Kristina Killgrove
@killgrove.bsky.social
Staff writer @LiveScience.com
Email: [email protected]
Web: Livescience.com/author/kristina-killgrove
PhD in anthropology, MA in classical archaeology. Former professor & Roman bioarchaeologist.
I crochet and bake a lot. Time zone: US Eastern
Email: [email protected]
Web: Livescience.com/author/kristina-killgrove
PhD in anthropology, MA in classical archaeology. Former professor & Roman bioarchaeologist.
I crochet and bake a lot. Time zone: US Eastern
Pinned
Being a science writer right now is like…
9am - Coffee and constitutional crisis!
10am - Read a neat study on 5000-year-old beads.
11am - US science funding is off/on/off/on!
Noon - Email a researcher about Iron Age skeletons.
Afternoon - More constitutional crises and screaming into the void!
9am - Coffee and constitutional crisis!
10am - Read a neat study on 5000-year-old beads.
11am - US science funding is off/on/off/on!
Noon - Email a researcher about Iron Age skeletons.
Afternoon - More constitutional crises and screaming into the void!
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
BREAKING: This is huge news, the EU's equivalent of the 🇺🇸Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling.
🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.
This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺
🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.
This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺
www.reuters.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:10 AM
BREAKING: This is huge news, the EU's equivalent of the 🇺🇸Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling.
🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.
This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺
🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.
This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
Coming together to eat the food we share has been part of humanity from the very beginning. I wrote this post after a Thanksgiving week lecture on evidence for Neanderthals and other ancient people making prepared mixtures of grains, lentils, and other foods.
www.johnhawks.net/p/a-neandert...
www.johnhawks.net/p/a-neandert...
A Neandertal recipe with lentils and grain
Looking at a fascinating new study that finds mixtures of different plants within ancient morsels of charred foods.
www.johnhawks.net
November 25, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Coming together to eat the food we share has been part of humanity from the very beginning. I wrote this post after a Thanksgiving week lecture on evidence for Neanderthals and other ancient people making prepared mixtures of grains, lentils, and other foods.
www.johnhawks.net/p/a-neandert...
www.johnhawks.net/p/a-neandert...
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
Breaking News: The CDC quietly appointed Dr. Ralph Lee Abraham, who has been critical of vaccines, as its second in command. During the Covid pandemic, he promoted discredited treatments like ivermectin and, as Louisiana’s surgeon general, halted the state’s mass vaccination campaign.
C.D.C. Quietly Appoints Doctor Critical of Vaccines as Second in Command
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Ralph Lee Abraham promoted discredited treatments like ivermectin and, as Louisiana’s surgeon general, halted the state’s mass vaccination campaign.
trib.al
November 25, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Breaking News: The CDC quietly appointed Dr. Ralph Lee Abraham, who has been critical of vaccines, as its second in command. During the Covid pandemic, he promoted discredited treatments like ivermectin and, as Louisiana’s surgeon general, halted the state’s mass vaccination campaign.
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham has just been named as the principal deputy director at the CDC.
Abraham’s accomplishments include banning the health department from promoting vaccines and overseeing the concomitant explosion of whooping cough in the state, which has killed two babies.
Abraham’s accomplishments include banning the health department from promoting vaccines and overseeing the concomitant explosion of whooping cough in the state, which has killed two babies.
November 25, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham has just been named as the principal deputy director at the CDC.
Abraham’s accomplishments include banning the health department from promoting vaccines and overseeing the concomitant explosion of whooping cough in the state, which has killed two babies.
Abraham’s accomplishments include banning the health department from promoting vaccines and overseeing the concomitant explosion of whooping cough in the state, which has killed two babies.
Omg this recap is amazing and glorious and makes me feel a tiny bit less alone (being seemingly the only person I know doggedly following this story for all its salacious details).
The Olivia Nuzzi and RFK Jr. Affair Is Messier Than We Ever Could Have Imagined
Inside the most important, and also least important, story of our time
www.theringer.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Omg this recap is amazing and glorious and makes me feel a tiny bit less alone (being seemingly the only person I know doggedly following this story for all its salacious details).
The middle-aged man had craniosynostosis -- premature fusion of three skull sutures -- which was typically fatal in childhood in the Medieval period. 🏺🧪
'I had never seen a skull like this before': Medieval Spanish knight who died in battle had a rare genetic condition, study finds
The extremely long skull of a medieval knight points to an underlying genetic condition.
www.livescience.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:54 PM
The middle-aged man had craniosynostosis -- premature fusion of three skull sutures -- which was typically fatal in childhood in the Medieval period. 🏺🧪
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
Archaeologists discover that Neanderthals ate the women and children first. 🧪🏺
Neanderthals cannibalized 'outsider' women and children 45,000 years ago at cave in Belgium
Fragmented Neanderthal bones discovered in a cave in Belgium show that one group cannibalized the women and children of another group.
www.livescience.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Archaeologists discover that Neanderthals ate the women and children first. 🧪🏺
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
Breaking: Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died. She was 111 years old
Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died
Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died. She was 111 years old.
www.whatimreading.net
November 24, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Breaking: Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died. She was 111 years old
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
Oh, Tish James case dismissed too. Now Miss Hannigan has to start her orphanage.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/24/p...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/24/p...
Federal judge dismissed indictments against Letitia James and James Comey | CNN Politics
A federal judge dismissed the indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday.
www.cnn.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Oh, Tish James case dismissed too. Now Miss Hannigan has to start her orphanage.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/24/p...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/24/p...
Archaeologists discover that Neanderthals ate the women and children first. 🧪🏺
Neanderthals cannibalized 'outsider' women and children 45,000 years ago at cave in Belgium
Fragmented Neanderthal bones discovered in a cave in Belgium show that one group cannibalized the women and children of another group.
www.livescience.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Archaeologists discover that Neanderthals ate the women and children first. 🧪🏺
This week’s astonishing artifact is some Byzantine bling. Its owner probably wore it to signify their association with the emperor. 🧪🏺
Pectoral with coins: 'One of the most intricate pieces of gold jewelry to survive from the mid-sixth century'
This sixth-century pectoral comprises 14 Byzantine gold coins and a gold disc gathered over two centuries.
www.livescience.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:35 PM
This week’s astonishing artifact is some Byzantine bling. Its owner probably wore it to signify their association with the emperor. 🧪🏺
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
The fact that the entire US elite class clutched onto this book as a source of deep insight tells you all you need to know about the people running this shitshow.
Episode 46: Sapiens
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
Sapiens
Podcast Episode · If Books Could Kill · 11/20/2025 · 1h 38m
podcasts.apple.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:04 PM
The fact that the entire US elite class clutched onto this book as a source of deep insight tells you all you need to know about the people running this shitshow.
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
Please hear me when I say that
1) these anti-medical woo birth movements have been a primary feeder into anti-vaxx eugenic movements
2) they pre-date the age of social media
3) they exist because we have not addressed medical sexism and specifically obstetric violence
1) these anti-medical woo birth movements have been a primary feeder into anti-vaxx eugenic movements
2) they pre-date the age of social media
3) they exist because we have not addressed medical sexism and specifically obstetric violence
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
As Esau Lopez was asphyxiated for the first 17 minutes of his life on Earth, the atmosphere in the room remained serene, even ecstatic. Acoustic music crooned from a speaker in a modest two-bedroom apartment in a suburb of Pennsylvania. “You are a queen,” murmured one of three friends in the room.
Only Esau’s mother, Gabrielle Lopez, felt something was wrong. She was pushing hard, but her son would not be born. “Can you help [him] out?” she asked, as Esau crowned. “Baby is coming,” the friend replied. Four minutes later, Lopez asked again, “Can you grab [him]?” Another friend murmured, “Baby is safe.” Six minutes passed. Again, Lopez asked, “Can you grab [him]?” Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Please hear me when I say that
1) these anti-medical woo birth movements have been a primary feeder into anti-vaxx eugenic movements
2) they pre-date the age of social media
3) they exist because we have not addressed medical sexism and specifically obstetric violence
1) these anti-medical woo birth movements have been a primary feeder into anti-vaxx eugenic movements
2) they pre-date the age of social media
3) they exist because we have not addressed medical sexism and specifically obstetric violence
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
Screaming at academics, who will never hear me, through my e-reader, to just decide, for the sake of ease of comprehension, to write separate sentences, instead of the current practice, of adding, unnecessarily, a million fucking commas.
November 22, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Screaming at academics, who will never hear me, through my e-reader, to just decide, for the sake of ease of comprehension, to write separate sentences, instead of the current practice, of adding, unnecessarily, a million fucking commas.
November 21, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
New from me: I talked to CDC staffers about the new vaccines and autism page. They said things like:
“The best way I can put it is it feels like we’re on a hijacked airplane.”
“I think people are starting to see that we can’t fulfill our mission here.”
“The best way I can put it is it feels like we’re on a hijacked airplane.”
“I think people are starting to see that we can’t fulfill our mission here.”
“Embarrassing” and “horrifying”: CDC workers describe the new vaccines and autism page
"The best way I can put it is it feels like we're on a hijacked airplane."
www.motherjones.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:41 PM
New from me: I talked to CDC staffers about the new vaccines and autism page. They said things like:
“The best way I can put it is it feels like we’re on a hijacked airplane.”
“I think people are starting to see that we can’t fulfill our mission here.”
“The best way I can put it is it feels like we’re on a hijacked airplane.”
“I think people are starting to see that we can’t fulfill our mission here.”
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
Read my full story here!
Psychedelics and immortality: Nature went to a health summit starring RFK and JD Vance
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Psychedelics and immortality: Nature went to a health summit starring RFK and JD Vance
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Psychedelics and immortality: Nature went to a health summit starring RFK and JD Vance
The Make America Healthy Again summit, attended by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr and vice-president JD Vance, gave a sense of what’s driving US health policy.
www.nature.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Read my full story here!
Psychedelics and immortality: Nature went to a health summit starring RFK and JD Vance
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Psychedelics and immortality: Nature went to a health summit starring RFK and JD Vance
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
Archaeologists in Spain found a broken cranium in the walls of a fort -- they think the Romans displayed the decapitated head of one of the fort's defenders to warn others. 🏺🧪
Archaeologists discover decapitated head the Romans used as a warning to the Celts
A lone skull discovered near the walls of an ancient fort highlights the Romans' brutal treatment of their conquered foes.
www.livescience.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Archaeologists in Spain found a broken cranium in the walls of a fort -- they think the Romans displayed the decapitated head of one of the fort's defenders to warn others. 🏺🧪
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
The Vikings, once again, are baffling archaeologists. This time, with an unusual burial ritual involving scallop shells. 🏺🧪
Viking Age woman found buried with scallop shells on her mouth, and archaeologists are mystified
A ninth-century grave discovered in Norway held the remains of a Viking Age woman whose mouth was covered with two large scallop shells.
www.livescience.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:54 PM
The Vikings, once again, are baffling archaeologists. This time, with an unusual burial ritual involving scallop shells. 🏺🧪
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
There SO MUCH going on in this lovely story. But the stickler in me wants to know if these sheep are truly, exclusively gay. After all, they might be baaa-sexual.
www.washingtonpost.com/style/fashio...
www.washingtonpost.com/style/fashio...
I love your sweater. Is it made from gay sheep wool?
Grindr partnered with Rainbow Wool and designer Michael Schmidt to create a fashion show featuring clothing made entirely from the wool of gay sheep. Wait, what?
www.washingtonpost.com
November 20, 2025 at 8:44 PM
There SO MUCH going on in this lovely story. But the stickler in me wants to know if these sheep are truly, exclusively gay. After all, they might be baaa-sexual.
www.washingtonpost.com/style/fashio...
www.washingtonpost.com/style/fashio...
Archaeologists in Spain found a broken cranium in the walls of a fort -- they think the Romans displayed the decapitated head of one of the fort's defenders to warn others. 🏺🧪
Archaeologists discover decapitated head the Romans used as a warning to the Celts
A lone skull discovered near the walls of an ancient fort highlights the Romans' brutal treatment of their conquered foes.
www.livescience.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Archaeologists in Spain found a broken cranium in the walls of a fort -- they think the Romans displayed the decapitated head of one of the fort's defenders to warn others. 🏺🧪
The only reason I’m impatient to turn 50. Wish insurance would cover the shingles vax earlier! (Also, chicken pox sucked and I’m glad my kids got a vaccine to prevent it!)
GOOD NEWS! Researchers at the University of Exeter have found that getting vaccinated against shingles- a painful and debilitating condition that can flare up years after infection from varicella zoster virus- not only LOWERS the risk of infection, but can also PROTECT against Alzheimer’s disease!
November 20, 2025 at 5:43 PM
The only reason I’m impatient to turn 50. Wish insurance would cover the shingles vax earlier! (Also, chicken pox sucked and I’m glad my kids got a vaccine to prevent it!)
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
My latest for Nat Geo on things you didn't know about Roman Emperors. Co-authored with Max J. Foa and featuring the work of @sarahebond.bsky.social, Stephanie Frampton, A. B. Bosworth, and Tom Geue.
www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...
www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...
The Roman emperor who died from eating too much cheese
Lots of emperors met ignominious ends. And then there was Antoninus Pius.
www.nationalgeographic.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:45 PM
My latest for Nat Geo on things you didn't know about Roman Emperors. Co-authored with Max J. Foa and featuring the work of @sarahebond.bsky.social, Stephanie Frampton, A. B. Bosworth, and Tom Geue.
www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...
www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...
Reposted by Kristina Killgrove
Episode 46: Sapiens
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
Sapiens
Podcast Episode · If Books Could Kill · 11/20/2025 · 1h 38m
podcasts.apple.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Episode 46: Sapiens
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.