“There will be preventable deaths that result from these decisions,” said Dr. Panagiotakopoulos, who oversaw the CDC’s work group on the Covid vaccine before she resigned in June. “Having people without vaccine and clinical expertise having the power to harm so much of the public is unbearable.”

Sunday’s NYT cooking newsletter is always a comfort read, including Sifton’s listening and reading recs — like this Dorothy Parker piece in the London Review of Books.

Central Park edit bench. Bright-winged flyer.

“We are great in science. Why would we want to destroy one of our greatest assets?” -Harold Varmus, former NIH director and Nobel-winning cancer researcher

Just remarkable: “Recorded life expectancy of a person with CF was generally months to a few years when Dorothy Andersen first described the disease; today, the estimated median age of survival for persons with CF who were born between 2020 and 2024 and have access to treatment is 65 years.”

“You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now. You start building your private New York the first time you lay eyes on it.”

Central Park: New Yorker with a strong sense of personal space.

Dealbook on cancer research megamerger: Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation & Mark Foundation for Cancer Research (founded by the hedge fund billionaire Alex Knaster) “create a new initiative to research how aging affects cancer risk.”

The photographer Gilles Peress reached the World Trade Center just before the second tower collapsed. @pgourevitch.bsky.social reflects on Peress’s photograph of first responders at the scene. “There it is: ashes to ashes, dust to dust, no metaphors.” #NewYorker100

“I’m like, you’re 8 years old,” he said. “What are you talking about, ‘I’m not a math person?’”

David Baltimore, in his own words (2019).

Sad news. “Admired and envied, lionized and attacked, Dr. Baltimore spent most of his life in the scientific limelight, a towering figure of modern biology.”

Just look at this gorgeous creature. A veteran guest star of the Dylan movie, Mrs. Maisel and other NYC productions.

“It’s all confusing, and I think that’s the point. I think Kennedy’s point is to make it confusing.”

Central Park.

A bit of a personal intro on today’s show. The stakes of what’s being done to cancer research right now are tangible for me. slate.com/podcasts/wha...

“I think it is the role of companies to talk about the future in ways that aren’t just glibly positive.” -Nick Foster, author of “Could Should Might Don’t”

Goldfish may love an open-plan glass pod office. Humans not so much. “The architects reversed the scheme, elevating the experience of nature over privacy…They arranged the modular workstations in an open plan, interrupted only by occasional glass-walled office pods…(goldfish & water not included).”

“I’ve been thinking of this Labubumatchadubaichocolate phase as IRL Brain Rot, a culture that exists physically but is incomprehensible without the internet, a set of artifacts and beliefs that adhere to the post-digital self.”

Central Park August.

“A majority of Americans (59%) say journalists are extremely or very important to the well-being of society…But about half of U.S. adults (49%) say journalists are losing influence in society.”

“Describe the voice you use to talk to Tango? High-pitched with a New York accent and a touch of baby talk.”

“Kutler said that in initial conversations with a limited group of people who learned the MS NOW brand early, she noticed ‘a little trepidation’ at first, but then their enthusiasm grew.” 🤔

MS NOW MAX AI

“By recalibrating rather than severing support, we can keep this powerful tool ready for the time it is needed most. The next crisis will not wait for us to rebuild what we have thrown away.” -Rick Bright, BARDA’s director when the US made the decision to invest heavily in mRNA

“When Nature polled American scientists recently, 75% said they were considering leaving the United States. A Chinese VC told me that if the ethnically Chinese among those 75% came back to China, it could supercharge the country’s efforts.”

“‘Tactical urbanism’ is the term of art. It describes a whole universe of homegrown, under-the-radar architecture contrived to fix everyday problems in a city, like entering a grocery store whose entrance sits a step above the sidewalk.”

What’s old…a mere two weeks later is new again.

One big challenge the writers of The Pitt are going to have: Republicans backloaded the Medicaid cuts, so most of the changes won't happen until after season 2. variety.com/2025/awards/...

“We lack the ability to connect the research environment with the markets to commercialize innovations emerging from academia. There should be a structural, long-term plan in Europe.” -Mario Mariniello, fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based economic think tank, on EU competition for research talent

“Had we not used these lifesaving mRNA vaccines to protect against severe illness, we would have had millions of more Covid deaths.” -Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health

😹 to “game-changing moment” in a press release

Marking 2025’s last week of post-8PM summer sunsets. Though city sunsets are routinely on point.

“The share of S&P 500 companies disclosing how many women are sitting on their board of directors fell to 60% in 2025 from 91% the previous year…Disclosure of racial and ethnic diversity also fell sharply: The share of firms disclosing racial/ethnic diversity metrics fell to 45% from 72%.”

5th Ave sidewalk portal.

Rabbit, Rabbit. Central Park.

Newsletter: In a media landscape dominated by algorithmic feeds that aim to manipulate and extract, sometimes the most radical thing you can do is choose to read what you want, when you want, without anyone watching over your shoulder. Here’s how to use RSS. www.citationneeded.news/curate-with-...

Summer heat wave on the island of Manhattan where “the stoop stood in for a beach chair and the bucket hat for an umbrella.”

“The values of solidarity and community that underlie universal health systems in other countries are not embraced as strongly in the United States; it would be unthinkable in those countries to take health insurance away from millions of people.”

#Breaking: Vinay Prasad, a top official at the Food and Drug Administration, has suddenly departed after a series of controversial decisions about a treatment for boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. www.statnews.com/2025/07/29/v...

Going to shift research focus to include more cats and bell ringing. 🐈‍⬛

"David was a great champion of global health and health equity, and a wise, generous mentor to countless individuals.” -WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Interesting interview with Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson on the company’s use of generative AI and Plai, an internal app the company developed with Aily Labs, an AI start-up, to deliver data insights. (More at DealBook link in descriptor.)

DealBook Talks AI with Sanofi’s CEO: “We start many of our committees now with an agent telling us whether it thinks we should go forward or not on a project. The agent doesn’t have a career at stake. It does not have to look around the room and feel consequences for killing a project.”

“Only 20% of artists will exhibit their work in their lifetime. The chances of such cultural affirmation are even less likely for women: A 2019 study found that between 2008 and 2018, only 11% of acquisitions and 14% of exhibitions at 26 major U.S. museums were of works by female artists.”

Summer creatures. Central Park. Cabbage white. Pretty pest.

“The platforms on which outlets like WIRED used to connect with readers, listeners, and viewers are failing in real time; Facebook traffic disappeared years ago, and now Google Search is dwindling as the company reorients users to rely on AI Overviews instead of links to credible publishers.”

True of much writing. “We get a whole bunch of readers, but people really come to see the animals.”

“5% of AI summaries – and 5% of standard search results – linked to news websites.” 😶

Central Park buttah-fly