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Delthia Ricks

@dricks.bsky.social

4.4K followers 1.9K following 2.5K posts

Science writer, author, essayist & avid gardener.

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · Dec 21

The stark contrast between Rwanda’s handling of a deadly Marburg virus outbreak this year & the rest of the world’s chaotic response to #Covid provides textbook lessons in how to properly respond to a threat and how to make a threat worse www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...

The contrast between Rwanda’s handling of Marburg and the chaotic response to Covid-19 is stark

The country’s response prevented a crisis – and provided the world with a valuable blueprint for effective outbreak control

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 12h

Anti-vaxxerism is a multi-million dollar industry👇

donnayoungdc @donnayoungdc.bsky.social · 1d

"Too often we call it misinformation or infodemic, like it's random junk out there on the Internet. It's not. It's organized, it's deliberate, it's politically motivated, and it's financially motivated." - @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
#MedSky #ScienceUnderSiege

Authors of 'Science Under Siege' warn of concerted effort to discredit science

From its embrace of dubious research about autism, its skepticism over vaccines and its wholesale rejection of the consensus about climate change, the Trump administration has set off alarm bells with...

www.pbs.org

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paulpro @mariopro.bsky.social · 18h

@anntelnaes.bsky.social

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 13h

This👇

Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 15h

Is there a better indication of how superficial and unhelpful mainstream media has become than that they are cutely musing about whether the domestic terrorist who changed "The Department of Defense" to "The Department of War" will get a Nobel Peace Prize—instead of reporting the fascism/terrorism.

Reposted by Delthia Ricks

Krassensteins @krassenstein.bsky.social · 15h

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 13h

Precisely👇

Andrea Junker @strandjunker.com · 15h

If you rename the Department of Defense the Department of War, then bomb fishing boats in the Caribbean, and shoot an unarmed priest in the head with a pepper bullet, you should automatically be barred from receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for the rest of your life.

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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 15h

I knew Fox News was theater. I just didn't realize it was a repertory theater that recycles actors for different roles.

You'd think a company that had to pay $787,000,000 for deceiving its viewers would be a little more careful about blatantly continuing the practice.

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The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 14h

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 13h

The Southern California Psychiatry Society & the Cmte to Protect Public Mental Health are calling for the ouster of RFKjr from Health & Human Services. "As physicians committed to evidence-based care, we're alarmed by the direction of HHS under RFK Jr," the committee said www.npr.org/sections/sho...

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 2d

Relatively simple experiments with far-reaching insights.

Great story in the obit… “I believe Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist. On present showing, this is quite ridiculous.”

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 2d

Dr. John Gurdon, a British biologist and Nobel laureate who in the early 1960s introduced a paradigm-shifting method of cell manipulation that led to the world’s first cloning of a large mammal, a sheep named Dolly, died on Tuesday at 92.

John B. Gurdon, 92, Dies; Nobelist Paved Way for Cloning of Animals

His work in the manipulation of cells laid the foundation for stem cell biology and regenerative medicine and led to the first cloned large mammal, a sheep named Dolly.

nyti.ms

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Ecotype @ecotype.bsky.social · 1d

Hang in there Portland & Chicago!

Pat Bagley @bagleycartoons.bsky.social · 2d

Thugs

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 1d

#VaccinesWork 👇

Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 1d

A study of nearly 300,000 people published today in the New England Journal of Medicine found “that last season’s 2024–2025 mRNA COVID vaccines reduced people’s risk of emergency department visits by 29 percent, their risk of hospitalizations by 39 percent and their risk of death by 64 percent.”

Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

www.scientificamerican.com

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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 1d

Our authoritarianism is run on clichés borrowed from the Eastern Europe of twenty years ago. Paid protestors, disloyal cities, evil Soros, vast conspiracies — it was all tiresome then and there, and now it’s pathetic.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump: "They're, like, insurrectionists, they're terrible people. But you really wonder why. Why are they doing it? What are they gaining? Other than they're obviously paid. They're paid a lot of money."

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 1d

Measles outbreak in Israel kills 3 children in the past week alone
6 children in total have died since the outbreak began, with the Health Ministry pushing a vaccination campaign to contain the highly contagious infection www.jpost.com/health-and-w...

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 1d

Everyone can set aside partisanship, psychologizing, pathologizing, whatever, and—I would hope—still see that it’s incredibly dangerous for a political leader to be this disconnected from the real conditions in the country.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump: "I don't know what could be worse than Portland. You don't even have stores anymore. They don't even put glass up. They put plywood on their windows."

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Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 1d

Let’s check in on the warzone in Portland.

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 1d

Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to the architects of 'metal-organic frameworks.' The prize was awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi for the development of an architecture that some chemists compare with a molecular sponge

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/s...

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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 1d

Pritzker is meeting the moment and if he stands up for the people, stands up against Trump's rein of terror, holds ICE accountable, he can elevate himself as a front runner for Dem leadership.

Now is the moment for leaders, not cowards.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Pritzker: "He wants to militarize major cities because he wants us to get used to the idea of troops on the streets. I believe he's gonna post people outside of polling places and if he needs to in order to control those elections, he'll assume control of the ballot boxes & count the votes himself"

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 1d

6 former Surgeons General say RFKjr is endangering the nation's health. They criticized him in a WashPost opinion article, saying he's an 'unprecedented threat.' "Science & expertise have taken a back seat to ideology & misinformation. Morale has plummeted in our health agencies & talent is fleeing

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 2d

Now that winter virus season is fast-approaching, RFKjr's revamp of the CDC means the agency has signed off on fall Covid shots. That means you may not be able to get a shot. Some states have already announced their own Covid shot recommendations, for others—chaos & confusion👇

CDC signs off on fall Covid shots. It may not be easy to get one, depending on where you live.

Many states have already announced their own Covid vaccine recommendations, creating "unprecedented" levels of confusion, one expert said.

www.nbcnews.com

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 2d

Colon cancer can be considered cured after 6 years when relapse risk falls below 0.5%. In a new study published in JAMA Oncology, researchers pooled data from multiple studies to determine when relapse risk becomes negligible👇

Colon cancer considered cured after six years when relapse risk falls below 0.5%

IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino with Mayo Clinic and multiple international cancer research centers have delivered a pooled analysis indicating that colon cancer recurrence risk drops below 0.5...

medicalxpress.com

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 2d

Physics Nobel awarded to 3 American scientists, all w/ affiliations to the University of California: John Clarke, Michel Devoret & John Martinis for research demonstrating quantum mechanical tunneling in electrical circuits www.science.org/content/arti...

Physics Nobel awarded for macro demonstration of quantum effects

John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis honored for work demonstrating quantum mechanical tunneling in electrical circuits

www.science.org

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Delthia Ricks @dricks.bsky.social · 3d

Darleane Hoffman, a trailblazing nuclear chemist, has died. She was 98 & hailed as one of the 50 most important women in science. Her research confirmed the existence of several elusive radioactive elements, including one that had sparked a Cold War fight w/ the Russians. By Delthia Ricks👇

Darleane Hoffman, Innovator in Nuclear Chemistry, Dies at 98

www.nytimes.com

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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 3d

Rodrick Johnson, a U.S. citizen who was briefly detained, said agents broke through his door and placed him in zip ties.

“I asked if they had a warrant, and I asked for a lawyer,” the 67-year-old told the Chicago Sun-Times. “They never brought one.” https://to.pbs.org/4pWhXzN

Immigration agents become increasingly aggressive in Chicago

Activists, residents and elected leaders say increasingly combative tactics used by federal immigration agents are sparking violence and fueling neighborhood tensions in the nation’s third-largest cit...

to.pbs.org

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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 3d

Exercising fathers, enhanced endurance and metabolic heath in offspring, through sperm microRNAs (as demonstrated in mice)
www.cell.com/cell-metabol...

Paternal exercise confers endurance capacity to offspring through sperm microRNAs

Yin et al. show that paternal exercise improves offspring endurance capacity and metabolic health via sperm microRNAs that reprogram gene expression in early embryos, revealing how exercise benefits c...

www.cell.com

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Matthias Eberl @eberlmat.bsky.social · 4d

And yet his supporters pretend that this is all completely normal.

History will not be kind to them.

‘The president is unhinged’: Trump’s online behavior grows increasingly odd

The US president’s recent behavior is strange to many, from reposting a false AI video of himself to confusing comments during press conferences

www.theguardian.com

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