Roland Pease
@peaseroland.bsky.social
Pinned
BBC World Service - Science In Action, How science got here, and where next
As anti-science leaves research reeling, does evidence-based policy have a future?
www.bbc.co.uk
It's the end of the road for BBC Science in Action. But science itself is facing growing roadblocks. For this terminal edition of SinA I'm joined by @naomioreskes.bsky.social @drdebhoury.bsky.social @michaelemann.bsky.social & @angierasmussen.bsky.social for where now?
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
Reposted by Roland Pease
As someone who has worked in HIV for 35+ years, I can tell you Carl is a consummate scientific leader. We’ve been lucky to have him at head of DAIDS. The only thing that wins here is the virus.
Unfortunately, I can confirm that this is true.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
Hearing news that Carl Dieffenbach, the Director of the Division of AIDS at #NIH (NIAID), has been removed from his position because he was "not aligned with HHS/OMB."
Russell Vought continues to remove great scientists as part of the Project 2025 mission to politicize and destroy NIH.
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Russell Vought continues to remove great scientists as part of the Project 2025 mission to politicize and destroy NIH.
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November 24, 2025 at 10:21 AM
As someone who has worked in HIV for 35+ years, I can tell you Carl is a consummate scientific leader. We’ve been lucky to have him at head of DAIDS. The only thing that wins here is the virus.
Reposted by Roland Pease
Unfortunately, I can confirm that this is true.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
Hearing news that Carl Dieffenbach, the Director of the Division of AIDS at #NIH (NIAID), has been removed from his position because he was "not aligned with HHS/OMB."
Russell Vought continues to remove great scientists as part of the Project 2025 mission to politicize and destroy NIH.
🧪 1/
Russell Vought continues to remove great scientists as part of the Project 2025 mission to politicize and destroy NIH.
🧪 1/
November 24, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Unfortunately, I can confirm that this is true.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
Reposted by Roland Pease
I whipped up a new post/newsletter extra for the Hayli Gubbi eruption. First time I've had to post an extra edition! #volcano #eruption eruptions.beehiiv.com/p/eruptions-...
Eruptions Newsletter Extra for November 23, 2025
Unexpected eruption from Hayli Gubbi in Ethiopia.
eruptions.beehiiv.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:16 PM
I whipped up a new post/newsletter extra for the Hayli Gubbi eruption. First time I've had to post an extra edition! #volcano #eruption eruptions.beehiiv.com/p/eruptions-...
Reposted by Roland Pease
Vaccines & autism make headlines. But the root of the problem -- statistical shenanigans - doesn't
If you test enough variables, you're gonna find some associations.
@adamjkucharski.bsky.social explains.
kucharski.substack.com/p/is-this-pa...
If you test enough variables, you're gonna find some associations.
@adamjkucharski.bsky.social explains.
kucharski.substack.com/p/is-this-pa...
How good are you at spotting patterns?
The perils of mistaking randomness for meaning
kucharski.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Vaccines & autism make headlines. But the root of the problem -- statistical shenanigans - doesn't
If you test enough variables, you're gonna find some associations.
@adamjkucharski.bsky.social explains.
kucharski.substack.com/p/is-this-pa...
If you test enough variables, you're gonna find some associations.
@adamjkucharski.bsky.social explains.
kucharski.substack.com/p/is-this-pa...
Reposted by Roland Pease
This figure from a perspective piece on our paper by Virginie Pinel beautifully illustrates our proposed magma-pumping mechanism!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 22, 2025 at 9:21 PM
This figure from a perspective piece on our paper by Virginie Pinel beautifully illustrates our proposed magma-pumping mechanism!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Roland Pease
Stop worrying about terraforming Mars and start preventing the venusification of Earth.
Humans will NEVER colonize another planet. Never.
If we can’t even agree to do the minimum to keep Earth habitable, there’s no way in hell we’ll cooperate to make another planet habitable.
If we can’t even agree to do the minimum to keep Earth habitable, there’s no way in hell we’ll cooperate to make another planet habitable.
November 22, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Stop worrying about terraforming Mars and start preventing the venusification of Earth.
Said this on the #BBCWorldService this morning. We all - scientists and public - know what the issue is, but the politicians waste time arguing over words.
#ClimateCrisis #FossilFuels #COP30
#ClimateCrisis #FossilFuels #COP30
A climate deal without explicit language calling for a fossil fuel phaseout is like a ceasefire without explicit language calling for a suspension of hostilities.
#COP30
#COP30
November 22, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Said this on the #BBCWorldService this morning. We all - scientists and public - know what the issue is, but the politicians waste time arguing over words.
#ClimateCrisis #FossilFuels #COP30
#ClimateCrisis #FossilFuels #COP30
Reposted by Roland Pease
Very sad. Apparently the patient was someone with comorbidities that placed them at higher risk of a bad outcome. At a time when the threat of new pandemic is higher that ever we need our public health and surveillance systems strengthened not dismantled.
www.linkedin.com/redir/redire...
www.linkedin.com/redir/redire...
1st human known to be infected with H5N5 strain of bird flu dies, Washington state officials say
The first human to have ever been infected with H5N5 strain of bird flu has died, Washington state health officials confirmed late Friday.
www.linkedin.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Very sad. Apparently the patient was someone with comorbidities that placed them at higher risk of a bad outcome. At a time when the threat of new pandemic is higher that ever we need our public health and surveillance systems strengthened not dismantled.
www.linkedin.com/redir/redire...
www.linkedin.com/redir/redire...
Reposted by Roland Pease
This review is astonishingly open-mouthed and uncritical, whereas you might expect a “politics blogger” (the author) to have something to say about the paranoid *politics* of this garbage which infects the US. I know @theguardian.com loves clicks, but what a crock of sh*t.
‘The public has been lied to’: secretly made documentary insists that aliens exist
The Age of Disclosure is a new film featuring high-ranking government officials who claim proof of extraterrestrial life has been covered up
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:25 PM
This review is astonishingly open-mouthed and uncritical, whereas you might expect a “politics blogger” (the author) to have something to say about the paranoid *politics* of this garbage which infects the US. I know @theguardian.com loves clicks, but what a crock of sh*t.
Reposted by Roland Pease
"When you remove scientists from science, you don’t get truth. You get ideology. " Signed D3- Deb, Dan, and @drdemetre.bsky.social
We are former CDC officials. RFK Jr.'s change to vaccine guidance is propaganda.
Under Secretary Kennedy, CDC materials can no longer be assumed to reflect scientific authority.
www.ms.now
November 21, 2025 at 11:01 PM
"When you remove scientists from science, you don’t get truth. You get ideology. " Signed D3- Deb, Dan, and @drdemetre.bsky.social
The bit R4Today chose to highlight from its two awful COVID report interviews.
That "without [Johnson's] drive, we wouldn't have had the vaccine rollout".
This untested assertion was made after both Gove & Webb had dismissed the 23,000 avoidable deaths fig in the report as mere "model projections".
That "without [Johnson's] drive, we wouldn't have had the vaccine rollout".
This untested assertion was made after both Gove & Webb had dismissed the 23,000 avoidable deaths fig in the report as mere "model projections".
November 21, 2025 at 12:14 PM
The bit R4Today chose to highlight from its two awful COVID report interviews.
That "without [Johnson's] drive, we wouldn't have had the vaccine rollout".
This untested assertion was made after both Gove & Webb had dismissed the 23,000 avoidable deaths fig in the report as mere "model projections".
That "without [Johnson's] drive, we wouldn't have had the vaccine rollout".
This untested assertion was made after both Gove & Webb had dismissed the 23,000 avoidable deaths fig in the report as mere "model projections".
Reposted by Roland Pease
This exchange between Hancock and Johnson on 7th March 2020 speaks volumes about that government’s pandemic leadership.
Hancock: This is a clarion call for you to lead.
Johnson: Ok, I’m off to the rugby.
Hancock: This is a clarion call for you to lead.
Johnson: Ok, I’m off to the rugby.
November 20, 2025 at 7:24 AM
This exchange between Hancock and Johnson on 7th March 2020 speaks volumes about that government’s pandemic leadership.
Hancock: This is a clarion call for you to lead.
Johnson: Ok, I’m off to the rugby.
Hancock: This is a clarion call for you to lead.
Johnson: Ok, I’m off to the rugby.
Reposting because I may need this for a forthcoming series.
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...
www.science.org
November 20, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Reposting because I may need this for a forthcoming series.
Reposted by Roland Pease
Semeru, Indonesia is erupting. Communities are being evacuated.
Incredible footage of pyroclastic density currents in the news.
youtube.com/watch?v=ducv...
Incredible footage of pyroclastic density currents in the news.
youtube.com/watch?v=ducv...
Indonesia's Mount Semeru erupts and covers villages with falling ash
YouTube video by Associated Press
youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Semeru, Indonesia is erupting. Communities are being evacuated.
Incredible footage of pyroclastic density currents in the news.
youtube.com/watch?v=ducv...
Incredible footage of pyroclastic density currents in the news.
youtube.com/watch?v=ducv...
This is certainly one way of framing the US's current catastrophic health policies.
Can’t believe the whole country has to suffer through the return of Dickensian childhood diseases because the worst, most ignorant attention-demanders decided other people’s expertise makes them feel bad
November 20, 2025 at 11:14 AM
This is certainly one way of framing the US's current catastrophic health policies.
A story I absolutely would have been covering if they hadn't killed off Science in Action.
We had @carnegiescience.bsky.social 's Bob Hazen on about the steps building to this precisely because the chemical traces of early life seemed so promising.
carnegiescience.edu/chemical-evi...
We had @carnegiescience.bsky.social 's Bob Hazen on about the steps building to this precisely because the chemical traces of early life seemed so promising.
carnegiescience.edu/chemical-evi...
Chemical evidence of ancient life detected in 3.3-billion-year-old rocks
New study shows life’s signature still exists in rocks long after the original biomolecules are gone.
carnegiescience.edu
November 20, 2025 at 9:43 AM
A story I absolutely would have been covering if they hadn't killed off Science in Action.
We had @carnegiescience.bsky.social 's Bob Hazen on about the steps building to this precisely because the chemical traces of early life seemed so promising.
carnegiescience.edu/chemical-evi...
We had @carnegiescience.bsky.social 's Bob Hazen on about the steps building to this precisely because the chemical traces of early life seemed so promising.
carnegiescience.edu/chemical-evi...
Reposted by Roland Pease
This was always a great radio programme. Informative, well-researched. I always learned something. It's disgraceful it is being cancelled.
The UK govt's attitude to the World Service is profoundly stupid. The BBC is one of the greatest projections of soft power for the UK
The UK govt's attitude to the World Service is profoundly stupid. The BBC is one of the greatest projections of soft power for the UK
For 61 years the #BBCWorldService has been broadcasting the latest in science via its weekly Science in Action programme. That dies in the next half hour, with this final edition, reflecting on the fall in trust in expertise driven by malign interests over recent years.
October 30, 2025 at 10:22 PM
This was always a great radio programme. Informative, well-researched. I always learned something. It's disgraceful it is being cancelled.
The UK govt's attitude to the World Service is profoundly stupid. The BBC is one of the greatest projections of soft power for the UK
The UK govt's attitude to the World Service is profoundly stupid. The BBC is one of the greatest projections of soft power for the UK
Reposted by Roland Pease
NASA will have a live event this Wednesday to share imagery of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS collected by a number of the agency’s missions.
www.nasa.gov/news-release...
www.nasa.gov/news-release...
NASA to Share Comet 3I/ATLAS Images From Spacecraft, Telescopes - NASA
NASA will host a live event at 3 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Nov. 19, to share imagery of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS collected by a number of the agency’s
www.nasa.gov
November 18, 2025 at 2:12 AM
NASA will have a live event this Wednesday to share imagery of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS collected by a number of the agency’s missions.
www.nasa.gov/news-release...
www.nasa.gov/news-release...
Reposted by Roland Pease
My latest for @science.org: A remarkable set of high-resolution climate model runs, computed over 900 (!) days of supercomputing time, are revealing how warming-induced changes to Earth's wind patterns due can prime huge spikes in extreme rainfall.
But the MESACLIP runs also do much more than that.
But the MESACLIP runs also do much more than that.
High-resolution climate model forecasts a wet, turbulent future
With details as fine as short-term weather forecasts, model achieves newfound accuracy
www.science.org
November 18, 2025 at 2:35 PM
My latest for @science.org: A remarkable set of high-resolution climate model runs, computed over 900 (!) days of supercomputing time, are revealing how warming-induced changes to Earth's wind patterns due can prime huge spikes in extreme rainfall.
But the MESACLIP runs also do much more than that.
But the MESACLIP runs also do much more than that.
Looking into the water crisis in Iran has taken me to the fate of Lake Urmia, c.1270m altitude in the country's northwest, shrinking owing to water overuse for decades. A restoration plan started 10 years ago appeared to help briefly, but aridity since 2020 has reversed gains. Landsat images.
November 18, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Looking into the water crisis in Iran has taken me to the fate of Lake Urmia, c.1270m altitude in the country's northwest, shrinking owing to water overuse for decades. A restoration plan started 10 years ago appeared to help briefly, but aridity since 2020 has reversed gains. Landsat images.
Useful thread, but while reading it keep in mind the later "continuing current trends" scenario in mind, "could lead to 4°C warming" by end century. Because that's where the stop-net-zero crew will send us.
The downward trends of the earlier scenarios look appealing, but they have to be worked for.
The downward trends of the earlier scenarios look appealing, but they have to be worked for.
November 18, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Useful thread, but while reading it keep in mind the later "continuing current trends" scenario in mind, "could lead to 4°C warming" by end century. Because that's where the stop-net-zero crew will send us.
The downward trends of the earlier scenarios look appealing, but they have to be worked for.
The downward trends of the earlier scenarios look appealing, but they have to be worked for.
Reposted by Roland Pease
In 1885, after traveling for over two million years, the light from an exploding star swept over caused astronomers to think the universe was way smaller than it really is.
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/the-irony-...
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badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/the-irony-...
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The irony of Supernova 1885A
It proved the Universe was bigger than astronomers thought, but they couldn’t believe it
badastronomy.beehiiv.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:29 PM
In 1885, after traveling for over two million years, the light from an exploding star swept over caused astronomers to think the universe was way smaller than it really is.
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/the-irony-...
🧪 🔭
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/the-irony-...
🧪 🔭
Reposted by Roland Pease
Lovely review of CRICK by Peter Lawrence - who knew Francis well and took the photograoh below - in @currentbiology.bsky.social. “Scintillating… a biography to savour.”
Francis Crick: A thoughtful biography to savour
“His aim was not just to make discoveries about two of the major riddles of science,
he was also driven (…) to understand our true place in the Universe, shorn of superstition
and religion.”
www.cell.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Lovely review of CRICK by Peter Lawrence - who knew Francis well and took the photograoh below - in @currentbiology.bsky.social. “Scintillating… a biography to savour.”
Insect ecologists get my vote.
Following.
Following.
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
November 17, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Insect ecologists get my vote.
Following.
Following.