Becca
sciencelizard.bsky.social
Becca
@sciencelizard.bsky.social
Science, snark, lizards
I am Deeply Concerned that there is a virulent combination of institutional distrsut and collective amnesia leading to undervaccination, but at least I had a measles vaccine. There is no such opt out for the threat of nuclear war.
February 5, 2026 at 1:09 PM
"I immediately disliked Epstein and thought he was a dilettante and a smartass"- Steven Pinker, mad about Brand Theft www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...
Why did Jeffrey Epstein cultivate famous scientists?
The Epstein files revive questions of whether the disgraced financier sought to merely cultivate famous scientists, or to shape science itself
www.scientificamerican.com
February 5, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Becca
Two independent super-elegant studies from Maxwell & Laub labs find immune proteins that sense infection by binding to oligomeric phage protein rings (i.e phage portal), using them as a scaffold to assemble into their active immune effector form 🤯

Highly recommend read! 🤓📖l
BackToBack #PhageSky in @nature.com

A pore-forming antiphage defence is activated by oligomeric phage proteins
-from Maxwell & Norris
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Bacterial immune activation via supramolecular assembly with phage triggers
-from Laub & Ghanbarpour
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
February 5, 2026 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by Becca
It was also the property of the American public, and they trashed it.
Killing the CIA World Factbook might seem like small potatoes, but it was a touchstone of curated facts in a sea of disinformation.
February 5, 2026 at 12:21 PM
OMG I AM DEAD. DEAD!!!!!

"COGNITIVE LOAD IMPLICATIONS OF ACRONYMS REFERR TO OTHER ACRONYMS"
Some terrifically titled papers from a discovered collection of NASA research documents found in a skip

(with thanks to @juliarez.placid.horse)
February 4, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Becca
As ICE continues to acquire more warehouses, it's a good time for a refresher on how the Nazi camp system developed.

" Keep in mind that the US is currently holding more than twice as many people as there were detainees in the Nazi concentration camp system in 1939, 6 years into the Third Reich."
February 4, 2026 at 5:14 PM
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The Tech Elites in the Epstein Files:
-Reid Hoffman (2,658 Files)
-Bill Gates (2,592 Files)
-Peter Thiel (2,281 Files)
-Elon Musk (1,116 Files)
-Larry Page (314 Files), Sergey Brin (294 Files)
-Mark Zuckerberg (282 Files)
-Jeff Bezos (196 Files)
-Eric Schmidt (193 Files)
The Tech Elites in the Epstein Files
The Department of Justice has released more than 3 million documents and photos related to Jeffrey Epstein. Here’s who shows up from Big Tech the most often—and what the files reveal.
www.wired.com
February 4, 2026 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Becca
and canceling the approvals of a number of folks that had almost finished their clearance review.
An NIH staff member texted me immediately: "His answer was bullshit btw. It implied that the fault was in NIH not nominating people quick enough rather than the administration not doing their part" to review the slates that agency staff had already submitted.
February 3, 2026 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Becca
Bhattacharya was cautious on the topic of vaccines, emphasizing multiple times he was trying to improve the trust of patients in their doctors and in vaccines.

Sanders pushed back, noting that spreading misinformation does not engender trust.

bsky.app/profile/maxk...
Sanders: Do vaccines cause autism to the American people?

Bhattacharya: I do not believe the measles vaccine causes autism.

Sanders: I didn't ask about measles. Do vaccines cause autism?

Bhattacharya: I have not seen a study to suggest any **single** vaccine causes autism.

(emphasis mine)
Hearing today with the Senate HELP committee and NIH Director Bhattacharya.

www.help.senate.gov/hearings/mod...
February 3, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Just imagined if my actual salary is the 63 cents on the dollar I would be getting as a working father and if someone got me to 93 cents, and how much that would be and how much college costs. BRB going to storm the Bastille
February 3, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Becca
I swear to god, I left this cat alone for two fucking minutes with a jar of red beets.

Two. Minutes.

#CatsofBluesky
February 1, 2026 at 2:01 PM
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do you all have a moment to discuss the Good News of seitan
February 2, 2026 at 11:28 PM
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Books are not clutter. Clutter is all the other stuff that gets in the way of having more books.
February 2, 2026 at 7:57 PM
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I think that @seva.bsky.social has something here.
The Epstein Files and Russiagate are the Same Thing
For years the culture war has assigned these scandals to opposite teams.
hegemon.substack.com
February 2, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Reposted by Becca
Methane pollution from US oil and gas infrastructure causes more climate change than the entire economies of all but seven nations on earth.

(This is with methane's climate impacts conservatively evaluated over a 100-year time frame. Evaluated over shorter time frames, methane's impacts are worse.)
Accounting for methane from natural gas infrastructure in United States greenhouse gas emission estimates
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that United States net greenhouse gas emissions have declined over the last two decades and are no…
www.sciencedirect.com
February 1, 2026 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Becca
Rabbit rabbit
the good chinese restaurant made bao bunnies tonight 😍🐰🐰
February 2, 2026 at 12:42 AM
Cannot recommend this episode of radiolab more highly Radiolab: Podcasts share.google/1NVpMnm0bfZu...
February 1, 2026 at 11:29 PM
Periodic reminder that Miller's great grandparents were coming from the Pale of Settlement of the Russian empire, and so really are we sure he just doesn't want to be plopped down into the. middle of Chernobyl? I think that's what he's saying here- denouncing his own and his kids citizenship.
That's correct. Including the Founders.
February 1, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Becca
Saturday Night Live has a little time capsule of the vibe shift

a sketch where a mom finally snaps out of her Trump fugue
February 1, 2026 at 6:10 PM
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There's the ad. Bernie needs to run again in 2028, and just make every ad this email.
February 1, 2026 at 5:55 PM
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IndivisibleNWI at the NIPSCO protest in Hammond and also registering voters!
February 1, 2026 at 6:11 PM
Reposted by Becca
Many of my science colleagues are not speaking out-I suspect due to the fear Phil notes, that they'll targeted for loss of funding. I hope they read this account of what happened at a faculty meeting at Frankfurt University in 1933 as the Nazi's took control 🧪
www.facinghistory.org/resource-lib...
February 1, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Discourse on thinness is a boring fake debate that definitionally matters most to white women in rich countries whose energy would be better served taking over corporations.
Wanting to be thin isn’t a fringe perspective, nor is it edgy. It is the dominant narrative in a profoundly anti-fat culture. And in this particular moment, making media about how it’s okay to want to be thin also acts as de facto advertising for some of the wealthiest corporations in the world.
February 1, 2026 at 4:56 PM
Voltage over current baby.
Doing Science is Resistance.

Sign from Tucson ICE Out protest, January 30th, 2026.
February 1, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Also shoutout to the younger black lady who made the video that helped me put my new windshield wiper on without having the embarrassment of asking the auto parts store guy to help
Middle-aged dudes making 5 minute no-bullshit car repair videos are truly the underappreciated sages of our time.
February 1, 2026 at 4:43 PM