salad.

I thought MAHA wanted to set public health back two hundred years, but I now see it’s more like two thousand.

I knew this! I thought it was bizarre as well. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Half of Canada’s wildfires are in remote areas with no road access. Not only is it impossible to get firefighters on the ground, there is also insufficient time to react.

Every time they make it harder for foreign students to study here, they're just jacking up the tuition costs for American students and robbing America of incredible new talent too.

Taylor Farms Expands Iceberg Lettuce Recall to 27 States Amid Cyclospora Outbreak www.nytimes.com/2026/07/18/h...

Whatever could be said about that claim when he made it in 1962, it soon became undeniable that government vaccine research, distribution, and mandates are objectively among the greatest achievements of civilization. Claiming otherwise is embarrassing, it's like saying you don't wash your hands.

A lot of attention has gone to Kennedy making cyclosporiasis optional for FoodNet reporting. But cuts to state and local health departments -- and the loss of CDC expertise -- are a much bigger deal. My latest: www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Appreciate @melodyschreiber.com focusing on the bigger picture--been a bit frustrating to see some of the framing around the FoodNet cuts. Anyway, my earlier piece on the gargantuan state-level investigative work amid the cyclospora outbreak-- work that relies on federal support:

"There is no vaccine injury that improves and then kills a child overnight. And certainly not two children in the same night.” Excellent reporting on the Idaho twins case by Michelle Smith. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... @theguardian.com

The last FDA inspections of Taylor Farms were in 2011 and 2019. The FDA has been hit hard by staff cuts ordered by DOGE and RFK Jr. Foreign food inspections plummeted last year, and the agency was already struggling to inspect foreign facilities before the cuts. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/h...

This was me in 2023, quoted in Nature. Now see how things are going. When will the academic community wake up collectively & notice what is done to our scientific eco system. Resits. Organize. Refuse to play along. Fight slop. Take principled stands. 🖋️ openletter.earth/open-letter-...

Unless we find a way to phase out fossil fuels, we are in trouble www.cbc.ca/news/science...

Seven American aid workers are being quarantined at a recently built US facility on an air base in Kenya — the first to be monitored at the site — even as the Trump administration announced a new Ebola-related travel ban this week. 🎁 🔗 www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/w...

Consumers worldwide are shifting to electric vehicles. Trump's hatred of them is killing the American auto industry www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/m...

Trump Is Bending History to His Will. He Will Fail. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/o...

It’s not “how can we help our neighbor and close ally?” It’s not “what policies are needed to address this world problem?” He’s an infantile, vengeful and uninformed crank, so it’s this…👇 Trump Threatens Canada With Tariffs for Wildfire Smoke Over U.S. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/w...

“In recent months, the Trump administration has moved to shutter several government laboratories that studied how wildfires affect human health, air quality, wildlife habitat and forest ecosystems… the cuts could hinder efforts to protect people and the environment”

The mystery of what food caused an outbreak of cyclosporiasis across several midwestern states appears to be solved. But crucial questions still remain unanswered, Nicholas Florko reports:

Gift link with no paywall because everybody needs to read this one after the June we just had slate.com/news-and-pol...

BREAKING: Taylor Farms pulls all iceberg lettuce sourced in central Mexico from U.S. market in cyclosporiasis investigation. AND Sysco, a huge food supplier, has stopped distributing Taylor Farms processed iceberg lettuce products frm Mexico. Our story. 1/2 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

The details reported here, rollcall.com/2026/07/17/h...

YOU CAN'T TELL ME NOT TO DRINK FROM THE BROAD STREET PUMP

Reminder: When fires ravaged southern California, Canada sent firefighting crews to help battle the blazes.

That's where I am. Court-packing isn't a great solution, but the problem is real and it's going to be the least-bad available alternative. If it's available - which it will be only if there are back-to-back (2026, 2028) very good years for the Dems.

The headline sounded more interesting than the story turned out to be. www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdi...

Judge rules OMB can’t retroactively nix grants based on new rules

Taylor Farms credits information from the FDA for its decision. But the FDA doesn't mention Taylor Farms in its outbreak investigation report released yesterday. The emphasis is on Taco Bell, which buys lettuce from Taylor Farms, but stopped using it last week.

“A single contaminated product can reach multiple states before anyone gets sick, especially since cyclospora has such a long incubation period,” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/w...

The work of building efficient, scalable AI systems hasn't been done, Alex Reisner argues. He explores the the industry's inefficiency, and how it’s costing the rest of us:

😂

Left: Venus, 1 March 1982 Centre: Titan, 14 January 2005 Right: Boston, 15 July 2026

A very lovely piece from Natalie, with whom I'm delighted to share this trait.

'Our findings indicate that more severe fire effects are expected in Canada because of the warming climate' www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

“Taylor Fresh Foods, of Salinas, California, said FDA testing indicated it was ‘a specific independent farm’ affiliated with the company” www.statnews.com/2026/07/17/c...