Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
banner
coolvirus.bsky.social
Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
@coolvirus.bsky.social
PhD in infectious diseases and immunology, not in common sense, impulse control, or social skills.
Mpox, Yersinia pestis, avian influenza, dengue, EV-A71, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, SARS-CoV-2, cats and dogs, bikes, democracy, sewing. 🇲🇾🇿🇦🇸🇬🇺🇸
Pinned
I have friends who are colleagues and friends who are laypersons, so if you think a post is too complicated, it's not for you, and if you think it's too simplistic, it's also not for you.
I'm 华诗霞 and I endorse this sunset

#Rockville #Bethesda #Maryland #Chinesenames
November 27, 2025 at 1:25 AM
My friend back in KL saw an ad for the #dengue 🦟⚽ vaccine I used to work on at Inviragen/Takeda ☺️ Nice to see "translational research" actually having been translated

#flaviviruses #arboviruses #mosquitoes #Aedes #NTDs #vaccines
November 26, 2025 at 7:22 PM
I need somebody to photoshop in an azhdarchid as the Nazgul steed instead of that goofy looking thing in the Jackson film.

And no it's not called a "fellbeast", fell just means scary. Tolkien didn't give it a name.
November 26, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Just realized that, except for brief periods of <1 year, I've never in my adult life lived in a country where I wasn't on an employment-based visa and could do normal people side hustles like walking dogs, food service, or sex work.

Employment based visas mean your free time isn't even really yours
November 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
Frikkin amazing stuff.
November 26, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Organizers at New Zealand hacker conference used CO2 monitors to create a literal antivirus monitoring system (indoor CO2 being a proxy for exhaled air). Now why don't we do this at biology conferences...

arstechnica.com/security/202...
This hacker conference installed a literal antivirus monitoring system
Organizers had a way for attendees to track CO2 levels throughout the venue—even before they arrived.
arstechnica.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
Facts and evidence are not “orthodoxy”
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms
November 22, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
This week, I withdrew from a speaking engagement at a public university because they sent me a list of prohibited “words & concepts.” I will not humor this censorship. It does a disservice to the stories I’m discussing & the audience, who deserve unfettered access to information & conversation.
November 20, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
Behind this important reversal is a member of the Coast Guard who saw what was happening and had the courage to leak it to the press. That person deserves serious praise.
November 21, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Brooke double-fisting crickets for breakfast

#prayingmantis #mantids #mantises #petinsects #petbugs
November 21, 2025 at 1:37 PM
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Here's this week's Random Animal Facts Journal Club paper:

Apostolov 2025 Front Zool

Tracking domestication signals across populations of North American raccoons (Procyon lotor) via citizen science-driven image repositories
Cuter and closer: Raccoons may be on their way to becoming America's next pet
The rubbish raiders are showing reductions in snout length, a sign of early domestication, researchers say.
www.bbc.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
🚀New preprint from our lab!
I am very excited to finally share what has been the main focus of my PhD for the past almost 3 years! It is about viral dark matter and a powerful tool we built to shed light on it. 🧬💡
Continue reading (🧵)
November 20, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Wonderful news. I'm not a parent myself, I can only imagine how shattering it would be to watch your baby gasping for air.
November 20, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
Any President who calls for the opposition party to be hanged should be immediately impeached and removed from office.
November 20, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
getting kids properly screened for adhd with providers that fully trained for it is also near-impossible for many families. it’s so hard to find any providers who accept new patients, regardless of insurance.

you won’t fix clinical issues in this specialty without addressing these underlying causes
November 20, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
every time the pediatric adhd medication discourse starts up, i gotta remind folks that getting pediatric adhd behavioral therapy is nearly impossible to get for many families. one of the worst shortages out there. medication is often the only realistic option available to desperate parents
November 20, 2025 at 3:12 PM
I gotta say it's pretty cool that the announcement of the Steam Frame VR headset has an older woman in one of the prominent product photos.

store.steampowered.com/sale/steamfr...
November 13, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
Five new #avian flu outbreaks confirmed in ducks, turkeys in 3 US states

In Michigan, 113,000 birds were affected on a turkey farm, the state's third detection in commercial turkeys in less than a week.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/a...

Photo: Andew-M-Whitman / Flickr cc
November 7, 2025 at 5:46 PM
#Tuberculosis #TB in a children's book about life in the 1910s
November 7, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
And of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t shout out the role of beavers, who are laying the groundwork for salmon recovery in Spencer Creek & other Klamath basin streams by creating rearing ponds for the next generations of coho & steelhead.

Tired: dams made of concrete
Inspired: dams made of willow
November 5, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
You "ease pressure" by paying them and FINALLY staffing up to proper numbers. (Like - hire more controllers than you think you need so that there are plenty of students in training. And then keep hiring controllers for YEARS so that retirements don't cause perpetual staffing crises.)
Breaking news: The Trump administration has announced it will reduce flight traffic by 10 percent in 40 markets across the U.S. as part of an effort to ease pressure on air traffic controllers, as the government shutdown enters its second month.
U.S. orders 10% cut in flights at several airports as shutdown drags on
The Trump administration says the move, which will affect 40 markets, is part of an effort to ease pressure on air traffic controllers.
wapo.st
November 5, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
Grateful to spend two days on the Klamath watching chinook, liberated by dam removal, return to streams from which they’d been precluded since the Titanic sank. Fish are everywhere, in numbers that stagger the mind & locations that biologists figured would take years to repopulate. Too beautiful.
November 5, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Reposted by Hwa Shi-Hsia /xwa51 ʂɚ55 ɕja35/
I want to remind everyone that while air traffic controllers are the most obvious FAA employees, there are tens of thousands more, including the technicians who keep ATC operating, the inspectors on the ground at air carriers & cargo operators, etc. who are vital to air safety.

We. Need. Them. All.
November 5, 2025 at 10:59 PM