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isabelott.bsky.social
Isabel
@isabelott.bsky.social
11K followers 2.1K following 1.6K posts
Evolutionary & population biology of vector-borne viral disease systems. 🦟 genetics PhD student in NC. Arbovirologist & orthobunyavirus wonk. Public health advocate. 80s mosquito. Archives enthusiast. Coaster-sized earrings. Opinions own. (she/her) 🏳️‍🌈
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isabelott.bsky.social
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · Jun 11
The Athens (GA) Immigrants Rights Coalition, which I volunteered with for several years, is currently fundraising for their Support for Immigrant Families in Crisis fund. 98.5% of donations go straight to families in need. Please boost & contribute if you can!
www.athensimmigrantrights.org/donate
SUPPORT FOR IMMIGRANT FAMILIES IN CRISIS SPRING 2025 ABOUT SIFIC Support for Immigrant Families in Crisis (SIFIC) provides emergency assistance to local immigrant families who have limited access to resources, due to their documentation or economic status. SIFIC funds are used to help cover essential needs such as rent, utilities, food, medical expenses, attorney fees and legal fees. We are currently facing a deportation crisis that is separating families and the need for these kinds of support has escalated. Please help us to raise 25K this Spring, so that we can continue to help families in crisis! Thank you, Friend.
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vancleve.theoretical.bio
Jeremy Van Cleve @vancleve.theoretical.bio · 1d
Many excellent points in this op-ed from @jeremymberg.bsky.social about how we scientists haven't stood up for our principles when the Trump administration attacked representation and diversity efforts.

We should stand up for what we believe in just like our brave federal worker colleagues.
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 1d
I have been trying to get this published as an op-ed, but I am going to post it here since I think it is timely in light of the "consent" extortion events.

Deafening Quiet from the Scientific Establishment

jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...

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jeremymberg.github.io
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publichealthguy1.bsky.social
🎃 public HELLth guy 🎃 @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 3d
a respected senior CDC official telling the public that the federal agency has undergone a hostile takeover and it barely makes the news because that’s the state of the world today
sheencr.bsky.social
Prof Sheena Cruickshank @sheencr.bsky.social · 3d
This is another damning picture of Kennedy refusing to meet with senior scientists and get advice about infections or vaccines whilst he spreads disinformation #healthpolicy
A ‘hostile takeover’: ousted CDC official raises alarm over RFK Jr approach to infectious disease
Debra Houry speaks after testifying on eight months under Kennedy, who critics say shuns science and spreads falsehoods
www.theguardian.com
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belongia.bsky.social
Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 3d
CDC is being run by politicians now.

"there are few experienced leaders left at the CDC; some 80% of..center leaders were laid off or terminated, or have [left]. Houry was the only permanent career official in CDC's office of the director... there were 10 political appointees remaining, she said."
publichealthguy1.bsky.social
🎃 public HELLth guy 🎃 @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 3d
a respected senior CDC official telling the public that the federal agency has undergone a hostile takeover and it barely makes the news because that’s the state of the world today
sheencr.bsky.social
Prof Sheena Cruickshank @sheencr.bsky.social · 3d
This is another damning picture of Kennedy refusing to meet with senior scientists and get advice about infections or vaccines whilst he spreads disinformation #healthpolicy
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santiagokique.bsky.social
🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛ @santiagokique.bsky.social · 3d
Like...this is the biggest corruption scandal the NIH has experienced in its entire history and its not even close. Half of a BILLION dollars to a single project as a result of political spoils. That's the equivalent of several hundred R01s.
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doritreiss.bsky.social
Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 3d
Premature baby dies of measles in Alberta after pregnant mother contracts disease www.nsnews.com/politics/pre... via @northshorenews.bsky.social
Premature baby dies of measles in Alberta after pregnant mother contracts disease
EDMONTON — A newborn in Alberta has died of measles marking the province's first death from the disease this year, the government said Thursday.
www.nsnews.com
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darinself.com
Darin Self @darinself.com · 3d
This thread of expected premium inflation is startling. Millions of people potentially are about to experience premium inflation in the 100s of %
charlesgaba.com
Charles Ghoul-ba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · 7d
4. #UTAH: ~410,000 ACA enrollees

Avg gross rate change: +14.2% (preliminary)
Avg gross 2026 premium: $587/mo
NET 2026 increase for 64-yr old couple earning $90K/yr if the enhanced tax credits expire: +263%
Utah: Breakout of ACA individual market enrollment by House district Utah: Breakout of impact of enhanced ACA tax credits expiring on net benchmark Silver plan premiums for various households at various income levels
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rpianezza.bsky.social
Riccardo Pianezza @rpianezza.bsky.social · 4d
We discovered an endogenous retrovirus that's still spreading in natural D. melanogaster populations! It was horizontally transferred from D. erecta in Central Africa, so we named it "Kuruka", which means "jump" in Swahili. Read its cool story here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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steverathje.bsky.social
Steve Rathje @steverathje.bsky.social · 7d
🚨 New preprint 🚨

Across 3 experiments (n = 3,285), we found that interacting with sycophantic (or overly agreeable) AI chatbots entrenched attitudes and led to inflated self-perceptions.

Yet, people preferred sycophantic chatbots and viewed them as unbiased!

osf.io/preprints/ps...

Thread 🧵
Abstract and results summary
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cidrap.bsky.social
CIDRAP @cidrap.bsky.social · 4d
WHO: Conditions ripe for further chikungunya spread

Uneven case distribution makes it hard to call the situation a global rise, but ongoing transmission and risk factors boost the potential for further spread, the WHO said.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/c...

CDC / Frank Hadley Collins
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divyampersaud.com
Dr. Divya 🇵🇸🧿 (offline) @divyampersaud.com · 4d
18 hours left: please share! One of the families of the giving circle is Mohamed’s. He’s the sole caretaker of his siblings & parents—their tent is worn out just as the nights are getting cold. This is life-threatening.

Anything helps. Give / find his link here. 78/500 chuffed.org/project/hope...
Keep Hope Alive: a Gaza Giving Circle
We are a team of volunteers in the US and UK, led by two sisters passionate about helping our friends on the ground keep their families and neighbors alive with food, water, & shelter. We saw that…
chuffed.org
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kvetch.gay
taber @kvetch.gay · 4d
this is wild: while Stephen Miller's guy was in Minnesota for his uncle's funeral, somebody was able to see his entire phone and take pictures of his Signal group chats talking about military deployments to Portland, and brought them to the Strib (gift link: www.startribune.com/trump-offici...)
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cameroni101.bsky.social
Cameron Colony @cameroni101.bsky.social · 5d
As someone who does accounting and data validation, this would get me fired:
Microsoft says its Agent Mode in Excel has an accuracy rate of 57.2 percent in SpreadsheetBench, a benchmark for evaluating an Al model's ability to edit real world spreadsheets. This result
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neurograce.bsky.social
Grace Lindsay @neurograce.bsky.social · 5d
@sciencehomecoming.bsky.social has tools for finding local newspapers and writing for them!
gregggonsalves.bsky.social
Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 5d
Here's the assignment folks. Write op-eds for your local papers and campus newspapers too. Just. Say. No. This is a classic authoritarian move and risks the future of higher education and science and innovation in the US. Speak out today. No time to lose. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...
Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion
www.nytimes.com
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couts.bsky.social
Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 5d
NEW: ICE is planning to hire a team of nearly 30 people to surveil social media 24/7, build dossiers on people, and flag them for arrest and deportation. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-so...
ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team
Documents show ICE plans to hire dozens of contractors to scan X, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms to target people for deportation.
www.wired.com
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ryanmarino.bsky.social
Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 6d
The biggest reason for longer waits is staffing shortages, which are driven by more people leaving healthcare practice than entering, esp nursing, due to bad management practices (often related to private equity).

This administration’s immigration policies will significantly worsen these shortages.
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ryanmarino.bsky.social
Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 6d
ER doc here! This is a lie. Wait times are up because the American healthcare system is an unsustainable business model and a for-profit national healthcare system just doesn’t work. These problems will continue to get worse until we change that system. It literally has nothing to do with immigrants
atrupar.com
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d
Vance: "If you're an American citizen & you've been to the hospital in the last few years, you've probably noticed wait times are especially large & very often somebody who's there in the ER is an illegal alien. Why do those people get healthcare benefits at hospitals paid for by American citizens?"
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ryanmarino.bsky.social
Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 6d
ER wait times are going to be much longer when 13.7 million Americans lose their Medicaid coverage over the next decade due to this administration’s billionaire tax cuts, not to mention the higher premiums from expiring ACA subsidies, the thousands of jobs being lost every month, & massive inflation
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clutchscience.bsky.social
ClutchScience (Jen Phillips) @clutchscience.bsky.social · 6d
Very nice reporting on the importance—and the vulnerability— of model organism databases

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Model organism databases face budget cuts and closures
Beyond the crucial data they contain, these digital archives have provided an important space for academic communities to exchange ideas and resources.
www.nature.com
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lucyosler.bsky.social
Lucy Osler @lucyosler.bsky.social · 19d
Chatbots are explicitly being designed “to elicit intimacy and emotional engagement in order to increase our trust in and dependency on them” (me in Wired magazine 🤭). This designed intimacy combined with AI sycophancy creates serious risks for delusional thinking

www.wired.com/story/ai-psy...
AI Psychosis Is Rarely Psychosis at All
A wave of AI users presenting in states of psychological distress gave birth to an unofficial diagnostic label. Experts say it’s neither accurate nor needed, but concede that it’s likely to stay.
www.wired.com
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jennifermach.bsky.social
Jennifer Mach (she/they) @jennifermach.bsky.social · 6d
#PlantSciJobs
prof-braj-singh.bsky.social
Prof Braj Singh @prof-braj-singh.bsky.social · 6d
We are searching for a 4- year postdoctoral fellow to work us on Microbial Ecology and Crop Disease Management.

More details below. The position will start next year.

Please circulate and repost.

jobs.smartrecruiters.com/WesternSydne...
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theferrarilab.bsky.social
The Ferrari Lab @theferrarilab.bsky.social · 6d
Such a refreshing story in light of recent responses by high ranking officials to satire.
faineg.bsky.social
Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 6d
My very favorite Jane Goodall story is about how she befriended Gary Larson after he made a mildly offensive comic about her:
The Far Side's Most Controversial Comic Has a Heartwarming Backstory
Talk about pivoting
screenrant.com
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davidho.bsky.social
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 6d
That sounds like a lot of power. I hope we’re doing useful things with ChatGPT. 🙃
OpenAI's New Data Centers Will Draw More Power Than the Entirety of New York City, Sam Altman Says
OpenAI's planned AI data center projects would consume as much as the entire city of New York City and San Diego combined.
futurism.com
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colinpurrington.bsky.social
Colin Purrington @colinpurrington.bsky.social · 6d
Got my walnuts on a bed of vermiculate and sand. In case anyone cares, it's so that I can collect several hundred pupae of the walnut husk maggot fly, which I'll then use as bait in the spring to attract the tiny wasp that parasitizes them. The wasp digs down into the soil to oviposit. 🌿 #wasps
Two rectangular plastic trays filled with walnuts that have green husks in various stages of decay.
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safa-science.bsky.social
Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · 6d
Federal workers are speaking out on how the Trump regime is harming Americans:

"We stand here today at a moment of the greatest assault of our lifetimes on our freedoms. The US Constitution is being shredded... We are here to call on Congress to stand up and stop it."

youtu.be/uw1KwIBgrCw?...
Mark Histed, NIH Scientist *speaking in personal capacity
YouTube video by Civil Servants Coalition
youtu.be
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safa-science.bsky.social
Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · 6d
"As a federal worker, I am here to tell you that every awful thing that would happen in a shutdown—shuttering programs that Americans rely on, damaging our economy, firing federal workers—all of this is already happening."

youtu.be/jw93RKKreqY?...
Jenna Norton, PhD - (NIH, Bethesda Declaration organizer, mom) *speaking in her personal capacity
YouTube video by Civil Servants Coalition
youtu.be
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