A few years ago, I went to Panama to see the "sterile fly barrier" that keeps a flesh-eating parasite out of the U.S. It's one of the wildest things I've ever written about it... www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

🧵 Last year, I came across one of the most harrowing studies I've ever read. It found that 1 in 4 unresponsive brain-injury patients—many considered vegetative—might be cognitively aware but trapped inside their bodies. Could this be true? What did it mean? www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

🧵 Last year, I came across one of the most harrowing studies I've ever read. It found that 1 in 4 unresponsive brain-injury patients—many considered vegetative—might be cognitively aware but trapped inside their bodies. Could this be true? What did it mean? www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Ok is something going on with the supply chain for clear plastic bags? I bought 3 different brands of "clear" bags from Amazon (ty NYC recycling rules) that were all white, despite old reviews w photos of clear bags. And our latest box of diapers also switched from clear to white plastic sleeves.

recently got some nice news — my magazine story about a cystic fibrosis breakthrough won first place for consumer feature in AHCJ's journalism awards www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

IT'S THIGH TIME FOR CHICKEN

if you are looking for distraction in these uhh tumultuous times, Bracket City is now on @theatlantic.com and it is the perfect fun-sized diversion www.theatlantic.com/games/bracke...

"Zoom in on a silica gel bead with a scanning electron microscope, and its smooth surface turns discontinuous... That single gram of silica gel could have an internal surface area of eight hundred square meters—the size of almost two basketball courts" www.scopeofwork.net/silica-gel/

"The vaccination has stuff we don't trust," said the father of the 6-year-old girl who died from measles at the end of last month. Tom Bartlett visited with a family confronting an unthinkable tragedy:

one of the things scientists got wrong at the beginning of the pandemic is thinking "the coronavirus mutates slowly." my look back on what happened and why COVID ended up surprising us so much. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

My neighbor Arthur made my childhood magical, and he died in the Palisades Fire. Here is my thank you to him, in @theatlantic.com: www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

Missed this last week—what a nice surprise to be among so many reporters I admire! ty @jasonmast.bsky.social

I just can't stop thinking about this story by @sarahzhang.bsky.social

this big bloomberg investigation into the global supply chain for human eggs is incredible, and this scene about a fertility drug purified from the urine of postmenopausal women is especially wild www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

This story--about two families whose embryos were switched in an IVF mix-up--was a privilege to report and write for the @nytimes.com . Their grace and generosity in the face of an impossible situation moves me to no end: www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/m...

i'll drop everything to read a new story by @sarahzhang.bsky.social and I am so happy @neeldhan.bsky.social interviewed her for @niemanlab.org! www.niemanlab.org/2024/11/the-...

fun to chat with @neeldhan.bsky.social at @niemanlab.org about journalism topics discussed: the humiliation of living in a physical body, chartbeat brain, and how becoming a parent sharpened the way i think about covering health and science www.niemanlab.org/2024/11/the-...

listen to @annielowrey.bsky.social! www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

give it up for the scrawny city boys

wrote about RFK Jr., vaccines, and my most enduring memory from college German class www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

You might have heard about the tick that makes you allergic to red meat. Lately, I've been hearing that this tick is also making farmers allergic to their own animals—so allergic that some farmers can't even touch or be around cattle anymore. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

got to do the thing i love best, which is investigate a lil mystery by following a supply chain (in this case: seaweed) www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

Whoa hi to so many new friends here. Where are you coming from?

What does it look like when you leave abortion up to the states? In the latest issue of The Atlantic, I wrote about life in Idaho, under of the most extreme bans in the country. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Yes! Another currently off-label use for Xolair—I've talked people with MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome) who were able to get approved on the basis of chronic hives or food allergies. Studies suggest it works for MCAS: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30954641/

5 years ago, I interviewed a woman with a severe allergy to corn, which turns out is hidden EVERYWHERE: table salt, bagged salads, frozen fish, etc. Even allergy pills contain cornstarch. Recently, she started a food allergy drug that's changed her life: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

"When James awoke from surgery, the first thing he noticed was the smell. After two years with no sense of smell, he was grateful, even though the odour was 'hospital.'" www.nature.com/articles/d41...

is a single male bottlenose dolphin responsible for biting 29 people in japan? www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The science that led to the development of Ozempic was wrong. Why do the drugs work anyway? Gift link, unpaywalled: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

a public health mystery, whose ultimate cause was the expansion and retreat of glaciers during the last Ice Age www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

what did rene girard think of toddlers? surely there is no group of people more under the spell of mimetic desire

on a personal level, very cool to go from covering the early days of crispr in a lab to covering the very first crispr treatment approved in humans. only took a little more than a decade! (lightning fast, relatively speaking) www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

letter of recommendation: cereal with half and half, instead of milk

the secret sauce of legos is their “clutch power” www.ft.com/content/6cad...

"zinc-finger nucleases" and "talen" both sound way more metal than "crispr"

multiple ms rachels spotted on park slope halloween

spoooooky halloween tale: baby still hasn’t napped today

says you can get nose boners because noses are made out of boner tissue or something. what a world

noses are far weirder than i ever thought: 1. you can control your nose from your armpit 2. there is a "nasal cycle" 3. actually, you have two noses www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

heard something today that i could not believe but maybe is really is true: humans are the only animals with nose hair??

Fascinating piece from @marynmck.bsky.social - it focuses on a new study that looks at the skeletal remains of 1918 flu victims www.wired.com/story/histor...

your week is off a great start when you're googling "can you get hand foot and mouth disease three times"

the internet isn't fun anymore that's why we have to read gawker posts from 2006 www.gawker.com/166214/the-p...

golden retrievers are dying younger is a conspiracy theory i would totally believe slate.com/technology/2...

i made a paper cone fruit fly trap and baited it with some fruit peels. a cockroach got in and ate so much and got so big in the trap that it could no longer squeeze out. and now it is dead.

completely understand how the instagram algorithm pegged me as this person given the sheer amount of science and baby content i consume (separately!), but still, a bit disconcerting how often i am served videos of animals breastfeeding

this is a tarantino movie

having an extremely productive morning. i am talking, of course, about my cough

after writing about how decongestant meds don't work last week, i am now...congested www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

it's not quite it, but for some reason* i had john wilson's voice in my head writing this lede www.theatlantic.com/health/archi... *the reason is i've been watching the new season