It is an insane fact that the most consequential US political result of the COVID-19 pandemic was rapid & decisive pro-infectious-disease right-wing polarization

Moderna's seasonal investigational influenza vaccine, mRNA-1010, has been submitted & accepted for review in EU, Canada & Australia. Kennedy's FDA now officially refuses to review the vaccine. "Refusal to review the submission is inconsistent with feedback at pre-Phase 3 & pre-submission" #medsky ⬇️

It is absolutely outrageous that Moderna’s flu vaccine was met with a “refusal-to-file” even after their approved their protocol with FDA and carried out the trial as agreed. This vaccine works better in older adults than the current flu vaccines. apnews.com/article/mode...

Great article that really hit home after I listened to an infuriating Odd Lots podcast that makes the point of the Op Ed. The finance industry is a grift. Not only that, it is an irresistible force drawing Americans who could use their abilities to do something useful, but can't resist the $$ /1

Seattle 23-10

Superbowl Sunday San Diego

Early February in San Diego

The term ultra-processed food is ridiculous and the entire idea is a painfully silly extension of the naturalistic fallacy

Wondering what led my rep @repscottpeters.bsky.social to vote Yes. Scott??

And some say it's the least respected member of the family! #chemchat

my San Diego kid has finally experienced a snow day. ♥️

Since that time, HPV vaccine has been demonstrated to be safe and very, very effective at preventing cancer, which you can see for yourself in this Figure from a paper by Lei et al. (NEJM, Sept 30, 2020).

Meanwhile the U.S. government just shed **10,000*** STEM PhDs from the federal workforce in a single year. www.science.org/content/arti...

4. Ergo, choosing to clamp down on the thing that has driven economic growth, dynamism and a growing domestic consumer base stops the good things from happening. None of this is new information. But we can't make decisions based on those facts as long as the xenophobes are in charge.

I wonder if we have to stop using "science" to mean truth or correctness. Science doesn't support or refute anything. Many Americans are triggered to be skeptical of anything science-y. "Kennedy stacked a committee with people who support his incorrect views..."

2. Context is critical: The US has confirmed more #measles cases so far in 2026 — not a full month in! — than it recorded in all but 4 of the last 30 years. And this comes after 2025, the biggest measles year in 35 years! There's a vaccine for this. Works really well. www.cdc.gov/measles/data...

BREAKING: Whistleblower disclosures reveal a formal ICE policy to ignore the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.  Every American should be terrified by this secret ICE policy authorizing its agents to kick down your door & storm into your home. 1/

It’s a shame that this article about Rahm, saying pols should be put to pasture at 75, doesn't mention that his brother Zeke said he wanted to be DEAD at 75. What's with these Emmanuel guys? (1/3)

Preparing for liftoff!

Some perspective: The S&P opened down -1.3% on Trump's Greenland saber-rattling. That's $750 billion of wealth destroyed -- roughly equal to estimates of the value of Greenland. And so ~in dollar terms~ his shenanigans have already cost the US one Greenland, and we've got nothing to show for it.

Here's the show. youtu.be/kozx1KGI3sg?...

Always "shoot first" with this administration. Why?

Tried buying a pair of Brooks Glycerins to be shipped to NY. Store wouldn't do it - their system threw a "chemicals" restriction on shipping to NY. Sales guy said this has happened before & reason is "the shoes have nitrogen." He didn't care when I told him he's breathing ~80% nitrogen. #chemsky

Once again: a far-right president asking Jews to register as Jewish, in the name of protecting the Jews, after he has repeatedly accused Jews of being “disloyal.” What could go wrong? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Anytime there's a gun tragedy in the U.S., GOP lawmakers point to the need for better access to mental health care.

Watch: At #JPM26, former drug regulator Richard Pazdur rings the alarm about politics at FDA Full session: www.statnews.com/2026/01/13/j...

How it’s going

Whatever it's eating - it's working!

California has more Republicans than Florida. There is no such thing as a "blue state." (data from Gemini, so ...)

Since Makary/FDA Commissioner mentioned investors as 1 of his priorities, the new FDA should disclose which investors will be benefiting from the increase in the number of meningitis, RSV, cervical cancer & hepatitis cases & hospitalizations due to the vaccine changes announced yesterday #medsky

Hey #chemchat - especially in Florida... Why don't we ever figure out ways to make $$ off of chemistry illiteracy?

2. On the day when it was revealed that a record number of children died from #flu last year, in the midst of a flu season that's shaping up to be a real doozy, #HHS announced it will no longer recommend flu vaccine for all children. You read that correctly. www.statnews.com/2026/01/05/c...

As the picture of what happened yesterday comes into focus, I think the proper analogy is a country bombing us, whisking Trump and Melania away for trial elsewhere, declaring that the Democrats have no hope of governing, and leaving Vance in charge as the guy they believe they can work with.

Maduro's pardon is going to be *expensive*.

This post, which is getting boatloads of engagement, is about an article that summarizes an essay that's about a bill that an activist group published. The post gets the bill's gist wrong, probably because Rebecca didn't read the essay or the bill. 🤷 Are people that busy? bsky.app/profile/jsro...

This article is about a proposed bill. The bill was likely written by lawyers, as probably most bills are. So the true intent is most likely captured in this writeup by the org proposing the bill. (civicsalliance.org) Tl;dr? It's about the money.

This is more than half the NSF's total annual budget.

Help - What do baby hummingbirds EAT?? #birdsky

Maybe it's just me, but in almost-2026, I can't be "optimistic" about another "new" review about amyloid/tau-based Alzheimer's therapies.

Nick Sirianni To Eagles Fans: ‘I Hate All Of You, Fuck You’ https://theonion.com/nick-sirianni-to-eagles-fans-i-hate-all-of-you-fuck-you/

The takedown of the US system of childhood vaccines which worked exceedingly well for decades for preventing diseases and major adverse outcomes

(please share) Immediate #postdoc job opening in the Millman lab at WashU Med (St. Louis, MO). Want to develop next-generation pancreatic islets for the study and treatment of diabetes? Email your CV to apply sites.wustl.edu/millmanlab/

I recommend the one-two punch of this story about how not-ready the trillions of dollars of ai market cap is to do anything useful for people with...

Does it happen irl anymore? Met my wife in lab. Grad student a year behind me met his wife in same lab. In the 90s, it seemed that was the most common way for scientists to meet partners. Are today's grad students not finding love in lab?

The thing you need to understand about the Right is that they are absolutely fine just plain burning down higher education if taking it over ideologically doesn’t work. They’re perfectly happy reducing it to ashes.

Yaghi, Kariko, Patapoutian ( @ardemp.bskyverified.social ), et al. should form an organization, American Nobel prize winners Born In Shithole Countries [ANBISC], and travel the country from now until Nov '26. They should should speak about what coming to America meant...

@warren.senate.gov publishes a report listing all the $$ that Congress gave to DOD to do DOD things that DOD instead spent on Stephen Miller's snatch and grab. As you look at these numbers, think how much cancer research could have been funded. www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

$140m. Think of how many cancer drug trials or free school lunches this could have paid for www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

Thanksgiving foliage